... ...Four Romans helped introduce the American tradition of marching bands to Chinese culture with the University of Georgia’s Redcoat Marching Band in May.
Pete McPherson, Seth Hines, William Watkins and Brandon Wright, students at UGA and members of the Redcoats, participated in the band’s Great Wall Tour 2006, a two-week concert tour of China.
The first collegiate band to tour the country, the Redcoats shared a new musical concept during performances in Kunming, Chengdu, Xiamen, Nanjing and Shanghai.
Audiences in the five cities showered the Redcoats with requests for autographs and pictures after the shows, said McPherson, a Rome High School graduate.
“It was like we were rock stars or something. It was pretty cool,” he said.
“They were really excited to see us,” said Watkins. “They were just going wild.”
The response to the performances, which mixed American and Chinese folk songs to create a unique multicultural show,
UGA Redcoat Pete McPherson poses before the Great Wall of China, one of the band’s stops during its trip through China in May. Contributed photo |
was especially touching to Pepperell High School alumnus Hines. “I have been in the band since the eighth grade, and I have never seen a group of people so excited to see a marching band,” he said. “They paid to come see us and nothing else.”
McPherson said even though the band attended two informational sessions about Chinese culture before the trip, there were still surprises. “The culture over there was 100 percent different,” he said.
Watkins and Wright said the Chinese were very familiar and in tune with Western culture.
“Everybody over there is starting to pick up Western things,” said Wright. KFC, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut restaurants were among the familiar sights they saw while in China.
To McPherson, the lack of traffic restrictions in China was his most shocking discovery. “Literally every American was just staring out the window (of the bus) scared to death,” he said.
Hines agreed. “People talk about traffic in Atlanta. It’s nothing. I feared for my life more than once on the bus in China,” he said.
Model High School alumnus Wright said he was taken aback by the diversity of the cities and lifestyles.
“You’ve got all of these really modern cities like Atlanta, but you turn off some of these little roads and you’ve gone back 30 years.”
McPherson and Hines were surprised by the shopping customs, McPherson noting that street vendors follow potential customers, attempting to make a sale.
“They will invade your personal bubble selling you their product,” Hines said, laughing.
Wright, a Coosa High graduate, said being immersed in a new culture with a different system of government was eye-opening. “Everything you know and have grown accustomed to is just thrown out the window,” he said.
Hines was especially impressed with how receptive and helpful the Chinese were when interacting with Americans.
“Even if they couldn’t speak English, they would smile and help you as much as they could. That’s the one thing that really jumped out,” he said.
To make communication between the Chinese and the Redcoats manageable, the band was accompanied by a group of English students from the local universities who served as translators.
To Watkins, the most memorable part of the tour was spending time with 300 of his closest friends.
“Getting to know them in a foreign land was really cool,” he said.
The trip was a life-changing event for Hines.
“I’m glad that I went because China was not one of the places that I had on my to-go list. Now I want to go back and see more,” he said.
