Osmanthus Flowers Blooming Everywhere in August

Osmanthus Flowers Blooming Everywhere in August (Chinese: 八月桂花遍地开; pinyin: bāyuè guìhuā biàndì kāi) is a Chinese Red Army folk song from Sichuan province, and is among the best-known revolutionary songs from the wartime and Maoist periods in China.

The song is based on a folk melody called "Eight Pieces of Brocade" (八段锦; bā duàn jǐn) from the Dabie Mountains where the Eyuwan Soviet was based. The revolutionary version of the song was very popular during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s; Deputy Secretary of Defence General Tan Zheng's wife, captain Wang Changde, used to sing the song on his visits to the troops in the early 1960s, prior to his imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution.^[1] It was featured in the 1964 musical The East is Red, and is now regarded as one of the most popular “new” folk songs.^[2]

References

^ 长征长征--从闽西北到陕北 2006 Page 50 "谭政大将夫人王常德来团示范表演了红军歌舞《八月桂花遍地开》,边唱边跳,热情传授。红军文艺工作者、杨尚昆夫人李伯到也来团审查节目,并提出许多宝贵意见。经过精心排练,这部大型歌舞剧终于在 1961 年"八一"建军节和军内外广大观众见面了。"
^ Marvelene C. Moore, Philip Ewell Kaleidoscope of Cultures: A Celebration of Multicultural Research Page 65 - 2010 "Performance by the University of Kentucky Chinese Ensemble 1. “Cinnamon Flowers in the Eighth Moon” (“Ba Yue Gui Hua”), a folk song. The Chinese count the months in a year by the “moon.” The “eighth moon” means August, the height of ..." "It is now regarded as one of the most popular “new” folk songs "

[1] 长征长征--从闽西北到陕北 2006 Page 50 "谭政大将夫人王常德来团示范表演了红军歌舞《八月桂花遍地开》,边唱边跳,热情传授。红军文艺工作者、杨尚昆夫人李伯到也来团审查节目,并提出许多宝贵意见。经过精心排练,这部大型歌舞剧终于在 1961 年"八一"建军节和军内外广大观众见面了。"

[2] Marvelene C. Moore, Philip Ewell Kaleidoscope of Cultures: A Celebration of Multicultural Research Page 65 - 2010 "Performance by the University of Kentucky Chinese Ensemble 1. “Cinnamon Flowers in the Eighth Moon” (“Ba Yue Gui Hua”), a folk song. The Chinese count the months in a year by the “moon.” The “eighth moon” means August, the height of ..." "It is now regarded as one of the most popular “new” folk songs "

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