It doesn’t take long in a public space in Beijing to realize that there are a number of ways that music pervades your world here in a less-than-welcome way. Here are my top three favorite annoying-music times.
- Music coming from someone’s pocket. One of my first surreal experiences in China was the moment I realized that the loud and bad-quality-version of “My Heart Will Go On” that I was hearing was coming from the shirt pocket of the guy walking past me on the sidewalk.
- Looped music at a restaurant. Today a friend and I were talking about this, and he said that he thinks restaurants purposely play the same annoying song on loop to subconsciously make you want to leave the place sooner (giving them another open table sooner). It truly is a recipe for craziness to realize that the song which has been playing since you sat down (forty minutes ago) is a Christmas carol sung by Frank Sinatra (and it’s July).
- Arrival music. On our first train trip in China, I was surprised (not happily) to be awakened by cheesy Chinese music in the loud speakers in our compartment. It was probably seven in the morning, and the train had just entered the city of Xian. Because we weren’t getting off the train there, though, I was more than a little annoyed. I have since had similar experiences on other train rides and most Chinese airlines. I will say that some arrival music is definitely more palpable than others.
Do you have other times when public music gets to you?
Is there a secret reason that people tend to listen to the music on their portable devices without headphones, even on crowded buses?
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It’s not so much the playing of music that bothers me, but the choice of what to play. Like being in a lovely restaurant in Chengdu, with the ambience enhanced/spoiled (depending on your point of view) by the constant loud playlist of songs so common here. Titanic theme, of course, and sha-la-la, and all the other old favourites….
Taylor and I once went to a nice cafe/restaurant called Good Wood Coffee for one of our first dates and he was pretty excited about the place because the atmosphere and decor is unique and fun. Sadly, when we got there we noticed that not only was this cafe playing Eminem, but they were playing “Mocking Bird” over and over and over and over. They did not take it off loop the entire night. To be honest, we probably did leave earlier than we would have because it was so annoying.