Napoleon Has NOTHING on These Emperors

I had not heard the term "Little Emperor" until tonight, butI have no doubt it exists, as do the young boys who embody that idea.

Take the 4-year-old son of a Mr. Yun and his wife in Xi'an, China. Mr. Yun owns a noodle shop in that city (McNoodle?), and on the occasion of Chinese Valentine's Day, he invited his family to come to his shop and sing karaoke. Understand that this form of entertainment is at least as, if not more, popular than alcohol for entertainment in Asian cities. EVERYBODY sings at shops and clubs, and they take song rendition very seriously. So, suffice it to say, this is not the singing-in-the-shower-or-in-the-car-while-pounding-on-the-dashboard tunesmithing with which I am familiar.

It appears, according to a report in the London Telegraph, that by 11 p.m. the lad STILL would not give up the mike...and his parents continued to praise his efforts and exhort him to continue singing. Two uncles got a bit irritated and took the parents to task for allowing/encouraging such "Little Emperor" behavior. (Remember the Chinese policy of one child--preferably male-- that has led to unbelievably spoiled children some say).

Anyhow, words came to push and push came to shove and the fists of fury were unleashed. A nephew, one Mr. Hui, according to the report, ran to the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver (NOT Wally or the Beav) and proceeded to hack the uncles to death...inflicting at least 10 wounds on each man!

Lest you think this is an isolated incident, karaoke bars in the Philippines have had to take their track fro Frank Sinatra's My Way out of circulation due to the degree of violence perpetrated on singers who performed substandard renditions of the song!

In Thailand, a man shot eight of his neighbors, including one relative because, in his mind, they were doing horrible injustice to John Denver's Country Roads.

"Well, it's just those foreigners," I hear you say. Not true. A woman in this country punched a fellow for refusing to give up his version of Coldplay's Yellow.

Wow! Given my off-key renditions of just about anything I try to sing, it seems fortunate for me that I missed out on the whole karaoke thing, thinking it was just a method of running sideways used by football coaches...perhaps Little Emperors in their own right.