Editing Lang Lang (section)

=== White House state dinner ===

At the White House state dinner in honour of President of China [[Hu Jintao]] on 19 January 2011, one of the tunes Lang played was the song "[[My Motherland]]" from the movie ''[[Battle on Shangganling Mountain]]'', a film about a Chinese victory in the [[Korean War]]. The song's lyrics include the line "We deal with wolves with guns", which in the film referred indirectly to the United States Army.<ref>{{citation
 | last1 = West
 | first1 = Philip
 | last2 = Levine
 | first2 = Steven I.
 | last3 = Hiltz
 | first3 = Jackie
 | title = America's Wars in Asia: a Cultural Approach to History and Memory
 | publisher = M.E. Sharpe
 | location = Armonk, New York
 | year = 1998
 | isbn = 0-7656-0237-7
 | page = 193
}}</ref><ref name=WSJ>{{cite web | url = https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/01/22/lang-langs-performance-at-the-white-house-display-of-harmony-or-subtle-dis/ | title = Lang Lang's Performance at the White House: Display of Harmony Or Subtle Dis? | last = Yan | first = Cathy | work = [[The Wall Street Journal]]| date = 22 January 2011}}</ref> Although the tune is popular and has lost much of its political and historical significance in China,<ref>{{citation
 | last = Zhang
 | first = Hong
 | title = The Making of Urban Chinese Images of the United States, 1945–1953
 | location = Westport, CT
 | publisher = Greenwood Press
 | year = 2002
 | isbn = 0-313-31001-7
 | page = 161
}}
</ref> the performance was interpreted by American conservatives as insulting the US.<ref>{{citation | last = Ford | first = Peter | url =http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/0126/How-pianist-Lang-Lang-stirred-up-trouble-for-US-and-China-at-a-White-House-State-dinner | title = How pianist Lang Lang stirred up trouble for US and China at a White House State dinner | work = The Christian Science Monitor | date = 26 January 2011}}</ref>

In response to the controversy, Lang denied that he intended to insult the United States.<ref name=latimes/> He later released a statement stating that he "selected this song because it has been a favorite of mine since I was a child. It was selected for no other reason but for the beauty of its melody."<ref name=latimes>{{citation |last = Richter | first = Paul | url =http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-white-house-pianist-20110125,0,52927.story | title = Chinese-born pianist denies he played song to insult U.S. | work = [[Los Angeles Times]] | date = 25 January 2011}}</ref> White House spokesperson [[Tommy Vietor]] also responded by saying "My Motherland" is "widely known and popular in China for its melody. Lang played the song without lyrics or reference to any political theme... any suggestion that this was an insult to the United States is just flat wrong."<ref name=abc>{{citation | last = Tapper | first = Jake | url = http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/01/white-house-says-chinese-folk-song-played-during-state-dinner-was-not-an-insult-experts-divided.html | title = White House Says Chinese Folk Song Played During State Dinner Was Not An Insult; Experts Divided | publisher = [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] | date = 24 January 2011 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110126213143/http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/01/white-house-says-chinese-folk-song-played-during-state-dinner-was-not-an-insult-experts-divided.html | archive-date = 26 January 2011}}</ref>