Chinese anger over the Tibet riots and Western media’s coverage of them has now been immortalized in a rap song. Entitled “Dragon’s Roar” (龙哮), the song and an accompanying video have been circulating widely around the Chinese internet, getting play on blog pages run by such state-media heavyweights as CCTV and the China Daily (h/t Peking Duck). “Rage led to me knock out this song in a few days,” O.Z. (or 欧子, said to be a Chinese student in France), writes in an introduction. “Brothers and sisters unite and shout with the roar the Eastern Tigers!”
Set to a mixture of footage from the riots with old video of China’s “peaceful liberation” of Tibet in the late 1950’s, the lyrics repeat many of the same sentiments expressed by China’s angry youth (愤青, fengqing) in online forums. “When the new government controlled this land 56 ethnic groups were treated as equals,” OZ sings over grain images of Mao Zedong participating in a Tibetan welcome ceremony. “Developing Tibet is our common goal and responsibility.” Elsewhere the video plays images of the Dalai Lama while the lyrics slam people “using the mask of a ‘peaceful’ fight for freedom to achieve alternate goals.” A Chinese statement in the opening credits proclaims the song as being directed against Tibetan independence, translated into English as “against violent Tibetan terrorists.”
Video (with subtitles) from Vodone:
See the Chinese lyrics here.
