Israeli Sarit Haddad Heat of Tel-Aviv song gets a Chinese version

Thanks to Ran, the best Israeli blog in China, I heard of this odd news piece. Israeli YNet recently reported that one of my all-time least liked songs "Heat of Tel-Aviv" received a Chinese version.

Compare the Israeli version…

To the Chinese one…

Which one do you like more? Did you like the Shabbat/Hannuka candle effect in the Chinese version?

If you’re wondering who the beautiful singer is…

Yumiko Cheng (born Zheng Lie Qiong 鄭烈瓊 in Shanghai, China) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer. Cheng was given the Japanese nickname "Yumiko" by her friends in secondary school. After Cheng signed on with EEG, the name was retained.

Yumiko was originally a member of the group 3T (along with Mandy Chiang and Maggie Lau), which released an EP in September 2002. Yumiko’s potential was, however, soon identified by the company and in November 2002, her first solo EP Yumiko The Debut EP was released, followed by DanceDanceDance (舞舞舞) in June 2003. Her first full-length album One2Three was released in November 2003.

Apart from that, Yumiko has also taken part in various TV shows and a dozen of TV commercials as well as gracing the covers of various magazines on hundreds of occasions. (Wikipedia)

As the YNet article so eloquently points out, Ms. Cheng is famous for her wardrobe malfunctions repeatedly exposing underwear and breasts on Chinese TV. All accidents, I’m sure.

Translations of the Chinese song to Hebrew can be found on Ran’s blog… here’s my one paragraph useless contribution in English.

I wish to sleep forever, to let go of wretched past,

Closing my eyes, finding no boundaries,

Longing for your love, and your soul searching,

I feel I’ve been wronged, I truly hate you.

Yeah, there’s no denying the apparent fact that the Chinese version is alot better sounding and more poetic than the Israeli one.

To wrap it up, some translations of Israeli talk-back/comments on the YNet article:

5 – Great honor!

8 – We’re on the map and we’re staying on the map (Fili – referring to the famous quote from Maccabi Tel-Aviv’s first ever win of the European Basketball championship).

12 – All the words were changed, and I think it sounds completely horrible.

14 – H O T

19 – A great honor for Sarit and the country in a world where everybody loves to hate us.

20 – Her voice is anemic. There’s no doubt our Sarit is a 1000 times better [...]

25 – I live in Shanghai. The song is being played everywhere and it’s an incredible feeling. [...]

26 – I’ve never liked those songs, but I am interested in the hot girl.

74 – the Chinese girls are just so beautiful. There’s nothing like their smooth white skin. What a beautiful view.

80 – You’re kidding, right? nobody knows this girl in China, she’s considered a type-B singer.

The pride! the joy! And you thought Chinese netizens were special…