BEIJING, June 15 (Xinhua) -- It is high time to sing. In the concert hall of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, renowned composer Du Mingxin, 91, sat before a piano surrounded by his students and started playing.
Guo Shuzhen, a 92-year-old soprano, instructed the choir to sing.
They sang to the patriotic hymn "Basking in Glorious Sunshine."
While the music played on in the background, the footage shows students and teachers holding national flags and singing at various landmarks of the campus.
Du and Guo are both professors at the music school. Their presence has added considerable weight to the school's campaign in a song rally that has become an Internet sensation.
Wei Pengfei, a student, said he was extremely touched.
"The spirit (of patriotism) is in our blood. I am so proud of it and will keep my passion for the country and music," Wei said.
Students attending the Central Conservatory of Music are not alone in rediscovering patriotism through music.
In late March, Wuhan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Tianjin University initiated an online song competition as a tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Students at one university would shoot an MTV-style video featuring a group of students singing a theme song in and around the campus. The video was then posted online, spread across social media by fans and alumni and used to challenge another university to post a follow-up video. Some students call it a "song battle".
The initial round of the game won stellar success, and more universities joined. By early June, the number of participating universities and colleges exceeded 2,000.
On social media, the activity -- titled "Young People, Sing for the Motherland" -- has also gone viral, with a combined 4 billion views of the videos and 320 million views of the topic on Sina Weibo.
"Song rallies are interactive and for mass participation. The songs we have chosen are powerful and distinctive," said Zhao Yutao, a professor at Yan'an University located in the revolutionary cradle of Yan'an, northwestern Shaanxi Province.
"We hope these songs could inspire students to love the motherland more and keep their fighting spirit," Zhao said.
Jiang Yuhuan, an instructor from the Civil and Hydraulic Engineering School of Ningxia University, was inspired after watching many such videos.
Jiang and his colleagues picked the song "Young Generation, Powerful Nation." About 300 students volunteered to take part in the campaign.
"The students loved the idea and were 100 percent devoted," Jiang said. "So many people came to my aid. Especially in post editing of the video, our teams worked day and night just to pull it off."
University students across China are just as enthusiastic. The song rally spread like a wildfire, raging through individual's phones and laptops and appearing on screens in buses, subways and public squares.
The songs spread the spirit of patriotism, devotion and unyielding struggle, which authorities say is needed as China strives for national rejuvenation.
Liu Mingting, an anti-desertification expert, was prominently featured in his school's video. After graduating from Lanzhou University in 1957, Liu spent his life working in the Taklimakan Desert, the world second-largest drifting desert in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
"We can be anywhere the country calls upon us to be," Liu said.
In Fudan University's video, educator Yu Yi, a 1951 graduate, passed a piece of chalk to a group of students who want to follow in her footsteps to teach in rural China.
Songs in ethnic-populated regions are more unique.
Students of Hani and Nu minority groups from the Yunnan University sang the song "My Motherland and Me" in their own languages.
Yunnan Province is home to 25 ethnic minority groups with various cultures and traditions. In this way, students are able to represent the beauty of the multi-ethnic Yunnan.
Wang Wei, an organizer of the activity in the university, applauded the song rally, saying that by participating, students now are more able to appreciate the beauty of difference.
Zhao Xuefei, a graduate from Yunnan University, said: "With my love and best wishes, I sang for my country. This game impressed me a lot."
