Descendants of the Dragon (song)

"Descendants of the Dragon"
Single by Lee Chien-Fu (Li Jianfu)
from the album Descendants of the Dragon
Released	1980
Genre	Campus folk song
Label	新格唱片, later Rock Records
Songwriter(s)	Hou Dejian

"Descendants of the Dragon" (simplified Chinese: 龙的传人; traditional Chinese: 龍的傳人; pinyin: lóng de chuán rén), also translated as "Heirs of the Dragon", is a Chinese song written by Hou Dejian. The song was first recorded and released by Lee Chien-Fu (simplified Chinese: 李建复; traditional Chinese: 李建復; pinyin: Lǐ Jiànfù), and Hou himself also recorded the song. It has been covered by other artists, including Lee's nephew Wang Leehom. The song became an anthem in the 1980s, and it is commonly regarded as a patriotic song that expresses sentiments of Chinese nationalism.

The song was written in late 1978 by Taiwanese songwriter Hou Dejian while still a student, initially as a protest against United States' official diplomatic recognition of People's Republic of China, a decision first announced on December 15, 1978. The song was first recorded by Lee Chien-Fu while he was a second-year university student in Taiwan. The song was released in 1980 and became highly successful in Taiwan as a nationalistic anthem. It stayed top in the list of the most popular songs of Minsheng newspaper for fifteen weeks.

Hou later emigrated to mainland China in 1983, where the song also became popular, and it was interpreted as a pan-Chinese call for unification. It became at one time the most popular pop song ever released in China. Hou however was surprised that the song was used as an expression of pro-China sentiment, and said: "You have totally misread my intention!" In 1989, Hou supported the students during the Tiananmen Square protests. The song became popular with the protesters, and it was adopted as an anthem for the movement together with "The Internationale" and Cui Jian's "I Have Nothing".

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Wikipedia