Chinese restaurant song is born because the Chinese are in great favor toward food. In ancient China, there is a famous saying that food is the paramount necessity of the people. And in China, food is valuable because of its enormous popularity and frequent wars. Thus, the song which praises food appears. Composers would like to use the name of food as their works title or themes.
This kind of song has simple lyrics, easily to be remembered only a glance, and easily to be sung. For example, lyrics of Soybean Milk and Fried Bread Stick are repeated in short tune and simple words. Lyrics of Cha Siu Bao introduce various pastes in short tune. Arousing our appetite!
Besides, the song which is titled in the name of food can be famous because of the meanings of food. For instance, Red Bean, also a famous Chinese song, has lyrics longer than the other two songs in tune and lyrics, describing the story of ancient Chinese symbolize plant.
This article will introduce some restaurant songs. They are titled in name of food but they might not really concentrate on eating totally. Let’s take a look at them!
Soybean Milk and Fried Bread Stick:Perfect Match(豆浆油条)
In China, we like soybean milk and fried bread sticks in breakfast. They are Chinese traditional breakfast. And they are always put together. It is interesting that a singer inspires by them and creates a Chinese restaurant song. Let’s take a view on this interesting song!
Soybean Milk and Fried Bread Stick, a song sung and composed by JJ Lin, written by Zhang Sier, is contained in JJ Lin’s June 4, 2004 album “Second Heaven”. JJ Lin says he likes to drink soy milk and eat fried dough sticks very much at breakfast. If there is missing one of them, he will feels uncomfortably. Once, JJ Lin enjoyed his breakfast, suddenly, he was inspired, thinking of using soy milk and fried bread sticks to represent lovers who cannot be separated from each other, thus, the song Soybean Milk and Fried Bread Stick was created.
According to Taiwan’s United Daily News”, who was secretly loved by one of the four kings JJ Lin, Hebe even arrived in Shanghai to support JJ Lin’s When the Line World Tour Concert. JJ Lin who hid love in his heart presented Soybean Milk and Fried Bread Stick to Hebe bravely with Jolin’s help. Besides, he also gave Hebe a hug, and they put on a love swing together. JJ Lin even praised that Hebe was cute.
JJ Lin has unrequited love toward Hebe but only dare to view in distance. When he saw Hebe, he would shy and could speak no words. In the When the line World Tour Concert, he told his thoughts in mind bravely in front of ten thousands of audiences. He said pridely after the concert,” I get over a thing, and I will keep forward. It proofs that love, can overcome all the things”.
Soybean milk and fried bread stick in the song, Soybean Milk and Fried Bread Stick, present the two heroines in love story, expressing their memorizing and attaching feeling toward dying love. As the song sings,” Drinking the pure white soybean milk/It is pure white romantic/Looking in your cute face/And your pure appearance/I smile to you silly/ It should be that you have an antidote/You say I am like a fried bread stick/Simple and Beautiful/I know that you and I are the same as soybean milk and fried bread stick…”.
The unique creation shows JJ Lin’s great talent in composing. The most attractive points in the song are that it is soft, gentle and elegant. Besides, JJ Lin sung it with falsetto voice only when it needs to be used in some parts of the song. Although the lyrics are ordinary, the music has come over the lyrics and wins our attention. Soybean Milk and Fried Bread Stick unveils simple and ordinary life in front of listeners.
Learn Chinese Time From This Chinese Song Lyrics:
PinYin: nǐ chī wán jīn huáng yóu tiáo ài qíng yòu yào zài fā jiào
Chinese: 你 吃 完 金 黄 油 条 爱 情 又 要 再 发 酵
English: After you eat the golden fried bread stick, love will be leavened again.
The “你” means “your”. The “金黄” means “color in gold”. The “爱情 的”means “the love”. The “发酵”means “leaven” which means to make something bigger and more matured.
Cha Siu Bao: Famous Restaurant Song Comes from Movie(叉烧包)
Cha Siu Bao is a famous Chinese restaurant song. It appeared in God of Gamblers Ⅲ: Back to Shanghai which was performed by Stephen Chow and Gong Li mainly in 1991. The film exchanged eras. It is an attempt that Stephen Chow wants to break the limitation of comedy style.
The film has been welcomed since it was showed. As a result, Stephen Chow forgot his concerned and broadened his film themes since then. It was inspired by a foreign film—Back to the Future. However, Stephen Chow used his own unique methods, which was reasonless and unsuitable with usual society, to express its theme.
The song was originally appeared in the plot that Stephen Chow chased Gong Li in restaurant. In 80s Shanghai, restaurant sold a kind of steamed bun stuffed with barbecued roast pork, which was loved widely. And in Chinese, the steamed bun stuffed with barbecued roast pork also named in Cha Siu Bao. Hence, Stephen Chow invited composers to create this Cha Siu Bao in order to reveal life in 80s China. The original song of this Cha Siu Bao is Manbo Italiano in Italy. Moreover, the song was sung by Paula Tsui, the Hong Kong Warbler.
It is singing,“Cha Siu Bao/ Who likes to eat the fresh coming out Cha Siu Bao/Who likes to eat the fresh coming out Cha Siu Bao/And the lotus seed paste buns and pork buns/Shark’s fin bun and Baozi stuffed with red bean paste/Have everything that one expects to find/Guangdong paste/ If you don’t like the Guangdong paste/How about the various Shanghai paste…”The whole song is introducing traditional pastes in 80s China. And it was popular soon.
I think that the song Cha Siu Bao reveals the situation of life of civilians in 80s. Civilians lived in active and forward life which shows better development of economics and greater income in people after the reformation in 80s.
As far as economics today, we are lack of motivation which can lead to happiness in people. The economics brings some negative influences on life more than positive influences. To be honest, It is not the best time in Chinese history. I admire the life in 80s more because it had pure ideals in chasing better life. But now, we are getting troubles in rapid steps in life, forgetting the original ideals.
Learn Chinese Time From This Chinese Song Lyrics:
PinYin: jiá shǐ nǐ shuō nǐ bú ài chī guǎng dōng bāo hái yǒu nà gè shì gè yàng shàng hǎi bāo
Chinese: 假 使 你 说 你 不 爱 吃 广 东 包, 还 有 那 各 式 各 样 上 海 包
English: If you say that you don’t like Guangdong paste, there are all kinds of Shanghai paste.
The “假使” means “to suppose”. The “你” means “your”. The “不爱”means “unlike”. The “各式各样”means “various in kinds”.
Red Bean: A Lovesickness Plant(红豆)
Red bean is a song sung by Faye Wong, written by Linxi and composed by Liu Chongyan. It was included in album Changyou of Faye Wong. In 1999, Red Bean won the tenth Chinese Golden Melody Award of Hong Kong radio station and the tenth Golden Song Awards of Hong Kong radio station. When Liu Chongyan composed its tune, he was imaging that how Faye Wong would sing the song.
Then, the tune was born in minutes. Linxi was inspired by a plot in Japanese TV series that the heroine was boiling red bean but the red beans were cooked because she was thinking about breaking down.
Lin thought of the lyrics while he was keeping an eye on the TV series. Thus, Lin finished its lyrics. In ancient China, there are countless stories about red bean. For example, in warring states period, Han and his wife committed suicide for love, and became a plant which twined together, named “lovesickness tree”, under the tree stayed two mandarin duck (mean affectionate couple).
When country Wei was invaded by Qin, males had to participate in war to protect the country, their wives were so missing them that the wives died and became a tree, named “lovesickness tree”. The “lovesickness tree” grows jequirity( the love pea seed), which is the red bean today. Thus, red bean means lovesickness.
The song described a story that a couple cannot continue their love any more but the heroine is still was unwilling to break down. She still want to stay with the hero, “We have not feel/ The climate with snowflakes blooming/We tremble together/Will know what the gentle is better/I have not taken your hands/Walking across the desert/Maybe since then/Can we learn how to value the time/ Sometime/ Sometime/I will believe that everything has its own ending/Unity and separation have their time/Nothing will be permanent/But sometime I/Don’t want to give up and be reluctant to leave/If we have a view on all the sceneries/ Maybe you will stay with me as long as stream…”
Obviously, heroine’s mind and feeling are expressed evidently. Faye Wong’s special voice is scattered in shape but not in consciousness. She sings the song with fulfill emotion, expressing it naturally without any artificiality. The lyrics, ”I haven’t boiled the red bean into a lingering wound/ And share with you/Will understand how sad the missing is better…”, shows the heroine in story is looking forward to continuing their own story in fact.
Compared to the rose, I would like the red bean. It is not only the oldest symbol of love, but also the gift which has the most abundant stories. Honestly, rose will wither and fall, but red bean will be permanent, not only its shape, but also its stories are still continuing by generations. I admire that some creations are that sharpening names in a red bean as gifts. What a wonderful present that values our traditional culture!
Learn Chinese Time From This Chinese Song Lyrics:
PinYin: xiāng jù lí kāi dōu yǒu shí hou méi yǒu shén me huì yǒng chuí bù xiǔ
Chinese: 相 聚 离 开 都 有 时 候,没 有 什 么 会 永 垂 不 朽
English: Unity and separation have their time. Nothing will be permanent
The “相聚” means “to be union”. The “离开” means “to say goodbye” or “to separate”. The “时候”means “time”. The “没有”means “there are not something”. The “永垂不朽”means “to be permanent”.
The introduction about three songs has come to the end. Chinese restaurant song is an abundant kind in music song. There are other restaurant songs as well. I think that a restaurant song cannot be related to diet completely, because China has a long history about food and even the name of each kind of food has its own meaning, which might be describing love, brave and moral. For example, Fried Egg with Rice, a song of Herlam, aims to praise the long Chinese history.
Barley-suger, sung by Jay Chou, and Orange Soda by Nan Quan Mama, describe sweet love stories which are quite opposite with the love story in Faye Wong’s Red Bean. The Lovesickness soup of Zheng Zhongji tells the same sad story as Faye Wong’s Red Bean. Welcome to find more other Chinese restaurant songs and share them with us!