Biography

Nie Er (14 February 1912 – 17 July 1935), born Nie Shouxin, courtesy name Ziyi (子義 or 紫藝), was a Chinese composer best known for "March of the Volunteers", the national anthem of People's Republic of China. In numerous Shanghai magazines, he went by the English name George Njal, after a character in Njal's Saga. Nie Er's ancestors were from Yuxi, Yunnan, in southwest China. He was born in Kunming, Yunnan. From 1918 he studied at the Kunming Normal School's Affiliated Primary School. From an early age he displayed an interest in music; he learned to play traditional instruments such as the dizi, erhu, sanxian, and yueqin, and became the conductor of the school's Children's Orchestra. In 1922 he entered the Private Qiushi Primary School (Senior Section), and in 1925 he entered Yunnan Provincial Number One Combined Middle School.

In 1927, Nie Er entered Yunnan Provincial Number One Normal School, where he participated in the book club and organized the Nine-Nine Music Society, which performed within the school and outside. During this time, he learned to play the violin and piano.

In June 1931, Nie Er entered the Mingyue Musical Drama Society as a violinist. In July 1932 he published A Short Treatise on Chinese Song and Dance, in which he criticized the Drama Society's president, Li Jinhui, as a result of which he was removed from the society. Prior to joining the Lianhua Film Studio in November 1932, he took part in shaping the Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe. He later joined the musical group of the Friends of the Soviet Union Society. He also organized the Chinese Contemporary Music Research Group, which participated in the Leftist Dramatist's Union. In 1933, he joined the Chinese Communist Party.

In 1933, he portrayed an African American miner in the film The Light of Maternal Instinct. In April 1934, Nie Er joined Pathé Records where he managed the music department. In the same year he founded the Pathé National Orchestra. In January 1935, he became the director of the musical department of Lianhua Number Two Studio.

In April 1935, Nie Er visited his elder brother in Tokyo, Japan. There, he composed the "March of the Volunteers", which would later become the national anthem of China.