The Yellow River Boatman Song is the first movement of The Yellow River Cantata, and it is a mixed chorus. The tone material of the Yellow River boatman's song is used here. This movement is divided into three parts. The first part depicts the scene of boatmen fighting with the wind and waves, and the music is full of fighting power. The second part is based on the theme melody at the beginning, which broadens the rhythm and slows down the speed, showing the relief of boatmen crossing the rapids and approaching the river bank. This shows that the people of China have seen the dawn of victory despite the difficult war of resistance. In the third part, the music returned to the speed of the beginning of the movement, but it gradually weakened from strong to far. This movement symbolizes the increasingly fierce national contradiction between the people of China and Japanese imperialism through the struggle between the Yellow River boatmen and the steep waves and shoals.

Jing

After the fall of Wuhan in October, 1938, Guangweiran, a famous poet, led the Third Anti-Japanese Theater Team to cross the Yellow River from Hukou, Yichuan County, Shaanxi Province to the Luliang Mountain Anti-Japanese Base Area. On the way, I witnessed the boatmen of the Yellow River struggling with the violent wind and waves, and listened to the sonorous and melodious boatmen's trumpets. After arriving in Yan 'an in October of the following year, he wrote the poem "Yellow River" and recited this poem at the New Year's Eve party this year. After listening to this, Xian Xinghai made a loud noise, and his thoughts were like waves, expressing that he would create The Yellow River Cantata for the drama team. In a crude earthen kiln in Yan 'an, Xian Xinghai kept writing for six days, and within half a month, he completed all the music scores of eight movements and accompanying music of this work, thus completing this historic large-scale vocal music work The Yellow River Cantata. After that, it premiered in Yan 'an Northern Shaanxi College Auditorium, which caused great repercussions and soon spread throughout China.