When it comes to celebrities Jay Chou is as celebrated as you can get over here. This young man typifies the Chinese standard of talented jack of all trades. He's a musician, actor, director and the face of pretty much every product that doesn't have the hurdler Liu Xiang's mug on it.
So it was surprising to see him take a seat nearby. I was in a bar with my trusty partner in crime, minding our own business and there he was – just like that. No fanfare, no virgins scattering his path with rose petals, just him and three friends. By the way, sitting in bars is not all I do here – I also sit in nightclubs and the occasional pub.
Anyway, as I wasn't facing in Jay's particular direction I was informed of his arrival. This is not that difficult really as with his long, swooping fringe, delicate features and down-turned mouth, which incidentally lends an unimpressed moodiness to our star; he has a look that hasn't really changed since he was probably three years-old.
Also, the fact his face is everywhere compelling you to buy stuff (funnily enough seeing him did motive me to buy a couple of drinks) it's not one you tend to forget too quickly. If you have lived in China for five minutes you'd be able to pick him out of a line up.
There is a definite cult of celebrity here and there's certainly no stigma in using them to sell anything – even if they have no link whatsoever to what is being sold. However, you would no doubt be surprised to know that the government has always tried to control in some ways the type of celebrities being worshipped. They would have to be worthy of such a title and be an inspiration to wayward, crazy kids. So as a result reality shows would be based on obvious talents or skills rather than who could sit in a share house the longest.
Even hosts of TV shows are no longer supposed to fill in time with idle gossip or flirting. Actually, I didn't realise they were filling in time, I thought that was the entire point of those shows. So I suppose that means that over here we are unfortunately denied the remarkable sight that is footballers in drag.
But Jay wasn't in drag, he was just being Jay so that was enough.
Being the cool, composed adults who are closer to middle age than infancy that we were, we giggled and concocted a plan to join his entourage. We figured as we were two white people playing Chinese dice games we'd surely be in. To some Chinese we were providing a spectacle that was part culturally relevant and part freak show.
It didn't seem difficult as accompanying him was what appeared to be his girlfriend and another couple. Okay, I thought, he was having a low-key evening with friends. He was in need of posse enlargement as far as we were concerned but then again what we may have been concerned about Jay may not have.
Although it was odd that there wasn't a great deal of fuss being made by his presence, I figured maybe it was the result of him keeping is head down and the the relative solitude of his location. Actually, it was safe to say the entire bar was rather solitary. Maybe nobody else was as eagle-eyed as yours truly. That in itself is a rather funny statement as I haven't been known to be the most perceptive person, more like a "Oh, is that a fire engulfing the entire room?" type of guy. Maybe everyone else was cooler than me and just didn't care.
I had heard the stories that our Jay was a brat but the media here sometimes enjoys cutting down the odd tall poppy or two. And besides, who believes everything they read?
The dice game was going badly for me (as it generally does) and in between sips of what can be best described as 'battery acid and dry' I thought we needed to employ modern technology. Thankfully Shanghai is awash with WIFI hotspots, so much so I take it for granted that I can gain access to the internet almost anywhere. It's a lovely piece of irony actually that in this communist state information (although restricted) is free and readily available while in Australia if you're not paying you're not receiving.
Well, the guy on the couch did look like the photo on the Wikipedia page displayed on my phone. I thought to impress him with random facts pertaining to his life but thought it may just creep him out. The plan at that stage was not to creep him out but seek an alternate means to gain access to his inner circle of peeps.
When my dice-winning companion excused herself to go to the bathroom an opportunity presented itself. Jay was also on his own.
No, I didn't stare at him continuously for a good five minutes until he became uncomfortable and looked nervously back at me. I casually glanced in his direction and as, across the smoke-hazed room, our eyes met he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Sure his glazed over eyes gave away the fact he was drunk but nonetheless, this celeb fellow was alright.
Seizing my opportunity – like a lioness leaping on to the hide quarters of a zebra and begins to chew before the hapless victim has time to comprehend the hopelessness of its predicament – I approached Jay.
I introduced myself as if I didn't know who he was, to which he responded, "I'm Damon, nice to meet you." Okay, perhaps he wasn't a Taiwanese superstar but a hairdresser from Nanjing. Close but not quite the same thing.
After another couple of rounds my friend and I did achieve the mission of joining an entourage, only it was that of Damon the hairdresser's. Of course he could have been Jay in disguise as I didn't see Damon cut anyone's hair – or even remotely comment on anyone's style. In fact come to think of it, none of his group had over-coiffed do's. Damn! It appears Jay Chou gave me the slip with his cunning disguise within a disguise.
I'll have to be more vigilant next time.
