Karaoke in China: What to Expect

If you are visiting China, you will likely see KTV signs all over the place. KTV, of course, stands for Karaoke Television. These are where people go to sing karaoke.

If you go try out KTV with friends, you'll usually rent a KTV room. The typical KTV room will have a big couch for people to lounge on, a coffee table for snacks, and the karaoke equipment: a large TV screen, the song-selection device, and the karaoke microphones.

Generally, it is pretty dark, with everyone sitting around, eating and drinking while they wait for their turn to sing.

Now, what do people sing when they go do KTV? There is a wide variety of Chinese pop and traditional music, as well as some Western music. So, don't fear if your Chinese is limited; you'll still likely be able to find something you can read and sing. The English songs tend to be an interesting mix. They often tend to be older pop songs (not necessarily the latest releases), but singers such as Celine Dion or Whitney Houston. Lemon Tree is supposed to be a pretty popular English song.

For the younger Chinese people, there is a wide selection of popular music. However, KTV and karaoke is not just for the youth in China. It is popular among adults, too. There is usually a wide variety of traditional or Chinese folk songs, as well. One older song that remains pretty popular is Teresa Teng's classic song, The Moon Represents My Heart (Yue Liang Daibiao Wo de Xin).

The music videos accompanying the karaoke are special genre unto themselves. This footage of panoramic scenes and various people sometimes has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song at all. These videos seem to serve just as a pleasant background, rather than relate to the song specifically.

There is one thing that you should be careful of, though. There are some KTV establishments (often called "special KTV" in Taiwan), which are more of an escort service, with young women available for a fee, rather than just good, clean fun. In mainland China, these establishments are just known as "KTV," so someone who is not in the know could easily get the two types of KTV mistaken.

However, the vast majority of KTV establishments in China provide a place for innocent entertainment in China's nightlife scene. If you are visiting China with friends, this is definitely a piece of regional culture that you should check out.