Over the last year, Asia Society has been working with bilingual comedian Jesse Appell to help shed some light on facets of Chinese culture that foreigners find confusing or complex.

One of those is the confounding nature of tones in Mandarin. Through this lighthearted video, Devin Nickell, Community Engagement Manager for Team Pengyou, along with her a capella group in Beijing, 京Sing (Jing Sing) helped Jesse show how although the tonal nature of Chinese might be frustrating at times, it can also be musical!

This video was the final episode of Asia Society’s Great LOL of China: Chinese Tones

If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out more of Asia Society and Jesse Appell’s Great LOL of China series!