He Luting was a Chinese composer of the early 20th century. He composed songs for Chinese films beginning in the 1930s, some of which remain popular.http://books.google.com/books?id=uduUSGj0n9gC&pg=PA331&lpg=PA331&dq=%22ren+guang%22+%22he+luting%22&source=bl&ots=Wwqzht-vYQ&sig=gR4G4h1rkrodDM6bsNrFyuQTP2I&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result

At the Shanghai Conservatory of Music

Shanghai Conservatory of Music

The Shanghai Conservatory of Music , as the first music institution of higher education in China, was founded on November 27, 1927. The teachers and students have won numerous awards both home and abroad, thus earning the conservatory the name, “the cradle of musicians”.-History:The Shanghai...

, he won a contest in 1934, which was sponsored and judged by the Russian composer Alexander Tcherepnin

Alexander Tcherepnin

Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin and his son, Ivan Tcherepnin were also composers, as are two of his grandsons, Sergei and Stefan. His son Serge was involved in the roots of electronic music and instruments...

, for his composition Buffalo Boy's Flute (牧童短笛).http://books.google.com/books?id=PxzNLwDPP0EC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22He+L%C3%BCting%22+composer&source=web&ots=N1PH51tN1Q&sig=pVRH_CXeUzmRFQOQTnnVjNtZkYM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA125,M1

His best known compositions are "Song of the Four Seasons" (四季歌) and "The Wandering Songstress

The Wandering Songstress

"The Wandering Songstress" was one of two theme songs from the 1937 Chinese film Street Angel; the other song was "Four Seasons Song"...

" (天涯歌女, with lyrics by Tian Han

Tian Han

Tian Han , born in Changsha, Hunan, was a Chinese drama activist, playwright, a leader of revolutionary music and films, as well as a translator and poet. Tian contributed a great deal to the development of Chinese modern drama as well as Chinese opera...

), both composed for the 1937 film Street Angel

Street Angel (1937 film)

Street Angel is a Chinese film released in 1937. The film was directed by Yuan Muzhi and stars the popular singer Zhou Xuan.-Synopsis:The film deals with two sisters, Xiao Hong and Xiao Yun who have fled from the war in Northeast China to Shanghai, where they are living under the brutal thumb of...

and sung by Zhou Xuan

Zhou Xuan

Zhou Xuan was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven, as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953.-Biography:...

.http://mediadiary.livejournal.com/tag/film-sound

In September 1949 he was appointed director of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In late 1965, Jiang Qing, Mao's fourth wife, incited the anti-Western crusade of the Cultural Revolution, and a wave of terror engulfed every sector of society. In the spirit of proletarian solidarity, "bourgeois" artists were subject to vicious public humiliation, and some chose suicide as a way out. An astonishing incident took place on Chinese television. He Lüting, who had drawn fire from a proletarian-minded critic for defending the music of Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy

Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

, was subjected to a physically abusive interrogation but refused to apologize. "Your accusations are false!" he shouted. "Shame on you for lying!" Alex Ross stated that no composer had ever made a braver stand against totalitarianism.

In 1984 he retired from his position, retaining the title of honorary director. The main concert hall at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music is named after He Lüting.http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/film-and-stage/theater/has/he-luting-concert-hall/http://www.dewdrop-world.net/albums/China2008/China2008-Pages/Image30.html

See also

• Nie Er
  Nie Er
  Nie Er , was a Chinese composer. He is known for composing the national anthem of the People's Republic of China, the March of the Volunteers. In numerous Shanghai magazines he went by the English name "George Njal"...
  
  
• Lü Ji (composer)
  Lü Ji (composer)
  Lü Ji , originally named Lü Zhanqing , was a Chinese composer during the early 20th century. He was also a writer on music, a music educator, and administrator....
  
  
• Xian Xinghai
  Xian Xinghai
  Xian Xinghai was one of the earliest generation of Chinese composers influenced by western classical music and has influenced generations of Chinese musicians...
  
  
• Ren Guang
  Ren Guang
  Ren Guang , also known by a nom de plume, Ren Qianfa , was a noted Chinese composer of the early 20th century....