Ren Guang

Ren Guang, also known by a pen name, Ren Qianfa, was a noted Chinese composer of the early 20th century.
Ren studied in Paris beginning in 1919, and there acquired the techniques of music composition. As a consequence, his works are influenced by Western music, particularly in their harmonic accompaniment. He returned to China and worked at Baidai Record Company.
Among his best-known compositions are Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon, composed in 1935 for Chinese instrumental ensemble and transcribed for piano in 1975, and Song of the Fishermen, used as the theme song for a namesake film.
Other films for which he provided songs include Kangdi ge, Dadi xingjunqu, Yue guangguang and Wang laowu. He invited the musician Huang Yijun to compose The Flowers are Blooming and the Moon is Full which was included on a 1935 recording Ren Guang supervised.
After another research trip to France, where he set up a Chinese choir, he returned home in 1938 to concentrate on anti-Japanese propaganda with the opera Hong bo qu and Gaoliang hong le. He went to Southeast Asia in 1939 to assist the National Salvation Movement and in 1940 he worked as composer for the New Fourth Army, for which he wrote Xin Si Jun dongjin qu.
He died in the Wannan Incident in Wannan, southern Anhui, in January 1941.