Chinese Songs

Listening to and learning Chinese songs is a great way to relax and improve your Mandarin at the same time. Learning about Chinese culture is also completely essential as you gain language skills, and one way to gain that cultural exposure is through Chinese music.

It’s also easy to integrate Chinese music into your daily life and listen to a song when you have a bit of spare time, and improve your Mandarin slowly over time.

When I first became interested in learning Chinese, I found Chinese songs through English blogs online and copying and pasting the names of the songs into a search engine to listen to them. Even though I had no idea what the lyrics were about at the beginning, just listening to and imitating the pronunciation of the lyrics really gave me a head start when I actually came to speak the language myself, because I was already fairly familiar with the sounds.

In the past, there were a lot of ‘revolutionary’ songs in China, and traditional Chinese opera and folk songs. Nowadays, you find much more of a mix of music, from pop music to rock and folk music and so on, and I’ve tried to find a variety of different styles and artists for you to listen to.

A lot of Chinese popular music used to come from artists from Taiwan (which is Mandarin speaking) and Hong Kong artists singing in Mandarin, but nowadays the music industry in mainland China is much more developed and a lot of artists have sprung up.

The karaoke culture in China is a really helpful for Chinese learners, because even if you are not in the country, it is easy to find karaoke videos online with the lyrics shown on the screen. As a lot of music videos do come from Taiwan, you’ll find that a lot of karaoke videos are in traditional Chinese characters,

A selection of Chinese songs to try

Most of the songs I’ve selected below have fairly slow and simple lyrics, so they are good choices of songs to learn as a beginner.

Along with each of the songs, I’ve put the lyrics in simplified Chinese characters, Pinyin (the guide to how to pronounce the lyrics) and a complete English translation.

I hope you enjoy them!

#1: Sweet Honey Honey (甜蜜蜜) – Teresa Teng (邓丽君) 

Teresa Teng - Sweet Honey Honey

#2: Do You Love Me or Not?(你爱不爱我) – Zero Band (零点乐队)

Do You Love Me or Not - Zero Band

#3: The Ordinary Road(平凡之路) – Pu Shu (朴树)

Ordinary Road - Pu Shu

#4 – Olive Tree (橄榄树) – Chyi Yu (齐豫)Olive Tree

#5 – I Believe (我相信) – Roger Yang (杨培安)

I Believe - Roger Yang

#6 – Meet (遇见) –  Stephanie Sun (孙燕姿)

Stephanie Sun - Meet

#7 – Peaceful Summer (宁夏) – Fish Leong (梁静茹)

Peaceful Summer - Fish Leong

#8 – Hill (山丘) – Jonathan Lee (李宗盛)

Hill - Jonathan Lee

#9 – Exist (存在) – Wang Feng (汪峰)

Exist - Wang Feng

#10 – Look Over, Girl Opposite (对面的女孩看过来) – Richie Ren (任贤齐)

Look Over Girl Opposite - Richie Ren

#11 - May You Be Prosperous (恭喜你发财) – Andy Lau (刘德华)

May You Be Prosperous - Andy Lau

#12 – Invisible Wings (隐形的翅膀) – Angela Chang (张韶涵)

Angela Zhang - Invisible Wings

#13 – Nothing To My Name (一无所有) – Cui Jian (崔健)

Nothing To My Name - Cui Jian

#14 – The Moon Represents My Heart (月亮代表我的心) – Teresa Teng (邓丽君)

Teresa Teng - The Moon Represents My Heart

#15 – Bubble (泡沫) – G.E.M (邓紫棋)

Bubble - GEM

#16 – Wolf (狼) – Chyi Chin (齐秦)

Wolf - Chyi Chin

#17 – Listen to the Sea (听海) – Zhang Huimei (张惠妹)

Listen to The Sea - Zhang Huimei

#18 – Mouse Loves Rice (老鼠爱大米) – Yang Chengang (杨臣刚)

Mouse Loves Rice - Yang Chengang

#19 – Friends (朋友) – Emil Chau (周华健)

Friends - Emil Chau

#20 – In My Song (在我歌声里) – Qu Wanting (曲婉婷)

In My Song - Qu Wanting

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