"The only thing I know was 'ABCD', 'what's your name', 'how do you do'?"
Bao Sheng Ze, better known as Bunz, reminisces on his unexpected move to Singapore as a kid from Shao Xin, China, his active process of assimilation, and the love he holds for Singapore.
Bao Sheng Ze, better known as Bunz, reminisces on his unexpected move to Singapore as a kid from Shao Xin, China, his active process of assimilation, and the love he holds for Singapore.
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00:00So I think like Singapore did offer me a lot of opportunities that I wouldn't
00:07have had if I was there. So this year I really want to do something I want to
00:13do and that can make myself really happier.
00:18Hi, my name is Bunce. I'm 37 years old and I'm from China.
00:32Migrated here since year 2000, so spent 13 years in my home country. I was born in
00:38Shaoxing, then I grew up in Wenzhou. Pingyang is the county. I would say it's
00:44very rural. It's a small town with low-rise buildings, mountains around my
00:50town and rivers, countryside like kampong. Actually the initial news of moving to
00:55Singapore came quite as a shock. My dad came over to Singapore first in the late
00:591990s as a software engineer. He told my grandparents he's ready to bring myself
01:04and my mom over to Singapore. Then I was like, what? Because back then moving
01:08abroad is a big thing. Not a lot of people can travel overseas so it came as
01:12quite of a shock because I was already studying in secondary two. All my
01:17friends are there, all my relatives are there. I grew up with my grandparents
01:21because my parents were very busy. My dad was working in Hangzhou, my mom was in
01:25Shaoxing. So my grandparents took care of me, sent me to school, buy me school
01:31packs, buy me new clothes. They are really like my parents. My entire
01:35childhood memory were all revolved around them. But when my dad made a
01:41decision to bring me and my mom over to Singapore, I didn't have much of a
01:46childhood with them and that is also something I really wanted as a kid, to
01:51stay with your parents. That could have been a very strong motivation
01:56for me why I wanted to come to Singapore as well. Being a small-town boy, I haven't
02:01even traveled actually to any other parts of China. I didn't even have an
02:05image of how Singapore looked like. Basically it was a culture shock.
02:09High-rise buildings, a lot of cars, traffic lights, very organized streets
02:15and all. You're like, what is this place? For me, I have not even been to Beijing
02:20or Shanghai, so I've never really seen a city like that. To be honest, I think the
02:25biggest barrier is language. I couldn't even speak a single word. The only
02:30thing I know was like what ABCD and what's your name? How do you do? So when I
02:35came, I actually went to British Council to do a bit of prep for my school entry
02:40exam. Then I went to school, tried to mix with a lot of Malay friends and Indian
02:47friends, so I can force myself to speak more English. Stay away from my comfort
02:52zone, speak in Chinese. I was eventually able to overcome that. It's
02:56neutralizing yourself into the society. I mean the way we live back then in that
03:02small town versus Singapore's busy city life is very, very different. The pacing
03:07of life is quite slow. Even the last trip when I went back, you can see that my
03:12relatives are very chill. They take stuff slowly, they do things slowly,
03:17one step at a time. But in Singapore, I feel it's quite different. I mean life is
03:20just way busier. Maybe it's my line of work also, being a producer, being an
03:25actor on set. So what I do is basically speak to clients, try to get projects in,
03:30lies between the client, the production and follow through, free pro all the way
03:35to post. They are the ones that actually bridging everything together, trying to
03:38please everybody on set and try to get production going from the very beginning
03:42all the way until the end. Eight years of that, every single day, I'm getting a bit
03:46tired. So this year I'm trying to come back to what I was really passionate
03:52about, which is performing. I think Singapore made me realize that the
03:58little dream of mine can actually come true. Back then when I was in a small
04:01country, it's impossible for you to think of, oh you want to be a singer, you want to
04:05be a performer. Growing up in my small town, I used to listen to a lot of cassette
04:11tapes. Xiao Hu Dui, Lin Zhiying, Xie Tingfeng, all those back then using cassette tapes.
04:16So to me, they are the stars and that's unreachable. But when I came to Singapore,
04:23there was a concert. It was Lin Zhiying's concert at Heeren HMV and I was just so
04:29happy to be there, buying a CD. Then I saw him performing. Then I was like, wow, I
04:35could actually see a real pop star. It would never happen in my hometown. But
04:40after seeing real stars on stage, that idea just got a little bit more
04:45realistic. And from that moment, it just sparked off a little thing in me. I feel
04:50like I really love to perform.
05:01Memorable moments, talent time. Yeah, talent time was one of the most epic
05:07moments of my life in my secondary school, I feel. Secondary three, I think if I
05:11remember correctly, they had a talent time. And my friends were just like
05:14asking me, hey, you want to be a performer, right? Hey, go ah. We have a small
05:18podium right in the center of Northland, around the canteen area. So that was the
05:23spot that you have to perform.
05:26Wow. Brings back memories, man. Yeah. If you see right there, the opening part
05:33right is where the, you know, there's a race platform that used to perform for
05:36school talent time. That's exactly where it is. But I don't know whether it's
05:40still there. Yeah. Good memories. This is where it kickstart all my so-called
05:47dream and a passion.
05:49Yeah, I think we got, we got a prize. But I forgot what prize. So that actually
05:57started the entire journey of me believing in myself there. Hey, you know
06:02what, maybe you can try, you can do this, you know. Though it's a small
06:06recognition, but it sort of gave me that morale booster. So that's like the
06:10spark. Yeah. And the most epic moment, people were like cheering. I was like,
06:16okay, okay, this is how it feels like.
06:22I don't know why I still kept this, but I think this might be useful. Actually
06:25found this when I was like digging for all the stuff. So this is the company
06:30United Artists Network, first company I signed. This is called a comb cut. So
06:35that's where I ended up with my very young looking comb cut. I went to this
06:39agency called United Artists Network, signed under them, trained for like for
06:42five years, dance, singing, and even they brought us to like stadiums to swim
06:48and train on physics. Eventually, they also got me my first role, which is with
06:53Mediacorp. This particular script I took out for you guys. Somehow I kept it. I
06:57don't know why. Chinese drama called 还有明天. So this was like the first
07:01one that I've done for them. Still kept the script somehow. This is maybe quite
07:07memorable. That's why I kept it. I don't know. Since day one when I started, it
07:11was performing. It was singing, it was writing songs, it was acting, and that
07:16feels great. Yeah. I think I will tell my younger self, you know, just be brave to
07:25dare to dream. You know, we are not living the American dream, but we are
07:29living the Singapore dream. I feel Singapore is a really great place for
07:32you to make bigger things happen. Singapore actually gave me a platform to
07:36realize my dream. Like really.
09:06I really don't wait for time. Now I can stay by your side, I feel really happy.
09:11These few years, I realized that life is not only about money, but also about time.
09:19Learning how to live well and how to experience life is the most important thing.
09:24Some things are too late if you don't do them now. My biggest wish now is that you
09:30all stay safe. I will visit you in June. I wish you all good health and safety.
09:37Love, your grandson, Jin Shang.