The Handy Heroes: interview with Mr. Magic about his new book on Chinese heroes

China is full of opportunities. Here's how a smart man and a dear friend, Christopher Parsons (better known as Mr. Magic) published a book in Chinese and English for Chinese kids. Below is a transcript of the interview we did, as I have not managed to get the hang of podcast technique yet... grrr... sorry for the late post, Parsons, hope it helps to spread the work on creativity though!

(Interview done sometime in Feb 2007, at coffee shop in Blue Castle)

Ivana Vuckovic (IV): Hello, I think it’s counting now, there’s a recoding sign, I think it should be ok now…(giggling) OK so, I don’t want to do this very official, I want to chit chat as friend, but I’ll edit later….
Christopher Parsons (CP): Chit chat, I like that.

IV: Yes, it’s a very PR term.
CP: Cut out the chit, it’s just the chat. It’s too much hanky-panky, so now we just get down to the panky.

IV: Just chatting here with Parsons, he is a good friend of mine, and you’ve been in China for…
CP:…12 years…. for too long.

IV: (giggling) No, that’s alright. And now you came up with this wonderful book. So the reason for this interview now is to talk about this book a little bit, to share, because it’s so creative: a foreigner would write a book in China.
CP: And it’s to help Chinese kids, kids, just find a new hero. Because Chinese kids, if you ask them “Who is your hero?”, they would say Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King. But he’s been around for 2000 years and he has nothing that relates to them. Or they might say Jiqimao, who is Japanese and also has nothing that relates to them. Some might even say Sponge Bob, which is totally out there, it does not even relate to most American kids. So I made a series of stories about some heroes that have similar trouble as Chinese kids do in real life. Like, one kid dreams to be an Olympic cyclist, he buys the nicest bike and it gets stolen.

IV: Yes, that’s very common in Beijing.
CP: It’s so common that you don’t ask somebody “Have you had a bike stolen?”, you ask, “How many bikes did you have stolen?” I’ve had 3. How about you?
IV: I’ve had 2 actually.
CP: You’re lucky.
IV: But I’m not a big cycling fan.

CP: But there are some kids they would say 6 or 7. And there’s also… he has to learn what’s important. He loves his bike, thinks it’s the most important thing, and then a stealing master steals his sight, so he realizes: “Oh, there is something more important than my toys, it’s my health”. His grandmother gets sick and falls asleep and won’t get up, so he realizes there is something more important than just your physical health, like your family. So he gets help from his hero friends, and they each have their special abilities, it shows how friends should help each other. Of course, they have a mascot, which you always need, like the Scooby Doo.

IV: So who are the heroes?
CP: I’ll tell you later, they become friends later. The mascot is Yaya the Duck, and he is half burnt as he escaped from Beijing Duck Restaurant, he escaped from the oven. Yeah, he’s great! There is Wild, who is sort of like Tarzan (you can see here). And Tarzan was raised by apes in the jungle, and she was raised by rats in the concrete jungle of Haidian.
IV: City jungle, very cool.

CP: This is Jim. He is from like from 2000 years ago and he hates guns. He takes a gun and made it into time machine, because guns are stupid.

IV: And who are the other, this is the main character?
CP: The main character is Holly. You know, my wife’s name is Holly, so my hero is my wife.
IV: Oh, that’s so cute.
CP: She told me an adventure she has as a kid, so I tried to incorporate that. She’s into mysteries.
IV: This is her with magnifying glass.
CP: She follows the tears of the kid who lost his bike in the beginning. Her cousin is the By-Accident Kid, always runs into accidents. And that’s a name my mother came up with when I was younger, she used to call me the By-Accident Kid.

IV: I don’t want to reveal the ending, but how does the kid reveal all these challenges, does he find another bike?
CP: You need your friends, that’s what it’s all about. You gotta… we all need friends.

IV: There are other books about similar topics?
CP: Well, they address different challenges. But it’s the same team, they work together, it’s funny, and there’s games in it and songs, and it’s in English and Chinese, so a lot of people can appreciate it.

IV: It’s very unique, that you did the English and your wife the Chinese.
CP: Yeah, and we discussed…we interpreted rather than translated, and she could talk to me about it, we would have long discussions about a sentence.

IV: How long did it take you to write it?
CP: Well you know, writing is a hobby, but publishing is a pain in the BEEP… it’s a job, publishing is a job. It did not take very long to write, but to publish it, like a year and a half. For the whole process.

IV: And this was the biggest challenge of doing this?
CP: Right. But you know, I’ve published 20 books/series before, but never novels, they were always educations materials, but some were stories for younger kids. And this is meant for 12 and up, even adults who like Harry Potter, like to just imagine, if you like stories about kids. There are people who are pompous, and just want sophisticated stuff. But I think if you forget the basics, then sophistication’s wasted.

IV: Sounds very interesting, very cool. How did the idea come about? You were doing other writing before, so why this now?
CP: I kept doing complicated adult books, and then I decided to add something to where I live, in China. But to do that, I had to make it simpler. Simplify a lot of things, and I heard this Johnny Cash song, he was talking about: just stick to the basics, get to the basics. If you write a song, it should say exactly what you want it to say, no need to fluff it out. So I went back to basics.

IV: Good. Yeah…. and I wanted to ask you what are the biggest benefits of writing a book in English in China, as it’s a different market.
CP: Right. The biggest benefits, I’m hoping, well, the money isn’t the big motivator, as I’ve done books before, and they don’t make much money, they make a little money. But here it’s easier to get your books made into a play or a TV show. That’s a big benefit. That’s much easier to get done here.

IV: And how about some recommendations for the young writers, young kids who want to get involved in writing?
CP: Definitely get involved in writing…write, write, write…stick to basics, and just realize that writing is different than publishing. And if you are the greatest writer in the world, it’s not going to matter if you don’t have the skills to push your own art, which is a problem. I’d much rather just write and give to somebody else, but you know, I had to go to publishers, and then teach the publishers exactly what to do, and you have to stay within the whole process, to push them, do your own promotion, you have to be shameless.

IV: Did they ask you to revise a lot, according to their own ideas?
CP: They did not do that. I stayed away from political, as I am not a political person. But they asked me strange questions, like they would question my English, like they would say “This is not English, this is not correct”, I get that a lot. “It should be 'I very like English', and I’m like, "No, no, that’s wrong". Many times they only look at a dictionary, they don’t listen to normal speech. So I had a couple of arguments about the language

IV: The so called Chinglish (note: Chinese + English). Still very prevailant.
CP: Right. Well, they have that red Oxford book, it tells them how to pronounce things, but it’s just not right. “Ay-pple!”, "No, I’m pretty sure it’s apple". No...and we had this recording and would argue for an hour.

IV: And this time you wrote in English, but you speak Chinese very well. Is there a chance of you writing in Chinese?
CP: (speaking in Chinese slang!) Deleba, ni! Wo de zhongwen hai cha shiwanbaqian li. Wo gaor ni….

IV: That should be your next challenge, undertake to write it in Chinese. Come on, a foreigner writing in Chinese. So far, I only heard of the Swedish woman who wrote about her life in a hutong (note: small alley) in Chinese.
CP: I perform in Chinese, a couple of times per week. And there’s a play where I perform, and there’s a character Mr. Magic, which is me. In the book, he teaches these kids, he guides them, and of course he has trouble too, so at one point they have to save him, so I think that’s important, to let them know that kids can help the adults as well. It’s not always a one way street.

IV: So Mr. Magic is also in the book.
CP: Yes, yes, and that’s based on me, because I teach magic for kids, I do shows.
IV: Are you still active with that?
CP: Well, it pays the bills! Birthdays… I also do some for adults, office shows, and stuff.
IV: Where do you learn your magic tricks?
CP: I had a teacher, a shifu (note: master) in America. His name was Mr. Ay-pple.
IV: (laughs) Hahahaha
CP: Mr. Apple.

IV: You plan to continue with acting, writing, creative stuff, in China?
CP: Yes, and it’s getting better. They crave it. They’ve learned English, but don’t get a chance to use it for something fun, or interesting, so I will try to focus on that.

IV: That sounds like a good plan. Though here there are plenty of intl school, still the theatre scene is very small.
CP: Right, very small. I’ve worked with some of the plays. Did you see the Xmas Carol. But I think they tried too much, they had 80 cast members, I would have kept it smaller. And they did it all in English, so it’s only for the foreign community….
IV:…who already know the story…
CP:…and I’m taking these stories to the Chinese public, in Chinese.

IV: And your book is a great way to start.
CP: Yes, so if they are reading the book in Chinese, and they just to wonder “Oh, I don’t know how to say that word”, they can look. They don’t have to read the whole book, but get a couple of words…and all the songs are in English.

IV: Inotice you have some songs, you wrote them?
CP: Yes.

IV: OK, last question: what is your favorite thing about Beijing?
CP: I think because a lot of things are new in Beijing so that’s very interesting. And you never know who you’re gonna meet. And you can be unemployed, and down on your luck one day, and just sit down, and this director will sit next to you and ask you, “Can you speak Chinese?”, “Yeah, I can speak Chinese”, and “OK, I would give you an opportunity in my next film". Well, it’s happened before, so…this does not happen where I’ve been before.
IV: I agree. People you meet here are so diverse, and you never know what’s going to happen next, just like in a book.
CP: That’s right, you don’t know what’s going to happen on the next page.

IV: Thanks so much for the interview, Parsons, and I look forward to going home and reading this, in Chinese and English! Thanks so much for taking the time.
CP: Excellent. And good luck with your website. Web on!
IV: Thank you!