"Descendants of the Dragon" (), also translated as "Heirs of the Dragon", is a Chinese song written by

Hou Dejian Hou or HOU may refer to: * -hou, a place-name element * Hou (surname) * Hou (currency) (Chinese: ), a unit of currency in Greater China * Hou (Odder Municipality), a town in Denmark * Hou (title) (Chinese: ), a title in ancient China * Dengl ...

. The song was first recorded and released by Lee Chien-Fu (), and Hou himself also recorded the song. It has been covered by other artists, including Lee's nephew

Wang Leehom Wang Leehom (; born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. Formally trained at Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his music i ...

. The song became an anthem in the 1980s, and it is commonly regarded as a patriotic song that expresses sentiments of Chinese nationalism.

Background

The song was written in late 1978 by

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

songwriter Hou Dejian while still a student, initially as a protest against United States' official diplomatic recognition of

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, a decision first announced on December 15, 1978. The song was first recorded by Lee Chien-Fu while he was a second-year university student in Taiwan. The song was released in 1980 and became highly successful in Taiwan as a nationalistic anthem. It stayed top in the list of the most popular songs of '' Minsheng'' newspaper for fifteen weeks. Hou later emigrated to mainland China in 1983, where the song also became popular, and it was interpreted as a pan-Chinese call for unification. It became at one time the most popular pop song ever released in China. Hou however was surprised that the song was used as an expression of pro-PRC sentiment, and said: "You have totally misread my intention!" In 1989, Hou supported the students during the

Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. The song became popular with the protesters, and it was adopted as an anthem for the movement together with "

The Internationale "The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of th ...

" and

Cui Jian Cui Jian ( zh, c=崔健, p=Cuī Jiàn, ; born 2 August 1961) is a Beijing-based Chinese singer-songwriter, trumpeter and guitarist. Affectionately called "Old Cui" (), he pioneered Chinese rock music. For this distinction Cui Jian is often l ...

's "

I Have Nothing "I Have Nothing" is a song by American singer and actress Whitney Houston, released on February 20, 1993 as the third single from '' The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album'' (1992) by Arista Records. The song was written by David Foster and L ...

". Hou was later expelled from China for his support of the protests, his song was nevertheless praised for its expression of patriotism in China and continued to be used in state broadcast and official occasions. The song was promoted by both the governments of Taiwan and mainland China. It has been noted in its assertion of racial and cultural identity of Chineseness.

Lyrics

The song states that China is the

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

, and Chinese people the "

Descendants of the Dragon "Descendants of the Dragon" (), also translated as "Heirs of the Dragon", is a Chinese song written by Hou Dejian. The song was first recorded and released by Lee Chien-Fu (), and Hou himself also recorded the song. It has been covered by other ...

". Although the use of

Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon, also known as ''loong'', ''long'' or ''lung'', is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture at large. Chinese dragons have many Outline of life forms, animal-like forms such as Bixi (my ...

as a motif has a long history, using dragon to represent the Chinese people only became popular since the 1970s. During the pre-modern dynastic periods, the dragon was often associated with the rulers of China and used as a symbol of imperial rule, and there were strict stipulations on the use of the dragon by commoners since the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

. Although the

Qing government The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

used the dragon as its imperial symbol on the flag of China, it was only during the early

Republican era Republican Era can refer to: * Minguo calendar, the official era of the Republic of China It may also refer to any era in a country's history when it was governed as a republic or by a Republican Party. In particular, it may refer to: * Roman Re ...

that the dragon began to be used to represent Chinese civilisation. The song begins by mentioning the great rivers of China,

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

and

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

, and that they are part of the cultural memories the songwriter. It relates that while the songwriter was born "under the feet of the dragon", he shares with the people of China the same genetic and cultural heritage and identity. The original lyrics contain a reference to the

Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

, and convey a sense of grievance against unnamed outside enemies. Originally the lyrics described "Westerners" () as the enemy, but this was changed to "appeasers" () on publication. The song ends by exhorting the "great dragon", i.e. China, to open its eyes to see and regain its greatness. Hou made two changes to the lyrics at a concert in Hong Kong in support of the students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: in the line "surrounded on all sides by the appeasers' swords" (), "appeasers" () was replaced with "dictators" (); and the line "black hair, black eyes, yellow skin" () was changed to "Whether you are willing or not" () to reflect the fact that not all Chinese people have such physical characteristics.

Covers

A version of the song was recorded by Hong Kong singer

Cheung Ming-man Cheung Ming-man (; born 2 September 1956) is a Hong Kong singer and occasional actor, best known for many patriotic songs he sang in the 1980s, all in Mandarin. He became the first Hong Kong singer to sing at the CCTV New Year's Gala The '' ...

. Lee Chien-Fu's nephew

recorded a version of song in 2000, but modified the lyrics to add his parents' experience as immigrants in the US, which replaced the reference to the Opium War. Wang said the song is the only Chinese pop song he heard while growing up in the States when his uncle Lee paid a visit in the 1980s and played the song.

References

{{authority control 1978 songs Chinese patriotic songs Mandarin-language songs 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre