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Chris Luo

When China's Xi Jinping touched down in Venezuela earlier this week he was met by the sight of an immaculately presented guard of honour and greeted with a rendition of the Chinese national anthem.
Unfortunately the military band performing the March of the Volunteers appeared to have forgotten to tune their instruments or properly learn the piece.
While Xi and his entourage, accompanied by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, listened to the performance straight-faced, others who heard the rendition were not quite so polite.
Footage of the performance quickly went viral, making an online laughing stock of the band.
Watch: Venezuelan band's awful rendition of China's anthem... and how it should sound

Bloggers rapidly passed the clip around with glee, branding it the “Venezuelan adaptation” of the national anthem.
“I admire our leader and officials for being able to maintain their composures,” one comment read under the video clip published on news portal sina.com.cn.
“I know I surely wouldn’t be able to hold my laughter if I were at the scene."
Another blogger suggested that “China should express vehement condemnation to Venezuelan government” for the performance, quipping in a similar way to typical Chinese diplomatic rhetoric.

“The orchestra band at my school can perform far better,” yet another blogger said on forum guokr.com.
Music composer Hu Yanjiang said he believed the band's first trumpeter was responsible for the farce.
“He began the song with minor keys instead of major ones,” and slowed down the rhythm significantly later in the song, Hu wrote on his microblog Weibo.
He said it was only the clarinet that saved the piece from being even worse.


Terrible rendition of China's national anthem makes Venezuelan military band a laughing stock

Immaculate: The guard of honour that met Xi in Venezuela looked better than it sounded. Photo: Xinhua

Xi Jinping, accompanied by his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro, maintains his composure as the host country's military band murders China's national anthem. Photo: Xinhua

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