About

"Red Sky in the Sky" is a 1992 disco song that is a cover of an ode to Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. In 2021, the song gained virality in memes following the popularization of Chinaposting memes, such as Bing Chilling, John Xina and Chinese Social Credit.

Origin

In 1992, the cover album The Red Sun: Odes to Mao Zedong Uninterrupted Songs in New Rhythm (Chinese 红太阳--毛泽东颂歌新节奏联唱) was released. The album included 15 covers of odes to Mao Zedong, set to a disco beat, including the second track "Red Sun in the Sky" (Chinese: 天上太阳红彤彤).^[1]

On June 7th, 2012. YouTuber^[2] Meheandus Revolution uploaded "Red Sun in the Sky" along with several other tracks from the album to YouTube, where it gained over 16 million views in 10 years (shown below).

The Sun in the sky is red, burning burnished bright,
The sun in our hearts is Mao Zedong.
He led us to gain liberation,
The people stood up and became the masters.
Yi-ya-yi-zi-you-wei-ya-ya-zi-you-a.
The people stood up and became the masters.

Spread

The song gained prominence online following the popularization of Chinaposting memes such as Xue Hua Piao Piao in 2020 and particularly Chinese Social Credit System in July and August 2021. As Chinaposting achieved viral recognition, the song was used for various shitpost edits and in remixes. For example, on August 2nd, 2021, YouTuber^[3] BBmusic posted a trap remix titled Mao Zedong Drip (a reference to the Goku Drip meme), which received over 2.5 million views in one year (shown below).

In the following months, the song appeared in multiple Chinaposting memes on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other platforms. For example, on November 11th, 2021, YouTuber^[4] Randolex posted a SpongeBob Sings meme that gained over 2 million views in one year (shown below, left). On December 14th, 2021, YouTuber^[5] Sheet Music Boss posted a piano cover of the song that gained over 666,000 views in nine months (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Ching Cheng Hanji

Chin Chen Hanji or Ching Cheng Hanji is a colloquial name given to the song "If You Feel My Love (Chaow MIX)" by Blaxy Girls and Chaow. The opening portion of the song in which a person sings in Chinese gained popularity in memes.

Xue Hua Piao Piao

Asian Man Singing in the Snow refers to a viral video of a shaven Asian man performing the Chinese song Yi Jian Mei while rotating in the snow and filming himself. The video went viral with edits on Instagram in late March 2020, gaining mainstream popularity in early May 2020. The clip is also known as Xue Hua Piao Piao after the lyrics of the song performed by the man. In many examples, the original 2010 performance of the song by Fei Yu-ching plays over unrelated images and videos of people singing and led to a trap remix of the song that became popular on TikTok in May 2020.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References