Another question that’s commonly asked by foreigners is why is KTV so popular in China? There are some Westerners who get into KTV, but the majority just don’t understand why it’s so popular.

It seems to be a cultural thing, which extends to other Asian cultures, as it’s popular in most Asian countries. Exactly why this is the case (and why it’s never really taken hold in the West) is anyone’s guess. However, I’ve noticed a couple of things about the Chinese and karaoke:

1. Most Chinese are pretty good singers. Of course, some are better than others (and some are awful), but in general the average Chinese person sings better than the average Westerner. I think this because Chinese is a tonal language. The biggest difficulty that Westerners who learn Chinese face is distinguishing between the tones.

2. The Chinese are very polite when listening to someone who really can’t sing. They’ll applaud enthusiastically. There won’t be any jeering. This may be related to the concept of face, but I think it goes beyond that – I think the Chinese really appreciate someone having a go.

These are just my opinions. If the truth be known, I’ve only very rarely ‘played KTV’ (as the Chinese would say).

The typical KTV room is maybe the size of a lounge room, with a big couch for people to relax on, a long coffee table for snacks and drinks and of course some karaoke equipment.

The karaoke equipment is made up of the karaoke machine itself (a console where you select the songs), the TV screen and some karaoke microphones. I guess there may be more equipment that you can’t see, to store the videos.

It’s normally fairly dark and people sit around taking turns to sing, while enjoying snacks and drinks. Sometimes there are drinking games (Chinese drinking games are a fascinating, but different story), but mostly it’s just singing and relaxing.

So what do people sing when they ‘play KTV’? Of course, there’s a lot of Chinese pop music and some traditional Chinese ‘folk’ songs, but there’s also a lot of Western music.

The cross section of Western music is quite wide (and somewhat peculiar). You’re unlikely to find the very latest releases, but there are a lot of pop songs: Celine Dion, Witney Houston, West Life, etc. And of course the B52’s:

Some of the songs are really old and have passed their used by date in the West. For example, despite their songs being from my childhood, The Carpenters are very popular. Now that’s something I really don’t understand! 

In one visit to KTV, the best song I could find was House of the Rising Sun, another very old song, but somewhat cooler than the Carpenters.

The KTV videos are sometimes quite strange. Many are shot just for Karaoke and don’t seem to have any relation to the actual song. For example, you’ll see footage of people windsailing in Australia, while a Chinese pop song plays. Bizarre, but it adds to the experience!

Love it or hate it, KTV is a big part of entertainment in China. If you ever live in China, you’ll surely be dragged along to KTV at some point. Try to relax and enjoy the experience!

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