"Mice Love Rice" ( zh, s=老鼠爱大米, t=老鼠愛大米, p=Lǎoshǔ Ài Dàmǐ) is a 2004 Chinese pop song written by a then unknown music teacher Yang Chengang which gained popularity across Asia via the Internet after being posted online. The original free online version was sung by Yang's friend Wang Qiwen.

Music and lyrics

One of the song's attractions is a catchy music hook around the lyric "I love you, loving you / As mice love rice". "Mice Love Rice," was one of the first notable download hits in China, at the same period as "Lilac Flower" by Tang Lei and "The Pig" by

Xiangxiang Xiangxiang () is a county-level city under the administration of Xiangtan, Hunan province, China. Located on Central Hunan and the west of Xiangtan, Xiangxiang is bordered by Ningxiang County and Shaoshan City to the north, Xiangtan County to the ...

Beijing Review ''Beijing Review'' (), previously ''Peking Review'', is China's only national news magazine in English, published by the Chinese Communist Party-owned China International Publishing Group. In 2006 it claimed a per-issue circulation of 70,000 and ...

2006 - Volume 49 - Page 7 "Some songs have received more than 10 million hits for downloading, including "Mice Love Rice," sung by Yang Chengang, "Lilac Flower" by Tang Lei and "The Pig" by Xiangxiang. They are fairly popular everywhere in China now." "Mice Love Rice" became a hit in

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Chinese cover versions

In Hong Kong, the

Emperor Entertainment Group Emperor Group is a diversified group of companies founded by Albert Yeung in Hong Kong. Albert Yeung's father, Mr Yeung Shing, opened a watch shop named "Shing On Kee Watch Shop" in 1942, setting the business foundation.

bought the license for redistributing in the local market and the lyrics of the Mandarin song were rewritten into a Cantonese version, except for the famous motif of the song which remains in Mandarin. The song was sung in Cantonese by

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

, a Hong Kong-based two-girl band. In Singapore, recording company Play Music won the rights to marketing the song in Singapore, and they released a single of the track as sung by

Jocie Kok Jocie Guo (born 21 March 1982), also known as Guo Mei Mei, is a Singaporean female singer who made her first appearance on the entertainment scene in the middle of 2005. She is signed under Singapore record company Play Music which practises pa ...

. Yang's song has been sung by many other Chinese artists, and Xiang Xiang, another mainland Chinese singer who issued an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

afterwards, of dubious grammatical accuracy. There is also an unofficial "sequel" to the song, "The Mice No Longer Love Rice" ( zh, s=老鼠不再爱大米, labels=no) written by Chen Yipeng.

Foreign versions

"Mice Love Rice" has also inspired other songs throughout the world including ''Sarang Haeyo'' (, "I Love You") by

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

singer Lee So-Eun, ''Nezumi wa Kome ga Suki'' (, "Mice Love Rice") by

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

artist

Karen Miyama is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She used to be part of the Gekidan Tohai talent agency, and is now part of Horipro talent agency. She portrayed the young Ann Uekusa in the live-action drama ''Sand Chronicles''. In anime, she provided ...

, two Khmer versions by

Cambodian Cambodian usually refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Cambodia ** Cambodian people (or Khmer people) ** Cambodian language (or Khmer language) ** For citizens and nationals of Cambodia, see Demographics of Cambodia ** Fo ...

singers

Chhet Sovan Panha Chhet Sovanpanha ( km, ឈិត សុវណ្ណបញ្ញា; born 6 September 1986) is a Cambodian singer. She is the only singer to reach the top rankings in Cambodia's competitive music industry with almost no self-promotion. Biograph ...

and

Preap Sovath Preap Sovath ( km, ព្រាប សុវត្ថិ ; born 25 January 1975) is a Cambodian singer, actor and brand ambassador. He began his singing career in the early 1990s. He also appeared in Cambodian movies such as ''The Crocodile''. ...

, "Cos I Love You" by the Australian boy band

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

, and ''Chuột yêu gạo'' by

ese singer Thanh Thảo.

References

External links

The Million Dollar Mouse
{{authority control Chinese songs Chinglish Mandarin-language songs 2004 songs