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.

Beginning on June 2, 2011, the days-long process of recording “90 Years of Red Songs” began in Studio 9 of China Central Television. Up to this day, this is the largest-scale program of its kind, under the principle direction of the Central Propaganda Department, which put together the team two months earlier.

Zhu Hai (朱海), who is responsible for selecting material for “90 Years of Red Songs,” took on the job two months ago. This performing arts special documentary film (文艺专题片) to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Party is made up of 10 episodes, and will be run over 10 days before and after July 1. “90 Years of Red Songs” will have two principal parts, interviews and performances. The scale of the performance lineup is clear at a glance. [It includes such] mainland singers as Wang Kun (王昆), Guo Lanying (郭兰英), Li Guangxi (李光曦), Yu Shuzhen (于淑珍), Yin Xiumei (殷秀梅), Yan Weiwen (阎维文), Mao Amin (毛阿敏), plus Song Zuying (宋祖英) and Peng Liyuan (彭丽媛). Additionally, Zhang Mingmin and Andy Lau (刘德华) will represent the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in singing red songs.

Interviews [and special appearances, retrospectives] will include Nie Er (聂耳), the composer of the “National Anthem, ” Cao Huoxing (曹火星) (“Without the CCP There is No New China”), the ancestors of first-generation New China musician Jie Fu (劫夫) (“We Travel on the Great Road”), various classic figures from different historical generations, for example the Sister Heroes of the Grassland , and former comrades of Lei Feng (雷锋) and his group leader, the son of “Iron Man” Wang Jinxi (王进喜), the daughter of Kong Fanshen (孔繁森), little heroes in the fight against the [2008 Sichuan] earthquake, etcetera.