Some months ago, my friend Elliott Ng from the U.S asked me what Chinese LOST fans are thinking/discussing about LOST. I promised to post something here, and as the season 5 is now finished, I think it's time to share something here with you western LOST fans.
The easiest way to know what Chinese LOST fans are thinking about is to analysis the polls held by hot LOST forums in China. I collected some data from ydy.com, 1000fr.com, yyets.net(Some very popular online forums on foreign, mainly American TV series in China) and some of my friends, shared the results as follows:
- Most Chinese LOST fans are male, 18-25. Few of the fans are under 18 or over 30.
- Most Chinese fans think that Kate (42.29%) and Shannon (31.45%) are the most attractive women in LOST. Though Sun is the only main Asian character in LOST, she just got 14.67% votes. Polls held on some other small forums show that there're also a lot of Juliet fans.
- Most Chinese fans hate Michael and Ana Lucia after SEASON 2. In a vote named "Who do you hate most", Michael (45.98%) and Ana Lucia(20.28%) got the most votes. Ben Linus only got 0.8% votes - I think that's due to the date of the poll (2006).
- Most Chinese fans think that Sawyer(54.83%) is the most attractive man in LOST.
- 95.59% of Chinese fans think that Ben Linus is cleverer than Charles Widmore.
- 93.81% of Chinese fans prefer to watch the original TV (with subtitles) rather than a dubbed one.
- In a poll named "Which one will Kate choose", Sawyer got 51.37%, Jack got 34.91% and the rest (13.72%) think that Kate would choose neither.
- In a poll named "Who is the key people in LOST", John Locke got 35.39% in a lead, then are Jack (18.86%) and Walt(15.03%). Ben got very few votes.
- In a poll named "Who do you want to stay with on that island", Jack got 70% FTW.
- Most Chinese fans would NOT push the button when the count down reaches the end if they were the LOSTies.
- Most Chinese fans think Locke or Ben should be the leader. The reason for Locke is "He never complained to others" while the reason for Ben is "He always has a plan".
- 72.8% of Chinese fans think that Ben killed John for some unknown reasons. 7% think that Ben is just for stealing the information from John.
Though with lots of participators, those results above are the polls since 2005. They should represent the most condition here in China, especially for the past years but not for the current condition and the future. As the TV series goes on, there are lots of new comments on this series. For example, after the Jacob finally appeared in the Season 5 finale, there were also a lot of comments saying that LOST is just another story of "神仙打架，百姓遭殃" (Gods fight, human disaster). And more and more fans started to doubt that the writer of LOST would never explain his show gracefully on a scientific basis.
Though I've been attracted by LOST for so much, I have to admit that Prison Break in China is much more popular than LOST. I don't know why. Maybe most Chinese people love stories like the Shawshank Redemption - They are restricted/censored too much to be so non-harmonized:)
However, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, just enjoy the show for yourself :)
(The pictures of Jack Shepherd below are from http://voote.com/)
Who do you want to stay with on that island--definitely i choose john~he brings boars~^^
Who do you want to stay with on that island--I choose Juilet~coz you know..... ^^
Aw,
Thanks for this post. It is very interesting! First of all, I haven't looked for a similar post about American attitudes toward LOST, but it would be interesting to compare. A few thoughts from my own perspective:
1. I personally think Sun is more attractive than Shannon, perhaps because Shannon's character seems so shallow.
2. Its funny that people don't hate Ben Linus more. It must be because the survey is only from about Season 3 or so. I also found it amazing that 95% thought Ben Linus was more clever than Charles Widmore. Maybe if the poll was updated, it would be more even. At this point, it seems like a chess game between 2 masters.
3. I personally would want to stay on the island with John Locke, not Jack. However, after the Season 5 Finale, I'm not so sure (after the metal crate from the plane was opened to reveal the contents).
4. I find it interesting that Chinese polled say that they would NOT press the button at the end of the countdown. I suppose we all say we wouldn't push the button but lets face it: we all press the buttons that people tell us to our whole lives, so its a fantasy to say that you wouldn't do it if you were in Desmond's position (and later John Locke's inside the hatch).
5. That's fascinating that everyone things that Ben killed John Locke for some unknown reason, not to just get information from John.
6. I don't fully understand why the idea "神仙打架，百姓遭殃" (Gods fight, human disaster) is such a negative for the show. I don't really understand the saying and how it applies to the show. Maybe people don't like the fact that Jacob shows up at the very end and is a "God" that shows up in everyone's lives before but it was not really foreshadowed enough during the earlier part of the show.
Anyway I find this extremely interesting Aw! Thanks for writing this post!
1. Yes, Ben is just like a chess here now. And I remember in an interview of Michael Emerson after Season 3, he said ppl around all stared chilly at him, very interesting.
2. The reveal of metal crate really make me feel terrible. If this one is the REAL John, what is the man there in that huge statue. The other "god"?
3. Yeah, if you were the very person in that position, it'd not be that easy to vote like this - just submitting some forms in front of your screen :)
4. The "Gods fight, human disaster" is not that negative. It's just a Chinese slang, which means that if (two or more) gods are fighting, we human beings can do nothing to stop them and may possibly be hurt (even if we try to avoid, because we can never know what they'll do next). There is another similar slang "神仙打架-劝不得" (Never try to stop the gods' fighting)
the outcome was too jiong
I'd prefer to watch 《House M.D.》 :-P
I prefer LOST and I watched it from Season 1 to Season 5. I quicked to watch Prison Break after by Mid Season 2.
LOL on LOST! I LOVE the scary sound effect theme song if you can call it that. I am non Asian and think Sun is the Prettiest and Jin, by far, the sexiest! If you want to know where the fans are on FACEBOOK there's a quiz that rates how much of a fan you are. So much fun! If you love LOST that is. I wonder if they asked `Why chinese love lost?' what the answer would be. Perhaps the same as me and many of my friends. The main reason we love it is so that we can get lost in LOST. I'd love to be on that Island wrapped up in the mystery. Oh and what ever happened to the little black kid that I am sure is grown up by now. I haven't seen him since NYC or when Hurley met up with him a couple of seasons ago. OK so now you know how much I like this show. Probably more than the Chinese fans :)