China Meiguo

A Los Angeles Times article reports that some American and Chinese conservatives are claiming that a song played by pianist Lang Lang (郎朗; Láng Lǎng) at a White House dinner for president Hu Jintao was intended as an insult to the United States. Lang Lang, however, claims he chose to play the song because its one of his favorites and for the beauty of its melody.

The song, My Motherland (我的祖国; Wǒde Zǔguó) was used in a 1956 Chinese movie called Battle on Shangganling Mountain. The movie was about the Battle of Triangle Hill in the Korean War, during which Chinese troops ultimately triumph against the Americans. The American led UN forces wanted to capture a location calld Triangle Hill near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which was occupied by the Chinese Army. Despite several attempts, American and South Korean forces were unable to capture the hill despite their superior artillery and aircraft. The Chinese suffered 11,500 casualties, but repeatedly refused to give up. While few Americans are aware of it, there was Chinese fear that the U.S. might try to invade China from Korea. This battle was therefore an important victory for the Chinese Army and a source of nationalistic pride in the young People's Republic of China, which established itself only 6 years earlier and was trying to rebuild China after a century of foreign interference and revolution.

My Motherland  is, as the title suggests, a patriotic song about the beauty of China. Reading through the lyrics, its hard to see what the alleged insult is, but if you look carefully, there's one small line that mentions "wolves" (the American army?) invading to be repelled by people with "hunting rifles." Here's two verses, including the controversial lyric line:

Here's a videoclip from the movie where the song is played - of course, its in Chinese so most Americans won't understand the lyrics let alone catch the vague alleged anti-American reference. 

It seems very unlikely that Lang Lang would harbor, much less publicly express, any anti-American sentiments since he is a resident of both the U.S. and China currently living in New York and has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the United States. His performance didn't include any lyrics since he's a pianist and its possible that he wasn't even aware of the vague lyric line's alleged interpretation and, in a statement, Lang Lang said that he wanted to:

Apparently, there are people on both sides (U.S. and China) that, rather than bridging cultures and improving relations, are insistent on maintaining divisions. Its a shame that music is used for such purposes, especially if that's not the intent of the performer.