This is another song which my soprano friend and I have recorded for you on this Advent calendar and I am sure, the most unexpected and unusual in that she sings this Chinese folksong in its original language! This song is often found in collections of songs for Chinese children. Searching for plum blossoms in the snow has been an important theme in Chinese art for around a thousand years.

Huang Tau the composer was born in Shanghai but studied Western music at Yale and later taught at Shanghai University as well as establishing the first all Chinese orchestra in Shanghai.

Transliteration of the text:

The snow has stopped and the sky is cloudless,
the plum blossoms fill the air with fragrance.  

I ride across the Ba Bridge on my donkey with its jingling bells.  

Let’s pick some of the flowers and put them in a vase,
read some books or play music and have a good time together!