The Love Song of Kangding

Traveling in Kham • Jashideley! • Burial in the sky • Kangding, the gateway of Tibet • The Love Song of Kangding • The monastery of Tagong • The Buddhas of Drakgo

Kangding’s best-known cultural product is the Love Song of Kangding. In China, it is second only to the national anthem in terms of familiarity and popularity. And it is where most Chinese first hear about Kangding itself. The city of Kangding naturally takes advantage of this popularity in its self-promotion, touristic publications, advertisements, and in the title of festivals. This is illustrated by the above picture, where, looking down from the 4298-meter-high Zheduo Pass near Kangding on the Shanghai-Lhasa National Highway 318, the view of the Tagong Plateau unfolds before you, and on the side of the opposite mountain you can read not some party slogan, but the city’s trademark, the title of the Love Song of Kangding in large white characters in Tibetan, Chinese and English.

But national propaganda also uses the song, for example by giving its title to the 2010 film which sets a metaphor for the eternal and unbreakable friendship and interdependence of Tibet and China through the love between Li Sujie, a young Chinese engineer, and Dawa, a Tibetan servant.

Let us first listen to the version of the song we hear in this film, in the original, very archival 1949 recording by the great soprano Yu Yixuan (1909-2008).

跑马溜溜的山上，一朵溜溜的云哟。 端端溜溜的照在，康定溜溜的城哟。 月亮弯弯， 康定溜溜的城哟！ 李家溜溜的大姐，人才溜溜的好哟。 张家溜溜的大哥，看上溜溜的她哟。 月亮弯弯， 看上溜溜的她哟！ 一来溜溜的看上，人才溜溜的好哟。 二来溜溜的看上，会当溜溜的家哟。 月亮弯弯， 会当溜溜的家哟！ 世间溜溜的女子，任我溜溜的爱哟。 世间溜溜的男子，任你溜溜的求哟。 月亮弯弯， 任你溜溜的求哟！

Pǎomǎ liūliūde shānshàng, yīduǒ liūliūde yún yō. Duānduān liūliūde zhàozài, Kāngdìng liūliūde chéng yō. Yuèliang wān wān, Kāngdìng liūliūde chéng yō! Lǐjiā liūliūde dàjiě, réncái liūliūde hǎo yō. Zhāngjiā liūliūde dàgē, kànshàng liūliūde tā yō. Yuèliang wān wān, kànshàng liūliūde tā yō! Yīlái liūliūde kànshàng, réncái liūliūde hǎo yō. Èrlái liūliūde kànshàng, huìdàng liūliūde jiā yō. Yuèliang wān wān, huìdàng liūliūde jiā yō! Shìjiān liūliūde nǚzǐ, rènwǒ liūliūde ài yō. Shìjiān liūliūde nánzǐ, rènnǐ liūliūde qiú yō. Yuèliang wān wān, rènnǐ liūliūde qiú yō!

A cloud is on the Galloping Horse Peak, the moon shines brightly on the city of Kangding the moon, the crescent moon, on the city of Kangding The eldest Li girl is beautiful the eldest Zhang boy fell in love with her oh moon, crescent moon, fell in love with her First he loved her for her beauty secondly for her care for her family oh moon, crescent moon, for her care for her family All the girls of this world, my loves, let all the men of this world go crazy for you oh moon, crescent moon, let them go crazy for you.

This song is everywhere called “a folk song of Kangding”. According to Béla Bartók’s definition of a folk song – “a song that has been sung by many people for a long time” – it certainly is, as are Yesterday and The Sounds of Silence, too. But from the more established definition – “a work of folk poetry by unknown author, the text of which has been polished and shaped by the people and has survived through oral tradition” – at most the second criterion is true. After all, the song’s author and origin story is known, even though it is much more romantic to spread the opposite.

As the California researcher Yi Liu summarizes in ChinaBlog, the song was written by Li Yiruo from Sichuan in the 1930s. At the Chengdu Conservatory, he fell in love with his fellow student, Miss Li from Kangding, but their parents opposed the marriage. Li Yiruo even went after his love to Kangding, but their relationship finally broke up. Li, however, remained in Kangding, where he dedicated this song to the memory of their love. In the original text, the boy is also called Li instead of Zhang.

The composition of the Kangding music teacher then became locally popular under the title The Galloping Horse Song, and many people started to sing it. Wu Wenji, who was studying at the Chongqing Conservatory in the mid-1940s, heard it from such singers, namely from Kangding soldiers. He showed it to his teacher Jiang Dingxiang, who wrote an orchestral accompaniment for it. He also changed the title to The Love Song of Kangding, and recommended it to Yu Yixuan, the celebrated soprano singer who had just returned from the USA. She included it in her permanent repertoire, and her performance spread it throughout the country.

But it is also known worldwide and performed by many singers. One of the most notable is Placido Domingo, who sang it at the opening of the 2008 Bejing Olympics and in 2009 at the Beijing concert organized for the 100th anniversary of Yu Yixuan’s birth with Song Zuying, accompanied by Lang Lang on piano.

The Polish-Ukrainian band Dagadana performs it much more jazzily.

And a really surprising version, performed by the Georgian Geo Folk Choir in four voices, with Georgian images. This shows that not only Kangding and China can use this song as a city and country image, but also Georgia, to attract an increasing number of Chinese tourists to the country.