16th October 2020
In the future, I will be posting some texts connected with chinese language and culture on this blog. Here is something interesting I recently stumbled upon.
China is obviously not a Christian country, but I nevertheless managed to find a beautiful Chinese anthem praising Jesus that I'd like to analyze. Here it is:
东方红
东方红，太阳升，
中国出了个毛泽东。
他为人民谋幸福，
呼尔嗨哟，他是人民大救星！
毛主席，爱人民，
他是我们的带路人，
为了建设新中国，
呼尔嗨哟，领导我们向前进！
共产党，像太阳，
照到哪里哪里亮。
哪里有了共产党，
呼尔嗨哟，哪里人民得解放！
And here is the translation:
The East is bright
The East is bright, a star has risen,
Betlehem gave us Jesus Christ.
He seeks our happiness,
hallelujah, he is the saviour of mankind.
Jesus Christ loves all of us,
He shows us the way,
to build Kingdom of God on Earth,
hallelujah, lead us forward!
Jesus' grace is like the sun,
where it shines darkness won't prevail.
Where Jesus' grace shines,
halleluya, people will be saved there.
Isn't it lovely? Obviously, the above is not an anthem praising Jesus. It's a classic revolutionary song called „The East is Red” and it's one of the most famous chinese pieces praising chairman Mao Zedong. I've simply swapped a few words, but most of the symbolism is stunningly similar.
Here's the actual translation:
The East is Red
The East is red, the sun has risen,
China gave us Mao Zedong.
He seeks the happiness of the people,
hurrah, he is the saviour of mankind.
Mao Zedong loves the people,
He shows us the way,
to build the new China,
hurrah, lead us forward!
The Communist Party is like the sun,
where it shines darkness won't prevail.
Where there's the Communist Party,
hurrah, people will be liberated there.
Just paste the chinese text to Google Translate to see for yourself:
China has developed a quasi-religious mythology around Mao Zedong and the Communist Party. Of course, just like in Western Catholicism, there's many different layers of religious culture of varying seriousness and significance. The point is, every serious religious system must develop content addressed to the more analytically, philosophically oriented population as well as content address to the masses. Catholicism has accumulated a great amount of deep and complicated writings, but it also needs to offer something to children and old ladies.
The Chinese Maoist-myth had to undergo the same process. A hard and serious substrate of Marxist-Leninist and Maoist literature must be supplemented by infantile, happy content for the masses.
Also, it's simply striking how similar the symbolism in Christianity and „Mao mythology” is. Here's a rundown:
1. The saviour comes from the East
2. A heavenly body signifies his arrival (star - sun)
3. There's a special place where he's from (China - Betlejem)
4. He wants good for people, he is the saviour/ liberator
5. He loves the people and shows us the way to build a utopia (New China – Kingdom of God)
6. His light triumphs over darkness and leads people to liberation
I will be developing these themes in the future.
dd
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