"The Sword March" is 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 ...

patriotic song first sung in the Republic of China 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 Th ...

(

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

) after the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

invasion of 1937. It is also known in

by its first line, ''Dàdāo xiàng guǐzi de tóu shàng kǎn qù'': "Our dadaos raised o'er the devils' heads! Hack them off!"

History

Mai Xin wrote the song in 1937 specifically to honour the valour of the 29th ArmyLei, Bryant
''"New Songs of the Battlefield": Songs and Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution'', p. 85.
University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh), 2004. during the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, where their standard weapons were only a rifle and a sword known in Chinese as a ''

dadao Dadao, formerly romanized ta-tao, may refer to: * ''dadao'' (, p ''dàdāo'', ), a machete-like variety of the dao (sword) ** "The Sword March "The Sword March" is a Chinese music, Chinese patriotic song first sung in the Republic of Chi ...

''. Originally an agricultural tool, the long-hilted Dadao with its powerful chopping blade was a favourite weapon of peasant militias. As this name literally means "big knife", the song was also known as . ''

Guizi ''Guizi'' () is a pejorative Chinese slang term for foreigners. It has had a history of containing xenophobic connotations. History Starting with the arrival of European sailors in the sixteenth century, foreigners were often perceived in Chin ...

''—literally, "the hateful one(s)"—was a

racial epithet The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...

formerly used against the Western powers during the failed Boxer Rebellion; the anthem helped popularise its use in reference to the Japanese, which remains current in modern China. The lyrics were later changed to broaden its appeal from just the 29th to the "entire nation's" armed forces. This song became the ''de facto'' army marching cadence in the

National Revolutionary Army. The Chinese television series known in English as '' Chop!'' in fact used the song's opening line as its title. It also appears in the films ''

Lust, Caution ''Lust, Caution'' () is a 2007 erotic period espionage mystery romance film directed by Ang Lee, based on the 1979 novella by Eileen Chang. ''Lust, Caution'' is set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when the city was occupied by ...

'' and '' The Children of Huang Shi''.

Lyrics

References

External links

1963 music video from the opera Revolutionary History Song Performance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sword March Political party songs Chinese patriotic songs Chinese military marches 1937 songs