Mr. He Fang, Chinese military musician and composer of a Jiangsu folk song entitled Jasmine Flower, died of lung infection at the age of 85 on Sept 21 in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.
In the winter of 1942, 14-year-old He Fang followed the art troupe of the New Fourth Army, a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937, to the foot of the Jinniu Mountain in Liuhe county to put on shows, and he also collected local folk songs there. He adapted them into the folk song entitled Jasmine Flower and successfully staged it in Beijing in 1957. Since then, the folk song has been widely popular nationwide.
In 1959, the folk song was performed and well received at the Vienna State Opera. Later, it was staged in Austria, the Soviet Union, Indonesia, Poland, Hungary and Albania, etc. Besides, it has been included into the album entitled World Great Music Collection.
The folk song was also played in important events in China, such as at the ceremonies of resuming the exercise of China’s sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macao in 1997 and 1999 respectively, at the convention on voting to host the 2010 World Expo in 2002, and the close ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004.
