Talk:My Motherland

Latest comment: 13 years ago by Arilang1234 in topic Glenn Beck and My Motherland

Untitled edit

I add this short English version page based on my own writting of the same topic in Chinese. If you are able to read Chinese and want to translate the whole page, please do so. There are a number of English translation of the lyrics, but I don't want to use them as they are not good. I stil try to find a better version and add the link when I am free.

The English translation is written by me, so, ur.. edit

If you have any questions, submit here.
Since no propriate English translation is found on internet, I gived one by my self.

And guys, if you're writing any new sections here, please SIGN. The upper one is a negative example XD.
Gesalbte (talk) 07:55, 11 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Shouldn't the translation be My Homeland? edit

My Homeland may be closer to the original chinese title.. Gesalbte (talk) 18:06, 28 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Motherland is the more commonly given English translation of the Chinese words 祖國. --HXL's Roundtable, and Record 00:48, 25 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

Glenn Beck and My Motherland edit

Glenn Beck has been claiming this song is anti-American, and was performed at the White House while Chinese President Hu was visiting. If you look at it, you'll be hard put to find any anti-American sentiment in it.


Tex (talk) 20:18, 24 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

The problem is the line "we deal with wolf with guns". Between the 1950s and 1960s the "wolf" literally meant United States, but after 1970s this interpretation was completely lost among the Chinese public. Is this song really anti-American? It depended which generation of Chinese you are talking about. Chinese people older than 40 will describe it as anti-American, but younger Chinese will interpret the song as the Chinese version of This Land Is Your Land. Jim101 (talk) 20:50, 24 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
File:1950s 中國人民决不能容忍.jpg
General MacArthur is shown with a blood-stained dagger, attacking mother and child, and a US warplane dropping bomb on Chinese soil.
File:1950s 勝利萬歲.jpg
On the right hand corner, MacArthur is shown crawling away on all four, doggy style.

Though the Korean War was fought between the communist and the UN led multinational force, yet the Chinese call it "Resist America, Assist Joseon war"(Chinese:抗美援朝战争), where America is single out as the arch enemy of the Chinese and Korean people. This song is the theme song of a propaganda anti-USA war film, of course this song is an anti-USA propaganda song, there is not a slightest doubt. Since 1940, Chinese children from kindergarten onwards were taught anti-USA slogans, the most famous would be "Down with American Imperialism". All the Chinese students were told they must "hate" Americans Imperialists. And who else is the Biggest "American Imperialist" beside the President of the America? Arilang talk 00:27, 25 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

Yet People are forgetting the fact that this piece, along with other Korean War era medias, has lost all historical and political value in China what-so-ever. The fact people are missing is that the during the 1960s and the 70s the CCP spent much time on suppressing any memory of the "Resist America, Assist Korea" campaign, starting with the execution of Peng Dehuai. It was not until 1980s that Korean War was allowed to be discussed again in the public. According to all Chinese propaganda research I have done, the official capacity of Korean War era media used today is to raise the public opinions of the Chinese military, but after 1970s most of the anti-American message presented in those media was suppressed to a extent. Jim101 (talk) 00:40, 25 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
Jim101, I highly agree with your interpretation of interpretations, as my parents, who were born in the mid 1950s, view the phrase as having anti-US sentiment, and I certainly do take much influence from them. And no, Peng Dehuai was not executed...he received about the same fate as Liu Shaoqi. --HXL's Roundtable, and Record 00:43, 25 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
Jim101, your statement "during the 1960s and the 70s the CCP spent much time on suppressing any memory of the "Resist America, Assist Korea" campaign" is questionable, to say the least. Just look at 奇袭白虎团, English translation:The surprise attack on White Tiger Regiment, was one of the Eight Revolutionary Plays during the Cultural Revolution era, between 1966 and 1976. As far as I know, this play is about Korean War. Would you like to comment?
I base my observation base on those three books
  • Zhang, Hong (2002), The Making of Urban Chinese Images of the United States, 1945-1953, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0313310017
  • West, Philip; Levine, Steven I.; Hiltz, Jackie (1998), America's Wars in Asia: a Cultural Approach to History and Memory, Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 0765602377
  • Ryan, Mark A.; Finkelstein, David M.; McDevitt, Michael A. (2003), Chinese Warfighting: The PLA Experience Since 1949, Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 0765610876
Korean War was suppress memory during the 1960s and 70s.
Okay I miss spoke. The situation is complicated. Although most of the Korean War memory, including movies, was banned during the 1960s and was labeled by scholars as "China's Forgotten War" from 1960 to 1980s (Ryan page 14 and West page 197), two Korean War movies, Hero's Sons and Daughters and Shangganling was revived during the cultural revolution as propaganda against imperialism. (West page 198) But still, on Zhang page 161, I quote: "The songs used to inspire hatred for American "wolves" and patriotic nationalism no longer carry any political and historical significance, but their beautiful lyrics serve to bring back a degree of nostalgia for the old days. "Jim101 (talk) 00:55, 26 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
英雄儿女

Since there is a Chinese wiki, there should also be a English wiki too. Arilang talk 03:37, 26 January 2011 (UTC)Reply