Band offers song tribute to pandemic heroes

"I don't think Starlight belongs to any individual, but to all people with love in their hearts. The song signifies that love has the power to unite people in troubled times, and love can drive us to struggle on and work toward a common goal," Sun says.

"Members of our creation team would have tears in their eyes every time they listened to the song. To date, the bassist on our band cannot help but be choked with tears whenever the melody starts."

The Chinese version of the song premiered on the Tencent public welfare platform on April 8 last year, the day when the lockdown on Wuhan was lifted. When the song was receiving praise online, the China International Publishing Group started working with the band in producing an international version of the song.

The international version of the song is sung by 10 children from different countries, including China, South Korea, Zimbabwe and the United States, in their native languages.

Du Zhanyuan, president of the China International Publishing Group, says the performances by children from different countries demonstrate the human spirit of unity and cooperation amid the pandemic, and expresses China's confidence to join hands with the rest of the world in the pandemic fight.

Experts gave positive evaluations of Starlight at the forum. Xu Yuechun, vice-chairman of the China Literature and Art Critics Association, says the song expresses the common experience of human beings in battling the pandemic, including not only the shared feelings of fear and anxiety, but also courage, trust and gratitude.

"In the past year, many excellent works on epidemic prevention and control have emerged, and Starlight is one of them," Xu says. "It reflects the suffering brought by the pandemic and people's spirit of resilience and mutual support, bringing hope and strength."