Centennial Movie Classics: The Essence of Excellent Chinese Movie Songs That Are Passed Down by Word

Author: Wang Wenhe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Songs in movies are not only an important part of the film but also vividly summarize its thematic ideas and artistic connotations, giving the film wings to soar into the sky and linger in people's memories for a long time. — Fu Gengchen
Film is a powerful tool for spreading songs, and each era's film songs record the joys, sorrows, hopes, and despairs of that time. — Written for A Century of Film Classics by Qiao Yu
Chinese cinema reflects the ups and downs of the nation's history over a century, and film songs gather the heartfelt voices of hundreds of millions of people. — Wang Liping
Marching to the rhythm of the times, singing the strong voice of the nation. — Written for A Century of Film Classics by Xu Peidong
In 1930, the song Xun Xiong Ci (lyrics by Sun Yu, music by Sun Chengbi) from Sun Yu's directorial Wild Grass and Idle Flowers pioneered the creation of film songs in China's sound film era. Over the course of a century in Chinese cinema, film song creation has endured seventy-something springs and autumns. From its inception, it flourished, singing the strong voice of the times and forging a brilliant milestone in the 1930s. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the creation of film songs further thrived and developed. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, during this new historical period, film song creation surged again, reaching new heights of glory. Looking back, at every stage of history, the creation of film songs has produced many outstanding masterpieces, some still widely sung and others cherished for their artistry. A great film song is an inseparable part of the film's artistic whole, even its soul. At the same time, it possesses a relative independence, remaining vibrant even after separating from its original.
As is well known, we filmmakers take pride in the fact that the national anthem of our great motherland is the theme song of the film Children of Fortune, March of the Volunteers (lyrics by Tian Han, music by Nie Er), and the anthem of the Chinese Young Pioneers is the theme song of the film Heroes of the Little Eight (We Are the Successors of Communism), with lyrics by Zhou Yuhui and music by Ji Ming. Beyond these, many classic solo songs and choral songs, especially many beloved children's songs, all originated from film songs. Film songs have a broad popular foundation and a strong vitality.
This book meticulously compiles over 160 outstanding original film songs (theme songs and insertions) from Chinese cinema over a century, including feature films (excluding stage art films), documentaries (excluding stage documentaries), and animated films. Each song is accompanied by a concise background introduction and artistic appreciation to help readers better understand and appreciate their charm and essence. The selected songs are arranged in chronological order, followed by feature films, documentaries, and animated films, and then by mainland and Hong Kong/Taiwan.
During the compilation of this book, we have received strong support from leaders, numerous experts, directors, and lyricists and composers. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of them.