The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #168999 Message #4218011
Posted By: YorkshireYankee
25-Feb-25 - 09:48 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Songs of the Yorkshire Yankee
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs of the Yorkshire Yankee
This is something a bit different from my usual thing; one of my regular zoom sings has a theme each week, so I happened to be looking for a song about the Great Wall of China. I was hoping to find something in English, but instead found a Chinese song called The Great Wall Ballad. It was very interesting and has a haunting melody, and I was lucky enough to discover a video that had "singable English words". (hurrah!) According to the person who posted the video on YouTube:
"The Great Wall Ballad is a Chinese patriotic song written and composed by Pao Maonong and Liu Xue'an in 1937. The song became popular in China during WWII while they fought the Japanese. It is still popular today in both Taiwan and Mainland China due to its apolitical lyrics. I found the English translation used in this video in a 1940s American song book titled Fireside Book of Folk Songs (PDF here). The book credited the translation to Louise S Hammond, I can find about him. I also made some minor changes to his original translation.”
I also had a look at a Wikipedia article, which provided some interesting background and — even more usefully — four versions of the lyrics: in "simplified Chinese," "traditional Chinese," Pinyin (i.e. transliteration — which was very helpful when I had a go at singing the Chinese words), and English. After having a look at the English translation and comparing it to the "singable English words," I thought I might be able to tweak it to be a bit closer to the more literal translation.
So... here's my own "singable English" version, followed by Louise S Hammond's translation, followed by the more literal translation from the Wikipedia page.
If you want to hear the song itself, check out the first link I provided. (I've done a search on "Louise S Hammond" but not found much, sadly; just one 'hit' — a Chinese poem translated by her)
Great Wall spans ten thousand li* My home is safe behind thee Beans in blossom, rip’ning grain, Peace and sweet prosperity
Since the great catastrophe Rape and looting everywhere Children scattered, families dead More than human hearts can bear
Day and night we long for home Facing a foe so inhumane We must fight to save our world We shall not forget such pain
Great Wall spans ten thousand li Ten thousand li is the new wall Four hundred million share one heart All for one and one for all
Day and night we long for home Facing a foe so inhumane We must fight to save our world We shall not forget such pain
Great Wall spans ten thousand li Ten thousand li is the new wall Four hundred million share one heart All for one and one for all
*li = Chinese unit of distance = ~1/3 mile or ~1/2 kilometre
The Great Wall Ballad by Pao Maonong and Liu Xue'an English translation by Louise S Hammond
Great Wall stretching mile on mile My home lies out beyond thee Beans in blossom, rip’ning grain Treasure-laden, peaceful be
Since the evil days have come Rape and murder fill the land Children scattered, parents killed More than human hearts can stand
Day and night we long for home While our bosom swells with rage At all costs we’ll fight our way Fearing not what foes engage
Great Wall stretching mile on mile We will build another wall Of the faith of banded men All for one and one for all
Day and night we long for home While our bosom swells with rage At all costs we’ll fight our way Fearing not what foes engage
Great Wall stretching mile on mile We will build another wall Of the faith of banded men All for one and one for all
The Great Wall Ballad by Pao Maonong and Liu Xue'an English translation found on Wikipedia
Ten thousand li is the Great Wall long, Behind the Great Wall is my hometown. The sorghum was rich and the soybeans fragrant, Gold was all over the land, with no disasters.
Since the great catastrophe began, The rape and looting was too bitter to endure Hardship drove us to foreign lands Fragmented, our kinfolk and parents died.
I shall never forget the avengement and enmity I just want to go back to my hometown day and night. We must all fight to protect our homeland No matter how the Japanese enemy shows their tyranny
Ten thousand li is the Great Wall long, Behind the Great Wall is my hometown. 400 million compatriots share one heart. The new Great Wall is ten thousand li long.
Ten thousand li is the Great Wall long, Behind the Great Wall is my hometown. 400 million compatriots share one heart. The new Great Wall is ten thousand li long.