Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang

"Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang"
Song
Language	Chinese
Songwriter(s)	Wang Luobin

"Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang" (simplified Chinese: 在那遥远的地方; traditional Chinese: 在那遙遠的地方) is the title and first line of a Chinese song written by Wang Luobin, a Chinese songwriter and ethnic music researcher.

History

Wang Luobin wrote the song in 1939 in Qinghai while shooting a film near Qinghai Lake. He met a young Tibetan girl, and wrote a song about the beautiful impression that she left upon him and all those around her. The song is set to the tune of Qayran jalğan (Қайран жалған) - a Kazakh folk song - that Wang had collected in the area.[1][2]

It became one of the most popular songs in China and one of the best known Chinese songs in many countries. Wang Luobin first named this song as "The Grassland Love Song" (草原情歌), but the song has later become better known by its first line of the lyrics, "Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang".^[citation needed] The song is extremely popular in Japan where it is called "Love Song of the Steppe" (草原情歌, Sōgen jōka).[3]

Various English-language sources use different translations of the song's title. China Daily,[4] Ministry of Culture of China,[5] China Central Television,[6] and China Radio International[7] translated the name into "In That Place Wholly Faraway". Beijing Review[8] and a Newcastle University academic Joanna Smith Finley[9] translated it into "In That Faraway Place". Xinhua News Agency[10] translated it into "In a Faraway Fairyland". WaterFire,[11] University of Queensland,[12] and Scotland-China Association[13] translated it into "In That Distant Place". Su Xiaokang[14] translated it into "In a Land Far Far Away". A University of Toronto academic Joshua D. Pilzer[15][3] translated it into "In That Far-Off Land". An Indian historian Sarvepalli Gopal[16] translated it into "In That Remote Place".

References

1. (Chinese) "王洛宾：半生荣辱一支歌"
2. In that place wholly faraway is Wang Luobin's own love song (in Japanese)
3. Pilzer, Joshua D. (2011). Hearts of Pine: Songs in the Lives of Three Korean Survivors of the Japanese "Comfort Women". Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199877249.
4. "Opera: That Place Wholly Faraway". China Daily via SimBam.com. 17 August 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
5. "Tibetan dance drama staged in Jinan". Ministry of Culture of China and The People's Government of Shandong Province. 2 October 2013. Archived original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014 – via Internet Archive.
6. "97th birthday of late folk singer Wang Luobin celebrated". China.org.cn. 30 December 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
7. "Volcano Park, Stone Village and Lava Caves". CRI English. 12 December 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
8. "Wang Luobin and His Songs". Beijing Review. 26 July 1993. pp. 36–38. Retrieved 8 December 2016. (registration required)
9. Finley, Joanna Smith. "Whose Xinjiang? Space, Place, and Power in the Rock Fusion of Xin Xinjiangren, Dao Lang". Inside Xinjiang: Space, Place and Power in China's Muslim Far Northwest, edited by Anna Hayes and Michael Clarke. pp. 81+.
10. "Spanish tenor Jose Carreras to hold concert in Beijing _English_Xinhua". news.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008.
11. 7 September 2013 Music Program, WaterFire Providence. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
12. "'Chinese Bridge' Chinese Proficiency Competition held successfully at UQ". University of Queensland. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
13. China's Three Tenors reviewed at Scotland-China Association. Archived original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
14. Su Xiaokang (2007). "A Black Hole". A Memoir of Misfortune. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307424433.
15. "Ethnomusicology @ U of T". individual.utoronto.ca. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014.
16. History of humanity: scientific and cultural development. Volume VII: The Twentieth Century. p. 771.

External links

• English vocal version