Nie Er

Nie Er Park is located on the northernmost of Yuxi City, it occupied 100,000 square meters, which was completed in July 1987. It is a comprehensive park that can be used for relaxing, entertaining, and promoting culture. The whole park is divided into parts that are for commemoration, entertaining, relaxation, cultural activities, children's play, ornamental flowers, and park administration.

In 1981, Fujisawa, Japan, under the socialist mayor Shun Hayama (葉山峻), and Kunming became sister cities. Nie Er Square was established in Shonan Beach Park (湘南海岸公園), near the beach where he had died.

In 1959, on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic, China produced a biopic entitled Nie Er, retelling the story of Nie Er and his composition of the Chinese National Anthem.

Nie Er Piano was founded by Zhu Xuegong at Shanghai in 1958. The brand hires German piano construction experts and uses American advanced technology to build its own pianos. The Nie Er brand piano has become one of the most successful piano brands in China.

In April 1935, Nie Er went to Japan to meet his elder brother in Tokyo. There, he composed the "March of the Volunteers", which would later become the national anthem of China.

On July 17, 1935, he died while swimming in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan, at the age of twenty-three. He may have been en route to the Soviet Union, passing through Japan to receive training, sent by the Chinese Communist Party. Some suspect that he was killed by the Japanese, while others believe that he was killed by Chinese Nationalists, as he was in Japan to flee from them. However, because he disappeared while swimming with friends, this made the possibility of assassination difficult and highly unlikely. Evidence points to drowning as the most probable cause of death. He was found by the local rescue team the following day. According to the rescue team and the police, his body was not different from that of ordinary drowned bodies.

In 1933, he impersonated a Black miner in the film The Light of Maternal Instinct. In April 1934, Nie Er joined Pathé Records and managed the musical section. In the same year he founded the Pathé National Orchestra. This was a prolific year for him in terms of musical output. In January 1935 he became the director of the musical department of Lianhua Number Two Studio.

In June 1931, Nie Er entered the Mingyue Musical Drama Society as a violinist. In July 1932 he published A Short Treatise on Chinese Song and Dance, in which he criticised the Drama Society's president, Li Jinhui, as a result of which he was forced to leave the society. Prior to joining the Lianhua Film Studio in November 1932, he took part in shaping the Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe. He later joined the musical group of the Friends of the Soviet Union Society. He also organized the Chinese Contemporary Music Research Group, which participated in the Leftist Dramatist's Union. In 1933, he joined the Communist Party of China.

In 1927, Nie Er graduated from Yunnan Provincial Number One Combined Middle School, and entered Yunnan Provincial Number One Normal School. At school, he participated in the book club, and organised the Nine-Nine Music Society, which performed within the school and outside. During this time, he learnt to play the violin and piano.

Nie Er's ancestors were from Yuxi, Yunnan, in southwest China. He was born in Kunming, Yunnan. From an early age he displayed an interest in music. From 1918 he studied at the Kunming Normal School's Affiliated Primary School. In his spare time, he learnt to play traditional instruments such as the dizi, erhu, sanxian, and yueqin, and became the conductor of the school's Children's Orchestra. In 1922 he entered the Private Qiushi Primary School (Senior Section), and in 1925 entered Yunnan Provincial Number One Combined Middle School.

Nie Er (14 February 1912 – 17 July 1935), born Nie Shouxin, courtesy name Ziyi (子義 or 子藝), was a Chinese composer best known for "March of the Volunteers", the national anthem of People's Republic of China. In numerous Shanghai magazines, he went by the English name George Njal, after a character in Njal's Saga.