The pronunciation can be found in the Song Notes.

Notes

Pinyin
(Pronunciation)

Diū shǒujuàn

Diū, diū, diū shǒujuàn,
qiāoqiāo de fàng zài xiǎopéngyǒu de hòumiàn,
dàjiā bùyào gàosù tā,
kuài diǎn kuài diǎn zhuō zhù tā,
kuài diǎn kuài diǎn zhuō zhù tā.

(Repeat two more times)

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Game Instructions

Mailman Game

The children sit (or squat) in a circle. The "mailman" has a handkerchief or a piece of material ("the napkin"). While the children sing, the mailman goes around the circle and drops "the napkin" behind a child's back. When the child notices it, he picks it up. Then he runs to catch the mailman, who goes around the circle and sits in the empty place. If the mailman succeeds in sitting in the other's place, they swap roles. If he doesn't succeed, he goes to the center of the circle and gives a performance, such as singing a song, telling a joke, dancing and so on. And then the game continues. If the child who was given "the napkin" doesn't see it before the mailman has ran around the circle, he goes to the center of the circle and stays there until being replaced. The one who's been given "the napkin" can drop it behind someone else's back while running behind the first mailman, which is more fun!

Comments

Serenity Princess wrote: "This song's lyrics writer is BAO Kan (鲍侃) and its music writer is GUAN He-yan (关鹤岩). In this game all children should not tell others whom has been targeted by the handkerchief-thrower, so some people criticize that this game teaches the children to be dishonest."

Download

Many thanks to Yi Lin for singing this song for us!

Download MIDI Tune

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Yi Lin for contributing this song and the pinyin for it, translating it into French, and providing the game instructions. Thanks to Serenity Princess for helping with how to play this game and for her interesting commentary!

M goi! & Xie xie!