The Song to the Auspicious Cloud () was the title of two historical national anthems of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

. The first version was composed in 1896 by Jean Hautstont, a Belgian composer and

esperantist An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperant ...

, and was in use from 1913 to 1915 as a provisional anthem. The second version, composed by Xiao Youmei, was in use from 1921 to 1928 as an official national anthem. The lyrics of both songs were based on ''Commentary of Shang Shu'' () written by Fu Sheng in 200–100 BCE. Auspicious Cloud represents heaven and good luck in Chinese culture.

History

The lyrics of the two versions of the Song to the Auspicious Cloud were based on a song written in Commentary of Shang Shu, which was said to have been sung by the ancient Chinese

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...

, when he passed on the throne to

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures promine ...

. Its original lyrics in

classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

were: :
"How bright is the Auspicious Cloud, How broad is its brilliancy.
The light is spectacular with sun or moon, How it revives dawn after dawn." The image of the song symbolized transfer and changing, which referred to the noble demise system of Chinese emperor relinquishing seats to others in Yao and Shun's era before the hereditary system of monarchy in ancient Chinese legends. After the end of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic, the lyrics of the classical song was favored by many to become the national anthem by the new government.

First version (1913–15)

A national anthem committee was established in July 1912 by

Cai Yuanpei Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Pek ...

, the Minister of Education of the Republic of China. Representative Wang Rongbao (汪榮寶), added another quotation from Emperor Shun: "時哉夫，天下非一人之天下也" (Time has changed, the whole nation is no longer owned by one person.) in the last line of "Song to the Auspicious Cloud" and invited Jean Hautstont, a Belgian composer and

, to compose an anthem. On April 8, 1913, the national anthem was used in opening ceremony of the first regular council. It was a provisional anthem until "

China Heroically Stands in the Universe "China Heroically Stands in the Universe" was the national anthem of China from 1915 to 1921. History It was issued by the Ritual Regulations Office () in June 1915 as the national anthem of the Republic of China and was adopted on 23 May 1 ...

" became the national anthem of the Republic of China on May 23, 1915.

Second version (1921–28)

In November 1919,

Duan Qirui Duan Qirui (; ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, a commander of the Beiyang Army and the acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China (in Beijing) from 1924 to 1926. He was also the Premier of the R ...

established the National Anthem Research Committee (國歌研究會), which adopted the second version of the "Song to the Auspicious Cloud". Lyrics (1920) by

Zhang Taiyan Zhang Binglin (January 12, 1869 – June 14, 1936), also known by his art name Zhang Taiyan, was a Chinese philologist, textual critic, philosopher, and revolutionary. His philological works include ''Wen Shi'' (文始 "The Origin of Writing"), t ...

from the classic "the Song to the Auspicious Cloud" (卿雲歌) from ''the Commentary of Shangshu''. Music (1921) by Xiao Youmei. It was selected to be the official anthem on March 31, 1921, by No.759 presidential decree, and was released in July 1921 by the Department of National Affairs (國務院). *¹糺 (''jiū'' "collaborate") is sometimes written as 糾 (''jiū'' "investigate") or 織 (''zhī'' "to web") It was replaced by the current national anthem of the Republic of China, which is also the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

party anthem, in 1928, as a result of the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

from 1926 to 1928 and the overthrow of the government. However, during the

Second Sino-Japanese war The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

, several

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to ...

governments established by the Japanese army, such as Provisional Government of the Republic of China and the Reformed Government of the Republic of China, also used this anthem, as these governments recommissioned all the old republican national symbols before the Kuomintang came to power in 1928.

References

External links

Audio, sheet music, and lyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Song To The Auspicious Cloud, The National symbols of the Republic of China (1912–1949) Historical national anthems Chinese patriotic songs Mandarin-language songs Asian anthems Book of Documents

History

First version (1913–15)

Second version (1921–28)

See also

References

External links