In 1937, Japan launched the "July 7 Incident" and invaded China in an all-round way. Proceeding from its own safety considerations, the Soviet Union signed the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with the Chinese Government and began to assist China in the War of Resistance. From November 1937 to the end of 1939, more than 1,200 Soviet Air Force pilots threw themselves into the Chinese anti-Japanese battlefield, of which 221 died in the war against Japan.
In September 1938, Stalin sent Roman Kalman, a well-known Soviet cinematographer and director of news films, to China to shoot news documentaries and report to the international community on the war of resistance against Chinese people.
Kalman was at the forefront of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and he traveled to 11 provinces, including Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Shaanxi. In October 1938, when Kalman arrived in Wuhan, during the defense of Wuhan, he insisted on shooting the real scene of the battlefield during the war, and he recorded the scene of the Bombing of the Japanese bomber group, and the real scene of the war in which the refugees hid in the mountains. He personally experienced major historical events such as the "Wuhan Defense War", "Chongqing Bombing", and "Changsha Fire", and witnessed and recorded the tragic and magnificent scenes of the Chinese military and people fighting in blood and stubbornly resisting the enemy.
Kalman came to report on the frontal battlefield, and the Kuomintang side specially arranged a small car for him to use, telling him that he could move freely in the "Kuomintang Area", but arranged for him to be "accompanied by his companions", which was actually a stalker and restricted his free movement. Kalman longed for Yan'an, and he wanted to go to Yan'an to find out. He finally found an opportunity to get rid of the Kuomintang "companion" and let the driver pull him from Chongqing to Yan'an.
On the evening of May 14, 1939, the Yan'an Auditorium was performing a three-act drama "Jidong Uprising" choreographed by Lu Xun Art College. Kalman, an uninvited foreign "big nose", broke in, looking around for acquaintances, and finally shook hands and hugged Xiao San, director of the translation department of Lu Xun Art Academy.
Kalman's greatest wish in Yan'an was to meet Mao Zedong. At 9 p.m. on May 25, Kalman's wish came true. He was arranged to visit Mao Zedong at Yangjialing. The two men had an in-depth conversation in a very simple cave, two candles were lit on the table, and Xiao San worked as an interpreter for them. Mao Zedong gave Kalman a comprehensive and incisive analysis of the situation and future of China's War of Resistance Against Japan.
He seriously asked Kalman: If Hitler's bombers bombed the Kremlin, where would Stalin hide? Kalman was very honest, and he did not know how to answer well, so he begged for forgiveness and said, "Comrade Mao Zedong, why should I be in a bad mood?" The two laughed together. They talked very much and didn't end until 12 midnight. He excitedly said to Xiao San: "I have been in China for 8 months, and when I arrived in Yan'an, I felt comfortable and free, and I could say anything." ”
In his pen, Kalman describes, "I sat down next to Mao Zedong. He wore a gray army civilian suit, a fat and large knitted short coat on the outside, and a pair of sail shoes with a thin rope bottom on his feet. He lived, worked, and thought in this cave. A writing desk, a bed nailed to rough wooden planks, several bookshelves full of books, a wicker chair. He likes to close his eyes and sit on his back in a wicker chair when he is tired. That's all there is in the room. Mao's minimalist bedroom was very clean, tidy and orderly. The shelves are lined with neat labels. It is home to the writings of the great founders of materialist philosophy, the writings of great military strategists, and many other books of knowledge in various fields. ”
Mao Zedong had extensive conversations with Kalman. Mao Zedong said of Stalin: "I have never left China and I do not want to go out. But I had fantasized about looking at Moscow for twenty years. I cannot leave yet, but sooner or later I will go to Moscow and see Comrade Stalin. ”
After the talks, Mao Zedong wrote one of his own poems with a brush, "The Red Army Is Not Afraid of Expeditionary Difficulties", which was presented to Kalman as a souvenir.
The next day, Kalman listened to Mao Zedong's speech on military dialectics of strategy and tactics at kang da. Mao's speech once again conquered Kalman, recalling: "Mao's speech was full of simple and clear examples, he made extensive use of popular language, these simple aphorisms and idioms that everyone could understand. His humorous words often elicited laughter from the entire audience, and it was only after the audience had laughed that he himself began to smile. ”
After Mao Zedong finished his speech at kang da, Kalman asked him to stand on a large earthen platform to address the people, and he made a film of this scene.
When Kalman went to Yan'an Hospital to shoot, the Indian doctor Edward told him about the tortuous process of his coming to Yan'an, and the Kuomintang tried everything to prevent them from coming to Yan'an. Edward's experience resonated with Kalman, who had also encountered this problem when he came to Yan'an. He exclaimed excitedly, "It's incredible why we don't come freely." Come, let's take a picture with the people of destiny. ”
At the end of May, Kalman rode to Ansai, the rear of Yan'an. Here he was attracted by the children's generous and passionate reading, he said: "I see from here, China will be able to defeat Japan!" ”
On June 3, 1939, Roman Kalman bid farewell to Yan'an and went to Xi'an. The day before his departure, Kalman again went to photograph Mao's day's activities.
Kalman wanted to invite Mao zedong to eat the lamb kebabs he personally grilled, and he lit a fire outside Mao's cave and operated it himself. Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and others watched his operation with great interest. Kalman gave Mao Zedong the first lamb skewer to taste and asked him how it tasted. Mao Zedong said it tasted great.
A photograph of Mao Zedong taken by Kalman
Kalman remembered mao Zedong's joke that he told him the other day that revolutionaries love chili peppers, and he said that Spaniards also love to eat chili peppers, why is Franco not revolutionary? Mao Zedong said humorously: "Spanish peppers are not as spicy as Chinese peppers." Stalin and Dimitrov both liked to eat chili peppers. If they don't have enough peppers to eat, ask them to write a letter and I'll send it to them. This made everyone present laugh.
Kalman recorded Mao Zedong's work of reading documents and writing articles, as well as walking and resting after work, and also filmed Mao Zedong talking with peasants and reviewing the team at the third anniversary of the "Anti-Japanese War". Many of these precious film materials have become classics and are widely circulated.
During his interview in Yan'an, Kalman used a video camera to film Mao Zedong talking naturally with farmers in Yangjialing, whom he met. Kalman recounts, "During my stay in the border area, I saw Mao Zedong several times, and we talked and walked for a long time. He did a lot of work non-stop for a minute, even while walking. Once in the mountains we came across a group of farmers who had just finished their work in the fields. They greeted Mao like friends and stopped to talk to him. They told him some of their own needs, some peasant things. Mao spread his legs, propped his hands around his waist, and pointed his fingers forward, asking the peasants about something and giving them some ideas. I stood a little farther away so as not to attract attention and photographed this vivid and wonderful scene. ”
Kalman saw the peasants surrounding Mao more and more tightly. Among them was an old man with bronzed skin, many wrinkles, high cheekbones, a sparse gray-white moustache on his upper lip and chin, and like almost all peasants in northern China, his head was wrapped in gray. Everyone talked intently, often bursting into laughter.
Li Yinqiao, Mao's bodyguard, also recorded in his memoirs that he witnessed Mao talking with peasants who carried manure into the fields, and also squeezed the manure in the baskets of peasants with his hands and talked about related topics.
Kalman uses his lens to document Mao Zedong, a young Communist Party leader, leading the great battle in a very simple cave dwelling. Mao Zedong, who was in his forties at the time, did not have much influence in the world at that time. Kalman described him as an organizer, orator, and general.
In just 20 days in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, Kalman photographed various aspects of Yan'an. He interviewed Mao Zedong and other CCP leaders and took a large number of precious images and photos reflecting Mao Zedong's work and life. Kalman valued the material, hoping that "one day, victorious Chinese would find these films in the archives of the revived nation."
Kalman lived in China for a year. After returning to China, in May 1941, Kalman published "A Year in China" based on his own shooting experience, in which he wrote: "This is the most arduous and complicated interview and shooting in recent years. The war burned through the vast lands of the country I was not familiar with, and while filming I had to study the country, its customs, its methods of struggle, and estimate the development and change of events, and learn the difficult language. He noted on the title page of the book: "I dedicate this book to the heroic Chinese people." ”
Kalman's book " A Year in China " was hailed as the "Journey to the West" written by the Soviets. In the book, he recorded in detail the experience of visiting the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and interacting with the Communists and the officers and men of the Eighth Route Army, and let the world know a real Yan'an.
He also produced two documentary films, "China in Battle", "Special Economic Zone of China (Yan'an)", and a documentary "In China".