First Impressions
William Ellis School Summer School trip to China, 2005
First impressions of China - pictures and diary
China pictures and diary contents | Read introduction | Fuller account of school trip to China
7. Music / Technology
Karaoke is popular; here Britney and Robbie entertain us.
- The music at the hotel and spa last night was fabulous, very traditional and delicate Chinese music.
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A lot of modern western music was played using Chinese instruments which can change how one relates to a song.
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Why is there no Chinese rap anywhere?
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I can’t believe it - CDs cost only 70p and they work! I bought Radiohead, The Thrills and Wilco.
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DVDs are incredibly cheap - 70p each but sometimes the quality is poor. On one you could see that he was filming it off the screen in the cinema because a couple of times a member of the audience walked in front of the camera.
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The computers here are so cheap that I bought one - custom made - to take home. I think it was at least half the price of the UK.
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The choice of music here is bad because they seem to like all the UK and US musicians that are rubbish. Some the Chinese pop and traditional music was OK because they have good tunes.
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A lot of young people travel about on scooters but they appear to be battery run and are very quiet. It only costs ¥2,000 (£140) to buy a scooter here - in the UK it would cost nearer to £1,000.
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At the school gala one of the students played the William Tell overture on the xylophone. It was amazing - I don’t think he got a note wrong.
