news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

this evening, news came that taiwan's famous voice actor shi banyu had passed away.

this news was confirmed by a friend of shi banyu: "he returned to beijing from taiwan on the 15th. he had a cold or fever on the night of the 16th, and was sent to the hospital on the 17th and passed away."

when talking about stephen chow, audiences outside of cantonese-speaking areas may first think of his iconic "ah~hahaha" laughter.

the creator of this sound is mr. shi banyu.

as the western proverb says, "translation is betrayal." for a long time, until now, the audience has always spontaneously divided into two camps regarding stephen chow's movies.

one group believes that if you want to watch stephen chow's movies, you must watch the cantonese version to get the authentic flavor.

even in the 1980s and 1990s when there was a lack of simultaneous recording and dubbing was required, stephen chow still insisted that he personally dub every movie. it can be seen that no one can "translate" or "represent" stephen chow.

but another group believes that it was shi banyu's genius re-creation that gave stephen chow's films the soul and was able to fully capture the charm of stephen chow's films. some even say, "without shi banyu, there would be no stephen chow."

although it is biased, there is no doubt that shi banyu is an important contributor to the creation of the myth of stephen chow as the king of comedy for the vast audience who cannot understand cantonese.

as a cantonese-speaking audience, there is actually no need to argue about which of the two versions is the "authentic" one, because the cantonese version of stephen chow and the mandarin version of stephen chow are actually two different "texts", each interesting in its own way, and there is no need to rank them first.

what is certain is that without shi banyu's mandarin dubbing, stephen chow might not have the huge influence he has today in the wider mandarin-speaking regions.

shi banyu's unique voice and dubbing skills can undoubtedly be called a school of its own and can be called art.

shi banyu, formerly known as shi renmao, was born in taoyuan county, taiwan in 1958. his ancestral home is guilin, guangxi. he is a famous taiwanese voice actor, known for his unique voice and style.

his dubbing career began in 1983. initially, he mostly dubbed villain roles due to his shrill voice. it was not until he dubbed for stephen chow's film "god of gamblers" in 1990 that he became truly famous.

since then, he has become the exclusive voice actor for many of stephen chow's films, and has participated in classic works such as "the god of cookery", "a chinese odyssey", and "shaolin soccer", adding a unique voice charm to stephen chow's nonsensical comedies.

shi banyu once said that it was his honor to be able to dub for stephen chow: "it is my honor to dub for stephen chow. i had a lot of fun and made many friends during the dubbing work."

in addition, shi banyu said in an interview that stephen chow's performances are very rich and varied, which brings challenges to the dubbing work.

he believes that dubbing and actor performance complement each other. only when the actor has a good performance can the dubbing actor better grasp the character's psychology and produce excellent works.

even though the two have such close cooperation, they do not have a personal relationship: "although we have cooperated many times, our relationship is only in cooperation. we rarely contact each other in normal time."

but as picky and fussy as stephen chow is, he has always used shi banyu as his exclusive "spokesperson", which is a self-evident affirmation of his artistic creation.

during his career, shi banyu not only dubbed for stephen chow, but also for many other well-known actors such as jacky cheung and tony leung ka fai. his voice is highly recognizable in the chinese film and television industry, and he has served as a visiting professor at jilin animation academy, teaching dubbing techniques.

shi banyu's health has attracted widespread attention in recent years. in 2022, he was hospitalized for pulmonary aspergillosis. his serious condition caused him to lose weight and become emaciated, causing netizens to worry about his health and living conditions.

in addition, in september 2023, his studio in beijing was forced to move out. although he had paid 40 years of rent, the other party was only willing to refund 10 years of rent. shi banyu expressed helplessness and hoped to negotiate with the other party to resolve the rent and compensation issues.

despite facing health and life challenges, shi banyu has remained actively involved in dubbing activities and interacted with fans in recent years.

in november 2023, he attended the 30-year reunion of the main creators of "the legend of the new white snake" and shared his experience of dubbing for stephen chow.

shi banyu is not only an important voice representative of stephen chow's films, but also an important figure in the chinese dubbing industry. his contribution cannot be ignored, and his voice will live forever in the films he endorses.