Things I learned

The song "Happy Birthday to You" has a surprisingly complex history and is only about 100 years old. There is a version of it in Chinese, as there is in several other languages. There are other birthday songs in Chinese. Oddly enough, I asked a friend about this years ago, and she was kind enough to sing one for me. I have no idea wy I was curious about what Chinese people sang to each other before Happy Birthday arrived here. I think Li and I probably just had spent enough time together we had run out of things to say.

Anyway, I knew there is another birthday song in Chinese, so I asked if anyone knew it, assuring them that person wouldn't be forced to sing. Out of 5 classes and about 200 students, only one knew the song. She offered to sing it, and a few classmates recalled having heard it somewhere, but no one else knew the words.