Xian Xinghai (June 13, 1905 – October 30, 1945) was one of the earliest generation of Chinese composers influenced by western classical music and has influenced generations of Chinese musicians.
冼星海是中国早期受西方古典音乐熏陶的作曲家之一，他的作品影响了中国几代的音乐人。

In 1926 he joined the National Music Institute at Peking University to study music and in 1928 he entered Shanghai National Music Conservatory to study violin and piano. The same year he published his well-known essay The Universal Music.
1926年冼星海就读于北京大学音乐传习所，1928年进入上海音乐专科音乐学校，学习小提琴、钢琴。这一年他发表了论文《普遍的音乐》。

In 1929 he went to Paris under government sponsorship and in 1934 he was the first Chinese student admitted to the Paris Conservatory to study senior composition. During this period he composed Wind, Song of a Wanderer, Violin Sonata in D Minor, and other works.
1929年冼星海赴巴黎留学，1934年考入巴黎国立音乐学院肖拉•康托鲁姆作曲班，这期间他创作了《风》、《游子吟》《d小调小提琴奏鸣曲》等作品。

During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), he wrote vocal works that encouraged the people to fight the Japanese invaders, including Saving the Nation, Non-Resistance the Only Fear, Song of Guerrillas, The Roads Are Opened by Us, The Vast Siberia, Children of the Motherland, Go to the Homefront of the Enemy, and On the Taihang Mountains, among others.
抗日战争期间，冼星海创作了大量声乐作品，包括《救国军歌》、《只怕不抵抗》、《游击军歌》、《路是我们开》、《茫茫的西伯利亚》、《祖国的孩子们》、《到敌人后方去》、《在太行山上》。

He became dean of the Music Department at Lu Xun Institute of Arts in 1938. It is at this time that he composed the famous Yellow River Cantata and the Production Cantata.
1938年冼星海出任延安鲁迅文学艺术学院音乐系主任，这期间他创作了著名的《黄河大合唱》，同时写有《生产大合唱》等其他作品。


钢琴大师殷承宗版《保卫黄河》

In 1940 Xian went to the Soviet Union to compose the score of the documentary film Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army. In 1941 the German invasion of the Soviet Union disrupted his work and he attempted to return to China by way of Xinjiang but the local anti-communist warlord, Sheng Shicai, blocked the way and he got stranded in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan. It was here that he composed the symphonies Liberation of the Nation and Sacred War, and the suites Red All Over the River and Chinese Rhapsody for winds and strings. He developed pulmonary tuberculosis due to overwork and malnutrition. After the war, Xinghai went back to Moscow for medical treatment but could not be completely cured and died of pulmonary disease on October 30, 1945 in a hospital nearby the Moscow Kremlin at the age of 40.
1940年，冼星海前往苏联，为纪录片《延安与八路军》进行后期制作与配乐。1941年，德国入侵苏联，冼星海的工作被迫中断，他想经由新疆回国，然而当地军阀盛世才阻挠，未能成功，被迫羁留于哈萨克的阿拉木图。在那里他创作了《民族解放交响乐》、管弦乐组曲《满江红》以及管弦乐作品《中国狂想曲》。劳累和营养不良导致冼星海的肺炎开始恶化，战后他回到莫斯科接受治疗，1945年10月30日，终于病逝，享年40岁。

Xian Xinghai composed over 300 works, published 35 papers, including Nie Er—the Creator of New Chinese Music and On the National Styles of Chinese Music. His influence in Chinese music won him the title People's Composer.
冼星海一生中创作了300多部作品，发表了35篇论文，包括《聂耳--中国新兴音乐的创造者》、《论中国音乐的民族形式》，他被授予“人民音乐家”的称号。