Miss Penny Xu

WICHITA, Kan. – Rumor has it China is everywhere. You could tell that to the Kansans, but I'm not sure they'd believe you.

Two months on here in America's Heartland, I've had surprisingly few China-related adventures. I haven't written about the country, or any Chinese-Americans in my stories. I really haven't been in any situations where speaking Chinese could remotely be considered helpful. And so, the China has dried up from this blog.

This afternoon, I saw an interesting link while trolling the Web for a potential story: "2006 Wranglers China Tour."

The Prairie Rose Wranglers are a Kansas institution, a performance group comprised of mostly teenaged singers. They perform traditional Western ballads and songs, at a dinner theater 10 miles outside of Wichita. The Prairie Rose singers and unlimited BBQ cost $25, or $22.50 for groups of 10 or more.

They've entertained tens of thousands of people over the past couple decades, although probably not too Chinese. An entertainment agency set out to change that, and took the group over to China last spring. They came, they saw, they sang their tunes in Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an, and left.

From the coverage in the paper and other local media, you'd think these were the first white people to ever set foot in China.

"I'm the luckiest kid in the whole world," an 11-year-old told our paper. Another child said he was worried about eating two weeks of only Chinese food.

I took issue with a couple things:

1. They claim to be giving the first musical performance on the Great Wall. They could have given the first musical performance of the Great Wall... on the day. But, no, many a people have performed on those steps. Even I sang "Hollaback Girl" on the wall.

2. Their motivation is apparently to meet "the Chinese people." I'm skeptical. Who are you meeting as you zoom through the country in a giant tour with no Chinese?

The whole trip seemed like a giant missed opportunity. Why were these guys stuck in the boring big cities? Why didn't they go to see China's real-life cowboys? Now a joint performance of a Tibetan chanting and doo-wop songs about "Missy Penny Sue' is something I'd pay 25 RMB to see. I might even pay $25, if it included some BBQ.