Hong Kong officials may be eager to promote Chinese patriotic songs, but the stories behind many works contain dark episodes that the Chinese Communist Party is keen to avoid, according to a veteran commentator.

Under a recent plan to enhance so-called national security education, Hong Kong’s Education Bureau suggested that schools hold appreciation sessions for songs and marching tunes based on the theme of China’s fight against Japan during World War II. The sessions would be part of Chinese history classes.

The anti-Japanese songs have long been promoted as patriotic music in mainland China. But officials seldom touch on the songs’ origins, or the tragic ordeals that their writers went through under Communist Party rule, China commentator Johnny Lau told Apple Daily.

These included the experiences of Tian Han, who wrote the lyrics of “March of the Volunteers,” China’s national anthem, and those of He Luting, a former head of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music who wrote “Guerrillas’ Song.” Both were victims of social upheavals and radical political campaigns under the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, a subject the Chinese Communist Party wants to avoid, Lau said.

Tian was jailed after his family and friends accused him of being “anti-party” and “anti-socialism.” He was maltreated by prison officers and later died in hospital. He Luting and his wife were blindfolded and badly beaten up by red guards, while their daughter was forced to kill herself.

The Communist Party has also downplayed the origins of the “March of the Volunteers” and other songs composed in the days when its then-rival, the Kuomintang, still ruled the mainland, Lau said.

China’s current national anthem was the theme song for a 1935 movie and was once designated as an official marching tune for the 200th division of the Kuomintang’s fifth army during World War II. The lyrics of the “Sword March,” a 1937 song, originally spoke of the Kuomintang’s 29th army but were later altered by the party to avoid mentioning its rival, Lau said.

Such back-stories could backfire on the party, which has tried to suppress them in order to fit into its propaganda, Lau said.

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