Chongqing — A new song is telling the story of one of China's most fiercely contested base areas during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression — and it does so with a sound that blends mountain folk tunes, Mongolian long-song, and a modern beat. Titled The Ballad of the Borderlands, the track honors the soldiers and ordinary villagers who held the line along the Yellow River. The lyrics were written by Xue Jinwen, a renowned literary critic and vice chairman of the China Literature and Art Critics Association. Young composer Gao Yunqiang wrote the music, while vocalist Li Jie performs the song. Together, they set out to capture both the toughness and tenderness of a region that once served as a strategic shield for the Communist Party's wartime headquarters in Yan'an.

The song opens with sweeping images of the landscape: "Wind sweeps o'er the Lüliang Mountains / The Yellow River rolls through the night." Later verses focus on everyday acts of courage — grandmothers handing out corn buns, farmers hauling grain for the troops, and young men picking up swords to march to the front. One particularly vivid line recalls "Commander He Long's lantern lighting the night so bright" — a reference to the simple kerosene lamp that remains in his former command post today.

During the 1930s and '40s, the Shanxi-Suiyuan base stretched across parts of what are now Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia. It served as a lifeline for the resistance, and the people of the region paid a heavy price. Memorials such as the Shanxi-Suiyuan Revolution Museum and the April 8 Martyrs' Memorial Hall still stand in the Lüliang Mountains, preserving stories that this song hopes to share far beyond the region. With its catchy rhythm and deeply human lyrics, The Ballad of the Borderlands is already gaining traction online. For listeners unfamiliar with the area, it offers a rare glimpse into the spirit of a place where, as the chorus puts it, "army and people, like water to a wheel, run long, run deep."