The extraordinarily brave anti-CCP protestors have been striking up ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ from Les Misérables in the streets of many cities. A song written in 1980 for a musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel has become an unlikely rallying cry in present-day China.
Like all the most effective protest songs, ‘Do You Hear…?’ has transcended its origins. In 2014, it was picked up during the Maidan revolution in Ukraine. There are now several ad hoc translations in Cantonese and Taiwanese. One of them – ‘Asking Who That Hasn’t Spoken Out’ – was heard during the Hong Kong protests in 2019, when students sang it over the national anthem at a school assembly, at which point the song was mysteriously ‘vanished’ by the authorities and removed from the Chinese music platform QQ Music. This only enhanced its revolutionary status.
Ancient protest songs, from 17th-centuryDiggers’ songs to Irish rebel tunes, have endured because their message is adaptable.
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