Editor's note:
As the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China arrives, South China's Guangdong Province has vividly captured major headway in the country's reform and opening up over the past four decades. In light of this special occasion, GDToday's special program "My Tales, My Guangdong" will be following through with different stories of expats residing in Guangdong Province. Afar as they come from, they will share how they found a second home and bonded with this vast, diverse, fast-growing country.
"The terminal of this station is Jiahewanggang. The doors are now closing; take care of your safety and beware of being clamped..." This is what every passenger hears every day when stepping into a fully packed Guangzhou metro train. Anyone who stays in the city for any extended period would definitely have heard this warm, caring female voice.
Her name is Brandy Spohn from Georgia, USA. Whenever there's an announcement of arrival or departure, her reassuring voice instantly fills the air. Brandy came to China in 2006 when she was just 21, which she described as a coincidence. By 2009, she'd moved to Guangzhou and has been living here ever since.
Brandy with her family in Georgia when she was a kid (Photo provided to GDToday by Brandy)
18 years of massive changes in Guangzhou since 2006
"2006, I was young. I had been working for a year or two and had a roommate who wanted to go to China, and I thought, 'That's crazy,'" she recalled. "Well, I'll go to China maybe a year and see what happens. Maybe I'll learn Chinese and come back and get a better job."
Brandy hanging with her friends on her early days in China (Photo provided to GDToday by Brandy)
She did not know what to expect when she arrived. She'd never imagined she would stay in China this long, for 18 years. For the time being, she bore witness to vibrant changes in China and started multiple businesses. "I've started multiple businesses. Like I said, doing business here is quite easy. Countless opportunities," she said.
Five or six years ago, Brandy got a chance through another voice actor from her inner circle to do some tryouts for the Guangzhou Metro. Luckily, she got it.
Upon hearing that metro lines now link downtown Guangzhou to Conghua, and that passengers from Guangzhou can even board a train bound for the city of Zhongshan, Brandy couldn't help but express her excitement.
However, what has now become the signature "announcement lady voice" in Guangzhou actually came through a long process. Brandy still ironically poked fun at how she struggled to find the right voice for the metro.
"I remember in the beginning them saying, 'Smile, more happy, more smile, more happy,'" she told us. One day she was playing around with different sounds in the studio. "I used my 'storybook mother voice,' and it goes, 'Once upon a time, there was a little boy,'" she said, "and suddenly they're like, yes, that's the voice we want for the train."
Brandy working in a vocal booth (Photo provided to GDToday by Brandy)
Much of another headache for Brandy was when it came to the place names in Chinese. "It took me like 20 minutes to get that 'wuyangcun (五羊邨)' tones right," she mocked herself. So when it came to the place names, she didn't know the tones or the way to pronounce them. There's like a magical pronunciation that she always has to fight to find, which is why voice acting still appeals to her.
Other than metro voice, Brandy takes pride in her diverse voice acting portfolio from the past, including cartoons, ads, games, and little short movies. She even recorded tons of textbooks for China.
Now, whenever there are new lines, Brandy steps into the studio for new recordings, and she feels overwhelmingly crazy to see the metro network has expanded over the years.
"I came to Guangzhou, and I think in 2008 I lived near Taojin. There was no metro there. I remember it like now when I drive through, and I'm like there's just a metro everywhere," she said. "China is very fast and efficient with a lot of things like that."
One of the most concrete changes about China she felt was how convenient living in China has become. "When I came to China, there were no smartphones. If you wanted to do things, you had to do it the hard way," she remembered. "You can order a bag of ice online. Like when I came to China, there was no ice. It was a completely different China."
From voice acting to stand-up comedy: opportunities all along the way
As a freelancer herself over the years, she ventured into various entrepreneurial pursuits. She once had an online business where she sold goods to teachers in China. Later, she had a coffee shop for a bit and an English training center with a partner. Her melodic voice graced numerous events as a singer, and she worked in a trade company in Shunde.
Brandy serenaded a crowd at a bar in China (Photo provided to GDToday by Brandy)
After years of making a name in voice acting, Brandy is now doing something even wilder and crazier—stand-up comedy in China. She performs in both English and Chinese and sometimes throws in some Cantonese jokes.
Talent never hides itself in a person. "People have always told me that I should be a comedian. Everybody says this when you're a funny person," she said. "I thought, why don't I do something on my own?"
Right now, she's starting a comedy brand named Tough Cookie Comedy, which is a mix of Chinese, Cantonese, and English, showcasing the multicultural aspects of Guangzhou.
Brandy and her comedy crew at a show (Photo provided to GDToday by Brandy)
She also shared her source of inspiration when crafting jokes. "I think the core part of a joke doesn't change for human beings. It's something that's shocking, unexpected. That's what makes us laugh." Brandy thinks stand-up comedy is about taking all the things in life that she has experienced, her trauma and laughs, and fusing them into jokes that help people escape from sadness.
Brand saw a big untapped potential in stand-up comedy in Guangzhou compared to other cities in China. "There's been a vacuum for years; you can see it in Chengdu, Shanghai, and Beijing. It's a very mature market. They've been doing shows, they've got bigger names," she explained.
"I think because Guangzhou is perhaps the place where foreigners are more focused on trade and business, while they would like to see a show and go to a show, they don't stay here long enough to create a career out of it," she claimed.
Buckling up for what's new to come in China
A lot of Chinese nowadays approach her and say she has become assimilated in China as she's stayed this long, but that just wasn't the case for Brandy. "The case is I can now use Chinese to express my American mindset and my culture. I didn't change." She felt like a lot of Guangdong culture is actually similar to her Southern American culture, like the way that people take care of family. That's why it feels like home to her.
It's clear Brandy is having the time of her life, with all the bright, sparkling moments on stage. But behind all the applause, not many people see the struggle of a woman from thousands of miles away, hustling to achieve her dreams in China.
This year marks Brandy's 18th year in China. When asked why she stayed, she simply said it was her commitment to her goals and her choice to enjoy life in China instead of complaining.
"When I came to China, I discovered something about myself: I love challenges, I love learning, and I love puzzles. And that's what life was for me," said Brandy. "Every day was a new word to learn, a new friend to meet, a different country to understand—just everything, and that hasn't stopped every day."
Brandy said she always thought that when it gets boring, then she'll go back home, but it never has. She quoted a Chinese phrase: it is never too old to learn, and said she was just as excited as she was when she first arrived in China and can't wait to open a new chapter of life in China.
Reporter: Jersey, Steven
Cameraman: Ou Xiaoming, Pan Jiajun
Video Editor: Ou Xiaoming, Pan Jiajun
Graphic Designer: Mia
Editor: Steven, Nina, James
