Origin of our anthem

As a Chinese, you sing or hear the national anthem March of the Volunteers many times. You know it was produced by lyricist Tian Han and composer Nie Er. But do you really know its origin and influences?
作为一名中国人，你听过或唱过很多遍国歌《义勇军进行曲》。你也知道这首歌由词作者田汉和作曲家聂耳共同创作。但你真的了解《义勇军进行曲》的起源和影响吗?

During this year’s National Day holiday, the animated short documentary The Song of New China became a hot topic online. It tells the behind-the-scenes stories prior to and after the birth of the anthem and how it spread to the entire world in the last century.
今年国庆期间，动画短片《新中国之歌》成为网络热议话题。该片讲述了《义勇军进行曲》上世纪诞生前后以及传唱到全世界的幕后故事。

It was a collaboration of Turkmenistan director Kristina Grigoryan and Chinese producer Tian Hongmin. Both of them are from Shanghai University. “We were really interested in the birth of March of the Volunteers,” Tian said. “But we were wondering how to give such an in-depth and grand topic a sense of novelty.”
《新中国之歌》由来自土库曼斯坦的导演克丽丝·格里戈良与中方制片人田洪敏合作完成。二人都来自上海大学。“我们对于《义勇军进行曲》的诞生真的很感兴趣，”田洪敏说，“但我们也一直在琢磨，怎样把一个如此深入、宏大的话题讲出新意。”

The group spent almost three weeks on the project. They devoted themselves to searching through and reading over 100,000 words of written historical records. To gain more useful information, they visited the National Anthem Gallery and many historical sites in Shanghai.
克丽丝和田洪敏花费了将近三周时间筹备《新中国之歌》项目。她们全身心投入其中，搜集、阅读了十余万字文字资料。为了获得更多有用的信息，二人走访了上海的国歌展示馆和多处历史遗址。

Grigoryan was not so familiar with the development of Chinese history in modern times. “So we compiled all materials chronologically,” Tian said. “I would explain the historical background to Kristina.”
格里戈良对中国近代史的发展历程并不熟悉。“所以我们按时间顺序整理了所有材料，”田洪敏说，“我会向克丽丝解释历史背景。”

With all the detailed materials, Grigoryan and Tian decided to focus on how the anthem was created and sung worldwide.
在掌握了大量详实的资料后，格里戈良和田洪敏决定将重点放在《义勇军进行曲》是如何诞生并传唱至全世界。

“Honestly, as a Chinese, I had no idea about the international influence of our anthem,” Tian said. It was originally the main theme song of the movie Children of Troubled Times.
“老实说，作为一名中国人，我以前不知道我们的国歌在国际上的影响力。”田洪敏说。《义勇军进行曲》最初是电影《风云儿女》的主题歌。

Thanks to patriot Liu Liangmo, the song was shared with the world. Liu went to the United States, where he met American singer and political activist Paul Robeson. He then shared the song with Robeson. You can see a clip in the documentary in which Robeson sang March of the Volunteers in Mandarin to call for support against Japanese aggression. Later, it was sung in all the battlefields against fascism around the world.
在爱国人士刘良模的努力下，《义勇军进行曲》得以在世界各地传播。刘良模当时前往美国，见到了美国政治活动家、歌手保罗·罗伯逊。他随即将《义勇军进行曲》分享给了罗伯逊。你可以在《新中国之歌》里看到一个片段，罗伯逊用汉语演唱《义勇军进行曲》，以此呼吁人们支持抗日。后来，这首歌（的英文版本《Chee-Lai Songs of New China》）传唱于世界反法西斯战场。

“After learning the story, I was overwhelmed by a strong sense of patriotic enthusiasm,” Tian said. To promote the story to the public, they used the creative method of stop motion animation. Grigoryan had to take thousands of photos and play back the individual images consecutively, giving the illusion of movement.
田洪敏说：“了解这个故事后，我燃起了强烈的爱国热情。”为了向公众宣传《义勇军进行曲》的故事，她们使用了颇具创意的定格动画方法。格里戈良需要拍摄数千张照片，并一张张地连续回放，给人一种照片动起来的错觉。

The process was time-consuming. But Grigoryan thought it was worthwhile. “I want to tell a Chinese story in an innovative and funny way and spread it all over the world,” she told Shanghai Media Group.
制作过程很耗时，但格里戈良认为这一切值得。她在接受上海文广新闻传媒集团采访时表示:“我想用一种创新、有趣的方式讲述中国故事，把中国故事传播到全世界。”

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高三759期