British Uni Lecturer Iain Inglis Becomes 'China's Got Talent' Star Singing Communist Songs

British Uni Lecturer Becomes Chinese Celebrity With Communist Songs

A British university lecturer has become a must-see TV celebrity across China with an array of renditions of red revolutionary songs.

Cardiff-born Iain Inglis shot to fame after appearing on China's Got Talent and delighting millions with his novelty act.

Dressed in a Red Army uniform and singing songs extolling the virtues of chairman Mao and socialism, he reached the show's semi-final.

Now he is riding a lucrative wave of celebrity appearances and pocketing £5,000 a time for singing on local and national TV in China.

When Mr Inglis opens his mouth, however, his efforts are often met with laughter.

"I'm a tall, white foreigner from Wales singing songs about Communism in Chinese," he told the WalesOnline website.

"It was a bit of fun to start off with but the more performances I did, the more I was hooked.

"For some reason the Chinese people seem to find it quite hilarious."

Despite the reaction, the 30-year-old has captured the hearts of Chinese TV audiences and is in demand across the country.

Mr Inglis, a Russian and German language graduate, lives on the tropical Chinese island of Hanya with his wife, Yu Yanling.

His unusual choice of singing material stems from a CD of red songs bought while on holiday in China and which he later learned.

He went on to reach the last 16 on China's Got Talent and boosted the show's already high ratings in the process.

He believes he could have gone on to the final and had a shot at winning outright but for his choice of material.

"I'm not sure they would have let me come any higher than that," he said.

"As far as I knew, I was through to the final round. But the day before I was due to perform, I got a phone call saying the Bureau of Broadcasting had said I wasn't able to go on.

"There was no real reason given - perhaps they weren't very keen on having a foreigner singing songs about Communism. Of course, I was very disappointed, but that's just how it is. I wasn't very surprised."

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