"''Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang''" ( zh, s=在那遥远的地方, t=在那遙遠的地方) is the title and first line of a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
song written by
Wang Luobin
Wang Luobin ( zh, c=王洛宾; 28 December 1913 – 14 March 1996) was a Chinese songwriter. He specialized in publishing Mandarin-language songs based on the music of various ethnic minorities in western China.
Wang was born in Beijing on 28 D ...
, a Chinese songwriter and ethnic music researcher.
History
Wang Luobin wrote the song in 1939 in
Qinghai while shooting a film near
Qinghai Lake. He met a young Tibetan girl, and wrote a song about the beautiful impression that she left upon him and all those around her. The song is set to the tune of ''Qayran jalğan'' (') - a
Kazakh
Kazakh, Qazaq or Kazakhstani may refer to:
* Someone or something related to Kazakhstan
*Kazakhs, an ethnic group
*Kazakh language
*The Kazakh Khanate
* Kazakh cuisine
* Qazakh Rayon, Azerbaijan
*Qazax, Azerbaijan
*Kazakh Uyezd, administrative dis ...
folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
- that Wang had collected in the area.
It became one of the most popular songs in China and one of the best known Chinese songs in many countries. Wang Luobin first named this song as "The Grassland Love Song" (), but the song has later become better known by its first line of the
lyrics, "Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang". The song is extremely popular in Japan where it is called .
[
Various English-language sources use different translations of the song's title. '' China Daily'', ]Ministry of Culture of China
The Ministry of Culture (MOC) was a ministry of the government of the People's Republic of China which was dissolved on 19 March 2018. The responsibilities of the MOC, which were assumed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, encompassed cultur ...
, China Central Television
China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
, and China Radio International translated the name into "In That Place Wholly Faraway".
'' Beijing Review'' and a Newcastle University
Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...
academic Joanna Smith Finley translated it into "In That Faraway Place".
Xinhua News Agency translated it into "In a Faraway Fairyland".
WaterFire
WaterFire is a sculpture by Barnaby Evans presented on the rivers of downtown Providence, RI. It was first created by Evans in 1994 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of First Night Providence, and has since become a free public art installation. W ...
, University of Queensland, and Scotland-China Association translated it into "In That Distant Place".
Su Xiaokang
Su Xiaokang (; born 1949) is an intellectual, writer, journalist, political activist and in 1989 was named one of China's seven most-wanted dissident intellectuals. His most notable work '' River Elegy'' paved the way to the Tiananmen Square prote ...
translated it into "In a Land Far Far Away".
A University of Toronto academic Joshua D. Pilzer
Volume VII: The Twentieth Century. p. 771. translated it into "In That Remote Place".
References
External links
{{Authority control
Chinese folk songs
Songs in Chinese
1939 songs