How American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson became a hero in China

In 1941, Robeson recorded an album of Chinese fighting and folk songs with activist Liu Liangmo with the Chinese People’s Chorus — organized among members of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York City’s Chinatown. (Gordon Parks for the U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information/Wikimedia/Keynote records)

Chinese broadcasters have aired shows featuring Paul Robeson (1898-1976), one of the most popular African American singers and actors of his era and a well-known civil rights activist, several times in recent years.

China National Radio and various channels of the widely influential China Central TV showcased Robeson on programs in 2021, 2012 and 2009 narrating China’s resistence to foreign military aggressions. This could seem like unusually frequent coverage related to an American who passed away decades ago.