Arise Africa, Roar China

recorded an album of Chinese resistance and folk songs, featuring “Chee Lai!” which later, under

the title “March of the Volunteers,” became the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China

(PRC). Collaborating with Robeson on the album’s overall production was Liu Liangmo (ca.

1909–88), a Christian activist and journalist who had recently arrived in the United States after

launching the mass singing movement in China. The selection of “Chee Lai!” was no accident—

Robeson was attuned to the power of anthems. He also recorded the Soviet national anthem in

1944 and had often sung “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” commonly known as the Black national

anthem, at Mother Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of Harlem’s most famous

houses of worship. Such songs create emotions Benedict Anderson has termed “unisonance,” or,

“a way of feeling that resonates through one’s body and sustains a collective membership in a

national community.” 1