Listen to the 30 classical Chinese songs to be played by the moon probe satellite Chang'e No. 1 in space :

4:42  Spring Festival Overture 2:33  In A Place Far Away 8:28  My Motherland 4:14  Ode to the Yellow River 2:58  Song of the Yangtze River 2:17  Wonderful Night 4:02  The Story of Spring 4:02  Enter A New Era 3:05  My Chinese Heart 4:19  Pearl of the Orient 3:46  Song of 7 Sons 3:05  Girls From Mt. Allshan 2:40  Up the Half-moon Goes 2:59  My Lovely Hometown 2:47  Singing for Our Motherland 3:54  Excerpts from High Mountain And Flowing Water 5:32  Excerpts from Garden Saunter and the Interrupted Dream

2:00  Prosperous and Broad Alxa 5:33  Excerpts from Twelve Mukam 4:20  May People Be Blessed with Longevity 2:16  The Never-Setting Sun Rises Over The Prairie 4:10  Tibet Plateau 5:59  Moonlight over Erquan Springs 2:29  Excerpts from The Drunken Imperial Concubine 4:27  The Butterfly Lovers 2:06  Song and Smile 3:51  Fields of Hope 4:13  Loving China 4:14  Unforgettable Tonight 3:49  I Am Chinese

China's first moon probe satellite Chang'e No. 1 will be sent to space soon. Along with the satellite, 30 classical Chinese songs and music pieces will also be sent to space. These songs include My Lovely Hometown, Moonlight over Erquan Springs, Ode to the Yellow River, The Butterfly Lovers, etc., the Shanghai Evening Post reported.

These songs and music pieces will be played by Chang'e No. 1 after the satellite reaches its destined orbit, which is 380,000 kilometers away from the earth. By then, Chinese people can hear these songs sent via satellite transmission for the first time in radio, TV or online.

The 30 songs and music pieces are selected through a nationwide public vote. In July 2006, secretary general of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) Huang Qiang, who is also COSTIND's spokesperson, announced COSTIND's decision that Chang'e No. 1 satellite will carry 30 songs and music pieces into space for its launch, and people across the country could select their favorites and recommend them to COSTIND during a nationwide campaign for the selection.

At that time, COSTIND's Moon Exploration Engineering Center recommended more than 150 songs and music pieces as candidates. They included China's national anthem, Peking opera The Drunken Imperial Concubine, a piece of Huangmei opera, traditional Chinese song Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon and pop song Wish You Everything Good, etc..

With three rounds of selections, the organizer of the event then publicized their criteria on how a candidate song could be selected – that the theme of the song should be related with one's love for the motherland, the Yellow River, Yangtze River, the moon, or the national cultural heritage included in the first batch of UN cultural heritage list; the song could also be classical Chinese songs, traditional opera arias, or children's songs; these songs should also reflect overseas Chinese people's love for their motherland. With these criteria, some 30 songs and music pieces were finally selected.

Apart from traditional songs like The Butterfly Lovers and My Lovely Hometown, there are also some songs produced in recent years, including Loving China, Singing for Our Motherland, etc. In addition to these 30, the song March of the Volunteers and The East is Red were also selected. The former song is China's national anthem and the latter was once played on China's first manmade satellite DFH-1. The two songs have been selected because of their special historical significance.

(China News Service, China.org.cn October 19, 2007)