Quick Answer: What Is The East Is Red?
The East Is Red (Dongfang Hong, 东方红, Dōngfāng Hóng) is a song based on a northern Shaanxi folk melody. The words praise Mao Zedong. The song lent its title to a 1964 music-and-dance epic and its 1965 film version.[1][3][4]
- Song: The lyrics changed as a regional tune circulated in new settings in the 1940s.[1][2]
- Film: The 1965 production preserves the scale and choreography of the stage epic.[3][7]
- Satellite: China’s first satellite broadcast an electronic rendition of part of the melody in 1970.[6]
Read the date and format on a recording before deciding which version it contains.
The same title can lead to a short song, a full film or a few electronically generated bars. Each version had a different audience and purpose. Those changes explain how the melody moved from a regional repertoire into national political culture.
Folk Melody and Changing Words
Historical accounts connect the song to a northern Shaanxi folk tune often called Riding a White Horse. They trace the words through Yimin Ge (移民歌, Yímín Gē), or Migration Song. Li Youyuan and Li Zengzheng appear in accounts of its early circulation. The sources describe several revisions and differ on the credit for particular words.[1][2]
Later versions turned the tune into a song of praise. The broader tradition of Chinese folk songs gives context for changing words over a familiar melody. The Spring Festival Overture offers a separate example of regional melodies adapted for a concert audience.
The 1964 Stage Epic and 1965 Film
The stage epic was mounted in Beijing in 1964 for the fifteenth anniversary of the People’s Republic. It combined song, dance and other staged elements in a political account of revolutionary history. The 1965 film is credited to director Wang Ping.[3][4]
The film’s opening uses the title song with a sunflower dance. Watch how the synchronized movement and fans organize the large group on screen. Compare that approach with the narrative ballets The Red Detachment of Women and The White-Haired Girl, which follow individual characters.[3][7]
What the First Satellite Broadcast
Dongfanghong 1 (东方红一号, Dōngfānghóng Yīhào) launched on April 24, 1970. The satellite played an electronic rendition of the first eight bars. The broadcast used those opening bars to make the song recognizable.[5][6]
How to Identify the Version
A track credit may give a choir, an arranger or a film scene. An archive recording associated with the satellite can be identified by the short electronic tune. Listen to the first phrase and check what carries it. For comparison with a different work of Chinese revolutionary music, the Yellow River Cantata has its own history of adaptations.
FAQs About The East Is Red
Who wrote The East Is Red?
Li Youyuan is often credited in accounts of the words. Sources also describe the role of Li Zengzheng and successive revisions to an existing folk melody.[1][2]
When did The East Is Red become a film?
The stage epic was mounted in 1964, and the film adaptation appeared in 1965.[3][4]
Did China’s first satellite carry a sung recording?
The satellite broadcast an electronic rendition of the tune’s first eight bars.[5][6]
Sources
[1] Shaanxi Normal University. Historical Research on The East Is Red and the Yan’an Arts Context
[2] Nanning Municipal Cultural Center. The East Is Red: Accounts of the Song’s Development
[3] Emily Wilcox, University of California Press. A Revolt from Within: Contextualizing Revolutionary Ballet
[4] UCLA Film and Television Archive. The East Is Red and Red Detachment of Women
[5] Chinese Academy of Sciences. A History of China’s First Satellite
[6] Xinhua. Fifty Years Since Dongfanghong 1
[7] King’s College London, Mao Era in Objects. Dance Props: Video Collage