Chen Gexin

Chen Gexin (Chinese: 陳歌辛; pinyin: Chén Gēxīn; Wade–Giles: Ch'en Ko-hsin; pen names: 林枚 Lín Méi, 慶餘 Qìng Yú, 1914-1961) was a Chinese popular music songwriter.

Biography

Chen was born into an elite family and had a grandfather from India. He was jailed during the occupation of Shanghai by Japanese forces during Second Sino-Japanese War (World War II) for his patriotic songs.

With the Communist seizure of power in China in 1949, popular music was considered ideologically suspect^[1] and Chen was labeled a rightist and imprisoned in a laogai for "reform through labor" in 1957. He died soon after at the age of 47.

Chen Gexin was the father, with his muse Jin Jiaoli (金娇丽), of Chinese classical composer Chen Gang (陈刚 Chén Gāng) and grandfather of China's first "Miss Internet," Chen Fanhong.^[2]

Music

Chen was the composer of famous mid-20th century popular standards as Shanghai at Night (夜上海) sung by Zhou Xuan and In The Mood For Love (花樣年華). His song Rose, Rose, I Love You, sung by American singer Frankie Laine in 1951, is the only major popular music hit in the United States by a Chinese composer. When Chen's youngest son went to the United States for advanced education, he was able to meet Laine and thereafter maintained a correspondence. Another of his songs, Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity, originally written to celebrate the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, has become a popular Chinese New Year standard. His music continues to be performed and is featured in films such as Eros.

Notes

1. ^ "Panorama of Musical Creation: Vocal Music" at China Culture Information Net
2. ^ "Handicapped Miss Internet blasts mag" at Enablenet - News

External links

• 玫瑰、玫瑰、我愛你 由中國傳唱至美國譜曲陳歌辛英年早逝 兩個兒子克紹箕裘 王自揚道出一段鮮為人知中美情緣 (Chinese)

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Name	Chen, Gexin
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Date of birth	1914
Place of birth
Date of death	1961
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