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You can’t flip the channel in China more than twice without landing on a show built around the variety show format. It may be focused on kids, teens, or the adult, but this format is without a doubt the most popular in the country. It can best be described by this “SAT-esque” saying:

Variety shows are to China as sitcoms are to America.

Wikipedia defines variety shows as:

• “A variety show or variety entertainment is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and comedy skits, and normally introduced by a compere or host.”

Such is the quality of television here in China. They’re all about as unique as seeing the letter “O” in a bowl of Cheerios. However, as much as it bores the heck out of us, it works because the people here eat it up. This year alone a major portion of China’s 1.3 billion people tuned in to watch the New Years celebration (Lunar New Year, that is). Remember watching part of that with us in Xi’an, mom and dad? It was in the variety format and we didn’t watch more than 20 minutes of the two hour production (whose advertising revenues, I read, reached $62 million!!). It’s boring, but as I said, it works. This is the same format that was used for the New Years program that our school put on last year, and it’s the same format that was used when our school held a program for the graduating class of kindergartners at KBAS.

Kindergarten Graduation? Also, a Variety Show

• Host? Check…Tiffany

• Location? Check…a local theatre in the center of Karamay.

• Costumes & Makeup? Check…truckloads of face whitening! Americans want to soak up the sun while Chinese can’t milk enough cows to keep their skin pearly white.

• Acts? Check…and plenty of them (17 in total). Some did songs, others dances, and some even performed some English plays. As I should have expected, many were geared towards promoting and heaping praise on the Beijing Olympics.

• Foreigners? Check…we played an impromptu, very simple medley of children’s songs on the guitar and flute. Check out the video to see our act in all its exciting splendor!

All in all I can at least walk away and say that our graduation was more enjoyable than some of these variety TV shows I see. That’s good. Anyway, school officially ended yesterday…which means that summer school starts tomorrow. No kidding. Some people don’t waste any time when it comes to getting rid of their kids…er…I mean, when it comes to their kids educations.