It was November 2011, and I was in a fluorescent-lit hotel room in the Chinese city of Ordos, on the outskirts of Inner Mongolia. Next to me, my 17-year-old Brazilian roommate, Anna, was tucking into bed. I set our alarm for 6 a.m., when singing, dancing, and talent contests awaited us. All would be broadcast on China Central Television. “Open your eyes and smile,” called Anna from her bed, using the phrase our choreographer had been shouting for the past two days. “Ugh. Goodnight.” Back home in Brazil, Anna was a high-fashion model, represented by agencies in Milan and New …read more
Source: The Atlantic
