Chrissie Chau goes to university

Guest speaker Chrissie Chau wasn't the only one scratching her head at yesterday's talk "Unscrambling the Chrissie Chau Phenomenon" at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology last night. The "pseudo model" and Lingnan University professor Dr Li Siu-leung faced off to see who could baffle audience members more.

Dr Li, a professor of cultural studies, led Hong Kong's most talked-about model and many audience members in circles when he quoted irrelevantly from Shakespeare, misspelled Chau’s last name as "Chow" and made a grammatical mistake on his PowerPoint slides.

Chau on the other hand, seemed happy to play the part of the stereotypical model. She appeared consistently perplexed by the professor's academic prattling about the public's embrace of female eroticism (think he was talking about Chrissie's pillows literally). Chau couldn't muster more than an empty expression when he quoted French philosopher Georges Bataille, saying porn has its place in high culture (“The erotic moment is also the most intense of all; hence its place is at the loftiest peak of man’s spirit.”)

Chau, dressed rather out of character in a somber baggy black dress, asked the speaker to repeat himself on at least three occasions.

Audience member: Who do you think is more annoyed by the langmo phenomenon -- supermodels or  competitors just starting out in the modeling business?

Chrissie Chau: I think I’m more annoyed!

Then Dr Li went on to read a pornographic episode from Chinese literary masterpiece "Romance of the West Chamber" for about five minutes, during which many audience members could be observed glancing at their watches with expressions of disbelief. We imagine this is what it feels like when you pass through one of those blackholes on Star Trek and you live decades of your life, but then emerge from the blackhole realizing that only minutes have passed in real time.

Finally, the professor ended his talk with Shakespeare, doctoring Juliet’s balcony soliloquy:

Here are more highlights from the Chau-Li back and forth.

Li: Do you think you will violently respond to emotionally intensive moments?

Li: Do you have a strong urge to sort out your complicated self?

Li: Do you think it’s important to find yourself?

Li: Have you had a rebellious period in your life?

Li: What do you think young people have in common these days? What common topics do you think you have with them?

Li: Define "bao."

Li: Any specific examples?

Li: Bus uncle is intensively violent. It is emotions at its peak. Although our talk today deals with eroticism, emotions are wide ranging. Do you very intensively enjoy these emotionally intensive moments, like me driving a car at 150 miles per hour? A random hypothesis, but do you have any other examples?

I'm kind of a celebrity! Get me outta here!

Chau: This is a difficult question.

Audience member: Who do you think is more annoyed by the langmo phenomenon -- supermodels who have undergone a lot of training and investment or similar-aged competitors just starting out in the modeling business?

Audience member: Do you feel any pressure?

Chau: Of course, everyone feels pressure. You have pressure, I have pressure too [a quote from the "bus uncle" video]. All I can say is, I will catch up on what I lack in comparison to others. I will strive to better myself.