Love and support transcend generations and borders

After reading report "Story behind popular video" published by Shenzhen Daily today, 76-year-old Li Gengqiang, a returned overseas Chinese, was so excited that he immediately got in touch to recommend music video “I Will Fight Like a Knight” produced by his 11-year-old grand-niece in Indonesia in support of the COVID-19 fight.

Li is an English-language lover who settled down in Shenzhen in 1983. “I have been reading Shenzhen Daily through the years. Today when I read ‘Story behind popular video,’ I was very excited, because a few days prior my niece in Jakarta sent me a video made by her daughter Feng Jiawen (Indonesian name: Hitadewi Abhassara).”

Feng Jiawen. Courtesy of the interviewee

Li thought the video was quite good considering it was made by an 11-year-old. What’s more, it reminded him of the passion that he had for the motherland when he was in Indonesia. “At that time, when we read news about our motherland in Indonesia, especially when we heard the song ‘My Motherland’ by Guo Lanying, we got super excited. The girl created her music video with the same passion.”

Li’s brother returned to China at the end of 1966 during the “Cultural Revolution." “He didn’t go to university like I did. Instead, he volunteered to work as a rubber tapping worker on Hainan Island,” recalled Li. “But he went back to Indonesia in the 1970s due to some family issues.” 

“He was not happy to be back in Indonesia. He hadn’t realized his passion for returning to the motherland. So he made up his mind to do his best to educate his kids so that they could return to the motherland one day and he taught them Chinese from childhood,” recalled Li, adding that it was not an easy undertaking at that time as all Chinese language schools in Indonesia had been shut down by the government. 

Li’s brother has three kids who together run a Chinese language institute that sends students to China to learn Chinese every year, including native Indonesians. 

“I was surprised by the girl’s love for the motherland. She shut herself in at home for three days to create the song and made the music video with the help of her teacher and a band,” said Li.

What touches Li most is that through the video, his elder brother symbolically realized his dream of returning to the motherland. “Not himself, but through his granddaughter who has expressed her deep love for the motherland. The song has also been shared by World Health Organization,” Li told Shenzhen Daily.

According to Linda Li, Feng’s mom, when Feng first saw news about the epidemic – the doctors, the nurses, and the people put in quarantine – she was overcome with sadness. “She said there’s nothing she can really do. Through the song she composed, she wants to encourage them,” said Li.

Feng (L) poses for a photo with her mother.

“At first she was not confident in the song because it was her first one. But I felt a different way. I felt it was a very nice, simple song. I encouraged her to make it better and better with the help and guidance of her teacher David Cadlum Saraza. Finally the song was ready to be shared with everyone,” said Linda Li, who added that the song really captures her daughter’s tough personality.

Li Gengqiang also helped with the Chinese translation of the song so more Chinese people could appreciate it.

Love and support transcend generations and borders. Juliano da Silva (also known as Juca Grajaú), a football coach from Brazil who lives and works in Shenzhen, also shared with Shenzhen Daily a music video created by him and five others.

Video courtesy of Juliano da Silva.

“When I saw the video of people inside the buildings screaming ‘Jiayou Jiayou (Stay Strong, Stay Strong),’ it moved me and I'm sure it moved everyone who had the opportunity to view this video. At the same moment I felt like crying and doing something for these people,” said da Silva.

Believing that the most he could do is give words of encouragement, da Silva used music as a tool to encourage others. “This song demonstrates in rhythm and melody my words to encourage and all my respect and appreciation that I have for this wonderful country that is China.” 

Apart from da Silva, the other five people participated in making the video are Jaqueline da Silva, Marçal Silva, Jorge Barra Viegas, Zhang Wei and Joanna (Gao Jing).