It isn't really that strange that the Chinese pianist who played at the White House state dinner for President Hu would slap America in the face by playing a blatantly anti-American song well known in China.

What's also not very surprising to me is that our State Department must also have known about the significance of the tune and chose to accept the insult by not saying anything. The Epoch Times:

At the White House State dinner on Jan. 19, about six minutes into his set, Lang Lang began tapping out a famous anti-American propaganda melody from the Korean War: the theme song to the movie "Battle on Shangganling Mountain."

The film depicts a group of "People's Volunteer Army" soldiers who are first hemmed in at Shanganling (or Triangle Hill) and then, when reinforcements arrive, take up their rifles and counterattack the U.S. military "jackals."

The movie and the tune are widely known among Chinese, and the song has been a leading piece of anti-American propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for decades.

How insulting is it?

The song Lang Lang played describes how beautiful China is and then near the end has this verse, "When friends are here, there is fine wine /But if the jackal comes /What greets it is the hunting rifle." The "jackal" in the song is the United States.

This was no unintentional diplomatic faux pas. This was crudely obvious, deliberate effort to smack down the United States and elevate China, as Mr. Lang makes crystal clear:

"Playing this song praising China to heads of state from around the world seems to tell them that our China is formidable, that our Chinese people are united; I feel deeply honored and proud." 

Reports also indicate the selection went over very well in China.

Now, we musn't make a big deal out of this. If we do, it means we all want the cold war to come back. Since the left insults America on a daily basis, what's wrong with a foreigner doing it? It's no big deal that a country that is proving its desire to compete with us in Asia - even destroy our influence and drive us out of the region (official Chinese military policy) - comes into the president's house and, in effect, spits in his eye.

We just aren't enlightened enough to understand that we should welcome China's coming hegemony with open arms. And despite their refusal to rein in North Korea, their encouragement of the Iranian nuclear program, and their dismissive attitude toward any and all concerns of the United States on trade, currency, and intellectual property, that doesn't mean we should start treating them as a competitor and not a partner.

After all, what are you people? Warmongers?