‘I Love My Motherland’ Poem Rejected, Becomes Viral Hit

From NetEase:

Why netizens vigorously support the poem “I Love My Motherland”

In two days, with over 1.1 million views and 70 pages of replies, from the patriotic poem 《我爱我的祖国》[“I Love My Motherland”] created by Tianya BBS member 晨歌牧马’s patriotic swiftly evolved a CCTV version, London Accent version, Sheep version, Crayon Shin-shin version, Madam White Snake version…nearly 100 versions, swiftly creating the “Pre-National Day Most Niu Internet Post“.  (September 17 “China Daily”; September 18 China Broadcasting News)

This is how it happened: On the evening of September 7, Tianya BBS member “晨歌牧马” made a post. In the post, he said that during the Tianya Community National Day Online Celebration, he had worked hard to write a poem that was then rejected by the program’s organizers. “What’s wrong with my poem? When I was in school, I was the campus poet, and the school newspaper printed many of my poems! If you have the guts, show your guys’ work?” “晨歌牧马” posted his own work, asking everyone to judge it. On September 10, after netizen “随缘也好” uploaded his own reading of this poem accompanied by music, the poem “I Love My Motherland” quickly exploded in popularity online with many different versions appearing.

The original Tianya post has been viewed over 2 million times, with over 80 pages of replies containing ~200 different versions (remixes?) of the “I Love My Motherland” poem:

我爱我的祖国

I Love My Motherland

我爱我的祖国
她像一座大山
站在山顶，放眼远眺
江山如此多娇
风景处处都好

I love my motherland
She is like a large mountain
Standing on the peak, looking out
This country is so lovely
The scenery everywhere good

我爱我的祖国
她像一片海洋
辽阔无边，激情澎湃
人才济济，英雄辈出
仿佛后浪推前浪

I love my motherland
She is like an ocean
Vast and boundless, passion surging
Many talented people, generations of heroes
Wave after wave

我爱我的祖国
她像一片田野
充满希望，硕果累累
稻花飘香，麦田金黄
全是一片丰收景象

I love my motherland
She is like an open field
Full of promise, fruitful
Fragrance of rice paddies, golden wheat fields
All a scene of a good harvest

我爱我的祖国
她像一个巨人
吐纳乾坤，叱诧风云
迈着矫健的步伐
向远方奔去

I love my motherland
She is like a giant
Regurgitating the universe, earthshaking
Walking with vigorous strides
Bounding into the distance/future

My translation is not very good and there are probably better English translations in the various English versions made by other Chinese netizens.

Below is a list of some of the ~200 different versions including the online name of the netizen who made them. Many of these versions are funny only if you are familiar with the accent/dialect, region/country, stereotype/joke, etc. that the creator is copying:

1. CCTV version——随缘也好 » MP3,  Tudou

2. London Accent version——雨里的风 » MP3, Youku

3. Sheep Accent version [Zeng Yike]——我是梦精灵 » MP3, Tudou

5. Crayon Shin-chan version——世道桑凉 » MP3, Tudou

9. Transformers 1 Optimus Prime——zy88810 » MP3, Tudou

10. Transformers 2 Megatron——胖哥200斤 » MP3, Tudou

12. Shanghainese version——飘浮在瓦伦的桔子 » WMA

15. Old Granny version——好风凭借力啊 » MP3

18. Cantonese Male version——乱辰 » MP3

20. English version——medeaguo » MP3, Tudou

22. Sichuan version——华夏剑客 » MP3

23. Hangzhou version——完美时光 » MP3

24. Shaanxi version——衡山莫大 » MP3

28. Jiangxi version 2——dustmotes » MP3

29. English version 2——完美时光 » MP3, Tudou

30. Tianjin version——羲晓沫 » MP3

32. Spanish version——飘浮在瓦伦的桔子 » MP3

38. Putonghua version——vokins » MP3

39. Shandong version 3——vokins » MP3, Tudou

44. Shanxi version——衡山莫大 » MP3, Tudou

45. Wuhan version——fannco » MP3, Tudou

48. Northeastern version——觚哉 » MP3

51. Taiwanese version——coldred » MP3

64. Taizhou version——原地转3圈 » MP3

65. French version——又是五百年 » MP3, Tudou

71. Alladin Theme Song Concert + English Reading version——better_up_there » MP3

90. Wall-E version——雷霹雳贝贝 » MP3, Tudou

92. Hubei Huangpi version——餋龙者 » MP3

113. Taiwan Putonghua version——JE_郑小在 » MP3

115. Northeastern version——餋龙者 » MP3

133. Hakka version——精分教宣传部 » MP3

139. Baby version——婴儿也爱国 » MP3, Tudou

142. Hainan version——西瓜为王 » MP3

143. Tianjin version——BigDeity » MP3

178. Wenzhou version——走过路过必然错过 » MP3

Note: Some languages, dialects, or regions have multiple versions. I have only listed some of them.

You can also download all of the different version audio files in volumes:

• Volume 1, #1-39
• Volume 2, #40-79
• Volume 3, #80-111
• Volume 4, #112-154
• Volume 5, #155-189

Here is a CCTV News report about this poem:

In the above report, samples of the Chongqing version (0:22), London version (0:34), and Tianjin version (0:50) are shown. Later (1:10), the CCTV host says that netizens initially suggested that there be 56 versions, one for each of China’s ethnic minorities. Other netizens suggested 60 versions to celebrate China’s 60th anniversary. Of course, there are almost 200 versions now.

This are several parody videos involving well-known movies. In these videos, the dialog has been changed by netizens who sound very much like the original actors. Here is the Painted Skin version:

M: What’s wrong?
W: London brother, I went to Tianya today. Apparently you have also posted on there.
M: I did post. “I Love My Motherland”, this post is so popular, the entire world knows about it.
W: Actually, I too really want to post.
M: Then you should post. Tan Seng, Sun Wukong [characters in Journey to the West], Transformers…there are already these versions. If you go post, there will be more, another version. 无视
W: But in the end, it too will be ignored.
M: (stands up)
W: Why can’t I have your London accent?
M: (laughs) What is so good about me? How can you insist that you have this kind of sound? You should show your own characteristics, read the poetry, and post. That would be best, right?
W: (stands up) Do you really mean that?
M: (silent)
W: I will go to Tianya now, read my poetry. You must wait here for me, you must not leave.
W: (reads poem)

Here are a few more:

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