US disc jockey makes waves in China
By Tamara Treichel
Rick O'Shea is a human bridge between China and the West, and also an unexpected bridge to one of China's most beloved writers.
In fact, he has a double claim to fame: He was the first foreigner to come to Mainland China and host a nightly bilingual program for 11 years. On top of that, he was the last love of the popular Chinese writer San Mao.
O'Shea has written a book about his experiences as a radio
personality in the US, China, and his relationship with San Mao. His memoir has been published in Chinese as Echoes of San Mao by an American DJ in China (China Radio and Television University Press, 2011). He is now finishing the English edition of his book, Radio ChopstiX.
In his own words, "I'm not going to discuss politics or the financial power of China, nor will you learn about doing business with China from me. It's a personal journey of how I escaped the regular life of suburban Detroit and became the first foreigner to live in China and do a nightly music and talk program on the radio."
O'Shea left his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, to become a watercolor street painter on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and then launched his radio career in Florida. Afterwards, he worked at a radio station in Hawaii, and from there he finally found his way to Asia, where he has lived for more than half his life, so far. Here, he has worked as a radio host in Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.
O'Shea summed up his exciting career as follows: "I was one of the first American radio hosts to live in Taiwan and do a program for ICRT [International Community Radio Taipei]. I then went to Hong Kong, where I was one of the first Americans to host a popular full-time radio program, and many of those years were with a Chinese co-host…. I was also on TV as a music video presenter for four years, every night. Then I came to the mainland and co-hosted Joy FM where it became one of CRI's [China Radio International's] most popular programs for 11 years."
O'Shea said the most exciting thing about hosting a bilingual radio program on CRI was knowing that they had a very loyal audience that still vividly remembers the program. "I am still amazed when I run into people today who greet me with, 'Ni hao are you?' which was our 'password greeting' for our listeners," he explained. "It means we connected and added something positive to millions of people's lives in China. We even had a female doctor at the South Pole who listened online and emailed us!"
Indeed, O'Shea's program made waves, and he influenced scores of individuals. "People say that I influenced a generation of listeners in a positive way. We showed that Chinese and Americans can work together in a creative way and reach people with friendly cooperation. I think we set an example for many people during that China growth era," he said.
When asked what changes Rick saw in CRI and Chinese society, he replied, "When you live somewhere you don't often see the changes that a visitor might see. I always feel like a foreigner living in China, which is a fact that will never change. And Chinese have always been accepting to representatives from other parts of the world living here. I am just one of them. The biggest change in CRI is true of radio around the world. They face a battle for listeners who are addicted to another electronic medium called the Internet!"
In his memoir, O'Shea not only reflects on his decade-long broadcasting career in mainland China, but also on his relationship with the writer San Mao, whose works are still popular among Chinese worldwide.
San Mao wrote over 20 books based on her travel experiences in Africa, the Canary Islands, and Central and South America. O'Shea called her "the Hemingway of China" because she wrote of her experiences abroad before it became fashionable among Chinese. Another well-known fact about San Mao is that she was married to a Spaniard called Jose Maria Quero Y Ruiz, whose life was tragically cut short in a diving accident. But here is a fact very few people know: San Mao had a romance with the radio personality Rick, whom she met through a mutual friend in Taipei in 1981.
O'Shea admitted there was a natural affinity between the two from the very beginning. "I was impressed by her openness as a woman who had traveled to many places," he recalled. "She was a woman first, Chinese second and she seemed to stay true to that…. She made me feel as if we would get to know each other in the future, not just that first meeting. The feeling was mutual."
The fact that she was famous didn't intimidate him. "I didn't treat her as the famous person I heard that she was. And she didn't treat me as famous either. We were just two people who shared parallel creative lives: hers as a writer and mine as a broadcaster," he said.
Moreover, O'Shea revealed that they were friends for about a decade, but didn't fall in love until a few months before her death. "It was the beginning of a new journey with her," he said. He stressed that their romantic relationship was based on friendship. "This should be the basis of any strong relationship and that's what was of value to us," O'Shea said. He remembered visiting places in Taiwan and Hong Kong with San Mao and their conversations.
"But I was not a reporter and didn't want to pry into her past too much. Some of her past was too painful for her to talk about. I was her friend and we had that respect for each other," he said. "In some ways, I envy those who know her from her books. But I think she appreciated that I only knew the real her, and not what she chose to put in her books. And the same with me. On radio, you may know a part of me. But no one is cheerful 11 years, every day, as I appeared on my program! But after writing my book, I found I could tell things about myself that I never told many of my friends. A book is a great place to reveal. San Mao did it in her books. I did it in mine."
Furthermore, O'Shea suggested San Mao was a woman before her time. "She was a pioneering Chinese woman who ventured out into the world outside of China. She blazed the trail for many who now can see the rest of the world. It took a great amount of courage in those days to do so.… She had the spirit to be herself! More and more in China do the same now."
San Mao committed suicide at the age of 47. O'Shea remembered how he had heard of her death and his reaction. "I saw her in November of 1990. She needed to return to Taiwan and she expected to come back to Hong Kong shortly after the new year," he said, adding that she was planning a stopover at his place before taking him to the Mainland later in January. "We spoke on the phone up to about Christmas... and I expected to hear from her around New Year's. I did not hear from her, but in those days there were no cell phones or email. I tried to call her but no answer. I heard about her death on TV on January 4, 1991."
"I have no idea what happened. All I can say is that she seemed positive after I saw her in November. Not depressed. And she was looking forward to the future at that time. She even wrote an article for a newspaper stating that she would start a new chapter in her life. My reaction was shock and a slow acceptance of the news. Whatever triggered her to end her life came about suddenly," O'Shea said.
The experience was even more painful - and puzzling - because O'Shea and San Mao were planning to get married. The couple had imagined "how great a marriage would be between two people who have been friends for years and were available at that time".
On March 26, 2013, San Mao would have turned 70 years old. O'Shea believed she left a rich legacy. "Echo [as San Mao was popularly known in English] inspired millions of Chinese and some foreigners in her life, including me," he said.
"During the 10 years that I knew San Mao, she urged me to write a book about my unique life. About how I took my talents and went from visual to audio, to writing, to Hawaii and to China. She told me that she'd help me promote the book," O'Shea remembered. "I told her I'd have to include her in my story. She said, 'of course!' I think she'd be happy to know that I kept my promise to her to write my book and include a chapter about her. I even wrote a movie script about our relationship. I think people would love to see this on the movie screen. She would be proud."
Tamara Treichel, PhD, has lived in China, Germany and the US. She has written articles for China Daily, Asian Fortune and other publications. She is planning to write a book about her experiences in China, and can be reached at tamaratreichel@googlemail.com
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