Here’s A Red Song Primer, complete with videos and lyrics, of the classic Chinese communist songs that everyone is supposed to be singing for the 90th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

And if it all those thousands upon thousands of people singing those crazy red lyrics is a little too Cultural Revolution for you, you can read this about why it’s not as scary as it appears: Red Songs, Red Banners, Red Olympics…But where is the heart?

This one’s for my sister, who just took her first baby home from the hospital today!

《宝贝 / Bǎobèi / Baby》

According to the internet, 张悬 Zhāng Xuán is an indie artist from Taiwan. Our Chinese teacher introduced us to this cute little pop lullaby so we could learn it for our daughter. 宝贝 means “baby”, but in the sense of “darling” or “little treasure.” The song also uses the term 小鬼，which literally means “little devil/demon/ghost” or “imp”, but it’s a cutesy term of endearment for a baby or small child. I’ve translated it “little rascal” in the lyrics.

One thing about this song is that it provides a contrast between sung and spoken Chinese. You don’t sing the tones in Chinese, but in this song she speaks the word for “baby” 宝贝 instead of singing it, so the tones come through.

If you want more info on Zhang Xuan and her music you can search for 张悬，Zhang Xuan, Deserts Zhang, Deserts Chang, or Deserts Xuan.

You can play the mp3 and follow along below, and download the guitar chords with lyrics in Chinese, English, and pīnyīn:

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Guitar Chords & Lyrics

Download: Baobei.pdf (lyrics & guitar chords with pīnyīn/English cheatsheet).

Lyrics / 歌词:
[Intro:]

耶～ 哒啦哒啦哒 / yē… dā lā dā lā dā
yeah… da da da da da

[Verse 1:]

我的宝贝宝贝，给你一点甜甜 / wǒde bǎobèi bǎobèi, gěi nǐ yīdiǎn tiántian
My baby, baby, here’s a little something sweet
让你今夜都好眠 / ràng nǐ jīnyè dōu hǎo miàn
to make you sleep tight tonight
我的小鬼小鬼，逗逗你的眉眼 / wǒde xiǎoguǐ xiǎoguǐ, dòudòu nǐde méiyǎn
My little rascal, little rascal, making you make funny faces
让你喜欢这世界 / ràng nǐ xǐhuān zhè shìjiè
to make you like this world

[Chorus 1:]

哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝 / wa lā lā lā lā wǒde bǎobèi
wa la la la la la my baby
倦的时候有个人陪 / juàn de shíhòu yǒu gerén péi
When you’re tired someone will be with you
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝 / āi yā ya ya ya ya wǒde bǎibèi
ai ya ya ya ya ya my baby
要你知道你最美 / yào nǐ zhīdào nǐ zuì měi
I hope you know that you’re the most beautiful

[Verse 2:]

我的宝贝宝贝，给你一点甜甜 / wǒde bǎobèi bǎobèi, gěi nǐ yīdiǎn tiántian
My baby, baby, here’s a little something sweet
让你今夜很好眠 / ràng nǐ jīnyè hěn hǎo miàn
to make you have a good sleep tonight
我的小鬼小鬼，捏捏你的小脸 / wǒde xiǎoguǐ xiǎoguǐ, niēniē nǐde xiǎo liǎn
My little rascal, little rascal, pinching your little cheeks
让你喜欢整个明天 / ràng nǐ xǐhuān zhěnggè míngtiān
to make you like all of tomorrow

[Repeat Chorus 1]
[Chorus 2:]

哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝 / wa lā lā lā lā wǒde bǎobèi
wa la la la la la my baby
孤单时有人把你想念 / gūdān shí yǒurén bǎ nǐ xiǎngniàn
When you’re lonely someone’s missing you
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝 / āi ya ya ya ya ya wǒde bǎibèi
ai ya ya ya ya ya my baby
要你知道你最美 / yào nǐ zhīdào nǐ zuì měi
I hope you know that you’re the most beautiful

[End Chorus:]

哇啦啦啦啦啦啦耶~ 喔
wa la la la la la la yeah… whoa
耶~ 耶 喔~ 喔
Yeah… yeah whoa… whoa
哇啦啦啦啦啦我的宝贝 / wa lā lā lā lā wǒde bǎobèi
wa la la la la la my baby
倦的时候有个人陪 / juàn de shíhòu yǒu gerén péi
When you’re tired someone will be with you
哎呀呀呀呀呀我的宝贝 / āi yā ya ya ya ya wǒde bǎibèi
ai ya ya ya ya ya my baby
要你知道你最美 / yào nǐ zhīdào nǐ zuì měi
I hope you know that you’re the most beautiful
要你知道你最美 / yào nǐ zhīdào nǐ zuì měi
I hope you know that you’re the most beautiful

If know of any good Chinese kids’ music, please let us know!

P.S. – You can watch the music video on YouTube (with subtitles), Youku or Tudou.

More for your karaoke repertoire:

• Brother Who Sleeps in the Top Bunk / 睡在我上铺的兄弟
• Nothing to My Name / 一无所有
• Even in Death I’ll Love / 死了都要爱
• Liang Shanbo & Juliet / 梁山伯与茱丽叶
• Mouse Loves Rice / 老鼠爱大米

For Jessica’s birthday we had a karaoke party with a bunch friends:

If you haven’t been to a good Chinese karaoke party yet, you’re missing out! Here’s some photos and fun video clips.

Piao Laoshi’s Korean boyfriend gives Jessica a “Happy Birthday Jessica!” shout out in the middle of his song, and elicits praise from some of the ladies who start chanting his name:

Liu Wei, Greg, Dingle and Zhou Jun give a heartfelt(?) rendition of Air Supply’s All Out Of Love:

Cute (they’re engaged):

Jessica got some cute stuffed cows as gifts, since 2009 is the year of the cow.

The cake says, “Happy Birthday, Lin Yi An” (生日快乐林怡安；shēngrì kuàilè lín yí ān). Yí-ān is Jessica’s Chinese name.

This makes two karaoke parties in a row where Bon Jovi has made an appearance in the form of a passionate, Chinese-accented rendition of “It’s My Life”.

I don’t know about office parties, because all the jobs I had in North America weren’t ever office party kind of jobs. Last night’s New Years party for the magazine and associated companies (about 80 people at a hotel banquet) was my first one. I sat next to the big boss at the international table, which had (including me): three Koreans, two Japanese, a Canadian, a Scot, a Chinese (the boss), and an American. The Koreans were fun, the Japanese were almost invisible, the Scot could really drink, and the American was considered masculine because she smoked (they told her so).

The Fun
So I don’t know how to compare this to the average North American office party. Do office parties in America involve nice banquets, door prizes, co-workers singing to karaoke tracks, fun balloon popping competitions, cute homemade videos of all the staff, and good food? They should; it was actually kind of fun. Do most people suddenly get up and leave, as if given some sudden, subtle signal? That was kind of weird, like all these happy-looking people were really just waiting for their first chance to split (I don’t think they really were).

The Booze
What about the booze? Do American office parties have endless beer, wine, and báijiǔ (白酒)? You know, in a sad sort of way I’m actually thankful that East Asians are genetically predisposed to be weaker drinkers; it makes it a little easier to remain both polite (if the boss toasts you…) and un-inebriated over the course of an evening. I’m not a big drinker and I flat out refuse to get drunk, but I don’t mind doing my duty within those limits, so it’s convenient that the people whom I don’t want to offend will probably quickly reach the point where they won’t remember me avoiding all those extra shots anyway.

The KTV
And what about an an ear-splitting karaoke after-party that involves revolutionary songs from elementary school, Bon Jovi, and an impromptu, drunken, yet sincere pre-national anthem speech about loving communism by a guy who’s made it rich in China’s current economy? I have to admit, if they don’t do karaoke after-parties in America then they are seriously missing out. Chinese karaoke parties are fun. It’s loud and crowded and rènao (热闹) the way Chinese like it. Everyone gets to have fun singing their hearts out and no one really cares if they don’t sound that good (this is also true of alcohol-free karaoke parties).

I left a little after 11pm (pregnant wife at home and all) after doing my obligatory KTV duty (it’s always satisfying to get the surprised looks when a lǎowài sings in Chinese) but before they made good their threat of making the lǎowàis sing Hotel California (I don’t know why it’s always Hotel California). After a half-hour flat-tire bike ride home, I discovered Jessica still had friends over. But the holidays end tomorrow morning at 8:05!

Of course, the day you teach a lesson to foreigners about dealing with culture stress and not withdrawing from the culture and people even when you feel like it is the day one of your local friends will inadvertently push a whole bunch of your cultural-annoyance buttons.

The NGO that we’re with in China has “culture lectures” on Saturday mornings every so many weeks. I did the one this morning, about how to handle culture stress, choosing to engage the culture and its people even when you feel like withdrawing from it, and looking at your lifestyle, living habits, attitudes, etc. to see if they are helping or hindering your cultural adjustment. I suppose I was asking for it.

After a late lunch and walk in the park, Jessica and I went home and fell asleep reading books on the couch. We were tired and we had an after-dinner karaoke party planned for the evening. A friend phoned about karaoke details. He wasn’t supposed to phone me. I’d already told him to wait for me to phone him because I was waiting to hear from someone else when and where to meet later that night. But he phoned anyway, and in a blast of partially-intelligible Chinglish (he often insists on trying his English on us, even though we refuse to speak it to him) destroyed my nap. Later, Jessica and I had dinner and were watching a movie when he called again to tell us he was on the way over and just five minutes away, even though he wasn’t supposed to come over for another hour and half. So we watched the last hour of the movie with much less snuggling but a lot more Chinglish. I was a little annoyed; Chinese people often feel free to impose upon other people’s personal space and time in ways that North Americans rarely if ever would. Of course, I was further annoyed at remembering all the stuff we’d discussed that morning in the culture class.

It’s dumb to get annoyed at Chinese people for not acting like North Americans (or vice versa), but that doesn’t mean what they do still isn’t annoying sometimes. Still, I got over it and we ended up having a really fun time, proving once again that it’s usually worth it to put cultural preferences aside and just have fun with people. And who would have guessed that this guy can sing Micheal Bolton songs?

This is the scene immediately after the Sunday morning service concludes at Tianjin’s Shānxī Lù church; people have to wait for some personal prayer space at the altar:

Shānxī Lù is a TSPM church (Three-Self Patriotic Movement). These kinds of Chinese churches are also sometimes called registered churches, official churches, or government churches, depending on the bias of the author. Here’s an official version of what that means: China’s Protestant Churches to Adhere to “Three-Self” Principles. This church seats several hundred, and it’s been full each of the couple times I dropped in.

Karaoke Party with the teachers!
We sang karaoke for FOUR HOURS this afternoon with some of our teachers and classmates. Tons of fun, and our throats are sore now. I’d include a video clip of one of our teachers singing Wannabe by the Spice Girls, but she’d probably kill me. We sang a mix of Chinese and English songs. I once read somewhere that one of the reasons Mainlanders love karaoke so much is because it’s one of the few places where they get to explicitly verbally express romantic feelings. On the way out we passed a room where a middle-aged businessman was totally rocking out to some love ballad.

Burning Day
Riding back from the karaoke place we discovered that it’s another burning night, when the neighbours send ghost money to their dead relatives. This was taken right outside our apartment building:

See “There’s hell to pay” or the related links below for more about burning stuff for dead relatives.

You can’t live in China long without eventually finding yourself at a karaoke party. It was my first time, Jessica’s second. The place was huge; several floors of karaoke rooms to which “swanky” can’t even begin to do justice. Apparently they chose this particular place because it’s known for its nice rooms and good speakers, rather than its pretty girls and additional services. Chuck and Kristi had to open with Hotel California, and before we were done we’d made it through Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Somewhere Out There, Every Thing I Do (I Do it for You), Eternal Flame, some Simon and Garfunkel, and I can’t even remember what else. It was actually more fun than I imagined it would be.

A Party Secretary at Tianjin University, who is really supportive of the Bright Future project, threw a karaoke party for the teachers and students from this semester’s Bright Future class. Officially, it was to honour Chuck, who’s worked as the Bright Future intern the last several months. Click the photos to see them full size, mouseover for people’s names.

If only they had a Disney music section…