People sang "Little White Poplar" to bid farewell to lyricist Liang Shangquan

China News Service, Chongqing, November 8 (Reporter Zhong Yi) "A small poplar tree grows beside the outpost, with deep roots and strong stems, guarding northern Xinjiang..."

On November 8, a farewell party for the famous poet and lyricist Mr. Liang Shangquan was held in Chongqing. People came from all over the country to sing the song "Little White Poplar" to bid farewell to this literary and artistic worker who never stopped writing.

Liang Shangquan was born in Dabashan District, Sichuan Province in 1931. He died in Chongqing in the early morning of November 3, 2026, at the age of 96. Since the lyrics of "Little White Poplar" written by him came out in the 1980s, it has spread all over the country and has become the collective memory of several generations.

Multiple display cabinets were set up at the farewell party to display Liang Shangquan’s notebooks and poetry manuscripts recorded during his lifetime. From time to time, someone leans over to take a closer look and feel the life of his devoted creation.

"My father's life can be said to have been about singing." Liang Mang, who inherited his father's career, is also a musician. He told reporters that his father rarely guided him in writing skills such as rhyme and sentence structure, but taught more by words and deeds. In the past five years, Liang Shangquan has suffered from Alzheimer's disease, but he has always maintained a posture of studying at his desk. "This state of 'always writing' is the most intuitive education for me."

"Little White Poplar" occupies a deep place in Liang Shangquan's memory. Liang Mang said: "Even when he has lost most of his memory and cannot even recognize his relatives, as long as he hears the melody of this song, the old man can still sing one or two lines along with it."

Liang Shangquan's granddaughter Liang Shasha often thinks of the old man's advice to "read more Tang poetry and Song lyrics and inherit Chinese classics." "He hopes that we can learn to stand upright in traditional culture, be as strong as a poplar, as soft as the sound of a piano, and live a life with both strength and softness," Liang Shasha said.

Retired teacher Zeng Lingxing and Liang Shangquan have known each other for 69 years. He said that Mr. Liang was passionate about public welfare throughout his life and had long been paying attention to and supporting poor students and the elderly, weak, sick and disabled. "He lived an extremely frugal life, and would tear a napkin into three parts for use."

"Mr. Liang often said that an artist should always remember his hometown." Cartoonist You Jiang said that Mr. Liang has a deep love for his hometown, and this feeling also influenced him to take root in Bayu and create. "In 2004, when I first started to learn painting, I asked him for advice on a picture of a sturdy rooster. It was during the bird flu epidemic at that time, and he commented, 'This chicken is well drawn, and you will not get bird flu.'" You Jiang still remembers this wise saying, "it conveys his expectations and encouragement to the younger generation."

Go away singing, the poplars are evergreen. As night fell, everyone left the venue one after another, and the melody of "Little White Poplar" echoed for a long time.