Introduction to Chinese Songs

By 红尘编辑室

These songs are selected from Chinese movie songs, folk songs and modern songs. Although they are from different decades, all of them are still popular now in China. Each song reveals a bit of Chinese history and culture. In the linked music videos, the singers show their various singing styles and musical renditions. Through listening to these songs and reading the lyrics, Chinese learners can practice and improve their language. The music lovers can enjoy more melodies. The author also tells the background stories of the songs, discusses and shares his experiences related to the songs with short comments.

• Language: English
• Publisher: 红尘编辑室
• Release date: Dec 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370389056

Book preview

Introduction to Chinese Songs

Compiled by Hongchen Wang

Edited by Lucas Fried

Copyright 2016

Smashwords Edition

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Table of Contents

10 Movie Songs:

Where Is the Road 敢问路在何方

Jiu Er 九儿

Night in the Grassland 草原之夜

Ode to Coral 珊瑚颂

Let’s Row 让我们荡起双桨

Miss My Comrade 怀念战友

Any Empty Bottles for Sale酒干倘卖无

A Beautiful Legend 一个美丽的传说

A Rose in the Heart 心中的玫瑰

I Love You, China! 我爱你中国

10 Folk Songs:

Jasmine Flower 茉莉花

Paradise 天堂

Kangding’s Love Song 康定情歌

Thirty-Li Village 三十里铺

A Crescent Moon in the Sky 半个月亮爬上来

Shanxi Is Beautiful 人说山西好风光

South of Colorful Clouds 彩云之南

Alamuhan 阿拉木汗

Old Hua’s Tunes 华阴老腔

Daban Town’s Girl大阪城的姑娘

10 Modern Songs:

Sweet Honey 甜蜜蜜

Tomorrow Will Be Better 明天更美好

My Chinese Heart 我的中国心

Love of My Small Village 小村之恋

Please Come with Me请跟我来

Meeting You, My Destiny 遇上你是我的缘

Happy New Year! 过年好!

In the Future 以后的以后

Mother’s Kiss 妈妈的吻

Song of the Yangzi River 长江之江

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10 Movie Songs:

[Where Is the Road] 敢问路在何方

Link to the Music Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGW0ZvyqKqg

Lyrics in English:

You carry the luggage by a shoulder pole

I lead the horse

Greeting the sunrise

Sending away the sunset

On a rough trail,

Our steps made a big road

Overcoming hardship and danger

Going forward, going forward

La-la-la-la,,,

Four seasons come and go year after year

Sending all kinds of hard experiences

Where is the road?

The road is under our steps

You carry the luggage by a shoulder pole

I lead the horse

Climbing over the mountains

Crossing the streams and rivers

Cold frost falls on our shoulders

A storm roars with lightning 

We are singing and going

Going toward the edge of the sky

La-la-la-la,,,

Lyrics in Chinese

你挑着担 我牵着马

迎来日出 送走晚霞

踏平坎坷 成大道

斗罢艰险 又出发

啦啦…

一番番春秋冬夏

一场场酸甜苦辣

敢问路在何方

路在脚下

你挑着担 我牵着马

翻山涉水 两肩霜华

风云雷电 任叱诧

一路豪歌 向天涯 向天涯

一番番春秋冬夏

一场场酸甜苦辣

敢问路在何方 路在脚下

敢问路在何方 路在脚下

Story

This is the theme song of the Chinese movie Journey to the West, which was adapted from the Chinese classical fiction novel with the same title. The story is based on the real journey of a Chinese Monk, who traveled to India in the seventh century in order to obtain the Buddhist sacred texts. He crossed many mountains, rivers, and desolate deserts. He finally reached India. He stayed in India for 17 years to learn the language and about Buddhism. During his time in India, he also traveled to West Asia where he visited and studied at many Buddhist temples. When he returned to China, he brought back 657 scrolls of sacred Buddhist texts. Then, he spent the rest of his life translating the texts into Chinese and thereby enriched the teaching of Buddhism in China. This song sings about the difficult situations he experienced on the road to India from China: he encountered all kinds of dangers, fought with scary demons, and came upon places where humans lived very differently. Finally, he overcame all the difficulties to fulfill his great mission.

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[Jiu Er] 九儿

Link to the Music Video：

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry49mFR53vc

Lyrics in English:

The field lies around me

The fragrance of jujube flowers

Touches my hands

Red sorghum has ripened

Reddening the whole sky

Jiu Er, I’ll see you off to a far place

Lyrics in Chinese

身边的那片田野啊

手边的枣花香

高粱熟来

红满天

九儿我送你去远方

Story

This song is from the Chinese TV