Tibetan "Red Songs" Series, Part 1: "Laundry Song"

1975 Performance of "Laundry Song" in Beijing

High Peaks Pure Earth has noticed a plethora of recent stories in the media focusing on the upcoming 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party on July 1st. This year also marks another anniversary, 60 years since China "liberated" Tibet. China is gearing up for huge celebrations and, in the usual way, has deemed it sensitive enough a time to close Tibet to foreign travellers completely.

Many of the media articles have highlighted a revival of "Red Culture" in China, with a particular spotlight on the city of Chongqing where the Party Secretary Bo Xilai launched a "Red Songs" campaign earlier this year. This informative piece in the mainland newspaper Southern Weekend and translated by the China Media Project tells us that:

Red songs are “red” [popular] once again. As for existing red songs, a program called “90 Years of Red Songs” will be aired on China Central Television Channel One before and around the 90th anniversary of the Party; as for newly-created red songs, 36 “Singing China” songs gathered, selected and produced over the past year or more have been rolled out on major television and radio stations across the country since May.