A music video of a song of the Chinese Young Pioneers (CYP), performed by Chinese celebrities including a popular teenage idol group, was posted online on Monday, International Children's Day, as a new way to promote patriotism among Chinese youth.
The music video, We are the heirs of Communism, was posted by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League on its official Sina Weibo account, saying that "even as time passes by, our dreams will never fade."
The song was named the song of the CYP in 1978.
The video was "liked" more than 10,115 times and received more than 8,000 comments as of press time.
First founded in 1949 and led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CYP is a national mass organization for Chinese children aged 6 to 14 years, most of whom are primary or secondary school students.
The 12-minute-long video began with some teenagers wearing the red scarf playing and climaxed with the popular Chinese teenage boy idol group, TFBOYS, appearing on the grass singing We are the heirs of Communism.
Other celebrities, including popular children's program hosts Dong Hao and Ju Ping, pop singer Han Geng and former Olympic gymnastics champion Yang Wei also sang the song.
The video also contains interviews with celebrities of their own memories of the CYP, including former defense minister Chi Haotian and Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming.
"The use of pop stars, especially the teenage idol group in the music video, could be seen as a new strategy to promote patriotism and love for the CPC in the Internet era," Zhu Jidong, a scholar of socialism research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Some netizens recalled their own experiences of the song, while others showed their enthusiasm for the celebrities, especially for TFBOYS as "so cute to promote positive energy."
"The celebrities were selected for their positive image and the authorities could use their star quality to influence the public, especially teenagers," said Zhu.
