THE HEART OF CHINA NATIONAL DAY celebrations is one particular piece of music.
Here’s a quick two-question survey about that – with answers that will surprise some people.
Question 1: Which piece of music would you rather listen to?
a) A traditional national anthem?
Or b) A hit song from a movie?
Question 2: Which would you rather read?
a) The lyrics of a traditional national anthem?
Or b) A stirring poem written by a brave dissident who died in jail?
JOURNEY OF A SONG
Which did you choose? Well, let’s be honest: most people would assume the movie hit song and the poem written by a dissident would be more exciting.
But here’s a surprise. They’re the same thing. The lyrics of the song, called The March of the Volunteers, were written by a man who died in jail as a victim of an extremist group called the Gang of Four. His name was Tian Han. His reputation was rehabilitated after his death.
The melody was composed by young musician Nie Er for the 1935 film Children of Troubled Times—about peasants on a march to expel brutal Japanese soldiers who had invaded China. Nie Er sadly drowned in a swimming accident aged just 23. But he will never be forgotten, thanks to the melody he wrote.
EVOLUTION OF NATIONAL DAY
Their song today is the national anthem of China. The modern version of the country, carrying the name People’s Republic of China, was founded in 1949—but held its first National Day on 1 October, 1950. This was to differentiate it from the 10 October choice of the previous government, which had fled to the island of Taiwan.
THEN CAME COMPLAINTS
Over the next few years, several people in China complained about National Day events—our country is all about hard work to benefit the people, not big parties for the rich and powerful, as in the bad old days of the previous rulers, they said.
This was a good point, and from 1960 it was decreed that there would be small celebrations occasionally and big parades only on special anniversaries. Military displays became infrequent—and were only seen on rare occasions, such as in 1984, 1999, 2009, and 2019.
But something else had happened during this period. To cut a long story short, the focus on hard work paid off, and China rose from being a very poor country to being the fastest-developing nation in world history.
PLOT TWIST
Yet even today, China has low key celebrations on National Day most years, with only occasional grand events. The most spectacular one in history was held last year, on 3 September 2025, to mark the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the end of World War 2.
The singing of The March of the Volunteers was especially appropriate on that occasion—since it was originally a movie song about fighting off the Japanese invasion.
Now that Japan is remilitarizing itself and rebuilding its army, the anti-invasion song has a fresh resonance.
As more than a billion people sing their song, one can’t help but imagine Tian Han and Nie Er looking down from heaven with pride.
(The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the stance of this publication.)