The birth of Nanjing University anthem

2022-05-19 16:56:00

The alma mater of Nanjing University (NJU) was created in 1916 originally for the former Nanjing Higher Normal School (NHNS), with the lyrics written by the school’s president Jiang Qian and the music composed by famous musician Li Shutong, commonly known by his Buddhist name, Hong Yi.

Many people have expressed their love for the song by leaving comments on NetEase Cloud Music platform. There are also other cover versions for the song, such as in rap and other styles.

However, the song received only 16 of 610 valid votes, or 2.62%, during a selection of the favored university anthem in 2001 in the run-up to NJU’s 100th anniversary of founding in 2002, according to the anniversary celebration office’s head Li Yun.

The office, established in 1999, called for students, faculty, staff as well as alumni from home and abroad to submit their choices for school song and motto, which received 27 song entries in one year. Meanwhile, teachers at the office continued to search for musical pieces from the university’s archives.

Established in 1902 as Sanjiang Normal School, NJU underwent a number of name changes, such as Liangjiang Normal School, NHNS, National Southeastern University and National Central University, until it was renamed Nanjing University in 1950. 2022 marks 120th anniversary of the university’s funding.

There are four school songs accompanying the university’s evolution, for NHNS, National Central University (lyrics by Wang Dong and composed by Cheng Maoyun), Jinling University and National Central University (lyrics by Luo Jialun and composed by Tang Xueyong) respectively.

A concert was held on May 19, 2000 to select the alma mater from eight candidate songs, two of which were collected from contributors. Teams from the university’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Journalism, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the Veteran Cadres Choir sang the songs, followed by a voting. Among 153 valid votes at that time, the winners were two based on the lyrics by Luo Jialun and music composed by Yin Qing, while the NHNS song received the least vote.

Another concert to select the alma mater, held on May 18, 2001, invited the choir from the Affiliated Secondary School of Nanjing University of the Arts (NUA), which helped avoid performance disparities by amateur singers. The judging panel included leaders of the musical industry, composers, singers and NUA professors.

However, after the second concert, it’s still difficult to find the clear winner, and the NHNS song generated heated discussions. Li was a teacher of Chinese painting and music at NHNS in 1915. His work came at a time of the rise of school songs, the origin of choir and a new form of music to Chinese. As a representative of school songs, Li was inspired by Dreaming of Home and Mother, a sentimental song by John Pond Ordway of the United States, and translated it into Chinese with title of Songbie (Farewell), hugely popular in China.

Also after the concert, some teachers and students voiced strong objections to the NHNS song, thinking the lyrics with 73 Chinese words are hard to understand and remember while the music seems to make people sleepy, an opinion rejected by experts.

Hong Yinxing, then vice-president of Nanjing University and head of the anniversary celebration organizing group, proposed to stop the debate and leave the decision up to the professionals. In the second meeting, musicians and scholars agreed to choose the NHNS song as the anthem of Nanjing University.

According to Li, she also sought advice from Professor Mo Lifeng, who is now a supervisor of PhD candidate at NJU School of Liberal Arts and head of NJU Centre for Chinese Poetics.

Professor Mo praised the lyrics grand and magnificent and said it embodies the university’s identity and ethos accurately. He also gave a detailed introduction of the lyrics word by word.

Then on June 13, 2001, the Office of the CPC Nanjing University Committee and the Office of the President of Nanjing University announced to use the NHNS song as the university’s alma mater.