March of the Volunteers
| English: March of the Volunteers | |
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National anthem of People's Republic of China
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| Lyrics | Tian Han, 1934 |
| Music | Nie Er, 16 May 1935 |
| Adopted |
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| Audio sample | |
"March of the Volunteers", performed by the United States Navy Band
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| March of the Volunteers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 义勇军进行曲 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 義勇軍進行曲 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngqǔ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | March of the Righteous and Brave Armies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 反满抗日义勇军进行曲 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 反滿抗日義勇軍進行曲 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Fǎnmǎn Kàngrì Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngqǔ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National Anthem of the People's Republic of China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中华人民共和国国歌 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中華人民共和國國歌 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin |
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The "March of the Volunteers" is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it was written entirely in vernacular Chinese, rather than in Classical Chinese.
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria saw a boom of nationalistic arts and literature in China. This song had its lyrics written first by the communist playwright Tian Han in 1934, then set to melody by Nie Er and arranged by Aaron Avshalomov for the communist-aligned film Children of Troubled Times (1935). It became a famous military song during the Second Sino-Japanese War beyond the Chinese Communist Party, most notably the Nationalist general Dai Anlan designated it to be the anthem of the 200th Division, who fought in Burma. 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".
During the Cultural Revolution, Tian Han was criticized and placed in prison, where he died in 1968. The song was briefly and unofficially replaced by "The East Is Red", then reinstated but played without lyrics, restored to official status in 1978 with altered lyrics, before the original version was fully restored in 1982. In 2004, the March of the Volunteers was enshrined as the national anthem in the constitution. In 2017, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the National Anthem was adopted.