Singing their way to solidarity

To learn the song lyrics, he wrote the notes and words onto cardboard sheets so that he could practice anytime, anywhere. "At first, my grandson thought it would be a disaster for the choir if I was the lead singer, but now he's proud of me and says his grandpa is quite good," Chen says.

Other members use Chinese characters to grasp the Spanish pronunciation more quickly, but Yang does not recommend this approach, because in her view, it is not "professional".

Grabbing free moments as they wait for the bus, walk the dog, or take care of grandchildren, members have learned to sing more than a dozen songs. They attribute this achievement to Yang.

The 78-year-old graduated with a bachelor's degree in Spanish from the Beijing Foreign Studies University and earned her master's degree from Peking University. Before retiring, she worked in the Ministry of Culture on cultural exchanges and cooperation, and visited Latin America eight times, traveling to most of its countries.

Yang describes herself as "dedicated to spreading Spanish, and Spanish-language songs". In 1988, she translated a play she had seen in Mexico, Bellas Imagenes Sociales (Beautiful Social Images), and after some persistence, was able to stage it in China.

Yang single-handedly translates, arranges, and choreographs the songs, because not all of them have existing sheet music, and some require her to transcribe the melody and lyrics line by line. Now they have been compiled into a thick songbook.