Wang Luobin

Who was Wang Luobin?

Wang Luobin was a renowned Chinese songwriter. He specialized in publishing Mandarin-language songs based on the music of various ethnic minorities in western China.

Wang was born in Beijing on 28 December 1913. He graduated from the Music Department of Beijing Normal University in 1934 and actively participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War on China's behalf beginning in 1937 in Shanxi Province. In 1938, in Lanzhou in Gansu Province, Wang published his first Xinjiang-inspired song, "The Girl from Dabancheng". He took up residence in northwestern China for more than 50 years since then, and devoted his time there to transcribing, adapting, collecting and revising western Chinese folk songs. In all, Wang wrote seven operas and edited six songbooks, and published some 700 Xinjiang-style songs, the most famous of which include "Alamuhan", "Awariguli", "Flowers and Youth", "In that place wholly faraway", "Lift Your Veil", "Duldal and Maria", "Mayila", and "The Crescent Moon Rises".