Chopstick Brothers Get AMA

The segment of the performance, as well as the one showing the two men accepting the award, in turn went viral on the Chinese Internet. But instead of sparking patriotic fervor it mostly incited skepticism.

The most frequently searched phrase on the microblogging site Weibo following the awards ceremony was one that implies the Brothers bought their AMA prize or, more precisely, it was bought by Youku Tudou, China’s main video portal and the Brothers’ promoter.

Apparently, the Chinese can’t believe that one of their cultural exports could be taken seriously by the West without a payoff.

The vice director of Youku Tudou told the China Daily that his company did not pay for the award. The proof, say the skeptics, is that American audiences did not actually see the performance of the song, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, was filmed offstage during a commercial break, meaning without an audience.

Consequently, the award was also handed out offstage. Then there was the lip-syncing, which is considered even worse form in China that it is in the West. An AMAs representative said that many awards are given offstage, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t genuine. As it stands, the International Song Award is new this year, as is the award for International Artist, given to Chinese singer Zhang Jie.

The footage of her acceptance was also not shown in the U.S. The vice president of the international division of Dick Clark Productions, which organizes the AMAs, told Sohu.com that no one paid for the award, and that “inviting Chinese singers to the awards is the first step in promoting the AMA abroad.”