Reporting For Duty
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
Any Chinese Bond fans out here?? (Fans of agent "Ling Ling Qi" / "零零七" ;-) ??)
I have been wondering about this a great deal, because I don't hear from them really! Today I have been updating the box office topics for "SPECTRE", as now the film will already premiere there next month. But what about those closeted Chinese Bond fans? Are they here? Shouldn't we reach out to them a bit? I know @Sark lives there. Do we know any Chinese Bond fan sites??
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
I think @Bounine and @Sark could elaborate on that. But I do think that's not entirely true. In most big cities like Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing lot of young Chinese professionals speak English.
There are many who can't speak English but there are also a decent amount who can but the amount who don't certainly outweighs the amount who do. A number of the Chinese (mostly those in their 20's and 30's and the odd teenager) learn English in private English academies. They learn English in school too but still, many don't have a good command of the language, if at all, which is in part due to the fact that they don't get many of the American and English TV programs over here unlike in Europe for example, where many more speak English or at least in Western Europe. The Chinese government also ban the likes of You Tube, Gmail and Google because they're not keen on Western influence. I can access these websites though as I use a VPN device (as do most expatriates over here) called 'Astrill' which allows one to bypass the embargo. I download great TV shows like 'The Walking Dead' (season 6 has just started in America! :) ) I have mentioned Bond to a number of younger Chinese people and they haven't even heard of our favourite hero! :) Realisation sinks in for a select few when 'James Bond' is translated into Chinese but not all.
I haven't been into the cinema since I saw Mission Impossible 5 in early September. However, that poster Antovolk posted...
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5144/spectre-production-timeline/p817
...doesn't look like a photo. I will go into the cinema today to see if any SPECTRE posters have been pinned up but I doubt there will be any. The international movie posters over here are put up at the last minute unlike in South Korea for example and many other countries around the world. I don't know where Antovolk found that poster. 'The trailer to 'The Hobbit' was playing on a huge digital screen above the street where I work in Shanghai, back in 2014. I think this started playing 2 or 3 weeks before the release of the film. It'd be cool if they do this with SPECTRE. On IMDB, I have just seen that China has finally been listed in the list of international release dates. It says it will be out in South Korea on the 12th of November. I remember the Skyfall release date for Korea being listed for a November release on one of these websites, maybe IMDB, when I was over there at the time but then a mere few days before it started screening in the cinemas in Korea I learnt that it was coming out the same day as in The UK which was a nice surprise. New Zealand still isn't in the IMDB listing and it comes out in my home country on the 12th of November (haven't lived in NZ for a good while) :
http://www.flicks.co.nz/movie/spectre/
It's a nice surprise that it'll be out in November here in China as Skyfall didn't come out until January 2013. I really thought that it would probably be the same with SPECTRE. Mission Impossible came out a while after it was released in other countries because the Chinese government postponed the release of international movies for two or three months earlier this year in order to protect their local film industry. I think this may be an annual thing.
True, since it's taught in school. But they choose not to speak it (just look at all the international students here in Australia who look at you like a foreigner if you try to speak english to them). Plus they use Baidu which would bring up Chinese websites as a priority. I could try a search on Baidu, typing in "James Bond" and if I can find the chinese translation for Bond
詹姆斯·邦德
Zhānmǔsī bāng dé
Not much comes up on a baidu search for James Bond or the chinese equivalent
Of course! Nothing suspicious about talking about your love for James Bond :)
It's great to have community members from all over the world
Ask them if they know ling ling qi (007). Practically everyone I've mentioned him to did, and most of those looked at me blankly when I said "James Bond"
How did it differ? The film will be subtitled, no dubbed.
The level of spoken English in China is quite low. And even many people who are 'fluent' cannot watch English movies or tv shows without Chinese subtitles. I watched 'Dumb and Dumber' (because I thought the humor was easily translatable) with some very high level English speaking Chinese and they found it very difficult to follow. Basically for everyone I have to talk slowly and use simple language.
Do you mean the PRC government is watching mi6 and will bother them about things they post here? That's never happening. Reddit is still unblocked in China, and it's far far larger and features far far more controversial discussions than mi6.
I'm actually planning to go to Macau to see SPECTRE November 5th. However I'm worried by friend won't want to go now that he can just wait a week and see it on the mainland.
Only 87 million of the 1.3 billion people in China are CCP members, and most people's primary concern seems to be getting rich. China isn't communist in any sense that I'm aware of. Leninist perhaps in their political system.
I have mentioned Bond to a number of younger Chinese people and they haven't even heard of our favourite hero! Realisation sinks in for a select few when 'James Bond' is translated into Chinese but not all."
Ask them if they know ling ling qi (007). Practically everyone I've mentioned him to did, and most of those looked at me blankly when I said "James Bond".
@sark
Well, it could be because they have merely chosen not to answer. If they're not interested in what you're saying, many just don't comment so I may have misperceived it. I've said "007" and written it down on paper sometimes and some still don't know. I'm sure many will see Bond over here because it's an exciting action film but not because it's Bond. They will like the look of the action packed trailer. Same in Korea.
True, most of them certainly don't know what the hell you're talking about when you say "James Bond" in English.
China still have communist tendencies but no they're not full blown commies. If they were, there wouldn't be private English academies for example, as I mentioned earlier.
"I'm actually planning to go to Macau to see SPECTRE November 5th. However I'm worried by friend won't want to go now that he can just wait a week and see it on the mainland."
Go by yourself then.
Thanks for your insight @Sark ;-). I didn't know that in China nobody knows James Bond....BUT instead perfectly know his 00-licence ;-). I have therefore updated the topic title a bit. Is this correct?
Fans of agent "Ling Ling Qi" / "零零七" ;-) ??
By the way @Sark...Could you direct some Chinese people to our forum and in particular this topic? Would be nice to get in touch with some fellow Chinese Bond fans.
Most people don't know Jackie Chan's English name in my experience. Cheng Long is his Chinese name.
I certainly won't go to Macau by myself. Unfortunately my current lady friend doesn't possess a Macau/Hong Kong visa (which Chinese people need to visit).
Many of them are too shy to speak it too.
@sark
I think we've had different experiences. When I say "Jackie Chan" most, if not all of them know him. When I write down and say "007" and "James Bond" a good few still don't know but some recognise "007" occasionally. I've never used the Chinese name. Had never bothered to find out what it is but I would have thought that most would have recognised "007". Still, no crime in them not knowing. :)
The Chinese sure pick some random parts of western culture to take a shine to. Who'd of thought that Sherlock and 2 Broke Girls would be among the most popular foreign TV shows (big bang theory too until it got banned)?
From my standpoint this implies a massive marketing opportunity that should be capitalized on asap by EON & folks. We are only talking about the longest running & most successful film franchise here, and one that has featured Chinese actors since its inception with DN.
Hopefully once the studio changeover occurs, the new people will focus on increasing brand awareness between films in China with some kind of marketing campaign or activity/promotion. I suspect the uncertainty around the Sony matters may curtail any large proactive SP promotional activity there, outside of the normal stuff.
Yes, that was a very nice surprise! I was working in Seoul when Skyfall came out and was thrilled to discover I would get to see the new James Bond film a whole two weeks earlier than I would have had I been living in the States at the time.
Just for more information, SF made $59 million in China. That's behind the UK ($161m), France ($60m), Germany ($85m). Compare it to Japan, where it made $32 million. So Japan made $.25 per capita, while China made $.04 per capita. And movie tickets in China are just as expensive as the rest of the world. So surely the Bond franchise isn't maximizing its earnings in China. M:I5 should end its run in China with very very good earnings.
I'm not sure I'd be touting DN as featuring Chinese actors, as the Chinese characters are all played by white people (although Dr No at least had the excuse of being half-German). I've written before about the undertone of Sino-phobia in DN, GF, YOLT and (now that I've read it) Colonel Sun.
Can i start calling myself "MI6's man at station GC (Guangdong China)"? :))
In Shanghai, where I presently reside, movie tickets are around 100 to 120 RNB or if you see the film in the morning or after 10pm they are around 60 RNB. In Wuhan, to name another town and where I saw Furious 7, they are only around 40 (around the the same as in Korea) to 50 RNB at the most popular times to see a flick. Shanghai is expensive compared to many other cities in China. I don't know how much film tickets are in the US. I'm comparing the prices to Korea and my home country, New Zealand. I think it costs around 18 to 20 NZD to see a movie in Aotearoa now. In London, where I used to live, it depends where in the town you see the film. If you see the movie in the West End then they are expensive but if you were to see a film in Woodgreen, a cheaper area to live in North London, for example, the price is notably less.
Believe it or not, we exist. Not only that, but we can speak your damn language too.
We should not overestimate the earnings of "SF" in China. Compared to what "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" did, the box office gross of "SF" was indeed quite modest.
But don't underestimate that figure either. "SF" premiered a whopping 3 months after the UK release. If you then still can manage to gross $60 Million....then that is a nice figure. Compare it with the Chinese box office gross of "The Dark Knight Rises" the same year. That movie premiered worldwide end of July 2012, and in China only one month later. But "TDKR" 'scored' a less impressive box office figure in China: $52 Million.
So having said all this, and looking at the premiere date of "SPECTRE" in China, I'm almost certain Chinese audiences are going to stun Sony and EON Productions with a box office figure that easily surpasses "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation"s $137 Million.
Make no mistake: What "SF" did in the world, sans China, will now be done by "SPECTRE" in China :-). "SPECTRE" will be thé film that will facilitate Bond fandom at a larger scale in China :-).
\:D/
WELCOME @Makkankosappo!! So nice to meet a Chinese fan :-D!! Is your nickname related to....a possible Chinese Bond villain ;-)?? Just kidding hehe.
@Sark This is what I found. For those who don't know it's a phoenetic translation of "James Bond" which the Chinese tend to do for foreign names and brands. McDonalds is something like "Mai Dan Nao"
Doesn't have the ring of Ling Ling Qi lol
You are right. The trailer was in english but at the end the narrator was shouting "LING LING QI, Kong jiang wei ji" Not sure what Kong jiang wei ji translate to in english