The Internationale in Chinese

"The Internationale" in Chinese (zh-tsp|t=國際歌|s=国际歌|p=Guójìgē) is literally the "International Song". It has several different sets of lyrics.

Mandarin versions

Qu Qiubai's version

The most common and official Chinese version is the "de facto" anthem of the Communist Party of China. [zh icon Xinhua Net: [http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-01/28/content_7511238.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-01/28/content_7511238.htm] ] It was translated on 15 June 1923 from the Russian version by Qu Qiubai (zh-c|c=瞿秋白), [zh icon People's Daily: [http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64165/65700/4456036.html News on Chinese Communist Party] ] a leader of the Communist Party of China in the late 1920s. His translation has transliterated the Internationale as Yīngtènàxióngnài'ěr (zh-ts|t=英特納雄耐爾|s=英特纳雄耐尔) when singing the phrase in Standard Mandarin. When the Chinese Soviet Republic was established in 1931, it was decided to be its national anthem. [zh icon People's Daily: [http://cpc.people.com.cn/BIG5/64162/64172/85037/85040/6653698.html History of Chinese national anthems in a hundred years] ] As he was executed by the Kuomintang in 1935, his Chinese translation is in the public domain wherever the duration of copyright is an author's lifetime plus up to 70 years, including Chinese-speaking Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan (lifetime plus 50 years in these places), and Singapore (lifetime plus 70 years). The three Chinese lyrics roughly correspond to the three Russian lyrics by Arkady Yakovlevich Kots and the first, second, and sixth French lyrics by Eugène Pottier.

The song was a rallying anthem of the demonstrators at the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and was repeatedly sung both while marching to the Square and within the Square.

...many hundreds of people (not only students) appeared on the street. They ran after the trucks and shouted protest slogans. A few stones were thrown. The soldiers opened fire with live ammunition. The crowd threw themselves on the ground, but quickly followed the convoy again. The more shots were fired, the more the crowd got determined and outraged. Suddenly they started singing the Internationale; they armed themselves with stones and threw them towards the soldiers. There were also a few Molotov cocktails and the last truck was set on fire. ["Amnesty International", 30 August, 1989. "Preliminary Findings on Killings of Unarmed Civilians, Arbitrary Arrests and Summary Executions Since 3 June 1989", p.19]

National Revolutionary Army version

When commemorating the 55th anniversary of the Paris Commune on 18 March 1926, the National Revolutionary Army printed a music sheet with three lyrics of the Internationale in Chinese, roughly corresponding to the first, second, and sixth French lyrics by Eugène Pottier. When singing refrain twice after each lyric, the Internationale is transliterated first as Yīngtè'ěrlāxióngnà'ěr (zh-t|t=英特爾拉雄納爾) and second as Yīngtè'ěrnàxióngnà'ěr (zh-t|t=英特爾納雄納爾).

hen Baoji's version

The third, fourth, and fifth French stanzas are not sung in Chinese in the above two versions of Qu and the National Revolutionary Army. Chinese translator Shen Baoji (zh-ts|t=沈寶基|s=沈宝基, 1908-2002) has made a complete Chinese translation, published in 1957, of all six French stanzas, [zh icon [http://news.cyol.com/gb/news/2004-03/08/content_832569.htm The inside story of the alteration of the Internationale translations] ] . Shen's translation has transliterated the Internationale as Yīngdāi'ěrnàxī'àonà'ěr (zh-st|s=因呆尔那西奥纳尔|t=因呆爾那西奧納爾) in the stanzas, different from the transliterations of Qu and the National Revolutionary Army. As the grants individuals copyright for their lifetime plus 50 years, Shen's translation is expected to remain copyrighted there until the end of 2052.

Non-Mandarin versions

In addition to the Mandarin version, the Internationale also has Cantonese [http://www.alliance.org.hk/infoindex/song/lyrics/a22.html] and Taiwanese [http://www.socialforce.tw/blog/blog_notes.php?uid=7845] versions, occasionally used in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The word "Internationale" is not translated in either version. Conversely in the Mandarin versions, the word "Internationale" is transliterated into Chinese characters but without a definite article as Chinese language does not normally use it as English does often uses the word "the".

References