The East Is Red (song)

"The East Is Red" is a Chinese Communist Party 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 of the song were attributed to Li Youyuan (李有源), a farmer from Shaanbei (northern Shaanxi), and the melody was derived from a local peasant love song from the Loess Plateau entitled "Bai Ma Diao" (《白马调》, White Horse Tune), also known as "Zhima You" (《芝麻油》, Sesame Oil), which was widely circulated in the area around Yan'an in the 1930s. The farmer allegedly got his inspiration upon seeing the rising sun in the morning of a sunny day.

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Early history

The lyrics to "The East Is Red" were adapted from an old Shaanxi folk song White Horse Tune.

. The lyrics were often changed depending on the singer. The modern lyrics (attributed to Li Youyuan, a farmer from northern Shaanxi) were produced in 1942 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The song was popular in the Communist base-area of Yan'an, but became less popular after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China in 1949, possibly because some senior CCP leaders disagreed with the song's portrayal of Mao Zedong as "China's savior".

The lyrics of "The East Is Red" idealize Mao Zedong, and Mao's popularization of "The East Is Red" was one of his earliest efforts to promote his image as a perfect hero in Chinese popular culture after the Korean War. In 1956, a political commissar suggested to China's defense minister, Peng Dehuai, that the song be taught to Chinese troops, but Peng opposed Mao's propaganda, saying "That is a personality cult! That is idealism!" Peng's opposition to "The East Is Red", and to Mao's incipient personality cult in general, contributed to Mao purging Peng in 1959. After Peng was purged, Mao accelerated his efforts to build his personality cult; by 1966, he succeeded in having "The East Is Red" sung in place of China's national anthem in an unofficial capacity.

In 1964, Zhou Enlai used "The East Is Red" as the central chorus for a play he created to promote the personality cult of Mao Zedong, with "March Forward under the Banner of Mao Zedong Thought" as the original title. Zhou also served as co-producer, head writer and director of the play. The central theme of the play was that Mao was the only person capable of leading the CCP 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 into a feature film, also titled "The East Is Red," that was shown all over China. It was in this play that the definitive version of the song was heard for the first time; this would be the version used in events during the Cultural Revolution until 1969.

During the Cultural Revolution, Tian Han, the author of China's official national anthem, "March of the Volunteers", was purged; as a result, that song was rarely used. "The East Is Red" was used as China's unofficial national anthem during this time. The Custom House on the Bund in Shanghai still plays the song in place of the Westminster Chimes that were originally played by the British. The Central People's Broadcasting Station began broadcasts every day by playing the song on a set of bronze bells that had been cast over 2,000 years earlier during the Warring States period.

Students were obliged to sing the song in unison every morning at the beginning of the first class of the day. In 1969, the tune was used in the Yellow River Piano Concerto. The Concerto was produced by Jiang Qing and adapted from the Yellow River Cantata by Xian Xinghai. When she adapted the Cantata, Jiang added the tune to "The East Is Red" in order to connect the Concerto with the themes of the Cultural Revolution. China's first satellite, launched in 1970, shared its name with the song, which was the first signal the craft sent back to Earth.

The tune of "The East Is Red" remains popular in Chinese popular culture. In 2009, it was voted as the most popular patriotic song in a Chinese government-run internet poll.