''Shangganling'' () is a

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

Chinese

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

, also translated as ''Battle of Shangganling'' and ''Battle on Shangganling Mountain''. It depicts the

Battle of Triangle Hill The Battle of Triangle Hill, also known as Operation Showdown or the Shangganling Campaign (),Chinese sources often mistranslates Shangganling Campaign as the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge. was a protracted military engagement during the Korea ...

(Shangganling in Chinese) during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, an especially bloody battle that resulted in eventual Chinese victory. The film follows a group of Chinese

People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA), officially the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), was the armed expeditionary forces China in the Korean War, deployed by the History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976), People's Republic of Chi ...

soldiers who are holding Triangle Hill for several days against the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

and the

Republic of Korea Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the largest of the military branches of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces with 365,0 ...

. Short of both food and water, they hold their ground until the relief troops arrive. The movie shows Chinese victory over the American invasion, and the

soldiers were shown as Chinese war heroes. The film's style and view of the battle have been contrasted with the 1959 American film '' Pork Chop Hill''.

The spirit of Shangganling

The Battle of Shangganling has become a symbol of Chinese "die for the sake of motherland" heroism, and also the symbol of fighting spirit of the Chinese military. Taking into account of the absolute superiority of American ground artillery power and air power, resulting in the

regaining their original positions against high American and South Korean casualties, the Chinese promote it as a military victory with emphasis on Chinese soldier's endurance and sacrifice.

White House performance controversy

On 19 January 2011, pianist

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with major orchestras around the world and appeared at many leading concert halls. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Phi ...

played the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

of this movie at a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

state dinner for Chinese President

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

. The event generated controversies within both US and China, similar to the "anti-Soviet" music of composer

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

References

External links

* Chinese black-and-white films Chinese war films Korean War films Chinese propaganda films Maoist China propaganda films 1956 films Films set in North Korea 1950s war films 1950s Mandarin-language films {{1950s-China-film-stub

The spirit of Shangganling

White House performance controversy

See also

References

External links