Green is China's new cool

Eco-passionate stars help turn battle to save the earth into latest vogue among the young
Grace Ng, Straits Times 28 Dec 09;

BEIJING: A hip new greeting - 'Have you been 'low-carbon' today?' (Jin tian ni di tan le ma?) - is catching on among China's youth.

Thanks to an eco-friendly apparel commercial starring Olympic diving champion Guo Jingjing and sexy singer Ai Dai, the phrase - which encourages young people to cut carbon emissions in their daily lives - is edging out the standard 'How are you?' (Ni hao ma?).

So influential are such celebrities in China that they are increasingly becoming the frontmen in the country's efforts to go green.

From endorsing solar panels and electric bikes to crooning love songs to the environment, Chinese stars are showing that green is the new cool in the world's heaviest carbon-emitting country.

Leading the pack is film star Li Bingbing, who was recently crowned Best Actress at the prestigious Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan.

State media China Central Television appointed her as its 'star journalist' for the international climate change summit held in Copenhagen earlier this month. She has since hit all the right green notes, successfully branding herself as China's top 'green celebrity'.

Not only does she insist on cycling and taking public transport, even though she has been offered a limousine, she also wears eco-friendly clothes, which she bought herself rather than getting them sponsored.

In addition, she blogs about her green lifestyle, talking about how she takes along her own toiletries for hotel stays and uses handkerchiefs instead of tissue paper.

She even sports an eco-friendly credit card that China claims is a world-first. The Shenzhen Development Bank has appointed her as the spokesman for its 'green card', which is made from biodegradable materials instead of plastic.

For sceptics who question what difference a small card could make, Li offers this statistic: 'Last year, about two billion credit cards were issued - stacked up, they would be high enough to scale about eight Himalayan peaks.

'These cards are not biodegradable, so the damage they could do to the environment really makes one's heart ache.'

Rivalling her in popularity as a green celebrity is actress Zhou Xun, who has been appointed as the 'green fairy ambassador' for the World Expo being held next year in Shanghai.

Zhou urges the Chinese to save water by minimising the amount they use for showers, and to buy more trees. This year, she spent 6,000 yuan (S$1,238) to plant 238 trees in Beijing to offset the amount of carbon dioxide she had emitted last year.

In the popular solar energy sector, big names such as actress Fan Bingbing and child star Xiayu have raised the profile of little-known solar power companies such as Wanbao and Yuansheng, while giving a green boost to their own images.

Other stars who have joined the cause include Hong Kong singer Leon Lai. In his efforts to encourage people to save electricity, he has exhorted Japanese men not to wear ties to work, so air-conditioning thermostats in offices can be set 1 deg C higher.

Green is also taking over the Mandopop world, with fans of Taiwanese heart-throb Wang Lee Hom claiming that he sparked off a new 'green music' trend with his 2007 album 'Change Myself' (Gai bian zi ji). It points out how saving the environment starts with changing one's own habits.

Since then, Hong Kong star Andy Lau has crooned melodies such as No Snow In Winter to warn about the chilling effects of global warming. Last month saw the launch of a new album compilation of green favourites, including Green China and Let My Motherland Become Green, sung by mainland artistes Zhu Hai and Wu Na.

With such star power backing it, the green cause has clearly had a social impact in China.

Young Chinese, in particular, have responded enthusiastically. Fan groups such as the Li Bingbing Green Fan Club and Low-Carbon Tribe have proliferated online, all anxious to do their bit to help save the earth.

Ms Li Qingqing, 23, says her awareness of green issues has grown tremendously since her idol Li Bingbing went to Copenhagen.

For the celebrities, embracing politically correct green causes has certainly done no harm to their popularity.

Chinese supermodel Jiang Peilin - who says she never drinks bottled water because plastic harms the environment - notes that it is now fashionable to be green.

'A low-carbon way of life is in vogue,' she told local newspaper China Daily in a recent article.

'It shows that young people also care about society, and we try to influence the people around us.'