Thelyrics of the "March of the Volunteers", also formally known as theNational Anthem of the People's Republic of China, were composed byTian Han in 1934[8] as twostanzas in his poem "TheGreat Wall" (萬里長城), (义勇军进行曲) intended either for a play he was working on at the time[9] or as part of thescript forDiantong's upcoming filmChildren of Troubled Times.[10] It first appeared in the film.[11]: 287
The film is a story about a Chinese intellectual who flees during theShanghai Incident to a life of luxury inQingdao, only to be driven tofight the Japanese occupation ofManchuria after learning of the death of his friend.Urban legends later circulated that Tian wrote it in jail onrolling paper[9] or the liner paper from cigarette boxes[12] after being arrested in Shanghai by theNationalists; in fact, he was arrested in Shanghai and held inNanjing just after completing his draft for the film.[10] During March[13] and April 1935,[10] in Japan,Nie Er set the words (with minor adjustments)[10] to music; in May, Diantong's sound director He Luting had the Russian composerAaron Avshalomov arrange their orchestral accompaniment.[14] The song plays in the film's concluding scene as the protagonists join the masses in taking up arms to oppose the invading Japanese.[11]: 287 The song was performed byGu Menghe andYuan Muzhi, along with a small and "hastily-assembled" chorus; He Luting consciously chose to use their first take, which preserved theCantonese accent of several of the men.[10] On 9 May, Gu and Yuan recorded it in more standard Mandarin forPathé Orient's Shanghai branch[d] ahead of the movie's[clarification needed] release, so that it served as a form of advertising for the film.[14]
Originally translated as "Volunteers Marching On",[15][16] theEnglish name references the severalvolunteer armies that opposedJapan'sinvasion of Manchuria in the 1930s; the Chinese name is a poetic variation—literally, the "Righteous and Brave Armies"—that also appears in other songs of the time, such as the 1937 "Sword March".
In May 1935, the same month as the movie's[clarification needed] release,Lü Ji and other leftists inShanghai had begun an amateur choir and started promoting a National Salvation singing campaign,[17] supporting mass singing associations along the lines established the year before byLiu Liangmo, a ShanghaiYMCA leader.[10][18] Although the movie[clarification needed] did not perform well enough to keep Diantong from closing, its theme song became wildly popular:musicologistFeng Zikai reported hearing it being sung by crowds in rural villages fromZhejiang toHunan within months of its release[12] and, at a performance at a Shanghai sports stadium in June 1936, Liu's chorus of hundreds was joined by its audience of thousands.[10] Although Tian Han was imprisoned for two years,[14] Nie Er fled to theSoviet Union, only to die en route inJapan;[13][e] and Liu Liangmo eventually fled to the U.S. to escape harassment from theNationalists.[19] The singing campaign continued to expand, particularly after the December 1936Xi'an Incident reducedNationalist pressure against leftist movements.[17] Visiting St Paul's Hospital at theAnglicanmission at Guide (nowShangqiu,Henan),W.H. Auden andChristopher Isherwood reported hearing a "Chee Lai!" treated as ahymn at the mission service and the same tune "set to different words" treated as a favorite song of theEighth Route Army.[20]
The song's first appearance in print, the May or June 1935Diantong Pictorial[15]
The "March of the Volunteers" was used as the Chinese national anthem for the first time at theWorld Peace Conference in April 1949. Originally intended forParis, French authorities refused so many visas for its delegates that a parallel conference was held inPrague,Czechoslovakia.[28] At the time,Beijing had recently come under the control of theChinese Communists in theChinese Civil War and its delegates attended the Prague conference in China's name. There was controversy over the third line, "The Chinese nation faces its greatest peril", so the writerGuo Moruo changed it for the event to "The Chinese nation has arrived at its moment of emancipation". The song was personally performed by Paul Robeson.[14]
In June, a committee was set up by theChinese Communist Party to decide on an official national anthem for the soon-to-be declared People's Republic of China. By the end of August, the committee had received 632 entries totaling 694 different sets of scores and lyrics.[10] TheMarch of the Volunteers was suggested by thepainterXu Beihong[29] and supported byZhou Enlai.[10] Opposition to its use centered on the third line, as "The Chinese people face their greatest peril" suggested that China continued to face difficulties. Zhou replied, "We still haveimperialist enemies in front of us. The more we progress in development, the more the imperialists will hate us, seek to undermine us, attack us. Can you say that we won't be in peril?" His view was supported byMao Zedong and, on 27 September 1949, the song became the provisional national anthem, just days before the founding of thePeople's Republic.[30] The highly fictionalizedbiopicNie Er was produced in 1959 for its 10th anniversary; for its 50th in 1999,The National Anthem retold the story of the anthem's composition fromTian Han's point of view.[10]
The 1 February 1966People's Daily article condemningTian Han's 1961allegoricalPeking operaXie Yaohuan as a "big poisonous weed"[31] was one of the opening salvos of theCultural Revolution,[32] during which he was imprisoned and his words forbidden to be sung. As a result, there was a time when "The East Is Red" served as the PRC's unofficial anthem.[i] Following the9th National Congress, "The March of the Volunteers" began to be played once again from the 20thNational Day Parade in 1969, although performances were solely instrumental. Tian Han died in prison in 1968, but Paul Robeson continued to send the royalties from his American recordings of the song to Tian's family.[14]
The anthem was restored by the5th National People's Congress on 5 March 1978,[34] but with rewritten lyrics including references to the Chinese Communist Party, communism, andChairman Mao. Following Tian Han's posthumousrehabilitation in 1979[10] andDeng Xiaoping's consolidation of power overHua Guofeng, theNational People's Congress resolved to restore Tian Han's original verses to the march and to elevate its status, making it the country's official national anthem on 4 December 1982.[34][35]
Sheet music from Appendix 4 ofMacau's Law No.5/1999
The use of the anthem in theMacau Special Administrative Region is particularly governed by Law No.5/1999, which was enacted on 20 December 1999. Article 7 of the law requires that the anthem be accurately performed pursuant to the sheet music in its Appendix 4 and prohibits the lyrics from being altered. Under Article 9, willful alteration of the music or lyrics iscriminally punishable by imprisonment of up to two years or up to 360day-fines[38][39] and, although bothChinese andPortuguese are official languages of the region, the provided sheet music has its lyrics only inChinese. Mainland China has also passed a similar law in 2017.[40]
Nonetheless, the Chinese National Anthem inMandarin now forms a mandatory part ofpublic secondary education in Hong Kong as well.[41] The local government issued a circular in May 1998 requiring government-funded schools to performflag-raising ceremonies involving the singing of the "March of the Volunteers" on particular days: the first day of school, the "open day",National Day (1 October), New Year's (1 January), the "sport day",Establishment Day (1 July), the graduation ceremony, and for some other school-organized events; the circular was also sent to the SAR'sprivate schools.[42][43] The official policy was long ignored, but—following massive and unexpected public demonstrations in 2003 against proposed anti-subversion laws—the ruling was reiterated in 2004[44][45] and, by 2008, most schools were holding such ceremonies at least once or twice a year.[46] FromNational Day in 2004, as well, Hong Kong'slocal television networks have also been required to preface their evening news with government-prepared[47] promotional videos including the national anthem in Mandarin.[45] Initially a pilot program planned for a few months,[48] it has continued ever since. Viewed by many as propaganda,[48][49][50] even after a sharp increase in support in the preceding four years, by 2006, the majority ofHongkongers remained neither proud nor fond of the anthem.[51] On 4 November 2017, theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress decided to insert a Chinese National Anthem Law into the Annex III of theBasic Law of Hong Kong, which would make it illegal to insult or not show sufficient respect to the Chinese national anthem. On 4 June 2020, theNational Anthem Bill was passed in Hong Kong after being approved by theLegislative Council.[52][53]
A 1939 bilingual songbook which included the song called it "a good example of...copy[ing] the good points from Western music without impairing or losingour own national color".[21] Nie's piece is amarch, a Western form, opening with abugle call and a motif (with which it also closes) based on an ascending fourth interval from D to G inspired by"TheInternationale".[54] Its rhythmic patterns of triplets, accented downbeats, and syncopation and use (with the exception of one note, F♯ in the first verse) of theG majorpentatonic scale,[54] however, create an effect of becoming "progressively more Chinese in character" over the course of the tune.[41] For reasons both musical and political, Nie came to be regarded as a model composer by Chinese musicians in the Maoist era.[13]Howard Taubman, theNew York Times music editor, initially panned the tune as telling us China's "fight is more momentous than her art" although, after US entrance into the war, he called its performance "delightful".[14]
Arise, we who refuse to be slaves! With our very flesh and blood, Let us build our new Great Wall! Thepeoples of China are at their most critical time, Everybody must roar defiance. Arise! Arise! Arise! Millions of hearts with one mind, Brave the enemy’s gunfire, march on! Brave the enemy’s gunfire, march on! March on! March on and on!
Arise! ye who refuse to be bond slaves! With our very flesh and blood, Let us build our new Great Wall. China's masses have met the day of danger, Indignation fills the hearts of all our countrymen. Arise! Arise! Arise! Many hearts with one mind, Brave the enemy's gunfire, March on! Brave the enemy's gunfire, March on! March on!, March on!, On!
March on! People of all heroic nationalities! The great Communist Party leads us in continuing the Long March, Millions with but one heart toward a communist tomorrow, Develop and protect the country in a brave struggle. March on, march on, march on! We will for generations, Raise high Mao Zedong's banner, march on! Raise high Mao Zedong's banner, march on! March on! March on! On!
^Pathé's local music director at the time was the French-educatedRen Guang, who in 1933 was a founding member ofSoong Ching-ling's "Soviet Friends Society"'s Music Group. Prior to his arrest, Tian Han served as the group's head and Nie Er was another charter member.Liu Liangmo, who subsequently did much to popularize the use of the song, had also joined by 1935.[14]
^Nie actually finalized the movie's[clarification needed] music in Japan and sent it back to Diantong in Shanghai.[10]
^The lyrics, which appeared in theMusic Educators' Journal,[22] are sung verbatim inPhilip Roth's 1969Portnoy's Complaint, where Portnoy claims "the rhythm alone can cause my flesh to ripple" and that his elementary school teachers were already calling it the "Chinese national anthem".[23]
^This song was also sometimes spelled asChi Lai orCh'i-Lai.
^abRodekohr, Andy (2016). ""Human Wave Tactics": Zhang Yimou, Cinematic Ritual, and the Problems of Crowds". In Li, Jie; Zhang, Enhua (eds.).Red Legacies in China: Cultural Afterlives of the Communist Revolution. Harvard Contemporary China Series. Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard University Asia Center.ISBN978-0-674-73718-1.
^中华人民共和国国歌法 [The Law of the National Anthem of the People's Republic of China](PDF) (in Chinese). The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. 1 September 2017. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 1 September 2017. Retrieved6 December 2017.
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