“Dōngfāng Hóng” (东方红, “The East is Red”) is a Chinese revolutionary song that was the de facto national anthem of the People’s Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
The lyrics were produced in 1942, during the Second Sino-…
“Dōngfāng Hóng” (东方红, “The East is Red”) is a Chinese revolutionary song that was the de facto national anthem of the People’s Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
The lyrics were produced in 1942, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and were attributed to a farmer from northern Shaanxi, Lǐ Yǒuyuán, while the music was adapted from an old Shaanxi folk song about love. The lyrics idealize founding father Máo Zédōng as “China’s savior”, and his popularization of “Dōngfāng” was one of his earliest efforts to promote his image as a perfect hero in Chinese popular culture after the Korean War. By 1966, he succeeded in having “Dōngfāng” sung in place of China’s national anthem (which was “Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngqǔ”) in an unofficial capacity.
In 1964, Zhōu Ēnlái used “Dōngfāng” as the central chorus for a play he created to promote Máo’s personality cult, with “March Forward under the Banner of [the] Máo Zédōng Thought” as the original title. Zhōu also served as co-producer, head writer and director of the play. The central theme of the play was that Máo was the only person capable of leading the Chinese Communist Party to victory. The play was performed by 2,000 artists, and was accompanied by a 1,000-strong chorus and orchestra. It was staged repeatedly in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People in order to ensure that all residents would be able to see it – this was in time for the 15th National Day of the People’s Republic of China, and was later adapted to film that was shown all over China – both by then under the title “Dōngfāng Hóng”. It was in this play that the definite version of the song was heard for the first time; this would be the version used during events during the Cultural Revolution years until 1969.
Because of its associations with the Cultural Revolution, the song was rarely heard after the rise of Dèng Xiǎopíng in the late 1970s. Today in China the song is considered by some to be a somewhat unseemly reminder of the cult of personality associated with Máo. Its official use has largely been replaced by “Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngqǔ”, whose lyrics mention neither the Communist Party nor Máo. However, “Dōngfāng” remains popular in Chinese popular culture. In 2009, it was voted as the most popular patriotic song in a Chinese government-run internet poll. The tune is still commonly heard in recordings played by electronic cigarette lighters bearing Máo’s face that are popular with tourists and as an interval signal in some radio stations in China.
