Perfection in Motion: How I Fell in Love with China’s Super Girl

Later on at the very end of the concert one of her staff brought out a letter she had written earlier by hand to read to all of us there. For those of you who are not familiar with the complexities of the Chinese written language, there are only 10,000 characters used in regular daily conversation, which means that most people keep learning how to write the language well into their adult years.

When you look at the original letter you realise that for someone of her 26 years, this little girl has an incredibly impressive vocabulary. What she said to all of us was quite moving, and if there is some deeper meaning lost in translation here below it is my fault and not due to any lack of skill in self-expression on her part:

Let me think… well, we have gone through six years together. During the past six years, we have seen both sadness and happiness, and all of you have witnessed my change and growth, but I am not able to see each one of you – not able to know all of you.

However, I know that in this warm family, those people who have come to this strange city make every effort just to meet me here – sometimes life is not easy for them. Perhaps the result is not as all of you wish – those people who write a lot of articles about me, those people who have made a long and hard journey to come to see me; those people who organise the fans and maintain some order at each event (I am not counting the scalpers – joking), those people who draw and sketch my cartoon character day and night, those people who prepare food and cook soups for me to feed me and help me avoid being tired, those people who shout crazily and take photos or video of me, those people who wait for me in the wind and rain in those cities where I have never been.

My dearest friends, thanks for accompanying me along the way and never giving up on me for all that time.

I hope in the future, everything will be going well around you all. I am not good at speaking a lot of touching and great words. Let this song, which only belongs to us, speak instead of thousands and thousands of words.

Let this song be my words. This is our song. The song only we understand.

As she finished reading, the band began the intro to the song Just Loving You (就是爱你), which was written by one of Bibi’s idols, David Tao. It is also the song she performed during the Super Girl competition that touched her fans so deeply at the time [1].

As she lifted the microphone to sing she was overcome with emotion and began to cry almost uncontrollably, holding her free hand to her forehead as we all sang the lyrics to the song for her. It was the first time she had ever been so moved that she had broken out in tears on stage. It was nothing short of magical to see the intensity of the love between her and her fans.

I’ve always wanted to tell you
You’ve given me happiness beyond belief
Like an oasis in a desert
Say that you will forever be by my side

Be my root, my wings
Let me fly and have a nest to return to
I am willing and I am able
To give up everything without any regrets

Let’s just be together and watch time pass by
Must remember the way of our love
I just love you, loving you

Full translation credit: Chinese Music Blog

Later on at the after-party she came to my table as she was working the room. I told her how much I had enjoyed having dinner with her parents the night before and what wonderful people they were.

“Yes, but what about the show,” she asked almost impatiently and anxious to hear what I thought.

I am not sure why she thought anyone who is such a total lunatic for her was going to tell her that the concert was anything short of brilliant. “Princess,” I said as I kissed her hand, “I just don’t have words to express how amazing it was.”

We drank a toast with arms linked, Russian-style like they do in this part of the world where I live. Only later, and much to my embarrassment, did I discover that people in China do this only when getting married. Lucky for me she is such a wonderfully nice person that me not understanding all the nuances of ancient Chinese culture did not bother her.

Every time I sit down to write about Bibi I make the same two discoveries all over again. One is that it amazes me so that there almost never seems to be enough space for all the words that I want to write about her. The other is that it is tremendously difficult to write about someone you love so much.  You agonize over every word, every phrase and yet you still worry whether or not you have conveyed the clearest possible image to the reader.

What I hope comes from this profile is that Bibi is a once-in-a-generation talent – like the Mozart of her time. I hope all of you will take the extra effort to order some of her albums and her concert DVD from YesAsia.com or some other Asian music outlet. And if you ever have a chance to attend one of her performances you most certainly will not be disappointed. I’ll be there in the front row.

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You can get almost all of BiBi’s discography on YesAsia:

• Who Touched my Violin String | YesAsia
• NOW | YesAsia
• WOW | YesAsia
• Time | YesAsia
• i.fish.light.mirror | YesAsia
• Black.Choice.White | YesAsia