I gratefully hopped in the taxi having been passed by a dozen or so occupied taxis and I was running short on time. I tumbled in and told him the address of my workplace. I specified which way would be fastest like usual, but he chuckled and smiled remarking, “Yes, I know, I know.” This is not quite usual in most of the taxis in China, as most of them don’t usually speak much English. This is actually why in China I think the taxi driver make the best free candidates with whom to practice your Chinese.

Photo: Boris Van Hoytima

After you get through the initial start up questions including, “where are you from, what country, how long in China?” etc, it’s always interesting to see what topics come up. All in all, with my limited Chinese abilities, I am surprised of the range of themes in which the taxi drivers seem to take an interest. I have discussed the Obama Election, gun control, Iraq War, driving in America, marriage, and the demise of the US economy, and the overall favorite, American basketball.

Every once in awhile though there is one discussion where you actually feel that maybe your minute Chinese abilities have lead to an interesting outcome and you feel pleasantly satisfied you were able to deliver your two-cents on the subject. Today that subject was music. As we headed down the highway, the cabby inserted a CD into the player pointing and said, “Tom Petty!” I was a bit surprised, but I nodded approvingly, and gave him the “thumbs up. “

We started discussing Classic Rock music specifically, and he noted how it was such a pity that many Chinese youth didn’t have an appreciation for Classic Rock and lamented that many of them only like American or British Pop music and didn’t care much about music with guitar. He added that it was a generational thing and noted that only older people have an appreciation for Classic Rock music; he laughed and indicated that by that he meant himself, a 30 year old. I laughed and told him I was about that age too, which would explain my taste in music as well. He started asking about British bands too, and asked about Bryan Adams, whom I expressed my dislike for, and reminded him that actually Bryan is Canadian, ”mei shi.”

Photo: Marc Oh

In the end I ended up writing down a list of about 15 American and British bands that I thought he would like. I wrote down everything from Rush, the Who, Pink Floyd, to Jefferson Airplane and CCR. Nothing pleases me more than being able to share music with someone who is willing to accept it. He quickly found another CD and clicked through the tracks until he got to number 7, asking whom the band was. He said that he had downloaded it but had no idea who actually sang the song. As the famous plucking of the acoustic guitar began, I smiled and told him it was Led Zeppelin. “Ahhhhh “was the reaction, and he made me write it down for him. Trying to explain “Stairway to Heaven” in Chinese, however, took a bit more effort on my part. He got it finally.

Photo: MK Media Productions

As the taxi came to a halt in front of my place of employment, he looked over the list, deeply satisfied at this newfound knowledge he had just received. The randomness of the theme and how it started amused me but I was happy my minimal language skills hadn’t mattered in the end. I still got the chance to practice my Chinese while sharing what I knew. In my mind there is no better gift than the gift of music. It surpasses all language barriers and countries and shows the world what we have in common.

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