Media file:
mus. 2.2
Title:
Red is the East after the Cultural Revolution
Source:
Heidelberg catalogue entry, DACHS Archive
Keywords:
Red is the East, Cultural Revolution, Hua Guofeng, propaganda art, Morning Sun, everyday life, music

Red is the East after the Cultural Revolution

Another LP from Hua Guofeng’s 华国锋 (1921–) interim government right after the official end of the Cultural Revolution (1976–78), entitled “Morning Sun,” incorporates traditional instruments into one song after another praising the new “sun” on Chinese skies, Hua Guofeng, by alluding time and again to the familiar melody. In the final song, entitled “Morning Sun” (旭日东升), which can be heard here, the music finds its culmination point when the well-known Mao song “Red Is the East” is repeated over and over again, and the piece ends, in a climactic moment, with it appearing on the glockenspiel.

Such phenomena are not just temporary afterpains. In the 1990s, MaoMusic like “Red Is the East” is still a resounding part of people’s lives, pervading everything. It serves as the identification signal for the PRC’s national radio station and many a a cigarette lighter plays the familiar melody when opened. “Red Is the East” is sounded on the opening page of the CCP official news site (中国共产党新闻), too (DACHS 2008 News of the Communist Party of China), and it can be heard at every hour from the clocks at Beijing’s main train station. It plays its role during processions at Mao’s birthplace Shaoshan, such as during his 115th birthday celebrations in December 2008 (DACHS 2009 Mao Memory Dongfang HongDACHS 2009 Mao Memory Dongfang Hong) and it also appears as the name of a fashion show presented at a 2006 soccer night entitled “‘Red Is the East’ Night” (东方红之夜) (DACHS 2008 Dongfang Hong Sexy).