On April 29th, the 2021 Top Ten Singers Competition of PKUSZ was held in the International Convention Center of Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School (PKUSZ). The theme of this competition was “Youth towards the Party, for the Hundred-year Dream.” Before the hundredth birthday of the Communist Party of China, the teachers and students in PKUSZ celebrated the meaningful day with beautiful songs.
After a preliminary tryout and intermediary qualification heat, 10 competitors from PKU, THU and HIT were selected. To ensure fairness in the competition, besides the professional judges, 20 public judges also joined the event.
At 19:00, the performances began with a choir of Nanyaners singing No Communist Party, No New China. About a hundred party members took the stage. They sang for the best wishes to the hundred-year-old party. All the performers waved the party flag to remember the original intention, cherish the moment and draw strength from the song.
Then the competition began! The first section of the competition was a solo round. The 10 singers went to the stage one by one. Each tried to capture the hearts of the judges and the audience with their song. The selections were a mix of Mandarin and Cantonese rock, pop and love songs.
These ten outstanding singers are:
Zhang Haoxiang, HIT——输了你赢了世界又如何
Zheng Xueling, THU——有没有
Zhang Jin, PKU (PHBS)——原来你什么都不想要
Deng Huaiyu, PKU (SAM)——像个孩子
Li Zhuangzi, PKU (SEE)——趁早
Qian Shuming, PKU (STL)——月弯弯
Zhang Yukang, PKU (PHBS)——离开地球表面
Zhao Chen, PKU (STL)——谁不是
Bao Bowen, PKU (STL)——当你老了
Fu Chenkun, PKU (SEE)——春秋
Showing Off Great Talent:
After the first section, the hip-hop dance team of Nanyan Art Troupe brought serious energy to their performance of Personal, presenting a visual feast of music and dance to the audience.
The next section of the competition was a duet round. The ten singers were divided into 5 groups, and each duo sang a song together. What kind of spark would be born when two different voices went into one song?
The first song was Lucky – sung by Qian Shuming and Zheng Xueling. The song began with a full-bodied voice of a piano and developed as an acoustic guitar joined in to accompany. The singing of the two singers fused perfectly.
Then, there was a male duo– Fu Chenkun and Zhang Haoxiang, singing a mashup of 酷爱 and 吻得太逼真, which expressed their respect and appreciation for each other.
Next, came a pair of singers who could nail the high pitches, Li Zhuangzi and Deng Huaiyu, singing 天天想你 and 你快回来. They sang the classic songs with new arrangements, which struck a chord with the audience.
The fourth song, 屋顶, was performed by Bao Wenbo and Zhao Chen, both from STL. They used props to simulate a rooftop scene. The affectionate duet and pink bubbles filled the auditorium with a romantic atmosphere.
Finally, Zhang Yukang and Zhang Jin sang 手心里的蔷薇. The pair naturally switched between bass and treble, bringing the second section of the competition to its climax.
After the performances, the ten singers’ scores were calculated. Zhang Haoxiang, Zhang Jin and Qian Shuming took the top 3 spots.
In the final section, the three singers performed 对不起我爱你, 我 and 给我一个理由忘记, each giving the audience one last beautiful song.
During the competition, the six professional judges made wonderful and detailed comments on the contestants from the professional perspective of singing and stage performance. The professional judges gave thumbs up to every contestant who loves singing.
Finally, according to the final evaluations from the 6 professional judges and 20 public judges, Zhang Jin, Zhang Haoxing and Qian Shuming won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Zhang Yukang won the Most Popular Award. Of course, each singer was also awarded the “Nanyan Top Ten Singers” Award.
Here, we were pleased to interview two of the singers. Let’s see how they felt after the competition.
Zhang Jin (PHBS, PKU): I participated in singing competitions during my undergraduate years, but my rankings were not particularly good. So here, I’d like to thank my senior schoolmates for helping me and giving me a lot of advice on singing. Although singing is a kind of entertainment, I still take singing very seriously and am strict on myself even though it is my hobby. I would also like to thank the judges for their recognition of me. They gave me some professional opinions and they also have been encouraging each contestant.
Li Zhuangzi (SEE, PKU): My voice has high explosive power. The pitch and rhythm of the songs selected in the first section were very suitable for me, so I chose this song by Zhang Yu. I like singing very much at ordinary times. When I’m happy, I would like sing a song in the dormitory. Sometimes I also go to KTV with my friends.
In today’s competition, I really liked the teamwork in the second section. First of all, I think the individual ability of the contestant was important, and cooperation with a partner also reflected the musical quality of a singer. This competition system was very interesting, and I am very grateful to my partner.
Sound of Music, Songs of Youth! We gain happiness and passion from music, we sing our youth in beautiful songs.
By Zhang Wendou, Wang Xue
Edited by Nathan Faber
Photos: Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School
