March of the Volunteers
As an actor, Yuan became extremely popular and took on the nickname "man with a thousand faces." He gained prominence in a series of films for the leftist Diantong Film Company. These included the film "Plunder of Peach and Plum" (1935) (which Yuan also wrote) and the movie "Sons and Daughters in a Time of Storm" (1935) where he was one of the two original singers (along with Gu Menghe) of the movie's theme song, "The March of the Volunteers", which later became the national anthem of China.