Ｐａｕｌ　Ｒｏｂｅｓｏｎ：Ａ　Ｖｏｉｃｅ　Ｔｈａｔ　Ｉｎｓｐｉｒｅｄ　Ｃｈｉｎａ.docVIP

Ｐａｕｌ　Ｒｏｂｅｓｏｎ：Ａ　Ｖｏｉｃｅ　Ｔｈａｔ　Ｉｎｓｐｉｒｅｄ　Ｃｈｉｎａ 　　PAUL Robeson, one of the great personalities of the 20th century, marks his 110th anniversary this year. In commemorative events held in Beijing to celebrate the great freedom fighter’s memory, people have been paying tribute not only to the extraordinary singer, actor and human rights campaigner, but also to a man who early on expressed his solidarity with the struggles of the Chinese people. It is a testament to the power of Robeson’s personal charisma, as much as to his voice, that one of the most popular songs in China has for many years been Ol’ Man River. 　　 　　Although Robeson never visited China, the Chinese people embraced him as a faithful and supportive friend from the moment he sang March of Volunteers for an audience of 7,000 at an open concert in New York City in 1940. That year saw fierce battles raging in China against invading Japanese armies, which had already occupied North and East China, and were rapidly advancing inland. 　　 “I want to finish this concert with a Chinese song, March On, a song for the struggling Chinese people,” Robeson said. He sang it twice, coming back on stage for encores to stormy applause. It was the first time that patriotic song had been sung in a foreign country, and Americans went wild for it, recalled Liu Liangmo, an activist then living in the United States. In fact, it was he who taught Robeson the Chinese lyrics. Leaving the concert, people boisterously sang “March on, march on, and on!” 　　In the spring of 1941, Robeson recorded March of Volunteers, or March On, as he called it. He sang it in Chinese, with a chorus comprised of Chinese workers in America. March On, which called for resistance to Japanese aggression, became an immediate hit in the United States. Powerful and moving, it quickly became part of Robeson’s repertoire in his solo vocal performances, and he enjoyed singing it in both Chinese and English. 　　Having excelled in both scholastics and athletics as a