1. Brother, Stand Tall — Don't Lie Down

Yesterday I watched the finals of the bel canto competition. Does anyone know what happened to the Inner Mongolian fellow who placed first in the preliminary round? China's male tenors are as common as garbage, including the famous ones — very few are any good, especially dramatic tenors — there isn't a single one. This Inner Mongolian fellow had a rare dramatic tenor voice. Xiaoren and he are both big gorillas, so I truly feel something about this. If anyone knows, please tell Xiaoren — infinitely grateful.

Netizen's reply: Apparently the Inner Mongolian fellow was eliminated after being accused of performing a piece that was not original.

(Of course, whether it counts as original may differ between public opinion and the judges' ruling.)

A thousand thanks. He was singing "Gada Merin" at the time, with the melody processed through modulation. Nowadays many pop singers cover songs this way. For such an ambiguous matter to ruin a person — what a tragedy. If anyone knows this Inner Mongolian fellow, or if he himself can see this post online, please contact Xiaoren. I hope I can help him.

Today I spent time searching online for information about the Inner Mongolian fellow — came up with nothing. You should know, good dramatic tenors are rarer than giant pandas. In the world today, there are probably fewer than three. The so-called Three Tenors — in my view, not one of them is up to par. The one who came last year to sing "Cavalleria Rusticana" was passable, but he's already over 60. It seems Caruso can only remain an eternal memory.

I say all this just to explain some of the reasons I want to find that Inner Mongolian fellow. After suffering such a blow, if he can't turn the corner, such excellent natural gifts will be destroyed. A good voice should, like Caruso's, be able to produce all the sounds from bass to dramatic tenor. Achieving this depends on both the innate construction of the vocal organs and the training methods used. I feel he already has the exceedingly rare natural gifts and deserves better training and broader learning in all areas. If he needs it, I am very willing to support him in every way. If there are people from CCTV here, or people from Inner Mongolia who know him, I hope you can pass along my intentions.

Brother, stand tall — don't lie down. Sing with the true voice of a real man, like Caruso.