The March of the Volunteers was a song written by the Chinese poet and playwright Tian Han and set to music by Nie Er in 1935 when the Chinese people were on their Long March of 6000 miles from the Jiangxi Soviet to Yanan in north west China.
Its lyrics are :
” Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves !
With our flesh and blood, let us build a new Great Wall !
The Chinese people are facing their greatest peril
From each one the urgent call to action must come forth.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Millions of hearts but one mind
Braving the enemies’ fire ! March on !
Braving the enemies’ fire ! March on !
March on ! March on ! March on ! ”
After the Chinese Revolution was successful in 1949 a debate took place in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, in which the top Chinese leaders were present, over the question whether this song should be adopted as the Chinese National Anthem.
Many participants were opposed to the song, because they thought it was jingoistic, and was unsuitable now that the war against Japan, as well as the Chinese civil war, were over, and peace was prevailing.
Others objected to the line
” The Chinese people are facing their greatest peril ”
as they felt that now that the Japanese and the Kuomintang had been defeated, the greatest peril for the Chinese people was over.
But Prime Minister Zhu en Lai strongly supported the idea of making it the National Anthem. He argued that the Chinese people by their victory had strongly antagonized the Western powers, who will now strive with might and main to crush the Chinese Revolution. So the Chinese people are still facing their greatest peril.
Zhu en Lai said
”We still have imperialist 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 ? Moreover, after the destruction wrought by the Japanese invasion and the civil war, the Chinese people face the herculean task of national economic reconstruction. So the battle is still going on ”.
The suggestion of Zhu en Lai was ultimately accepted, and the song became China’s National Anthem
https://theadvocatepost.org/blog/2024/08/10/18-years-old-chinese-athlete-adorable-expression-during-paris-olympics-2024/
