What to play in Shanghai-KTV!

KTV is the hottest entertainment in Shanghai currently and it is popular among people of all ages. The full name of KTV is “Karaoke Television”. Usually a KTV company rents a large place, like a whole floor of a shopping mall, and divides it into a lot of rooms in a range of big, medium and small. Each room is equipped with a big HDTV, a machine which you can use to choose the song, long sofas and microphones. The TV and song-choosing machine are controlled by a computer.

(a KTV room)


When a bunch of people go to a KTV, tell the front desk clerk how many rooms you want and how big you want the room to be. For example, if there are only two or three prople, you can choose a mini room; if there are three to five people, you can chose a small one; if there are five to ten people, you can choose a medium; ten to fifteen people would require a big one (a big room is often equipped with two televisions, sometimes even a bar and a stage); if there are more than fifteen people, asking for more than one room is a better choice.

Then a waiter/waitress will appear to show you the way to your room. The pathways into a KTV are always like a maze since there are too many rooms and they all look the same. When you arrive at your room the waiter will help to give you new microphones, turn on the song-choosing machine and from now on they begin to clock your time because the pay in a KTV is calculated by the amount of time you spend there.

Now you can begin your entertainment just by choosing whatever songs you like and then singing. A KTV company often has thousands of songs for you to choose in a variety of language, location and time. Besides, during the time you spend in a KTV, if you a hungry or thirsty, you can order some food and drink just by pressing the service button on the remote of the TV. A waiter/waitress will come to your room after you press the button and take your order. Several minutes later, he/she will bring your food and/or drink to your room. Recently, a kind of new KTV which is equipped with a buffet has appeared in Shanghai. In such KTVs you pay for a 2~3 hour with a meal per person. During your time, you can both sing in your room and pick out whatever you want to eat in the buffet and then bring them back to your room to eat.