Favorite Chinese songs

[Nekomimi_mode]

Do you guys have any favorite Chinese songs? When I first started learning Chinese I would randomly download a bunch of songs and filter out the ones I didn't like. As a result I have a couple of songs that I love and keep on reply almost every day. I also got some nice Cantonese ones in the process too; I can't understand them though. I think one of the best things about listening to Chinese songs is the more words you learn the more of the song you understand. It's kind of like the song your listening to is a mystery, but a couple of months later after you learn some more Chinese you can understand it. It just feels so good to be listening to the song you've had for months and suddenly be like "I know what he's saying!". Do you guys have any favorite songs? I'll link some of mine. Post yours below! 

[Mameha]

I don't know if it is considered a "song", and since i don't know many Chinese songs (i should do ) i post the song that this Chinese girl sang in a show:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKK9gap8lIM 

The girl is "Yunggiema". This is so beautiful, absolutely amazing

[Language-Student]

The easiest one I can remember was sung at the Beijing Olympic Games! I don't have a link; I learnt it from handouts given in class.

I must admit I haven't looked into Chinese songs at all! 

My favorite would have to be the Butterfly Love Song, given to me on a very old audio cassette tape many, many years ago by the original owner of a popular Vegan Chinese Takeaway here. I also like the one on the other side of this same tape, but can no longer read the title in English! 

[NikkiR]

My favorite Chines song Is by Richi Ren. We listened to it In my Chinese class while learning directions.  It is great for learning since it is slow and has clear pronunciation.

 

[NikkiR]

Another great one for learning is 'friends'. It uses a lot of common vocabulary. Usually you learn most of the vocabulary and grammar in this song in the first year of a language class. The lyrics are easy to hear, so any words you don't know you should be able to look up.

 

 

[Language-Student]

I've since given this topic a little more thought and I'd like to share a couple of links / artists this time. Just like my Western music tastes, I tend to like artists who have a good personal story, write the songs they sing and have something worthwhile to sing about. I've looked at the above two posted artists and they are both very good, but one is from Taiwan, the other from Hong Kong. Modern day mainland China, as far as I can tell, doesn't have anyone on the popular music scene that really stands out or is worth following, for one reason or another. It seems to be much easier today in China to become popular on the music scene without really telling a worthwhile story, or when your personal life is still such a mess. There did used to be a great many really great mainland Chinese singer songwriters, but much like in the west, all the good ones died young.  

Today, I'd like to present to you, as I have learned it, a brief look at the very brief life of a young man from China's Cantonese States with a big heart who became famous for his humble attitude while becoming famous (I double-dare anyone try this out today!). He looked after a lot of people in the process. His songs were okay for the time, but became dark and depressing. He then turned gay, which none could understand, but most likely due to his leading female role in a popular movie, and he suicided when there seemed to no way out of his situation. One song I've found below, but there are other better ones that I cannot find on Youtube or a quick scan of Youku (the Chinese Youtube equivalent):

 

Another very good artist, very good to listen to, is the upper middle-class Cantonese star, Danny Chan who became very, very famous in China as well as in Japan (very difficult for most!), for his style. He is so child-like and pure, never really understanding why the world is the way it is, always concentrating on his music, which he developed from a very young age. His story is really quite unbelievable! If you thought it was only the very best Western singer song writers of long ago that were deliberately killed off by, and I'll try to choose my words carefully here, the Cabal, then I'm here to say that this wasn't unique to the west, but was just as prevalent in China! It was very difficult growing up in the era of the Cultural Revolution. Anyway, for no apparent reason, early in his professional career, Danny and his whole family were attacked almost on a daily basis in the media. He had no idea why & turned to a combination of drinking and sleeping pills. One day he overdosed on the pills and was admitted to hospital where he remained for one and a half years, struggling to recover before, many believe, he was murdered. So here is "Having You", by Danny Chan:

   

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You can find a lot of Chinese songs which is helpful to learn Chinese here:

http://www.onlinechineselearning.com/resource/chinese-songs-for-beginners.html

[kimseokjin]

I don't listen to a lot of Chinese songs often but of the ones I do listen to I love Jay Chou's "Tornado" and "Simple Love." I found them English subbed with pinyin for you so you can follow along:

Even for someone like me who don't listen to C-pop on the daily, even I know he's legendary.

[Miya]

I don't really listen to Mandarin songs since I prefer Cantonese songs. But if you are interested, some of my favorite singers are Joey Yung, Kelly Chen, and Hacken Lee. You can search for their songs on youtube. 

Here's one of my favorite lives from Joey where she sings the theme songs to a popular TV drama:

https://youtu.be/PcA34Pj3BJc

[ipohassassin]

I really like songs from Sam Hui. The lyric are easy to learn and reflect real life situation