Rock ‘n’ Roll according to the CCP

Source: NYT (8/13/23)
Rock ’n’ Roll According to the Chinese Communist Party
By Vivian Wang and 

A man spends decades working a monotonous factory job. His wife grows increasingly insecure about the future. Their son is withdrawn, seemingly struggling at school. Then a building collapses, and their world comes crashing down. It was a story of disillusionment and hopelessness in the industrial city of Shijiazhuang, and it was one of China’s most influential indie rock songs.

Then a local Communist Party group decided to rewrite it.

China’s government has long used censorship to control expression. But sometimes, instead of outright erasing a form or message it doesn’t like, it co-opts it instead, transforming it to spread what the government calls “positive energy.” (Beijing has also promoted patriotic hip-hop.)

The party rewrote nearly the entire song. But can it write lyrics?

Spreading ‘Positive Energy’

ORIGINAL TITLE
Kill That One From Shijiazhuang
杀死那个石家庄人
REWRITE
The Unkillable One From Shijiazhuang
杀不死的石家庄人

Released in 2010, “Kill That One from Shijiazhuang,” the original song, has been widely interpreted as elegizing the painful side effects of China’s modernization. As the Communist Party embraced market reforms in the 1990s, workers at state-run companies in Shijiazhuang, in northern China, faced mass layoffs. Many people’s expectations of a lifelong paycheck, known as the “iron rice bowl,” were shattered. The city, once an economic powerhouse, declined.

The band, Omnipotent Youth Society, is from Shijiazhuang. Ji Geng, the band’s lyricist and bass player, has said the song is about the “the erosion of enthusiasm and self-esteem” in one family. The singer’s plaintive vocals, set at first against a simple backdrop of harmonica and strings, build to a soaring guitar solo.

The revamped song largely keeps the musical structure. But its lyrics couldn’t be more different.

It is the work of the Communist Youth League in Hebei Province, where Shijiazhuang is the capital. Though the rewrite first appeared in 2021, it gained new attention last month, when the Shijiazhuang government, trying to lure visitors and reinvigorate its economy, announced a campaign to rebrand itself as China’s capital of rock ‘n’ roll. Its slogan: “The Unkillable Shijiazhuang.”

Erasing a Personal Narrative

ORIGINAL VERSE 1
Get off work at 6 p.m., change out of the pharmaceutical factory’s uniform.
傍晚6点下班 换掉药厂的衣裳
Pharmaceutical factory: Shijiazhuang was a major pharmaceutical hub before market reforms.
REWRITE
Get off work at 6 p.m., change out of the old factory’s uniform.
傍晚六点下班 换掉老厂的衣裳

At first, the new version appears fairly similar to the original. Both open with the city’s blue-collar roots, painting a picture of a factory worker’s daily routine.

But quickly, the narratives diverge.

ORIGINAL VERSE 2
She uses fake money
to buy a fake gun.
Protecting her way of life,
until the building collapses.
用一张假钞 买一把假枪
保卫她的生活 直到大厦崩塌
REWRITE
The rusted clock hands
strain to spin to life.
Light the bonfire of dreams,
lift your head and march forward.
锈侵的指针 奋力地旋转
燃起梦的篝火 昂首迈步进发

In the original, the second verse transitions from the worker to his wife. She is desperate to protect her old way of life, though she seems powerless to do so.

In the new version, the intimacy of personal narrative disappears.

And with it goes her despair, replaced by inspiring images of a new day. Gone is her shattered sense of security, replaced by generic slogans about marching forward.

ORIGINAL VERSE 3
At the high school attached to Hebei Normal University,
the Ping-Pong playing boy turns his back,
silently staring at the classroom that he cannot leave.
河北师大附中 乒乓少年背向我
沉默的注视 无法离开的教室
REWRITE
The unhealed pains
are the witnesses of the past.
Sweat is the explanation of the
perseverance carried out
in your name.
抚不平的伤痛 铭刻岁月的见证
用汗水诠释 以你为名的坚持

The same happens in the third verse.

In the original, the story of the family continues, shifting to the couple’s teenage son. He seems standoffish, and like his mother, pessimistic about the future. The new song flips the sentiment of moody adolescence entirely, instead exalting a city working hard and “living up to its prime years.”

Out With Uncertainty, in With Confidence

Perhaps the biggest departure from the original, at least for longtime fans, is in the chorus. The new version almost completely omits the central lyrical motif, about the building collapsing. That building has commonly been interpreted as a metaphor for people’s worldviews, undermined by rapid change. The lyricist once said: “There are all kinds of buildings: buildings of our families, of our work, of our illusions. Buildings can all collapse.”

In the original song, the line about a building collapsing appears five times, creating a foreboding, mournful atmosphere throughout.

In the new song, it appears just once at the beginning. Then the song moves on to the joyful celebration of what comes after.

ORIGINAL CHORUS
Living like this for 30 years,
until the building collapses.
如此生活三十年 直到大厦崩塌
REWRITE
20 years of transformation,
this international city is forging ahead.
翻天覆地二十年 奋进的国际庄
ORIGINAL CHORUS
Living like this for 30 years,
until the building collapses.
如此生活三十年 直到大厦崩塌
Original aspiration: A common phrase in Chinese Communist Party propaganda about the party sticking to its founding principles
REWRITE
20 years of rapid change,
the original aspiration sets the course.
日新月异二十年 初心指向航向
Original aspiration: A common phrase in Chinese Communist Party propaganda about the party sticking to its founding principles

It’s little surprise, then, that the two versions end in completely different places. One is bleak and despondent. The other, overflowing with optimism.

ORIGINAL CHORUS
The deep darkness in the clouds
drowns the landscape of the heart.
云层深处的黑暗啊 淹没心底的景观
REWRITE
Like a goose spreading its wings against the wind, write a glorious new chapter.
迎风展翅的鸿雁啊 谱写恢弘的新篇

A music video that the Communist Youth League made to accompany the new song features glossy shots of saluting schoolchildren and smiling workers.

Still, as musicians the world over have long known, putting out a song is one thing. Making people actually listen to and resonate with it is another.

And so far, on Chinese social media, the reaction to the revised effort has been decidedly unimpressed. “Somehow this version is even more depressing,” one of the most popular comments read.

Siyi Zhao contributed research from Seoul, and Zixu Wang from Hong Kong.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *