Liang Shanbo & Juliet — 梁山伯与茱丽叶

By Joel ~
| Chinese songs | Culture fun | Learning Mandarin | Liang Shanbo & Juliet |

Because laowais can never learn enough karaoke hits! (More songs here.)

梁山伯与茱丽叶/ liáng shānbó yǔ zhù yīngtái
Liang Shanbo & Juliet

The title and lyrics of this song allude to two classic tragic romances: Romeo and Juliet and the “butterfly lovers” Liáng Shānbó and Zhù Yīngtái, often considered Romeo and Juliet’s ancient Chinese equivalent.

Like the Shakespeare play, Liáng Shānbó (the guy) and Zhù Yīngtái (the girl) want to get married but the families won’t cooperate so they end up dying. But unlike Romeo and Juliet, the butterfly lovers become butterflies and fly away together after Zhù Yīngtái jumps into Liáng Shānbó’s tomb while on the way to her arranged marriage. Obviously, such a story was destined for the Chinese pop charts.

Here’s the KTV version, lyrics and guitar chords below:

Here’s the mp3:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Lyrics & Guitar Chords

Download: LiangShanboYuZhuliye.pdf (lyrics & guitar chords with pinyin/English cheatsheet).

歌词 / gēcí / Lyrics (the English is a little overly literal):

我的心唱首歌给你听 / wǒde xīn chàng shǒugē gěi nǐ tīng
My heart sings a song for you to hear

歌词是如此的甜蜜 / gēcí shì rúcǐ de tiánmì
The lyrics are so honey-sweet

可是我害羞我没有勇气 / kěshì wǒ hàixiū wǒ méiyǒu yǒngqì
But I blush, I don’t have the courage

对你说一句我爱你 / duì nǐ shuō yījù wǒ ài nǐ
To say to you the words ‘I love you’

为什么你还是不言不语 / wèishénme nǐ háishì bù yán bù yǔ
Why do you still not speak?

难道你不懂我的心 / nándào (shì) nǐ bùdǒng wǒde xīn
Could it be you don’t understand my heart?

不管你用什么方式表明 / bùguǎn nǐ yòng shénme fāngshì biǎomíng
No matter whatever style you use to make it clear

我会对你说我愿意 / wǒ huì duì nǐ shuō wǒ yuànyì
I will say to you I’m willing

千言万语里 / qiān yán wàn yǔ lǐ
A thousand words in ten-thousand languages

只有一句话能 / zhǐyǒu yījùhuà néng
Only these few words are able

表白我的心 / biǎobái wǒde xīn
To vindicate my heart

千言万语里 / qiān yán wàn yǔ lǐ
A thousand words in ten-thousand languages

只有一句话就 / zhǐyǒu yījùhuà jiù
Only these few words

能够让我们相偎相依 / nénggòu rang wǒ men xiāng wēi xiāng yī
Are enough to let us cuddle each other close

Chorus:

我爱你 你是我的茱丽叶 / wǒ ài nǐ nǐ shì wǒde zhūlìyè
I love you, you’re my Juliet

我愿意变成你的粱山伯 / wǒ yuànyì biànchéng nǐ de liáng shānbó
I’m willing to become your Liáng Shānbó

幸福的每一天 / xìngfú de měiyī tiān
Happiness every single day

浪漫的每一夜 / làngmàn de měiyī yè
Romantic every single night

把爱 / bǎ ài
Hold love…
永远 / yǒngyuǎn
…forever
不放开 / bù fàngkāi
Don’t let go

I love you

我爱你 你是我的罗密欧 / wǒ ài nǐ nǐ shì wǒde luōmìōu
I love you, you’re my Romeo

我愿意变成你的祝英台 / wǒ yuànyì biànchéng nǐde zhù yīngtái
I’m willing to become your Zhù Yīngtái

幸福的每一天 / xìngfú de měiyī tiān
Happiness every single day

浪漫的每一夜 / làngmàn de měiyī yè
Romantic every single night

美丽的爱情 / měilì de àiqíng
Beautiful romance

祝福着未来 / zhùfú zhe wèilái
Blessing the future

Related Posts:

  • Share/Bookmark

9 replies to “Liang Shanbo & Juliet — 梁山伯与茱丽叶”


  1. That’s right when he finally vindicates his heart and tells her he loves her. Their feelings for each other are so intense that it actually rips a hole in the space/time continuum. Or something… ;)

    I’m thinking of doing an older karaoke classic next. I want variety in the songs that go up on here. If you’ve got suggestions, let me know! I think I’ll do songs more often in the next few months because we’re in Canada for a bit and I’ll do anything that keeps me looking at Chinese.


  2. Maybe it’s not quite the “older karaoke classic” you’re thinking of, but I reckon Theresa Teng/邓丽君 should be good from a language learning perspective. She sings very clearly and her songs are easy enough to follow. I’m thinking 月亮代表我的心 and 甜蜜蜜 in particular. And if you’re hanging out with the right generation, you could win some serious KTV kudos.

Leave a Reply...

Subscribe




About

A North American couple with a background in Intercultural Studies tries to make a life in China. This is our coping mechanismblog.

Share on Facebook

We both write, but Jessica only writes when I bribe her. See all of her posts here.

Subscribe

Enter your email address:

Subscribe

Add to Google

Choose a Topic

  • Baijiu (白酒) (5)
  • Beauty (10)
  • Being Chinese about it (113)
  • Blessings (64)
  • China books (42)
  • China plans & prep (10)
  • China web debris (353)
  • China: life & times (174)
  • ChinaHopeLive.net (10)
  • Chinese festivals (28)
  • Chinese medicine (11)
  • Chinese movies (4)
  • Chinese songs (7)
  • Chinese take-out (184)
  • Chinglish (18)
  • Cultural perspectives (125)
  • Cultural re-adjustment (5)
  • Culture fun (133)
  • Culture stress (45)
  • Cute (33)
  • Face (11)
  • Family (44)
  • Friends Far Away (4)
  • Goodbyes (6)
  • How to… (13)
  • Karaoke (5)
  • Learning (53)
  • Learning Mandarin (77)
  • Lost in translation (24)
  • Love (15)
  • M.A. studies (23)
  • Marriage (25)
  • Meta-narratives (39)
  • oh. Canada (4)
  • Olympics (32)
  • People (108)
  • Photo posts (108)
  • Places (203)
  • Pollution (14)
  • Propaganda (40)
  • Random (3)
  • Running wild in the streets (108)
  • Soapboxes (28)
  • Teaching English (46)
  • Things we've eaten (47)
  • Traffic (8)
  • Travelling (28)
  • Underappreciated genius (13)
  • Translate 翻译

    English flagItalian flagKorean flagChinese (Simplified) flagChinese (Traditional) flagPortuguese flagGerman flagFrench flagSpanish flag
    Japanese flagArabic flagRussian flagGreek flagDutch flagBulgarian flagCzech flagCroatian flagDanish flag
    Finnish flagHindi flagPolish flagRomanian flagSwedish flagNorwegian flagCatalan flagFilipino flagHebrew flag
    Indonesian flagLatvian flagLithuanian flagSerbian flagSlovak flagSlovenian flagUkrainian flagVietnamese flagAlbanian flag
    Estonian flagGalician flagMaltese flagThai flagTurkish flagHungarian flagBelarus flagIrish flagIcelandic flag
    Macedonian flagMalay flagPersian flag      

    What's this?


    Photos

    smallsquare3fireworks1.JPG smallsquare2bug1.JPG smallsquare1pagoda1.JPG smallsquare5lu1.JPG

    2010 Galleries:
    ~ Tianjin, Beijing & Henan
    2008 Galleries:
    ~ Tianjin & Beijing
    2007 Galleries:
    ~ Tianjin, Beijing, Chiangmai & Taipei
    2006 Galleries:
    ~ Taipei, Hong Kong & Vancouver

    Click the "[+/-]" to show/hide the gallery list for each year.

    Conversations

    Making our neighbourhood more “civilized” (2)
     Paul: "We just returned from Inner Mongolia, where we saw many..."
     Carl: "This seems to be the norm, someone comes in and tells..."

    A banquet, baijiu & Bon Jovi (my first office party in China) (3)
     Lep: "I was warned – in time – that many KTV..."

    Metaphors for Tianjin Traffic (7)
     Lep: "I have seen the crumpled bike underneath a car. It is..."
     Carl: "These are all so very true, I’ve learned to give..."

    NPR series: “New Believers – a religious revolution in China” (2)
     Dr Ross Grainger: "As someone who has been angaged in Buddhist..."
     Darren: "yeah, it’s rising, I have seen this happening..."

    Hu Shi’s 1927 editorial on the impending demise of Christianity in China (1)
     Dr Ross Grainger: "I’m not sure if Hu Shi is right or..."

    Behaving yourself… with Tianjin characteristics (4)
     Joel: "Right. My point was that popular usage of the term is..."
     Curtis: "Joel, I don’t believe this usage of..."

    Videos

    chlvideo.png

    See the videos page!

    Chinese take-out

    Good good study, day day up!

    蓝精灵

    Pronounced: lán jīnglíng
    Literally: blue spirit/demon/fairy
    Means: a Smurf, the Smurfs

    - 2010/07/01

    View all

    InterWǎng Debris

    Recent China internet debris.

    China in 2013 -- a dystopian novel skewers "the China model of development"

    The China Beat provides a helpful summary of a dystopian novel critical of the way things are in China: "The novel can be read ... as a realistic presentation of the shocking darkness behind the dazzling economic miracle created by the Chinese model. It also proposes that China’s younger generations suffer from the consequences of collective amnesia and historical half-truths... The book can also be read ... as an allegory of the modern nation-state. Taking China as a case study, by questioning the morality and political legitimacy of the Chinese model of development, the novel is intended to lead us to the potential catastrophes that a modern nation-state may bring about if it is out of its people’s control."

    - 2010/07/28

    Air pollution update & links (it's getting worse)

    The Ministry of Environmental Protection acknowledged on Monday that the first half of 2010 had the worst air quality since 2005.

    The good doctor in Beijing recently conducted a new air pollution survey around the city, comparing indoor and outdoor pollution, and the effects of things like air purifiers.

    There's also an air pollution Q&A with another doctor in Beijing about the actual effects on healthy people and when and where to exercise.

    - 2010/07/27

    NPR series: "New Believers - a religious revolution in China"

    NPR has an on-going series on the apparent rise of religious belief in China.

    - 2010/07/24

    View all

    Links

    Learning Chinese
    Learning China
    Friends
    Other Stuff


      RSS
    100% apolitical.
      ~
      LEGAL:
    All text, images, and photographs are the sole property of the authors unless otherwise indicated.
    All rights reserved. Contact Joel and Jessica for copyright details.
    Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape
      ~
      Best viewed in Firefox 1.5+ at a screen resolution of 1024x768.
     
      ~

    China Blog Network
    back home random join forward
    Best Blogs Asia Directory Featured in Alltop living in China News blogs & blog posts

    Switch to our mobile site