The "March of the Volunteers", originally titled the "March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers", has been the official national anthem of the People's Republic of China since 1978. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it was written entirely in vernacular Chinese, rather than in Classical Chinese.
Nie Er (left) and Tian Han (right), photographed in Shanghai in 1933
The poster for Children of Troubled Times (1935), which used the march as its theme song
The song's first appearance in print, the May or June 1935 Diantong Pictorial
Tian Han, formerly romanized as T'ien Han, was a Chinese drama activist, playwright, a leader of revolutionary music and films, as well as a translator and poet. He emerged at the time of the New Culture Movement of the early 20th century and continued to be active until the Cultural Revolution, when he was denounced and jailed for two years until his death, before being "posthumously rehabilitated" by the Chinese authorities in 1979. He is considered by drama historians as one of the three founders of Chinese spoken drama, together with Ouyang Yuqian and Hong Shen. His most famous legacy may be the lyrics he wrote for "March of the Volunteers" in 1934, which were later adopted as the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.
Tian Han (right) and Nie Er (left), respectively the lyricist and the composer of "March of the Volunteers", photographed in Shanghai in 1933