Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Remembering Karamay in song

Zhou Yunpeng, a blind folk musician who frequents one of my favourite local music bars here in Beijing, wrote an especially scathing song about the Karamay disaster (and other notorious instances of children's suffering in China).  I've just embedded a clip of him performing it over on Barstool Blues.
 
Here are the lyrics:
 
不要做中國人的孩子
 
不要做克拉瑪依的孩子，火燒痛皮膚讓親娘心焦
不要做沙蘭鎮的孩子，水底下漆黑他睡不著
不要做成都人的孩子，吸毒的媽媽七天七夜不回家
不要做河南人的孩子，愛滋病在血液裡哈哈的笑
不要做山西人的孩子，爸爸變成了一筐煤，你別再想見到他
不要做中國人的孩子，餓極了他們會把你吃掉
還不如曠野中的老山羊，為保護小羊而目露兇光
不要做中國人的孩子，爸爸媽媽都是些怯懦的人
為證明他們的鐵石心腸，死到臨頭讓領導先走
 
 
And in English:
 
Don't Ever Be A Chinese Child
 
Don't be a child of Karamay,
whose burns would scorch a mother's heart.
Don't be a child of Salan Town
who finds no rest beneath dark waters.
Don't be a child of Chengdu
who waits for mum's return
after her week-long binge.
 
Chorus (children laughing)
 
Don't be a child of Henan
where AIDS cackles in the blood.
Don't be a child of Shanxi
where mines turn dads
into baskets of coal.
 
Chorus (laughter)
 
Don't be a child of Karamay
Don't be a child of Salan Town
Don't be a child of Chengdu
Don't be a child of Henan...
 
Don't ever be a Chinese child,
or the grown-ups will
eat you when they starve.
At least in the wild, mountain goats
are fierce enough to protect their kids.
 
Don't ever be a Chinese child,
because mommy and daddy are cowards;
when the theatre caught fire,
they steeled their hearts
and let the cadres exit first.
 
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