Self-Introduction
Hello, everyone! My name is Bai Haoqing and you can call me Hank. There are two hobbies that have become an inseparable part of my life since childhood. One is Peking Opera, for which I had 10 years of training from 5 to 15 and of which I won awards in major national competitions for children. The other is English, through which I learned contemporary Western culture, independent critical thinking as well as the open-mindedness that is indispensable in present globalized world and, for which reason, I became a BA student majoring in English Language and Literature at Hong Kong Lingnan University.
The reason that I didn’t choose Peking Opera as my profession was partly due to the advice of Professor Cheng Yongjiang, son of Cheng Yanqiu, the founder of the Peking Opera Cheng School of Qing Yi art, that I continue my English study and get a college education, so that I can understand the Cheng School art better and promote Peking Opera more meaningfully on an international level. Inspired by his vision, which was also his father Cheng Yanqiu’s dream, I determined to do something different with my Peking Opera training and one day make this old elite art more popular and accessible to common people all over the world.
In the field of Peking Opera, I have won major national awards which include: the 3rd Prize at the 3rd National Peking Opera Peace Cup Competition for Children, and the 1st Prize of the 2012 9th Children's Little Plum Blossom Traditional Opera Competition in Shaanxi Province. In the same year, I again secured The "Top Ten Golden Flowers" Award (the Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera Group) in the National Final of the 2012 16th National Children's Little Plum Blossom Traditional Opera Competition sponsored by the Chinese Association of Dramatists.
I was also featured in many media reports during that period of time, including CCTV Chanel 11, CCTV Chanel 4 and some local television networks such as Beijing Satellite TV Station and Shaanxi TV Station, which brought me some nationwide recognition. In 2013, I won the Silver Prize for the “CCTV First National Children's Peking Opera TV Competition", ranking 6th nationally and No.1 in the Qingyi Division, thereof recognized as the leading male child Qingyi performer of the Cheng School Peking Opera in China.
With regard to my English study, I have also made accomplishments in English contests. In 2019, I earned the Grand Prize in the Xi’an Regional Finals, the Shaanxi Provincial Finals, and the First Prize in the National Finals of the Star of Outlook English Talent Competition sponsored by the CCTV Middle School Channel, ranking 13th nationwide.
Later that year, I served as the main debater in the NSDA China Public Forum Debate, sponsored by NSDA China, where my partner and I scored the 3rd Place in the Novice Division of the Xi’an Regional Championship and I was honored with the Outstanding Speaker Award at the same time.
In 2020, my English article, Singing Peking Opera in English, was published in the China Daily sponsored newspaper 21st Century Teens. That same year, I represented Xi’an Jiaotong University Affiliated High School as the lead debater in the Asian High School Online English Debate Challenge 2020. Our team was the only one from China selected to participate in this international event.
I didn't stop at that however. After entering Hong Kong Lingnan University, I took part in the Greater Bay Area Students Speaking Contest in 2023 and won the Merit Award. Majoring in English Language and Literature in Hong Kong Lingnan University is a new beginning for me in improving my skills in English communication.
Now that I am graduating from the English Department of Lingnan University, I plan to further my study and have applied for MA Translation Programs in four different Hong Kong universities, including that of Lingnan. This is to help me realize my childhood dream, also the dream of the founder of the Cheng School Qingyi art Cheng Yanqiu and his son Cheng Yongjiang, to one day bring Peking Opera on an international stage for the worldwide audience to appreciate and understand the sophisticated beauty and charm of the traditional art of Peking Opera.
Like a bridge over the gap between Chinese culture and Western culture, I will lay me down!
2013 Aston Style-Bai Haoqing National Contest-3(2).mp4 （怕流水英文演唱视频）
