Source: CCTV Daily Learning Original Draft
In February 1997, the program "Zhengda Variety Show" was revised and launched the section of "One Smile Tea Garden", and the "One Smile Tea Garden" formed after innovation aroused the audience's love as soon as it was broadcast.
And the most surprising thing for the audience is the role of "Dr. Tea" played by the foreign girl Mu Aihua.
You must know that in those days, the Internet was not as developed as it is now, and the communication between countries was not as close as it is now, so many people may not see a foreigner in their lifetime.
Now, there are foreigners who come to participate in Chinese programs, how can this not arouse the interest of the audience? Not to mention that Mu Aihua, who was only 16 years old at the time, is still very cute.
In fact, Mu Aihua not only starred in "Yixiao Tea Garden", but she later became one of the hosts of CCTV, and often expressed her love for China and her pride in joining China to the audience.
So, why did Mu Aihua come to China at an early age, and why did she, a foreigner, take the name "Mu Aihua"?
Grandfather Mu Airen, who loves China
If you want to know why Mu Aihua loves China so much, you have to talk about his grandfather Mu Airen, who was a member of the Flying Tigers.
Unlike his granddaughter, Don Mike lived in the United States for the first few decades, and he later came to China by chance.
In 1939, Don Mack and his colleagues from his school came to a school in Japan to represent their school to have academic exchanges with Japanese teachers.
After the exchange meeting, Don did not immediately return to his home country, nor did he stay in Japan to play like other colleagues, he was more interested in everything in China than in Japan.
So Don Mack boarded a cruise ship bound for China, and he was looking forward to seeing China.
Tang Michael's first stop in China was Fuzhou, because at that time China was in turmoil, and the cruise ship took a lot of extra travel to reach Fujian.
Fortunately, with his fellow Chinese Ding Hanbo taking good care of him, Tang Mike was able to survive this most difficult time.
For this, Tang Mike is very grateful, he has not yet arrived in Fujian, he has already seen the kindness in the bones of the Chinese: "If it were not for this kind person, I am afraid that I would have died in China like this, which is why I love China so much." ”
After arriving in Fuzhou, Tang Mike chose to become an English teacher at Yinghua Middle School in China, although he only spent a year with his Chinese students, but the two sides already shared hardships and hardships in this year.
This was mainly due to the fact that when he was teaching his students, he would often encounter air raids by the Japanese air force. As the teacher of the students, Don Mike always organizes the students to evacuate in an orderly manner, and he does not leave the school because it is too dangerous.
Not only that, Tang Mike also hated the Japanese army very much, in Tang Mike's opinion, if it were not for the Japanese army, there would not be so many wandering people in China, and the children could study quietly, and they would not be frightened in class, for fear of losing their lives at any time.
Therefore, in addition to teaching students, Tang often discusses with students how to save China and fight the Japanese army.
Some of his students later became underground party members and soldiers, which was inseparable from Don Mack's education and influence.
On 7 June 1941, Don Michael's tenure at Anglo-Chinese Secondary School ended.
Because the war between China and the Japanese army was gradually heating up at that time, Tang Mack, who was afraid of his family's worries, had to return to the United States first.
But before leaving, Don promised his students, "I won't be going for long, I'll be back soon."
In 1942, he came to China again, but this time he was not here to be an English teacher, but to help China fight Japan.
It turned out that since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States, the United States was involved in World War II, and in order to discourage Japan's arrogance, the United States put the Flying Tigers created before it into the Sino-Japanese battlefield.
When he learned that the Flying Tigers were going to China to deal with the Japanese army, Tang Mike did not hesitate to sign up for a new round of Flying Tigers training.
When he was in China, he was very disgusted with the Japanese army invading China, and always hoped to kill a few more Japanese soldiers to avenge the death of his students in the air raid.
After the training was completed, Tang Mike and other comrades-in-arms who had completed a new round of training came to China to provide support.
When he came to China this time, Tang Mike specially gave himself a Chinese name "Mu Airen", perhaps at this moment, he was already preparing for a long time in China.
After coming to China in 1942, Mu participated in the war against the Japanese army in China until August 1945, when he returned to the United States.
Of course, although he returned to the United States, his heart remained close to China, and although he married after returning to the United States, in September 1947, he returned to China again, and this time, he brought his wife with him.
His father, Peter Mu, was born in China
When I set foot in Fuzhou again, Mu Airen's heart was full of joy: when I came to China before, I couldn't enjoy it because of the war, and this time I must experience Chinese culture.
After coming to Fuzhou, Mu Airen not only returned to his old job as a "teacher", but also bought a house in Guling, and it seems that he has plans to settle down in China.
Unfortunately, such days did not last long, because something happened at home in the United States, and Mu Airen had to return to the United States with his wife and his youngest son Peter Mu, who was born in China for a few years.
Of course, although he returned to the United States, Mu Airen deliberately brought back all the photos he had taken in China before returning home.
When Peter Mu was a child, Mu Airen often showed these photos to Peter, and he would say to Peter on the side: "This is the place where Dad went back then, and when you grow up, you will definitely go to China to see it." ”
In order to make Peter adapt to China in the future, Mu Airen often taught Peter to speak Chinese and popularized Chinese culture for him.
Under the influence of his father, Peter was very interested in China since he was a child, and in 1988, the head of an American company approached Mu Airen: "We heard that you have been in China for a while, and now we are looking for someone who is familiar with China to do business in China, can you give us some advice?"
When the person in charge came to ask him to recommend a candidate, Mu Airen first thought of his son Peter, and he said to the person in charge: "My son has been learning Chinese with me since he was a child, and he also knows Chinese culture very well, he will definitely be able to meet your requirements." ”
In this way, under the silent arrangement of Mu Airen, Peter Mu took his wife and two daughters to Nanjing, China.
Before leaving, Mu Airen said to his son with a nostalgic face: "See more China for my father, and remember to share your life in Nanjing with me." ”
The fate of the two daughters with China
Like the Chinese names Mu Airen chose for himself and his son, Peter Mu also chose the Chinese names for his two daughters, "Mu Aijiang" and "Mu Aisu".
Of course, the reason why the two are called this name is because of the cross talk "I Love Jiangsu" they performed.
Because Peter and his wife Mu Yanling are very enthusiastic about Chinese culture, their two daughters are naturally deeply influenced by them.
After they came to Nanjing, they joined the local Little Red Flower Art Troupe to learn opera, and "I Love Jiangsu" was the program they performed when they were in the art troupe, and Peter Mu also got inspiration from this cross talk, which gave them the names "Mu Aijiang" and "Mu Aisu".
In 1993, Mu Aijiang and Mu Aihua went to the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in the five provinces of East China to perform cross talk.
This time the cross talk they performed was "I Love East China", for the effect of the show, the two sisters also specially said their names as "Mu Aihua" and "Mu Aidong" when introducing them to the audience.
Later, as the two sisters became more and more famous, CCTV also invited them to participate in the recording of the Spring Festival Gala awards ceremony, and they won the audience's love again with a song "We are really happy today".
Before the performance, there was a very interesting thing, when the director of the party asked the names of the two sisters, when they learned that the two were called Mu Aihua and Mu Aidong, the director shook his head again and again: "No, no, it was East China before, and now it is CCTV, it is no longer appropriate to call Aihua and Aidong, it is better to change it to Aihua and Aihua." ”
In this way, when the names Aizhong and Aihua appeared on the CCTV stage, the people of the whole country knew the heartfelt love and love for China of these two little American girls.
In fact, most of the trajectories of Aizhong and Aihua's lives are related to China, they not only learn cross talk in China, but even go to school, all in ordinary high schools in China.
Aihua went to school in the eighties and nineties, and there were very few foreigners staying in China at that time, let alone foreigners attending middle school in China.
Therefore, when Aihua stepped into the class for the first time, many students expressed curiosity about her, Aihua who had just come to school did not speak Chinese as well as later, and once made a lot of jokes when she went to the toilet.
At that time, Aihua wanted to go to the toilet, and more than 30 girls in the class followed her to the toilet. Seeing so many people following her, Aihua was very shy, but with her Chinese ability, she couldn't explain it clearly to her classmates.
In desperation, Aihua had no choice but to start taking off his sweater in front of the girls: "I was wearing suspenders at the time, and I had to take off my sweater if I wanted to go to the toilet. ”
This incident also made Aihua remember it vividly, and she later said to everyone with a smile: "At that time, everyone had never seen foreigners, and they were too curious about me, but now that I think about it, I still think it was very funny at that time." ”
became the pride of grandpa
Unlike her grandfather, Mu Airen, who lived in China for a period of time and then returned to China, Mu Aizhong and Mu Aihua spent most of their lives in China.
In 1997, Aihua appeared on the CCTV program "Zhengda Variety Show", and she played the tea doctor in "Zhengda Variety Show" in "A Smile Tea Garden", which impressed everyone.
After playing the role of Dr. Tea, Mu Aihua is also obsessed with Chinese tea culture, she often tastes tea at home with her family, and Aihua has a deeper understanding of tea than many people.
In addition to "Zhengda Variety Show", Mu Aihua has also served as a host on TV stations such as "Study in the United States" and "New TOEFL in the United States", and one of her most common words to the audience is: "I love China, I am very happy to be here, and one of the things I am most proud of is to join China." ”
It can be said that for Mu Aihua's family, China is their first hometown, and as for the United States, it can only be said that they were born.
With variety shows such as "Zhengda Variety Show" and "Study in the United States", Mu Aihua has also made a lot of fame in China.
Not only that, out of love for China, Mu Aihua often uses his savings to help poor children in Jiangsu and other places, so that they can have the opportunity to go to school.
This is admirable, and Mu is proud of his granddaughter, who often shows off his granddaughter outside: "Do you know that famous host Aihua? She is my granddaughter, isn't she very good?" ”
In fact, it is not only Mu Aihua herself who is committed to China's philanthropy, but her mother Mu Yanling and grandfather Mu Airen have also contributed their strength to China's charity.
Mu Yanling can be said to be a model of Aihua as a model of charity, and the previous public welfare undertakings such as the Golden Key Project and the preparation for the construction of a school for disabled children were all presided over by Mu Yanling.
Later, in order to show her support for her granddaughter Aihua's charity, Mu Airen traveled thousands of miles from the United States to China to provide free guidance to those children in need.
It can be said that the hearts of three generations of the Mu family are placed on China, and they are not Chinese, but more like Chinese.
epilogue
Chinese culture has 5,000 years of precipitation, and China is an ancient civilization with a long history, as long as you have a deep understanding of it, no one will not fall in love with China.
Just like the three generations of Mu Airen's family, they chose to become a part of China and make their own contributions to China because they have a sense of heart and soul with China and Chinese culture, which is a romantic thing.
Information sources:
This congratulatory letter is related to the century-old people-to-people relationship between China and the United States - CCTV
https://news.cctv.com/2023/06/29/ARTIMdMhcHKMjTeXLuAcaoOK230628.shtml