One of the Heartthrobs

This cab is freezing.  For all the times I’ve sat in the back of a Beijing cab as the air-con gasped out faint suggestions of something Nordic, this Shanghai driver has cooled out an unquestionable icebox.  He’s in a tee-shirt up there, spinning the wheel and I’m worried for him.  You’ll catch a cold.  At least I can roll my sleeves down. 

The in-your-face screen confronting me from the back of the passenger seat headrest is beaming out an advertisement for something.  I look once and then again, before reaching to shut it off and I pause.  I notice the doe-eyed blond kid whose dancing around in front of dozens of other silly nymphs.  It’s Lu Han.  There’s a close up.  Aww.  There’s he is in front of graffiti.  He’s an urban guy who knows how to bend his knee and lead a dance step with a sneer . . . and then a smile.   

I haven’t checked in on Lu Han for three years or so.  He looks a bit older, certainly with a hair or two sprouting out, no doubt, on his chest by now.  He was one of the heartthrobs in the Sino-Korean boy band EXO.  I couldn’t tell you if he is still of the band or if it exists at all.  But three years ago, I was driving here, and driving there to buy must-have EXO memorabilia for my daughters. 

My older daughter who was eleven or so at the time, was enamored by “Chris” a  and the younger one who was eight was a Lu Han fan.  Neither of these boys looked much older than my daughters themselves.  These lads were the Chinese side of the EXO collective.  At the time, my daughters were attending a Chinese school and speaking Chinese every day with Chinese friends.  As one might have predicted, this all came to an end, when they were surrounded with an English speaking environment, with English speaking friends, who listened to songs in English.

Good luck evolving your public image Lu Han, though I fear you’ve lost my daughter’s heart, forever.