Little Apple

The dance routine that became an internet sensation

The C-pop music single 小苹果 (pronounced Xiǎo píngguǒ), which translates as Little Apple, was released by Chinese pop duo Chopstick Brothers in 2014. It quickly became a massive hit, No.1 in China. The song was written and produced by Wang Tai Li, who is also a Chinese film director and popular actor.

The song’s chorus translates as:

“You’re my little, oh little apple; I can’t love you too much.

Your little red cheeks warm my heart; the fire that lights up my life, the fire, fire, fire.

You’re my little, my little apple; like the most beautiful cloud in the sky.

Spring has come again and the flowers bloom on the hillsides; If you plant a seed of hope, you’ll have a harvest.”

It’s a love song, the singer characterising his lover as a little apple who has brought sweetness and happiness into his life.

An amusingly kitsch video was filmed by the Chopstick Brothers to accompany the release . It features several dramatic scenes about love such as Eve plucking an apple in the Garden of Eden, fatefully enticing Adam to do likewise. It also includes a repeated dance routine that went on to be an internet and TikTok sensation, widely copied, including in a Chinese Army recruitment video in which uniformed soldiers performed the dance.

Through a collaboration between Apples & People and a long-running Herefordshire-based project called Orchard Art, a group of actors with learning disabilities from the About Face Theatre Company have now performed their own take on the Chopstick Brothers’ video. Their excellent rendition was filmed for us by Rich Hankins.

“I planted a seed and finally the fruit has grown, today is a great day ”

About Face is a leading UK learning disability theatre company, based in Leominster, Herefordshire, whose namesake Leominster Massachusetts is the birthplace of the American folk hero Johnny Appleseed. About Face Theatre Company is part of the ECHO, a Herefordshire based charity that provides a wide range of opportunities for people with learning disabilities to grow in confidence and find a meaningful place as part of the community.

Little Apple acknowledges humanity’s relationship with nature and this new film celebrates how the apple can bring together people of all abilities and cultures. ​A decade on, the Little Apple tune is still as catchy, a real “earworm” – so watch out!

Thanks to:

• About Face Theatre Company, led by artistic director Jess Mackenzie
• Rich Hankins, filmmaker
• Wang Tai Li who has seen and approved the film
• Sony Music Publishing Beijing
• Brightspace Foundation, which runs the Orchard Art project
• Angela Huang for kindly checking translation