Red Sun in the Sky
1975 Chinese revolutionary song
"Red Sun in the Sky" (Chinese: 天上太阳红彤彤; pinyin: Tiānshàng tàiyáng hóng tōngtōng) is a 1974 Chinese Communist revolutionary song. It is meant to honor Mao Zedong, Communism, and the Cultural Revolution, as well as the broader phenomenon of Mao Zedong's cult of personality, where Mao was frequently portrayed as a radiant "red sun" guiding the nation and the people who follow him.
Background
"Red Sun in the Sky" was written by Xu Wenjing and composed by Song Yang. The song was adapted from the Jiangxi folk song "Ballad of Picking Tea", which is part of the wider tradition known as Tea-picking operas. The phrase "red sun" was a prominent metaphor used in various songs and propaganda materials to glorify Mao Zedong.
Adaptations and legacy
After the Chinese Civil War, Song Yang and another musician, Yi Yang, adapted "Red Sun in the Sky" into a four-part harmony in Changsha. By that time, the song was already widely distributed. The third volume of the album New Songs from the Battlefield, released in May 1974, included "Red Sun in the Sky". "The Red Sun: Odes to Mao Zedong", released in 1991, also includes this song. Singer Tiger Hu (formerly known as Anson Hu) also sang this song, which was included on the EP Red Song, released in 2009.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Red Sun in the Sky” as 1975 Chinese revolutionary song. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1975 Chinese revolutionary song. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q125051558. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1974, 1991 and 2009.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Red Sun in the Sky”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Red Sun in the Sky primary sources, Red Sun in the Sky archive and Chinese research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Red Sun in the Sky”?
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- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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This entry incorporates text from “Red Sun in the Sky” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.