PRC President Hu Jintao visits the USA
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Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Controversy regarding the choice of Song played by Lang Lang. "The Battle hymn of Sanggangling" I thought it was beautiful song
Judge it for yourself
Pianist Lang Lang in many ways embodies the Sino-American comity that both President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama emphasized during their summit this past week—which is no doubt why he was chosen to perform at the White House state dinner for Mr. Hu on Wednesday.
Born in China, Mr. Lang went to the U.S. as a teenager to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He is fluent in both English and Mandarin. He is probably equally adored by classical music fans in the U.S. and in China, and splits his time between the two countries.
Chinese pianist Lang LangSo it comes as a bit of a surprise that he is now being praised by nationalist Internet users in China for a perceived anti-U.S. slight supposedly implied in the 28-year-old’s choice of music that night.
As part of the state dinner’s “quintessentially American” program (PDF), Mr. Lang was invited along with a number of U.S. jazz musicians in an “Evening of Jazz.” He and the legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock played a four hands version of a Maurice Ravel song, exchanging hugs afterward (see video of the performance here, and on Mr. Lang’s website here). Journalist James Fallows, who was at the dinner, describes the evening here).
Then, the plot thickened—at least, that’s how some read it. After bilingual comments to the assembled VIPs in which he said it was a “great honor” to be playing, he proceeded to perform a solo piece, which he introduced as a “Chinese song called ‘My Motherland.’”
The song is not just any old song. As Chinese netizens have pointed out, “My Motherland” is the theme song for a famous anti-U.S. movie about the Korean War from 1956, titled “Battle on Shangganling Mountain.”
The song lyrics do not mention the war and are very peaceful, speaking of memories of a hometown and how “young ladies are like flowers.”
But the film depicts a particularly brutal battle between Chinese and American troops during the Korean War, or what the Chinese call “The War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.” The movie also depicts Chinese troops enduring freezing weather with no food or water and American soldiers using flame throwers and laughing at burning Chinese soldiers. In retaliation, there’s a lot of killing of American troops later in the film.
Lang Lang himself appears to have been blissfully unaware of the political minefield he was stumbling into. In a blogpost on Sina.com headlined “Sharing a Day at the White House”, he describes the beauty of the song and its resonance with Chinese people. “I’m deeply honored and proud that I was able to play this song that praises the strength of China and the solidarity of the Chinese people in front of many foreign guests, especially leaders from all over the world.”
He posted a string of photos on his website of him posing with the celebrities at the dinner.
Yu Jianhong, director of the movie management department of Beijing Film Academy, says “Battle on Shangganling Mountain” is a “famous movie that deeply influenced a whole generation,” especially people born in the 1940s to 1960s (Mr. Lang was born in 1982). The song, Mr. Yu says, “transcends all historic events and times,” he says. Mr. Yu thinks that the song’s main theme is not about beating American imperialism, but rather, “about the love of the motherland and the longing of peace and a happy life.”
In any case, the irony of playing an ode from an anti-American Chinese movie at a White House event dedicated to Sino-U.S. cooperation and friendliness has set the Chinese web abuzz—and more than a few people are convinced it wasn’t an accident.
Both the Sina and Sohu news portals reposted an article that they attributed to the Beijing Evening News, with the headline: “Lang Lang Played ‘My Motherland’ at White House, Flaunting National Power.”
“Those American folks very much enjoyed it and were totally infatuated with the melody!!! The U.S. is truly stupid!!” wrote a user named You’re In My Memory on Sina’s micro-blogging site. This particular post was re-posted many times.
Some speculated whether Lang Lang knew of the significance and questioned whether it was his idea to play the song. Certainly nothing about Mr. Lang’s demeanor that night suggested that he intended to send a politically charged message, however subtle. Nor is he known to be an especially political figure. And one has to wonder whether he would really jeopardize his standing in the U.S., where he has a loyal fan base and where he lives much of the time.
Mr. Lang’s representatives could not be reached. A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said that they were not aware of what songs Lang Lang played at the state dinner.
Regardless, Mr. Lang seems to have found himself some new fans among the patriotic set in China.
“I think Americans should also be familiar with this song, whose meaning is so notorious that you don’t even need an explanation,” wrote user Winter Frost Rain on Sina’s micro-blog. “Lang Lang is too cool.”
–Cathy Yan
Judge it for yourself
Pianist Lang Lang in many ways embodies the Sino-American comity that both President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama emphasized during their summit this past week—which is no doubt why he was chosen to perform at the White House state dinner for Mr. Hu on Wednesday.
Born in China, Mr. Lang went to the U.S. as a teenager to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He is fluent in both English and Mandarin. He is probably equally adored by classical music fans in the U.S. and in China, and splits his time between the two countries.
Chinese pianist Lang LangSo it comes as a bit of a surprise that he is now being praised by nationalist Internet users in China for a perceived anti-U.S. slight supposedly implied in the 28-year-old’s choice of music that night.
As part of the state dinner’s “quintessentially American” program (PDF), Mr. Lang was invited along with a number of U.S. jazz musicians in an “Evening of Jazz.” He and the legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock played a four hands version of a Maurice Ravel song, exchanging hugs afterward (see video of the performance here, and on Mr. Lang’s website here). Journalist James Fallows, who was at the dinner, describes the evening here).
Then, the plot thickened—at least, that’s how some read it. After bilingual comments to the assembled VIPs in which he said it was a “great honor” to be playing, he proceeded to perform a solo piece, which he introduced as a “Chinese song called ‘My Motherland.’”
The song is not just any old song. As Chinese netizens have pointed out, “My Motherland” is the theme song for a famous anti-U.S. movie about the Korean War from 1956, titled “Battle on Shangganling Mountain.”
The song lyrics do not mention the war and are very peaceful, speaking of memories of a hometown and how “young ladies are like flowers.”
But the film depicts a particularly brutal battle between Chinese and American troops during the Korean War, or what the Chinese call “The War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.” The movie also depicts Chinese troops enduring freezing weather with no food or water and American soldiers using flame throwers and laughing at burning Chinese soldiers. In retaliation, there’s a lot of killing of American troops later in the film.
Lang Lang himself appears to have been blissfully unaware of the political minefield he was stumbling into. In a blogpost on Sina.com headlined “Sharing a Day at the White House”, he describes the beauty of the song and its resonance with Chinese people. “I’m deeply honored and proud that I was able to play this song that praises the strength of China and the solidarity of the Chinese people in front of many foreign guests, especially leaders from all over the world.”
He posted a string of photos on his website of him posing with the celebrities at the dinner.
Yu Jianhong, director of the movie management department of Beijing Film Academy, says “Battle on Shangganling Mountain” is a “famous movie that deeply influenced a whole generation,” especially people born in the 1940s to 1960s (Mr. Lang was born in 1982). The song, Mr. Yu says, “transcends all historic events and times,” he says. Mr. Yu thinks that the song’s main theme is not about beating American imperialism, but rather, “about the love of the motherland and the longing of peace and a happy life.”
In any case, the irony of playing an ode from an anti-American Chinese movie at a White House event dedicated to Sino-U.S. cooperation and friendliness has set the Chinese web abuzz—and more than a few people are convinced it wasn’t an accident.
Both the Sina and Sohu news portals reposted an article that they attributed to the Beijing Evening News, with the headline: “Lang Lang Played ‘My Motherland’ at White House, Flaunting National Power.”
“Those American folks very much enjoyed it and were totally infatuated with the melody!!! The U.S. is truly stupid!!” wrote a user named You’re In My Memory on Sina’s micro-blogging site. This particular post was re-posted many times.
Some speculated whether Lang Lang knew of the significance and questioned whether it was his idea to play the song. Certainly nothing about Mr. Lang’s demeanor that night suggested that he intended to send a politically charged message, however subtle. Nor is he known to be an especially political figure. And one has to wonder whether he would really jeopardize his standing in the U.S., where he has a loyal fan base and where he lives much of the time.
Mr. Lang’s representatives could not be reached. A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said that they were not aware of what songs Lang Lang played at the state dinner.
Regardless, Mr. Lang seems to have found himself some new fans among the patriotic set in China.
“I think Americans should also be familiar with this song, whose meaning is so notorious that you don’t even need an explanation,” wrote user Winter Frost Rain on Sina’s micro-blog. “Lang Lang is too cool.”
–Cathy Yan
China Begins Preparing for Successor to Hu
By EDWARD WONG and JONATHAN ANSFIELD
Published: January 23, 2011
BEIJING — President Hu Jintao of China returned home this weekend after a trip intended to repair relations with the United States. But the next time the White House marches out the honor guard and polishes the crystal for a Chinese leader, it is unlikely to be for Mr. Hu.
Following a secretive succession plan sketched out years ago, Mr. Hu has already begun preparing for his departure from power, passing the baton to his presumed successor, a former provincial leader named Xi Jinping, now China’s vice president. While Mr. Xi is expected next year to formally take the reins in China, the world’s second-largest economy and fastest-modernizing military power, he remains a cipher to most people, even within China.
But an extended look at Mr. Xi’s past shows that his rise has been built on a combination of political acumen, family connections and ideological dexterity. Like the country he will run, he has nimbly maintained the primacy of the Communist Party, while making economic growth the party’s main business.
There is little in his record to suggest that he intends to steer China in a sharply different direction. But some political observers also say that he may have broader support within the party than Mr. Hu, which could give him more leeway to experiment with new ideas. At the same time, there is uncertainty about how he may wield authority in a system where power has grown increasingly diffuse. Mr. Xi also has deeper military ties than his two predecessors, Mr. Hu and Jiang Zemin, had when they took the helm.
For much of his career, Mr. Xi, 57, presided over booming areas on the east coast that have been at the forefront of China’s experimentation with market authoritarianism: attracting foreign investment, helping put party cells in private companies and expanding government support for model entrepreneurs — the kind of political and economic experience that Mr. Hu lacked when he ascended to the top leadership position.
He is less of a dour mandarin than Mr. Hu is. The tall, stocky Mr. Xi is a princeling — an aristocratic descendant of revolutionary party elites — and his second marriage is to a celebrity army folk singer, Peng Liyuan.
Unlike the robotic Mr. Hu, Mr. Xi has dropped memorable barbs against the West into a couple of recent speeches: he once warned critics of China’s rise to “stop pointing fingers at us.” But he has enrolled his daughter in Harvard, under a pseudonym.
Mr. Xi climbed the ladder by building a network of support among top party officials, particularly those in Mr. Jiang’s clique, all while cultivating an image of humility and self-reliance despite his prominent family ties, say officials and other party members who have known Mr. Xi.
His subtle and pragmatic style was seen in the way he handled a landmark power project teetering on the edge of failure in 2002, when he was governor of coastal Fujian Province. Bechtel, the American contractor, and other foreign investors had poured in nearly $700 million. But the investors became mired in a dispute with planning officials.
After ducking repeated requests by foreign executives for a meeting, Mr. Xi finally agreed to chat one night in the governor’s compound with an American business consultant on the project whose father had befriended Mr. Xi’s father in the 1940s. Mr. Xi explained that he could not interfere in a dispute involving other powerful officials. But he showed that he knew the project intimately and supported it, promising to meet the investors “after the two sides have reached an agreement.”
That spurred a compromise that allowed the power plant to begin operating. “I thought, This person is a brilliant politician,” said the consultant, Sidney Rittenberg Jr.
Mr. Xi’s political skills paid their greatest dividend last October, when he was appointed vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, a move that means he will almost certainly succeed Mr. Hu as party secretary in late 2012 and president in 2013. Mr. Hu could retain his military post another few years.
Over the years, Mr. Xi built his appeal on “the way he carried himself in political affairs,” said Zhang Xiaojin, a political scientist at Tsinghua University. “On economic reforms and development, he proved rather effective. On political reforms, he didn’t take any risks that would catch flak.”
Mr. Xi also emerged as a convenient accommodation to two vying wings within the party — those loyal to Mr. Hu and those allied with Mr. Jiang, who in China’s collective leadership had an important role in naming Mr. Hu’s successor.
Mr. Xi’s elite lineage and career along the prosperous coast have aligned him more closely with Mr. Jiang. But like Mr. Hu, Mr. Xi also spent formative years in provincial boondocks. Mr. Hu was once close to Mr. Xi’s father, a top Communist leader during the Chinese civil war.
The father, Xi Zhongxun, was one of the most liberal party leaders and was purged several times under Mao. He was a mastermind in the early 1980s of China’s first special economic zone in Shenzhen. Behind closed party doors, he supported the sacked liberal-leaning leader Hu Yaobang, and condemned the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protesters.
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The younger Mr. Xi grew up in Beijing and went to the premier military-run high school. But he had to fend for himself during the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. At age 15, he was sent to labor among peasants in the yellow hills of Shaanxi Province. He stayed seven years in the village of Liangjiahe, which eventually named him party secretary. Mr. Xi came to hate ideological struggles. In an essay published in 2003, Mr. Xi wrote, “Much of my pragmatic thinking took root back then, and still exerts a constant influence on me.”
Even at that age, his conciliatory leadership style was evident. “When people had a conflict with each other, they would go to him, and he’d say, ‘Come back in two days,” ’ said Lü Nengzhong, 80, the patriarch of a cave home where Mr. Xi lived for three years. “By then, the problem had solved itself.”
Mr. Xi later relied on family ties to enter Tsinghua University in Beijing. He began his political career as an aide to Geng Biao, a powerful military bureaucrat allied with Mr. Xi’s father.
By the early 1980s, party elders had identified Mr. Xi as one of a brood of prospective future leaders. His first provincial post was in Hebei, where he promoted local tourism and rural enterprise, but ran up against the conservative provincial leader. The party then sent him to Fujian Province, just across the strait from Taiwan. There, Mr. Xi bounced through three cities over 17 years.
He courted Taiwanese investors. For 14 years, he also supervised the local military command. His exposure to the Taiwan territorial issue “may shade his views on cross-strait relations in the direction of flexibility,” said Alice L. Miller, a scholar of Chinese politics at the Hoover Institution.
Some ambitious investments drew national scrutiny while Mr. Xi governed Fuzhou. City leaders signed a contract with Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong real estate tycoon, to redevelop the old city quarter, but that fizzled after a public outcry. A new international airport grossly overshot its budget.
Nor was Mr. Xi untainted by corruption scandals. One party investigation into bribe-taking in Ningde and Fuzhou, publicized years after he left Fujian, toppled two former city leaders Mr. Xi had promoted.
But back in Beijing, top leaders were watching out for Mr. Xi. He actually finished last when party delegates voted for the 344 members and alternates of the Party Central Committee in 1997 because of a general hostility toward princelings. But Mr. Xi slipped in as an alternate anyway. Mr. Jiang, the party leader, and his power broker, Zeng Qinghong, helped back Mr. Xi’s continued rise, said Cheng Li, a scholar of Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
His next assignment, as provincial party boss up the coast in Zhejiang, was cushier. The economy there, too, was humming. Mr. Xi hewed to Beijing’s initiatives to embrace private entrepreneurs. He also hitched his star to homegrown private start-ups that have since gone global.
Soon after his arrival in late 2002, he visited Geely, then the province’s sole carmaker. The firm’s indefatigable founder, Li Shufu, had just begun to receive some financing from state banks. “If we don’t give additional strong support to companies like Geely, then who are we going to support?” Mr. Xi remarked.
Last year, Geely bought Volvo from Ford Motor Company.
Mr. Xi bestowed early recognition, too, on Ma Yun, founder of Alibaba, now an e-commerce giant and Yahoo’s China partner. After he left Zhejiang to become the top official in Shanghai, Mr. Xi extended an invitation to Mr. Ma: “Can you come to Shanghai and help us develop?”
At the time, party authorities were pushing private companies to form party cells, part of Mr. Jiang’s central vision to bring the two closer. Officials under Mr. Xi parceled out vanity posts to entrepreneurs, granting some the coveted title of local legislative delegate. Mr. Xi also cautiously supported small-scale political reforms in Zhejiang, where democratic experiments were percolating at the grass-roots level.
When cadres in one village in Wuyi County allowed villagers to elect three-person committees to supervise their leaders, Mr. Xi took notice. He issued pivotal directives that helped extend the obscure pilot program, said Xiang Hanwu, a county official. The system scored kudos from the Central Party School. In August, Zhejiang approved a province-wide rollout, though with additional party controls.
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Mr. Xi also got a key career boost from Zhejiang’s push to forge business ties with poorer provinces inland. Mr. Xi led delegations of wealthy Zhejiang businessmen to western provinces to meet with officials there, winning points with other provincial leaders.
For years before a Party Congress in October 2007, Mr. Xi was not deemed the front-runner to succeed Hu Jintao as party leader. The favorite was Li Keqiang, a protégé of Mr. Hu. But Mr. Xi’s political capital surged in March 2007 when he was handed the job of party boss in Shanghai after a pension fund scandal had toppled the previous leader.
Shanghai was the power base of Mr. Jiang and Mr. Zeng. During his short seven-month stint there, before joining the elite Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing, Mr. Xi helped ease the aura of scandal on their turf, while stressing Beijing’s prescriptions for the kind of measured growth favored by Mr. Hu.
It was a balancing act that had served him well for decades.
Since joining the inner sanctum in Beijing, Mr. Xi has reinforced his long-standing posture as a team player. As president of the Central Party School, Mr. Xi recently prioritized the teaching of political morality based on Marxist-Leninist and Maoist ideals, a resurgent trend within the bureaucracy.
His views of the West remain difficult to divine. He once told the American ambassador to China over dinner that he enjoyed Hollywood films about World War II because of the American sense of good and evil, according to diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks. He took a swipe at Zhang Yimou, the renowned Chinese director, saying some Chinese filmmakers neglect values they should promote.
But on a visit to Mexico in 2009, when he was defending China’s record in the global financial crisis before an audience of overseas Chinese, he suggested that he was impatient with foreigners wary of China’s new power in the world.
“Some foreigners with full bellies and nothing better to do engage in finger-pointing at us,” he said. “First, China does not export revolution; second, it does not export famine and poverty; and third, it does not mess around with you. So what else is there to say?”
thanks, I just hope people realize that there are good ways for the relationship to move forward and it does not involve one country loosing. And if there is a trade war, it's going to end badly for every country involved.
... what was the source of this article?
I am wondering what news group was so desperate for attention or people that are so sensitive to the song choice that they gave some troll's spam so much (or at least more) attention by creating something (the 'controversy') of it.
Almighty help us all when certain youtube comments get their own appearances or citations in articles too.
Martian
Senior Member
Hu Jintao meets with American senators
In this video, China's President Hu Jintao meets with U.S. Senate Leader Harry Reid.
"AFP | January 20, 2011
The day after a gala state dinner at the White House, Chinese President Hu Jintao continued his state visit on Thursday by meeting with US senators at the Capitol building."
[If the video says it's blocked, just double-click on it and you can still watch it.]
[video=youtube;sQZAYah6SiE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZAYah6SiE[/video]
In this video, China's President Hu Jintao meets with U.S. Senate Leader Harry Reid.
"AFP | January 20, 2011
The day after a gala state dinner at the White House, Chinese President Hu Jintao continued his state visit on Thursday by meeting with US senators at the Capitol building."
[If the video says it's blocked, just double-click on it and you can still watch it.]
[video=youtube;sQZAYah6SiE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZAYah6SiE[/video]
Quick question, who is the PLA colonel at the left of pictures posted on page one. I've seen him him with President Hu on a couple of state visits.
I do not know. Maybe one of the PLA experts has an answer.