The National Anthem of Manchukuo was one of the many national symbols

National symbols

A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering itself and manifesting itself to the world as a national community – namely sovereign states, but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an ethnocultural community considered a...

 of independence

Independence

Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....

 and sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

 created to foster a sense of legitimacy for Manchukuo

Manchukuo

Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...

 in both an effort to secure international diplomatic recognition

Diplomatic recognition

Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...

 and to foster a sense of patriotism

Patriotism

Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...

 among its inhabitants.

During Manchukuo's short 14-year existence, two national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

s were used.

It was the “Anthem” de jure but not in practice. It was never familiar to the ears of the Chinese population, even though it was written in Chinese. Nowadays older people in Northeast China

Northeast China

Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...

 (Inner Manchuria) has forgotten it, they may, however, sing Kimigayo fluently till now. So kimigayo was the de facto “Anthem” in practice, leaving those de jure “Anthems” for propaganda only.

1933 Anthem

The first national anthem was declared by State Council Decree No.4, dated 24 February Dàtóng 2 (1933) but publicized on March 1. The lyrics were written by Manchukuo's first Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Zheng Xiaoxu

Zheng Xiaoxu

Zhèng Xiàoxū . Chinese statesman, diplomat and calligrapher.-Early life and diplomatic career:Although Zheng traced his ancestral roots to Minhou, a small town near Fuzhou, he was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu...

, who was devout Confucianist

Confucianism

Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

 and Qing loyalist in addition to being an accomplished poet

Chinese poetry

Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, which includes various versions of Chinese language, including Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Yue Chinese, as well as many other historical and vernacular varieties of the Chinese language...

 and calligrapher.

Traditional Chinese	Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...	English translation
天地內 有了新滿洲	Tiān dì nèi, yǒu liǎo xīn mǎnzhōu	(Now) there is the new Manchuria on Earth,
新滿洲 便是新天地	Xīn mǎnzhōu, biàn shì xīn tiān dì	and the new Manchuria is our new land.
頂天立地 無苦無憂 造成我國家	Dǐng tiān lì dì, wú kǔ wú yōu, zào chéng wǒ guójiā	Let us make our country to be upright and free of sadness,
只有親愛竝無怨仇	Zhǐ yǒu qīn'ài bìng wú yuànchóu	with only love and no hate.
人民三千萬 人民三千萬	Rénmín sān qiān wàn, rénmín sān qiān wàn	Thirty million people, thirty million people,
縱加十倍也得自由	Zòng jiā shí bèi yě dé zìyóu	at ten times more we should still be free.
重仁義 尚禮讓 使我身修	Zhòng rényì, shàng lǐràng, shǐ wǒ shēn xiū,	With virtue and li Li (Confucian) Li is a classical Chinese word which finds its most extensive use in Confucian and post-Confucian Chinese philosophy. Li encompasses not a definitive object but rather a somewhat abstract idea; as such, it is translated in a number of different ways... , rectified am I;
家已齊 國已治 此外何求?	Jiā yǐ qí, guó yǐ zhì, cǐwài hé qiú?	with family in order and with the state well-ruled, there are nothing I want.
近之則與世界同化	Jìn zhī, zé yǔ shìjiè tónghuà	For now, may we assimilate with the world;
遠之則與天地同流	Yuǎn zhī, zé yǔ tiāndì tóng liú	for the future, may we follow the ways of the Heaven and Earth.

1942 Anthem

The 1933 anthem was changed on 5 September Kāngdé 9 (1942), by State Council Order No. 201. Manchukuo's second Prime minister Zhang Jinghui

Zhang Jinghui

Zhāng Jǐnghuì ; 1871 – 1 November 1959) was a Chinese general and politician during the Warlord era. He is noted for his role in the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo in which he served as its second and final Prime Minister.-Biography:...

 cited the 1933 anthem was unsuitable for the current situations of the Empire as the reason for the change. The new anthem, with Manchurian (i.e. Mandarin Chinese) and Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 lyrics, was written by a committee, according to Zhang. The 1933 anthem was renamed the Manchukuo Independence Song (滿洲國建國歌, pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Mǎnzhōuguó jiàn guógē, Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 Hepburn romanization

Hepburn romanization

The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885...

: Manshukoku-kenkoku uta).

Lyrics

Traditional Chinese	Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...	English translation
神光開宇宙 表裏山河壯皇猷	Shén guāng kāi yǔzhòu, biǎolǐ shānhé zhuàng huáng yóu	With the Universe created in God's Light, the vast land strengthens the Emperor's rule;
帝德之隆 巍巍蕩蕩莫與儔	Dì'dé zhī lóng wēiwēi dàngdàng mò yǔ chóu	So full is His virtue, so wide that it is beyond compare
永受天祐兮 萬壽無疆薄海謳	Yǒng shòu tiān yòu xī, wànshòuwújiāng bó hǎi xú	May He always receive divine guidance, with his years surpassing the sea;
仰贊天業兮 輝煌日月侔	Yǎng zàn tiān yè xī, huīhuáng rì yuè móu	[Let us] worship the divine work, its glory equals the sun and moon.
Japanese Japanese language is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...	Hepburn romanization Hepburn romanization The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885...	English translation
大御光　天地に充ち	Ohomi-hikari ametsuchi ni michi	Filling the world with Divine light,
帝徳は　隆く　崇し	Teitoku wa takaku totoshi	The Emperor's virtue is noble and worshipped.
豊栄の　万寿ことほぎ	Toyosaka no banju kotohogi	Let us salute him with long life and prosperity
天つ御業　仰ぎまつらむ	Ametsumiwaza ogimatsuramu	and we revere the Emperor's deeds

Official Interpretation

According to the official interpretation of the anthem issued on the same day of its adoption, the "God" in the first line refers to Amaterasu

Amaterasu

, or is apart of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto religion. She is the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. the name Amaterasu derived from Amateru meaning "shining in heaven." The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is "the great August kami who...

, the sun goddess in Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

, referring to Manchukuo's adoption of State Shinto

State Shinto

has been called the state religion of the Empire of Japan, although it did not exist as a single institution and no "Shintō" was ever declared a state religion...

 as its state religion

State religion

A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...

 in 1940. Also, God's Light is interpreted as Arahitogami

Arahitogami

is a Japanese word meaning a kami who is a human being.It first appears in Kojiki , but is assumed to have been used before this book....

, i.e. Emperor of Japan

Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...

. The whole of the first line is interpreted as
"The Divine Work" in the fourth line came from Kangde

Puyi

Puyi , of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the last Emperor of China, and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing Dynasty. He ruled as the Xuantong Emperor from 1908 until his abdication on 12 February 1912. From 1 to 12 July 1917 he was briefly restored to the throne as a nominal emperor by the...

's Imperial Rescript on the Tenth Anniversary of the Nation on 1 March 1942, in which he mentioned,
and hence interpreted as:

External links

• National anthem of manchukuo with music and lyrics