Friday Song: MC HotDog’s ode to Beijing’s Fifth Ring Road
In this song from the 2015 superhero parody film Jianbing Man (煎饼侠 jiānbing xiá), Taiwanese rapper MC HotDog and Chinese xiangsheng (crosstalk) performer Yue Yunpeng 岳云鹏 deliver an ode to Beijing’s Fifth Ring Road. While Beijing drivers typically lament the city’s terrible traffic, MC HotDog (real name 姚中仁 Yáo Zhōngrén) finds comfort in its predictably miserable state.
The tune of the chorus is based on “Song of the Peonies,” (牡丹之歌 mǔdān zhī gē), written for the 1980 film Red Peony (红牡丹 hóng mǔdān) and the winner of the inaugural China Gold Record award in 1989. Instead of lyrics lauding the beauty and freshness of China’s national flower, MC HotDog and Yue take a rather more mathematic approach.
The music video is exactly what you want it to be and more. MC HotDog, indoors, raps about the traffic, gesturing and bouncing along to the painfully electronic beat. Scenes of Fifth Ring rush hour are spliced between clips from Jianbing Man and shots of Yue Yunpeng singing in the studio. He serenades the camera with a cheeky grin and closes his eyes to sing wholeheartedly, “You are two rings more than the Fifth Ring.”
Check it:
MC HotDog：
我把车子开上五环
I drive my car on the Fifth Ring
我把车子开上五环
I drive my car on the Fifth Ring
快点把车子开上五环
Quick, drive your car on the Fifth Ring
什么都不管
Don’t care about anything
我就是要上五环
I just want to drive on the Fifth Ring
Yue Yunpeng:
啊 五环 你比四环多一环（fifth Ring）
Ah, Fifth Ring, you are one ring more than the Fourth Ring
啊 五环 你比六环少一环（I’m driving on the fifth ring）
Ah, Fifth Ring, you are one ring less than the Sixth Ring
终于有一天 你会修到七环
Finally one day you may build a Seventh Ring
修到七环怎么办
If built out to the Seventh Ring, what to do?
你比五环多两环
You are two rings more than the Fifth Ring
MC HotDog：
车一直塞 表情痴呆
Cars always backed up, lifeless looks
早就习惯漫无目的一直开
I’ve always been used to driving aimlessly
那五环依然那么自在
The Fifth Ring is still so comfortable
它一直在
Its always there
腐烂的喇叭声
Rotten sound of car horns
苦难的师傅一直唉
Suffering drivers always sighing
北京的 Style
Beijing style
在上下班 车子一直排
Before and after work, cars always lined up
为了生活 为了梦想 为了放假单
For life, for dreams, for holidays
或许有天 我们必须要去 那八环
Maybe one day we’ll need to go out to the Eighth Ring
Rest in peace
北京的交通 我为你放花篮
Beijing traffic, I’ll put a flower basket for you
Yue Yunpeng:
啊 五环 你比四环多一环（fifth Ring）
Ah, Fifth Ring, you are one ring more than the Fourth Ring
啊 五环 你比六环少一环（I’m driving on the fifth ring）
Ah, Fifth Ring, you are one ring less than the Sixth Ring
终于有一天 你会修到七环
When finally one day you may build a Seventh Ring
修到七环怎么办
Built out to the Seventh Ring, what to do?
你比五环多两环
You are two rings more than the Fifth Ring
MC HotDog：
多少人明知山有虎
How many people know there are tigers in the mountains
却偏向虎山行
And yet are still determined to go to the mountain
我明明知道五环堵
I know well that the Fifth Ring always has traffic
这条回家路 祸不单行
On this road home, it never rains but it pours
要塞啊 就塞啊 哼 我不担心
Ah if there’s traffic, there’s traffic, I don’t worry
一辈子没有洗过车
I have never washed my car in my life
我车子不干净
My car is not clean
这烟抽的看起来多淡定
Here, look at the chill face of the smoker
这边苦苦的笑容呢
A bitter smile here
吐出了叹气
Spit out an exhale
你还想看什么戏
What else do you want to see here
在车上乖乖吃着你的煎饼
Eat your jianbing in the car
快点上五环
Hurry up to the Fifth Ring
因为或许先上先赢
Because if we get there first we’ll win
我把车子开上五环
我把车子开上五环
快点把车子开上五环
什么都不管
我就是要上五环
五环五环
五环五环
这是五环五环
什么都不管
我现在就上五环
Friday Song is SupChina’s weekly sign-off. Let us know what you thought of the week that was in the comments below, or email editors@thechinaproject.com.
