Fieldwork Archive
This song served as the de facto national anthem of the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
The lyrics are attributed to Li Youyuan, a farmer from Shaanbei (northern Shaanxi province),
while the melody was derived from a local peasant love song from the Loess Plateau.
The informants have chosen to remain anonymous, given that in their homeland, public criticism of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is heavily censored and legally penalized.
