Ge Ping

Editor's note: Work in Progress

About

Ge Ping (Chinese: 葛平; Pinyin: "Gé Píng")^[1] is a Chinese voice actor best known as the voice behind the character "Lan Mao." One lecture of his was broadcasted on television, and later uploaded to the internet, becoming the subject of Chinese MADs and parodies.

Origin

In 2008, Chinese video hosting service Youku^[2] user 篆毫^[3] started uploading videos of the voice actors from "3000 Whys of Blue Cat" and their lectures. The most notable video, uploaded on September 14th, 2008^[4], was that of Ge Ping, the voice actor for Lan Mao up until late 2005:

Ge Ping's exaggerated intonations and facial expressions, as well as nostalgia factors are what make this specific video open to parody. His description of the bald child and the phrase, "Watching Blue Cat, Learning from Blue Cat, I can say I am proud to have been with Blue Cat," have become reoccuring jokes within Chinese video-sharing site communities.

Background: 3000 Whys of Blue Cat

3000 Whys of Blue Cat^[5] (蓝猫淘气3000问) is the sub-animation-series of "Sunchime Cartoon Flier" (三辰卡通快车) that eventually became more popular than "Sunchime Cartoon Flier" itself. The show's plot involves the main character, Lan Mao (蓝猫), literally "Blue Cat," traveling to other countries and time eras through his imagination, all while teaching kids practical lessons in history and science. It is one of the most recognizable and enduring children shows in China, running since 1999.

Spread

However, the video uploaded to Youku did not initially elicit a big response. A second video, uploaded by the same user in 2009, was also posted to Youku.^[6] This video has also received some attention, but has not seen the same amount of remixing or popularity as the original.

The Ge Ping phenomenon took off in the form of MADs, particularly because Ge Ping aroused interest in the AcFun^[7] community, essentially a Nico Nico Douga imitator. Unfortunately, the nature of searches on AcFun makes it difficult to pinpoint the first MAD of Ge Ping. However, remix videos of him start appearing on AcFun as early as April 2009, quite possibly even earlier, such as this Marisa Stole the Precious Thing remix:

From AcFun, Ge Ping then spread to other popular Chinese video-sharing sites, such as Youku, 56^[8], and Tudou.^[9]

Ge Gun

The "Ge Gun" (Chinese: 葛炮; Pinyin: "gé pào") phenomenon is a little bit difficult to explain. According to AcFun Wiki^[10], "Ge Gun" stemmed from a video in which the creator parodied a popular tongue-twister about artillery and gunfire:

Chinese / Pinyin:

“八百标兵奔北坡， 北坡炮兵并排跑。 炮兵怕把标兵碰， 标兵怕碰炮兵炮。”
"Bā băi biāo bīng bēn bĕi pō bĕi pō pào bīng bìng pái păo. Pào bīng pà bă biāo bīng pèng biāo bīng pà pèng pào bīng pào.

Thus, Ge Ping became associated with guns, and the phrase, "Ge Gun" became used in the titles of videos.^[11][12]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

["Ge Ping" in blue; "Ge Gun" in red]

Google Insights shows that searches for "Ge Ping" start rising in early 2009, while searches for "Ge Gun" begin rising in late 2009.

External References