(CN/EN) 義勇軍進行曲-March of the Volunteers (Paul Robeson version)

The “March of the Volunteers“ is the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China, including its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Unlike most previous Chinese state anthems, it is written entirely in the vernacular, rather than in Classical Chinese. Its lyrics were composed as a dramatic poem by the poet and playwright, the Japan-educated Tian Han in 1934 and set to music by Nie Er from Yunnan Province the next year for the film Children of Troubled Times. It was adopted as the PRC’s provisional anthem in 1949 in place of the “Three Principles of the People“ of the Republic of China and the Communist “Internationale“. In exile in New York City in 1940, Liu Liangmo taught it to Paul Robeson, the college-educated polyglot folk-singing son of a runaway slave. Robeson began performing the song in Chinese at a large concert in New York City’s Lewisohn Stadium. Reportedly in communication with the original lyricist Tian Han, the pai