Remarks:
This is a 1933 Chinese version of a blackface minstrel song from the US, Stephen C. Foster’s “Oh! Susanna” (1848). Wang Renmei (aka Wang Jen-mei) was an actress famous in Shanghai, China in the 1930s.
Lost in translation: The racism and “Negro dialect” (minstrelese) are stripped out and US terms are replaced by their Chinese equivalents: Alabama Wild becomes Yunnan, a banjo becomes a pipa (pictured), and so on. “Niggers” become “puppies”!
Not lost: the love song.
The video includes Foster’s original (racist) lyrics of 1848, Wang’s Chinese translation, and an English translation of her translation.
See also:
Lyrics: see the video above.
Ok, now we are traveling from China to Nigeria (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08GQ2TzajQ4), Mali (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdXBfkj-CBQ), Mississippi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4A6o-yf-ao) and, naturally, Haiti (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfZUQdsc_a0), (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yI3MdvMh0Y).
Off to moderation hell we go!
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The old newsreel footage from China in this video is also very interesting.
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