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Archive for the 'Chinese Children's Songs' Category
Contents
Posts
Chinese Song, “Little Sister Carries Her Doll” With a Video
Monday, May 11th, 2009This song is called “Mei mei bei zhe yang wa wa” in Pinyin, literally it’s, “Little Sister Carries Her Foreign Doll”. (Pinyin is the system used to transliterate Mandarin Chinese using the Roman alphabet.) “Foreign” doll refers to a western style doll as opposed to a traditional Chinese doll.
Here’s a Chinese song in the original, with the Pinyin transliteration, an English translation followed by a YouTube video…
Traditional Chinese Text
妹妹背這洋娃娃，
走到花園來看花，
娃娃哭了叫媽媽，
樹上的小鳥笑哈哈
Pinyin
Mei4 mei bei1 zhe4 yang2 wa2 wa,
Zou3 dao4 hua1 yuan2 lai2 kan4 hua1,
Wa2 wa ku1 le jiao4 ma1 ma,
Shu4 shang4 de xiao3 niao3 xiao4 ha1 ha1.English Translation
Little sister carries her foreign doll
To the garden to see some flowers.
The doll cries for its mother.
A bird up in a tree laughs.In this YouTube video “Mei mei bei zhe yang wa wa” is being sung by a class while dancing to the song…
Many thanks to Anna-Marie for contributing the Chinese version, the transliteration of this song and for translating it into English. Thanks also to James Yannucci for help with the Pinyin.
You can visit the “Mei mei bei zhe yang wa wa” Song Page for more info about this song including French and Spanish translations and the simplified Chinese text.
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
Does Anyone Know the Song, “I’m a Little Chinese Doll from Across the Sea”?
Sunday, October 19th, 2008Sandy wrote looking for help with lyrics to a Chinese New Years song. Here’s what she wrote…
Looking for the entire words to an old song “I’m a Little Chinese Doll from across the sea. Where the lovely lotus blooms neath a cherry tree. Paper dragons you will meet on a Chinese New Year, Winding up and down the street on a Chinese New Year. Evil Spirits cannot stay when the dragon’s on his way. Firecrackers POP all day on a Chinese New Year…” Anyone ever heard this song and is there more of it? Please let me know, I need it for my little granddaughter to sing… She so loves it but we think there is more. Thanks for the help.
If anyone know of more lyrics to this song, or if you know anything about the origins of it, please let us know about it in the comments below.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
Can Someone Help with a Chinese Song from an Album called “Children’s Folk Rhymes in Beijing”?
Friday, November 9th, 2007Kel wrote:
Hi,
I just found your web page and am interested in finding a song and lyrics. The song is called is “Looking at the Sights With My Small Eyes” (in Chinese its “Xiao Yan Jing Kan Jing Zhi Er”). It’s from an album called “Children’s Folk Rhymes in Beijing”…..
I’m trying to find somewhere I can download it and also the lyrics (in English) please.
Thank you in anticipation.
Kel
If anyone can help Kel (we’d also love to receive the lyrics in the original language if anyone knows them) – please comment below.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
Chinese Musical Notation – Music without a Staff!
Thursday, June 28th, 2007I recently received a song from China called Little Swallow. The sheet music was very different from the notes on staffs that we use in the West. It consisted of numbers with dots and lines. Here’s what it looks like:
I asked Wang Li, who sent me the song, about it. She said, “In China this kind of sheet music consist of numbers 1-7 and is quite popular:
1-do (C)
2-re (D)
3-mi (E)
4-fa (F)
5-sol (G)
6-la (A)
7-ti (B)It’s called numbered musical notation (”jianpu” in Chinese – simple sheet music) and used to be the only musical score for the ordinary people.”
A dot above or below a number raises or lowers the note an octave.
A plain number is a quarter note. A line under the number cuts it in half – so if it has one line under it – it’s an eighth note.
A dash after the number adds a quarter note – so if it has one dash after it – it’s a half note.
Here you can hear the midi tune of Little Swallow
I can see an advantage to musicians using the Chinese numbered notation as a type of shorthand.
If you’re interested in more details, you can read about Chinese numbered musical notation on Wikipedia.
You can see the song page for Little Swallow with the lyrics, midi and staff sheet music by clicking on the link.
Many thanks to Wang Li for the Little Swallow score and to Monique Palomares for creating the midi music.
-Mama Lisa
I Need Help with the Chinese Text for a Kids Song called “Count Ducks”
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007I received a wonderful Chinese children’s song recently called Count Ducks. The text I received is a scanned in image – I had a hard time making it look crisp and clear. If anyone can send me the computerized text in Chinese, I’d be grateful. Here’s the graphic, followed by an English translation.
Count Ducks
(English)In front of the
Door under the bridge there are ducks.
Come on count them
Two four six
Seven eight.
Quack, quack
So many ducks.
Countless ducks.
Countless ducks.
Grandpa with a white beard
Chases the ducks away,
Sings in the local
Opera and tell jokes.
Kids, kids, go to
school quickly,
Don’t get a duck egg* on your exam and
Come home with it.
Don’t get a duck egg on your exam and
Come home with it.*This is using a duck egg to represent a score of zero.
Many thanks to Hanchao for contributing and translating this song. Thanks also to Ray Lee for help with the translation.
If anyone can provide the computerized Chinese text for this song, please email me. Thanks! – Lisa
Can You Help with a Mandarin (or Cantonese) Chinese Children’s Song?
Thursday, January 18th, 2007Linda wrote:
Dear Mama Lisa,
I spent two years in Taiwan and three in Hong Kong as a child. I was taught a song, I believe in Mandarin, that began as follows:
Gu gu ba ba jung wei da
een ya za wo ja
way gwa
chu dong dong
dong bing
shou ha haI learned this about 40 years ago, so I know things are not right! My friend is adopting a Chinese baby from a province that speaks Mandarin and has asked if I remember any of the language. I would love to be able to teach this little girl a song in her native language. Could you please help me with the proper wording?
Thanks you so much!
Linda McCreedy
If anyone can help out with this song, please email me or comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
P.S. I asked my friend Ray, who speaks Cantonese, if it sounds Cantonese (just to check). Here’s what he wrote:
It’s probably in Mandarin. “wo ja” sounds like “my family” spoken in Mandarin. In Cantonese it would be “ngor ga”.
Still, the whole thing doesn’t make much sense to me and my co-worker, to whom I forwarded the song. The first line seems to say, “My brother and my dad are great”.
“Dong bing” sounds like “become a soldier” in Cantonese. But then that contradicts with my earlier observation. It would be very helpful if there’s a recording of a person singing this song!
If anyone else can help – or if you can send a recording Linda – that’d be great!
-Lisa
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