Pop Concerts Woo Beijing Fans

Original URL: http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/1857/2005-1-7/35@189251.htm

2005-1-3 17:35:58 CRIENGLISH.com

While classical new year concerts are gaining growing popularity, pop concerts did not yield with the firm support of young fans. Three heavyweights in the pop industry, Jonathan Lee, Emil Chau, and Jacky Cheung, lighted up the Beijing pop music scene. CRI's Yang Binyuan has more.

Renowned Taiwan singers Jonathan Lee(李宗盛) and Emil Chau(周华健) held a New Year 's Eve duet concert in Beijing Friday night.

Some fans were even singing in tears when the two pop heavyweights belted out some of their best-known classics.

Adding to the excitement, Malaysian singer Jasmine Leung (梁静茹), Taiwan singer Tarcy Su (苏慧伦) and Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan were invited to perform as guest singers at the event in Beijing Worker's Stadium.

And fans were so eager to welcome in the new year that they wound their clock back and counted down to 2005 an hour earlier.

Compared with the jubilance of the superstar duet concert , musical Snow Wolf Lake touched fans' hearts with its heart-breaking plot and, of course, the charm of its main character, Jacky Cheung.

Jacky not only broke mainland's concert record by singing through 6 consecutive nights, but also proved he's the undisbuted King of Pop.

The musical tells a tragic love story about a gardener named Wolf and a millionaire's daughter Snow. The tale ends with the death of the lead actress, when all the cast and crew appeared on the stage singing the theme song Love is Forever.

Submerged in flowers and cheers, Jacky Cheung did not forget the less fortunate, and lead the crew to donate part of their income to tsunami-stricken areas.

Whether it's the joyous duet concert or tragic musical, Beijing fans certainly had a memorable New Years Eve, which seems to foreshadow that 2005 will be another year full of cultural festivities.

Yang Binyuan, CRI news.