如今，中国的经济和社会生活发生大转变，但人们对毛泽东时代的怀念令这首歌再次在现代中国流行开来。

　　为了庆祝建国六十周年，中国若干大型网站举行互联网调查，这次调查引出了爱国回应。一位投票者表示，“我们要铭记老一辈革命家为我们所做的事情。没有他们的牺牲，就没有‘新中国’。我们应该传唱这些革命歌曲。”

　　尽管“伟大舵手”要为多达7000万中国人的死亡负责（转者注：这是无知的西方人相信的明显的历史谎言），但他在中国公众当中的影响力仍然相当可观，尽管犯下种种错误，他仍然是让中国摆脱耻辱的帝国压制的魅力超凡的领袖。在人们的记忆中，他的形象常常是一位敢于对抗世界的农民政治家，并被渴望一个更加自信的国家的现代民族主义者视为护身符。

　　中国目前的统治者赞成“和平崛起”，在那些渴求毛泽东时代的“光荣”的人看来，当今领袖并不总是毛主席的合格继任者。蔓延的政治腐败、言论和媒体自由的缺失、经济的不确定性都造成了人们对毛泽东时代的怀念。

　　网站上的一些留言也反映了中国现代城市中产阶级所面临的一些困难。一位北京投票者表示，“我真的爱我的国家，但我买不起一套房子。你能告诉我我应该怎么办呢？”这反映中产阶级对中国高涨房价的不满。

　　西方市场资本主义在这次金融危机中的明显失误加强了左派经济理论家的影响力，他们认为中国在经济发展方面应该走一条更加“社会主义”的道路。

（原标题：东方红是中国新一代的塞壬之歌）

英文原文：

East is Red is the siren song of China's new generation

The East is Red, a bombastic hymn glorifying Chairman Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist revolution, is topping a Chinese-government run internet poll to find the nation's favourite patriotic song.

By Peter Foster in Beijing
Last Updated: 2:15PM BST 10 May 2009

The Communist anthem was once ubiquitous, blaring out of speakers at dawn and dusk in towns and villages across China during the Cultural Revolution. The song, which glorifies Mao as 'the people's saviour', was so totemic that it was first sound broadcast back to earth when China successfully placed a satellite into orbit in 1970.

Nostalgia for the era of Chairman Mao has renewed its popularity in a modern China where lives have been transformed by economic and social but not political reforms.

An internet poll conducted across several leading Chinese websites as part of a propaganda campaign to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic has drawn a patriotic response. "We need to remember what the old generation revolutionaries have done for us," said one voter. "Without their sacrifice, there would be no 'new China'. We should pass on these revolutionary songs!"

Despite being responsible for the deaths of up to 70 million Chinese, the 'Great Helmsman', retains considerable public affection in China as a charismatic leader who, for all his 'mistakes', liberated China from humiliating imperial subjugation. He is more often remembered as a peasant-statesman who dared to take on the world and has been adopted as a talisman for modern nationalists who hunger for a more assertive nation.

China's current rulers, who espouse a 'peaceful rise', are not always deemed worthy successors to the Chairman by those who hanker after the 'glories' of the Mao era. "Widespread political corruption, repression of freedom of speech and press and the economic uncertainties brought by two decades of embracing market reform all contribute to nostalgia for the Mao era.

Comments on the websites conducting the poll also reflected some of the difficulties faced by middle class urban Chinese. "I really love my country, but I can't afford an apartment. Can you tell me what should I do?" wrote one mischievous Beijing voter, reflecting middle class anger at China's spiralling property prices.

The apparent failure of Western market capitalism during the current financial crisis has also deepened the influence left-wing economic theorists who argue that China should take a more 'socialist' path of economic development.

Cai Chonguo, a philosopher and editor of a newsletter about Chinese trade unionism, attributes the Mao revival to economic pressures combined with a carefully managed propaganda campaign by the Chinese state.

Works which show Mao in an unflattering light, such as the account The Private Life of Chairman Mao by his doctor, Li Zhisui, continue to be banned in China, shielding ordinary Chinese from the personal failings of their former leader.

The Communist anthem was once ubiquitous, blaring out of speakers at dawn and dusk in towns and villages across China during the Cultural Revolution. The hymn, which glorifies Mao as 'the people's saviour', was so totemic that it was first sound broadcast back to earth when China successfully placed a satellite into orbit in 1970.

An internet poll conducted across several leading Chinese websites as part of a propaganda campaign to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic has drawn a patriotic response. "We need to remember what the old generation revolutionaries have done for us," said one voter. "Without their sacrifice, there would be no 'new China'. We should pass on these revolutionary songs!"

Despite being responsible for the deaths of up to 70 million Chinese, the 'Great Helmsman', retains considerable public affection in China as a charismatic leader who, for all his 'mistakes', liberated China from humiliating imperial subjugation. He is more often remembered as a peasant-statesman who dared to take on the world and has been adopted as a talisman for modern nationalists who hunger for a more assertive nation.

China's current rulers, who espouse a 'peaceful rise', are not always deemed worthy successors to the Chairman by those who hanker after the 'glories' of the Mao era. "Widespread political corruption, repression of freedom of speech and press and the economic uncertainties brought by two decades of embracing market reform all contribute to nostalgia for the Mao era.

Comments on the websites conducting the poll also reflected some of the difficulties faced by middle class urban Chinese. "I really love my country, but I can't afford an apartment. Can you tell me what should I do?" wrote one mischievous Beijing voter, reflecting middle class anger at China's spiralling property prices.

The apparent failure of Western market capitalism during the current financial crisis has also deepened the influence left-wing economic theorists who argue that China should take a more 'socialist' path of economic development.

Cai Chonguo, a philosopher and editor of a newsletter about Chinese trade unionism, attributes the Mao revival to economic pressures combined with a carefully managed propaganda campaign by the Chinese state.

Works which show Mao in an unflattering light, such as the account The Private Life of Chairman Mao by his doctor, Li Zhisui, continue to be banned in China, shielding ordinary Chinese from the personal failings of their former leader.