China’s Got Talent: Duck Neck Couple Become a Sensation

The talent show “China’s Got Talent” has been very popular in China lately, just as it has been in its American and British formats. Recently on its third episode, a bit involving a husband and wife couple who make a living selling duck necks through a small cart on the streets has attracted a lot of attention.

A copy of the video on YouTube, with our translated English subtitles:

On Tudou (also on Youku):

A transcript of the video:

Judge Zhou: Is that a pig I see?

Contestant: Yes

[laughter]

Host: That’s one big pig

Judge Gao: What’s your name?

Zhou Yanfeng: Zhou Yanfeng, from Henan province, from a county called Huaibin.

Judge Gao: You’re a Henan person.

Judge Zhou: What do you do for a living?

Contestant Zhou: We sell duck necks [for a living].

[cheers]

Judge Gao: So you sell duck necks. So what are you going to perform for us now？

Contestant Zhou: Uh, I’m going to perform a pig slaughter for everyone today.

[laughter and applause]

Judge Zhou: You mean the one you’re holding in your hand?

Contestant Zhou: Yes yes, that’s right, I am going to kill myself.

Judge Gao: Alright, let’s have it.

[Contestant Zhou performs as seen in the video; the judges unanimously reject him, and some audience members copy the “X” sign using their hands; the audience is loud in their amusement and rejection]

Judge Gao: Is the performance over?

Contestant Zhou: Yes, it’s just like that

Judge Zhou: This isn’t a show, it looks more like a crime!

[laughter and shouting]

Judge Gao: I feel that on the big stage, this kind of thing doesn’t qualify as a complete program, therefore I must say: NO

[shouting]

Contestant Zhou: Thank you, Judge.

Judge Yi: I also must say no.

[shouting]

Judge Zhou: Because it was a program without beauty, I can only choose “NO”; Sorry to say but you have been eliminated.

[shouting]

Contestant Zhou: Judges, can I add a couple more comments.

Judge Zhou: At most a couple more comments.

Contestant Zhou: Actually, the reason I came here today is because of my wife.

Judge Zhou: Eh?

Contestant Zhou: My wife has a particular hobby, she especially likes to sing. One day around three in the morning after I had closed up shop and was going home. When I reached the area below the Tibet Road overpass, I saw my wife singing. At that time when I saw her my heart was especially heartbroken. I wanted to go through this competition, get a good result [win some money], so I can go back and give my wife a small modest karaoke room, no matter how small, so my wife can sing to her heart’s content. But I was rejected by you three judges, and likewise our dream has been destroyed. I want to ask you three judges, can you give my wife just one chance, to stand on the stage of the Shanghai Music Hall and let her sing a couple of words, even just one word would do. I beg you judges, please.

[instant applause]

Judge Yi: Uh…it is very difficult for us to reject that part of your performance.

Judge Gao: Other contestants can all only perform one time.

Judge Yi: You can prepare again. You can come back and register again next time.

Judge Zhou: Do you feel your wife is a better singer than you? Then why did you come out pretending to be a pig?

[laughter]

Contestant Zhou: Because for my wife, I am willing to act like a pig. For my wife, I’m willing to act like anything.

[applause]

Judge Zhou: Wow, isn’t that very much like Shanghainese men [known to do anything for their wives]? For their wives, even willing to be act like a pig? What does everyone think?

Audience: Yes [applause]

Host: Hey, now is not a good time to cry.

Judge Zhou: I feel that we should give her a chance; let your wife come out!

[applause and shouting throughout]

Host: Go on!

Judge Zhou: Wife, no, excuse me… Are all the things your husband previously said true?

Mrs Zhou: Yes, they are true.

Contestant Zhou: My wife, with me in Shanghai, selling duck necks in a cart. It’s very difficult/tiring work. Every day we sell until 3am in the morning, then go home, and after just a bit of sleep, we have to wake up again to prepare duck necks. It’s really really difficult/tiring. The entire year, all four seasons, we have never stopped even for a day. I feel that I really haven’t done right by my wife. My wife likes singing so much but I can’t give her the means [to pursue/enjoy singing]. I beg you, judges, let her sing a couple of words, even one word would be good.

Judge Zhou: Then let’s make an exception, shall we, Judge Gao?

Audience: YES (repeated) [shouting]

Judge Gao: Music does not distinguish between high and low, because music treats everyone equally because it doesn’t belong to any one social class, or something. You must sing for us to hear.

Judge Zhou: If your wife really sings so well, then we will count her result, not your result, and you can go back to being a pig.

[laughter and applause]

Contestant Zhou: Alright.

Judge Zhou: Show us the singing voice from under the overpass!

Host: Can she hold it together? At all costs, don’t get nervous!

Mrs Zhou (singing “Cheers, My Friend”, a song sung by Tian Lei):
Friend, today you’ll be going far away, finish this glass of wine.
Forget the worry of the bitterness of traveling to the ends of the world, drunk to the very ends of Heaven.
Perhaps from today you will start to drift, and you will never stop/rest again.
Let us together raise our glasses; cheers, my friend.
Cheers, my friend.
Cheers, my friend.

Audience: YES（repeated; sounds like “YEA”）[cheering and shouting]

Host: Yes! Yes!

Judge Zhou: Everybody, quiet down, quiet down. I feel that this is really very, very moving. Here we have a very ordinary husband and wife pair, living a life not worth mentioning, working a job that could not be any less worth mentioning, and still we can see the hopes they have in life, especially their love for each other, so…

[crowd cheering, chanting yes]

Judge Zhou: Judge Gao…
I will give you a YES answer!

[applause and cheers]

Judge Gao: I especially want to thank the people who write these song, bringing to every ordinary person, regardless of whether or not they have hope in their lives, this kind of beauty/wonder. I will say YES.

[applause and cheers]

Judge Yi: I think the best thing about “China’s Got Talent” is that it gives ordinary people great dreams; that it proves the saying, that mankind is great because of its dreams. I feel that your love is very great, I can see that he really loves you, that you really love him, therefore both of you need a hearty “YES” decision.

[applause and cheers]

Mrs Zhou: Thank you, thank you!

Judge Zhou: Congratulations you two, you have advanced [to the next round]!

Mrs. Zhou: I deeply thank my husband. For my dream, he is willing to spare nothing. With his words, even if I have to live a lifetime of hardship, it is worth it. At this moment I feel very satisfied. I am just a seller of duck necks, but I too can have such a large earnest audience listen to me sing. So long as we two have a dream and are together, we will be happy.

Comments from Tudou:

静香xx:

Very strong, we must get this video on the main page. To have a dream is to have strength.

夜月の雪:

So happy! Happiness has been achieved!

天天路人:

This is a good man. Let me ask: just how many men nowadays are really able to do something like this for his wife (girlfriend)?

洋洋哥哥就是我：

True…
Moving…
Ding.

▃▂__陌生″:

What is love? Fuck, all day long we discuss what love is. Now I know, this is what fucking love is.

songjianwe：

It is actually the three judges who are pigs.

wu0527:

I want to cry.

无名5281:

Where can I go buy their duck necks? I am going to buy some; I support them and wish them well!

zaizai20:

In these times real love is hard to come by; I whole-heartedly wish them well!

280419795:

So moving! This is what true love is.

猫猫咪咪迷:

Very moving; we need to cherish what we have.

lotussss:

Tears…streaming…

欧捷力:

I wonder what these three evaluation judges felt in their hearts after seeing everything this “Fake Pig Brother” has done for his wife. Amongst the three of them, one divorced his wife because of money; one abandoned his wife who had shared their earlier hardships for a younger xiaosan; and one abandoned an over 10 year relationship for romance. See an ordinary man who has no money, no power, and no influence do such a thing for his own wife–would you guys [the judges] feel ashamed?

偷偷&哭泣:

I’ve seen this so many times, and every time I want to shed tears.

davidzhaom:

Three SB judges.

Memory,Ella.:

[“China’s Got Talent” is] a show that emotionally moves China.
In the previous episodes, I had seen many very touching [performances].
So I didn’t think there was anything special about this one today.
I don’t know why.

努力加油一起上:

Ding! Good voice, very beautiful, very moving. This is what husbands and wives should be like, so fuck all these gold-digging girls these days, fuck ma bi Ma Nuo [a female celebrity known for her appearance on dating-reality show “非诚勿扰” in which she said something like, “I’d rather be crying in a BMW than to smiling/laughing on the back of your bike”]. Compared to this kind of ideal love, it is obvious how tiny, how dirty, you are. How many years can you exploit your cunts [youth and beauty]?

野驴三郎:

This program is a program that does good. It has brought us happiness, explained hope, explained love. I don’t know why they hired Zhou Libo [Judge Zhou] to be a judge, such a talkative, egotistical, base character lacking public manners.

野獸、???ろ:

A role model for men [referring to the husband]! Brother [referring to self] dings you both.

): ≮〆:雲:

Ai, I came to watching people criticize/yell at the judges!

詪⑤艿:

Just looking at Zhou Libo [Judge Zhou] makes me irritated, I don’t know why.

藏域之心:

A man who can do this much for a woman is a true man. It’s just a pity that the judges are such garbage. Look at what Gao Xiaosong said, “there is no social class in music”, and yet the duck neck sellers have class, so it is you who has classism, shameless, pretending to be above it all. And Zhou Libo’s stupid self. Added together, the judges are simply pretender (Judge Gao) + slut (Judge Yi) + rotten bastard (Judge Zhou) + a meticulously planned and staged show.

风滚草动:

Actually, is is the ordinary people who are truly great. The common people’s honesty and simplicity makes me feel ashamed.

无知:

The judges, truly trash, fuck fuck fuck!

wa2830:

A rip off of “Britain’s Got Talent”.

~L._xinD:

Search for “Zhou Libo is a stupid cunt” on Baidu and you will see that the eyes of masses are still clear/bright [everyone agrees].

~L._xinD:

And what “job that isn’t worth mentioning”!? “Not worth mentioning” your mother! And “ordinary”? You’re not ordinary? Zhou Libo TMD, quickly get lost. Three judges and not one is not a stupid cunt~ all of them thinking they are so important.

qingting114:

From laughter to tears.

稀烂人生:

Such a simple and honest husband and wife couple! However, you guys have said that they are hypocritical…that the judges said something that has angered the people…what exactly is them working “a job that isn’t worth mentioning”? Every job has a greatness about it… Just because you have become judges…become stars…simply a part of the entertainment circle…doesn’t mean you have some sacred job… Maybe this husband and wife couple aren’t going to get any further on this stage…but I believe their love will last forever…

我有大杀器:

I won’t say a lot of nonsense [but]…Wow…
The way I treat my wife
is not even 1% of how he treats his wife.
So ashamed, so ashamed.

嗨~~~烤猪:

Is there anyone who can tell me the name of this song? Thanks!!!

over小雪:

Is there any meaning in this kind/this method of advancement [to the next round]? It doesn’t have one bit of artistic content.

陶气燕儿:

Emotionally touched people beget more emotional touched people, but I feel like this isn’t a talent show, but rather a charity. As long as it [the performance] is touching, it gets YES. as there it is emotionally touching then everyone will say “YES”, these three judges of the evaluation panel are too sarcastic and derisive.

gdsddfdf：

I wish you both luck…
Very moving.
As for me, my own wife has left me for money.

A husband who will do anything for your dreams. chinaSMACK personals.