Chinese Clubs- Dandong

I mentioned earlier that Bell and I went to a Chinese club in Dandong one night when we were seeking somewhere to go out so I need to describe this experience. I’m not really sure if they are considered bars or clubs but I’ve heard people say club so I’ll just call it that. This was one of the most depressing places that I have ever been to, hahha. Bell and I were in the mood to go meet people and be sociable and this was definitely not what we had in mind. Chinese clubs go something like this- everyone sits around and talks/plays games at tables while people go up on a stage and sing. It sounds like it could have the potential to be fun, except everyone was very subdued there, the singing was done in a very serious manner and the music was ridiculously gloomy. I had some pictures and a video of it but I must have accidentally deleted it :(

This club had one guy who was the ‘professional’ singer and then when he wasn’t singing people from the audience would go up and sing. Although this was like karaoke, no one else was singing along and no one was laughing at their friends sing. This was serious time. To me, it seemed like the ‘professional’ really didn’t like sharing the spotlight with anyone. It often seemed difficult to get him off the stage so someone else could sing and if people started getting too loud in the club he would definitely raise his voice a bit so we could still hear him. I didn’t see him smile once while he was up there. Finally, one pretty cool, older Chinese guy went up there with a cigarette in his mouth and grabbed a stool. Him and the ‘professional’ did a little duet together- he sang while the ‘professional’ did back up vocals and played guitar. This was probably the most entertaining performance of the evening. The guy was not using any words and at some points he definitely was just making up lyrics because he started singing something about ‘gambei’ which basically means cheers in Chinese but it did not go with his original tune. His friends asked him to do an encore and with out hesitation he sat down and belted out another song, again with no lyrics, just sitting on his stool, looking thoughtfully out into the audience and slowly puffing on his cigarette.

After he was done singing, Bell asked me if I wanted to get another beer there. I said no. We left and returned to our hotel room, feeling beaten and down trodden.

I think that Chinese people are so ridiculously serious about their singing. I went to a KTV* a few weeks ago in Dalian with a bunch of Chinese people and 3 of them told me that sometimes they go there together and practice singing for 7 hours. Good lord, 7 hours!! That definitely is not for fun hahah, that is some serious business. I’m not sure how accurate this is but from my observations the men here are more serious about their singing than the women are. I have not met a Chinese guy that did not like to sing, and I’ve asked all of them! I do not think that an American guy would be caught dead singing the way the Chinese guys go about singing here. It’s a little on the feminine side….but I think it is a positive characteristic of the Chinese people. :) This is a picture of my co-worker John, the only guy who works in the office. As you can see, he loves KTV. He is one of the 3 who practice signing at KTV for 7 hours at a time.

The second night Bell and I were in Dandong we went to a KTV with a bunch of foreigners and the experience was way different than our Chinese KTV experience. It was soooo much more fun, lol. The people were very, very good singers but they were just so much more animated when they were singing and having a lot more fun with it than the Chinese people do. The song choices were also much more upbeat and fun to listen to. At first after going to KTV with Chinese people I though that KTV would never work in America, but after experiencing it in a more Western way I think it could be very popular in America. Does it exist there yet?

*For those who do not know what KTV is, it is basically a large building with dozens of small, private rooms with couches where you can go sing for your friends… like a private karaoke session. There is a big screen in the front of the room where the lyrics come up and they have a pretty extensive music selection but when you’re trying to search for songs in English it’s pretty disorganized. People often order drinks and beers while they’re there. I am not a very good singer but the mics sort of echo your voice a little so I did it and I don’t think I sounded too bad.