So now there's a 13th Five Year Plan viral video

[roddy]

I'm speechless

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2015/10/27/chinas-five-year-plan-now-has-its-own-psychedelic-music-video/

https://twitter.com/XHNews/status/658837440375844864

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m91zBt94Ll0

[somethingfunny]

wtf is that?

 

I'd hardly say it was viral though.  And at least there's no Chinglish.

[Demonic_Duck]

Cliffnotes version:

 

"What's China gonna do?"

"Enact a five year plan, like they do every five years."

"What's in the five year plan?"

"No idea. But lots of research goes into it. Also, this one is called 十三五."

"Oh, OK then."

[Guest realmayo]

It's glorious!

 

And what a sensible, measured, rational way to run a country

[Demonic_Duck]

Just realised what other propaganda campaign the video reminds me of - 社会主义核心价值观. Lots of nice-sounding words, but absolutely zero actual information conveyed.

[Lu]

That's... well.

But hat's off to that band/group/channel, they manage to make a somewhat catchy tune out of something really boring.

[roddy]

"I'd hardly say it was viral though."

It's on Buzzfeed. Doesn't get viraller than that.

[Shelley]

and a new word is born - viraller

[imron]

The most annoying thing about that video is their pronunciation of 五 as 'oo'

[eion_padraig]

They needed to pronounce 'wu' that way so it could rhyme with 'poo'.

[Lu]

The most annoying thing about that video is their pronunciation of 五 as 'oo'

I vote for their non-use of the right tones. Hard to avoid when you try to put Chinese terms into English sentences with an English rhythm, but it's still a bit annoying.

[Guest realmayo]

The most annoying thing about that video is their pronunciation of 五 as 'oo'

 

 

Are you mainly referring to the absence of 'w', or to the vowel?

[Shelley]

I heard oo for wu but wasn't sure that it was just my ear or their singing, glad to know I got it right.

[Guest realmayo]

how is wu pronounced?

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/1199-how-is-wu-pronounced/

[Goshujinchama]

I love it. 

[imron]

The absence of w doesn't bother me so much, it was more the vowel.

[stapler]

Same. Hear "wu" all the time as "u" but not "eww" (or whatever they're doing to the vowel in that song.) I guess they gotta change it to make it rhyme with "do". Can't think of any English word off the top of my head that even has the "u" sound.

 

Also, this song is mad addictive.

[Demonic_Duck]

The thing that bothered me most about the pronunciation was more that it sounded like shi-sa-nu instead of shi-san-[w]u.

[imron]

Yes, I think that's also a good way of looking at it.

[somethingfunny]

Typical Chinese forums, proceed directly past the increasing sophistication of China's employment of soft power and go directly to an in depth discussion of pronunciation.

 

Good stuff.