Ahh, the warmth of the holiday season.
These party girls include Song Yaowu
(second from left), and Liu Jin (third
from left). That dynamic duo were
lead singers of that red-hot chick band
of 1966, The Red Guards!
Song and Liu made their first hit in an
impromtu afternoon jam session at
their all-girls school on August 5. They
left their audience screaming and crying.
One witness to their performance, Bian
Zhongyun, even died of high blood pres-
sure brought on by the excitement! That
night Song and Liu got to meet the
deputy mayor of all of Beijing in person
to tell him first-hand of the day's events.
The next morning Liu crooned over the
school loudspeaker so movingly that her
audience was left dumbstruck.
But the highlight for the band came less than
two weeks later. Their first public concert was
held on August 18 in Tienanmen Square. Over
one million fans gathered. It was China's equiv-
alent of Woodstock.
Mao Zedong, the astute politician, seized the
opportunity to capitalize on the popularity
of the group. Just before dawn, The Big
Bopper appeared at the concert. Mounting
the gates of Tienanmen, Mao endorsed The
Red Guards new music. Mao and Song even
performed a duet together!
That photo of them, representing China's
past and future, became one of the iconic
photos in Chinese rock-and-roll history.
Mao went on to become a favorite of the
artistic avant guard, such as Andy Warhol.
As for Song, she proved to be no one-hit
wonder! She took her act to the countryside,
before eventually escaping fame to the U.S.
and settling down to become wife, mother,
and geology Ph.D. From rock star to rock
scientist!
But who can forget those halcyon days of
the summer of '66, when The Red Guards lit
up all of China? A few years ago, Song Yaowu
appeared in a feel-good film of that time,
Morning Sun, by friend and rock historian,
Carma Hinton. Ever modest, Song would
not allow herself to be pictured in
Morning Sun. We here at People's
Occurrences, however, are proud to
show Song and Liu again to their
adoring fans.
We love you Song and Liu!
To join the official Song & Liu fan club,
email us at publocc@gmail.com
