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I Like Chinese Lyrics

Artist: Monty Python
Album: Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album

The world today seems absolutely crackers,
With nuclear bombs to blow us all sky high.
There's fools and idiots sitting on the trigger.
It's depressing and it's senseless, and that's why...
I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're always friendly, and they're ready to please.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
There's nine hundred million of them in the world today.
You'd better learn to like them; that's what I say.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They come from a long way overseas,
But they're cute and they're cuddly, and they're ready to please.

I like Chinese food.
The waiters never are rude.
Think of the many things they've done to impress.
There's Maoism, Taoism, I Ching, and Chess.

So I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin, and yang-ese.

I like Chinese thought,
The wisdom that Confucious taught.
If Darwin is anything to shout about,
The Chinese will survive us all without any doubt.

So, I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're wise and they're witty, and they're ready to please.

All together.

[verse in Chinese]
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Wo ai zhongguo ren. (I like Chinese.)
Ni hao ma; ni hao ma; ni hao ma; zaijien! (How are you; how are you; how are you; goodbye!)

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
Their food is guaranteed to please,
A fourteen, a seven, a nine, and lychees.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin, and yang-ese.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees...

Comments/Interpretations

by Monty on 5/19/2008 2:59pm
greatest song in the universe

by monty python on 6/7/2008 8:30am
thnx all partners for making the lyrics...i appreciate it...

by ponty mython on 6/25/2008 6:58am
yeah yeah yeah

by dhdhj on 7/23/2008 11:19am
My Grandpa was chinese this song sucks

by God on 8/7/2008 10:24pm
get over yourself dhdhj, i decree you an ass. this song extremely true.

by stoneloach on 8/9/2008 1:16pm
Come on China, this has to be your new national anthem.

by april-ashlee on 8/11/2008 10:43pm
has anybody realised that Bing Lee (Australia) uses the tune from this song as their theme tune?
I like Bing Lee
I like Bing Lee
Their prices are very low you see.....
Perfect example of turning a potentially offensive thing to make a profit. So Ironic, I love it!

by gook200 on 8/18/2008 11:35pm
i'm chinese (background) and i think this song is a pisser, ppl need to relax and see the funny side of things!

by Hunter on 9/7/2008 8:41pm
People who think this song is rude should go jump in a lake:)

by eViLegion on 9/22/2008 11:58am
It is obviously not meant to be insulting. He's rather flattering (in a jokey way) and points out many great features of Chinese culture.

Only trouble is, China is sitting on the triggers of a number of nuclear weapons, so the opening premise of the song is void! =P

by Tibberlichus Nippercus on 10/28/2008 8:10pm
I don't think this is intended as an insult. Bare in mind that Monty Python makes fun of a lot of different people (including themselves and their own culture and politics) and they do so for the purpose of entertainment. Clearly there are some racial stereotypes here, but they are intended to make us laugh and not to make us hate.

by josh morgan on 11/14/2008 5:55am
Illiterate lil thingies

by Handle on 11/29/2008 12:37am
Well, the song makes me like Chinese people even more than I do already, which is difficult, because I think being Chinese is great anyway.
A friend just played the actual record for me recently, now I can't get it out of my head.
Seriously, I DO like Chinese [but zen and bonsai ain't chinese!]

Sorry to quibble. Otherwise, it's great.

by KB on 12/6/2008 4:49pm
some of those things aren't chinese... lol

by Ma Hua Ching on 12/16/2008 8:58am
I love Chineses too because I is one of them hehe

by COOL PERSON on 12/26/2008 3:27am
this song is a pisser lol cant stop laughing well done monty python!

by I leen on 12/31/2008 11:26pm
Yep, Beter to like chinese than muslims !!!
Chinese don't blow up. There food is soo much better and they are polite

by nextvkin on 1/5/2009 9:42pm
Hey I'm Chinese (well overseas Chinese) and I've always liked it esp now that I've discovered lyrics (apart from the "I like Chinese" bit) - politically correct people need not apply! (And oversensitive Chinese)

by I like Bing Lee on 1/10/2009 7:48am
I like Bing Lee~~~~
Cuz it is created by Chinese people!LoL

by Ray on 1/12/2009 5:42am
Oh, this made me laugh... And I'm a Singaporean/Australian Chinese, and I did not get offended at all, not one bit.

by doctorzen on 1/16/2009 1:48am
Dear Handle, regarding your 11/29 post. Actually Zen and bonsai are Chinese. In China zen is called Chan and predates Japanese zen. Bonsai is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese "penzai." The Chinese taught both of these to the Japanese.

by Won Hung Low on 1/24/2009 11:52am
What a great tribute to the Chinese-Americans. And OH SO clever!!

by Nanaya on 6/11/2009 3:29pm
I give Monty Python the benefit of the doubt since they made a crude joke about their own people. Remember Meaning of Life?
"Shut up! You Englishmen are so fucking pompous! You don't have any balls!"
But as far as comedic value, this doesn't really reach the top of my list. They've done funnier songs/sketches than this.

by I like Chinese on 6/14/2009 12:16am
Wo ai zhongguo ren.

by I like Chinese on 6/14/2009 12:17am
这首歌是欢闹

by montypythonrules on 12/5/2009 2:26pm
whoevers offended by this needs to get a sense of humour

by <3 Chinese on 3/28/2010 1:32pm
I love this song!!! It's hilarious! :D So what if it's somewhat insulting... people need some laughing in life, or at life! LOL!

by Eric Idle on 6/8/2010 9:36pm
Fuck The Chinks

by Overseas Chinese on 6/26/2010 10:05pm
I'm Chinese (Malaysian) and I love this song! =D

(And I feel I must really complain about the previous poster's comments. You don't even deserve to type those letters as your name)

by Goku on 7/7/2010 1:37pm
Hi I'm Goku!

by Me on 8/22/2010 8:42pm
go get rucked

by Sarah Harwood on 10/21/2010 6:41pm
Very funny and interesting. especially like The verse which had chinese in it!
Well done!

by Andrew Francis on 12/2/2010 9:37am
I am a english teacher in north central China at present, looking at organising a christmas pary for our chinese friends that would involve the other foreign teachers here. Would it be so terribly wrong to include this song in our keynote performance? Hmmmm...

by Strangerdanger Steve on 3/15/2011 12:03am
Help! I can't breathe through my nose!!

by Tudd Bullul on 5/17/2011 10:45pm
First heard I Like Chinese in 1996 in Dortmund, Germany courtesy of a German folksinger friend who looked and sounded as funny as Monty Python himself. I like the song 'til now.

by Mr Chimps on 7/14/2011 1:01pm
I've seen Strangerdanger Steve before and he couldn't breathe through his nose then. Mysterious. Off for a Chinese now, tootle pip.

by ChrisH on 9/12/2011 7:48am
If the credit crunch is anything to shout about.
The Chinese will soon own us all without any doubt :-)

by Da Yuehan on 1/14/2012 7:26pm
OK...
"Wo ai zhongguo ren." means I love Chinese men.

To say "I like Chinese" you would use "Wo Xihuan Zhongguo"

I lived in China for 5 years, and no one says "ni Hao ma". It is "Ni hao".

by Meatbomb on 2/12/2012 4:58am
"Bare in mind that Monty Python makes fun of a lot of different people.... Clearly there are some racial stereotypes here, but they are intended to make us laugh and not to make us hate."

That's the whole point of the joke! It's a triple take - 1. hey, that's racist! 2. no, no, it's positive, hooray China! 3. WTF - this is the most inane and ignorant characterization of Chinese people ever presented...

The fact that it is incredibly racist (and ignorantly so - his experience of China is going to retaurants and ordering the "number 7") is the place where the ha-ha comes from.

by �� on 3/16/2012 8:36am
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by Yoshi on 3/19/2012 12:57pm
I Like this song too. People need to see the funny side of everything in life. It would only be offensive if it was talking about the bad things that are with the chinese.(I see nothing bad about the Chinese.)

by Chinese Duder on 3/27/2012 5:56am
I love a good racial stereotype and need racist jokes on a daily basis... But still, I feel weird when I'm listening to and ENJOYING this song.

by A Chinese Guy on 4/9/2012 7:03pm
This song is written in the 80's, if you care to recollect, that's a time when the Chinese politics, culture, society & people are just beginning to adapt to the capitalistic world that is today.

If I remember correctly, during that period of time an average worker earns 15-30 dollars a month, which is like present day 3-5 USD.

I would assume during the 70's and 80's a lot of Hongkongese emigrated to UK, and imagine if your nation has just triumphed in two world wars; colonized a substantial portion of the world; and were at the cusp of your civilization, how would you view these aliens from from other lands?

I am Chinese and I don't feel surprised that they viewed these HK immigrants as funny people. I would actually be more surprised if they didn't.

But times change and so does perspectives, what I'd suggest is try to put yourselves in the shoes of a middle-class white male in the 80's and enjoy this tune without regard to it's so-called racist intents.

by Monty Python on 5/19/2012 7:22pm
stop saying bad things about my song! i didn't mean to make it annoying or offensive in anyway, well maybe a little annoying but that's just me.

im making a new song in a couple of months called i like Japanese :D

by kapo tihu guhri on 5/22/2012 3:01am
i speak Japanese and English but im not sure if this guy is for real.... he probably is

by xiang on 7/1/2012 2:22pm
love it!

by tom on 2/27/2013 12:59am
Just correcting smartass "Da Yuehan":
"Wo ai zhongguo ren" means: I love chinese people (men and women).
"Ni hao" is the equivalent to "hi", not to "how are you?".
"Ni hao ma" for "how are you?" is correct, but it is indeed very rarely used.

by dorothy vollick on 3/2/2013 2:45pm
this is the only song that i wish i had written

by Simon on 3/26/2014 4:21pm
A 14, 7,9 and lychees
14 Sweet and sour soup
7 Chicken chop suey
9 Fried rice

by Burschenschaft on 10/28/2014 5:42am
Strange as it may sound, this song helped me schore with the most beautiful woman in the world - Xing Huei Juan. We broke up after only a few months but I still can't forget the magic that was us. Wo ai zhongguo funu

by Alison Hynd on 10/2/2016 5:32am
Wo ai zhongguo ren means "I love Chinese person / people", which also means "I love Chinese". To say wo xihuan zhongguo would mean "I love China". The information given above on this is incorrect.

Someone above stated that in China they don't say no hao ma, when actually they do. Ni hao means "you good" and they use that to say hello. Adding ma at the end of a sentence makes it a question, so "Ni hao ma?" does mean "how are you?"

by danny Yan on 11/20/2016 6:59pm
i am chinese and i find this song quite insulting.

by Cp6 on 3/7/2021 8:06am
This song may seem to be making fun of Chinese people, but it actually isn’t - the real target of the satire here is ignorant Westerners who went all in on the big 1970s fad for all things Eastern without really understanding Chinese culture at all. The singer says that he likes Chinese people and things, but his understanding of them is superficial at best. As with all humor, context is key to understanding it.