Forever a mystery
July 13, 2020, 8:30 AM. In the office of Hu Yanping, director of the military rest center in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, the phone suddenly rang.
"The elderly Jiang Fuxing suddenly had a cerebral infarction and has entered the ICU ward of the First People's Hospital of the city and is being rescued."
Hu Yanping "giggled" in her heart. The elderly Jiang Fuxing is 86 years old, has been engaged in military medical work for decades, saved one life after another, and her life is like a novel with many ups and downs in the revolution and moving plots.
When the comrades of the military rest house came to the ward, the elderly Jiang Fuxing was in a state of shallow coma and could no longer speak. On August 11, Elder Jiang died and left the world with her story.
On June 30, 2021, Yang Panbin, a 94-year-old retired military cadre, lay in a hospital bed at home. Yang Lao was born in October 1927, and joined the army in February 1947 in the 29th Division of the 10th Column of east China.
The old man stretched out his skinny hand from the quilt and trembled to hold Hu Yanping's hand. She found that the old man had the word "Bayi" tattooed on his hand and couldn't help but be curious. The old man smiled mischievously and said mysteriously, "When I am well, I will tell you about the origin of this tattoo on my hand, which is related to a battle." However, everyone did not wait for the old man's promise, and the "Bayi" tattoo became an eternal mystery.
Hu Yanping has repeatedly invited some retired military cadres to recall those unforgettable years. And optimistic old people always push back for various reasons: "When I am free one day, I will tell you about three days and three nights." Rest assured, it's no problem to live another 5 or 10 years! "The hearty words are still in the ears, but the old people are passing away one after another, and many unknown histories are also forever dusted."
The film crew filmed "Oral History" at the home of Xu Hengyu, a retired military cadre
"Life will eventually pass, and the spirit will always be passed on. Just as important as saving lives is the continuation of the spirit! To carry out the work of oral history of retired military cadres and to pass on this spirit is equivalent to perpetuating their lives in another form. Under the leadership of the director, the Jiujiang City Military Rest Center immediately launched an oral history operation!
"Not for profit" micro-videos
The staff of the military rest house first encountered the first problem: facing the camera, the elderly hesitated, and the family members also had concerns.
"The military merit medal was bought with the lives of comrades-in-arms. Compared with my fallen comrades, I am small and have nothing to say. Fang Shunshou, a demining hero who won the first class of battle merit, modestly resigned.
"My father was older, had high blood pressure and heart disease, and he was excited when he recalled the past. We're really worried about accidents. "Some family members have such concerns.
In order to overcome the difficulties, the staff of the military rest house visited the door many times and persuaded bitterly: "You represent an era and a collective, and because of this, we should tell the story of the comrades who sacrificed our comrades!" "On the other hand, make all-round preparations, bring emergency medicines during interviews in case of emergency; fully understand the background materials of veteran cadres, do enough homework before interviews, cut to the theme as soon as possible during interviews, shorten the time; invite relatives to participate together, so as to skillfully cope with the prevention of emergencies."
After doing the work of veteran cadres and their families, everyone worked hard to select retired military cadres who were older and had outstanding deeds, and listed the first list of key "oral history" targets.
During the filming of the "Oral History", Zhang Jizhong, a retired military cadre, turned over old photos to recall the years of military service
The primary problem was solved, and the lack of manpower became the second "roadblock".
Everyone is usually very busy at work, overtime is the norm, the staff is overstretched, they ask for help from the outside world through various channels, social workers come, volunteers also come, and the work is rolled out in an orderly manner.
Recording these does not require scripts, screenwriters, and makeup, and those real stories and histories have long been familiar to the old cadres.
Video materials are available, and later editing, dubbing, commentary... How to specialize? This is the third difficulty encountered by the staff.
Staff at the military rest house contacted a local media company. At first, the other party was reluctant to take this "business" because it could not bring economic benefits. Can't ban "soft grinding hard bubbles", media companies come with the attitude of trying it out.
Retired cadre Li Xiangsheng recounted his time in the army
Unexpectedly, in the process of interviews and recordings again and again, the other party was also touched by the deeds and spirit of the retired military cadres, those deep wrinkles became beautiful pictures, those sonorous words seemed to roll thunder, and those dusty past events became shining after brushing away the dust of the years. As a result, the photographer slowly became a pilgrim, baptized, paid became free, charged became free...
"After contacting and shooting with these elderly retired military cadres, I really felt that I had too much copper smell on my body." Liu Hao, who has photographed "oral history" many times, said, "From them, I saw something more important than money. ”
"Silver-haired Internet celebrities" first broke the circle
"Nowadays, all the active people on social software are celebrities and entertainment content, and the weather-covered retired military cadres appear on the screen, will anyone watch it?" Questions have been raised.
The Jiujiang Municipal Military Rest House launched the first batch of "Oral History" micro-videos at the beginning of last year. When one touching shot after another entered thousands of households, it caused a lot of repercussions.
"There are no profound theoretical expositions, ostentatious stunts, and grand historical narratives, some are just simple and unpretentious personal narrations, but they have the power to point directly to the hearts of the people." Wang Yemin, a retired military cadre, commented on the video of the Jiujiang City Military Retirement Center 'Oral History'.
Zhu Yangsheng, born in August 1931, enlisted in the army in February 1951, suffered from terminal illness in his later years, and it was particularly difficult to get up, but he still had to fight the spirit to cooperate with the whole process of shooting.
When the video "The Whole People Are Single-Minded in Defending the Family and Defending the Country" was reprinted by the Central Propaganda Department's "Study to Strengthen the Country", the general secretary of the party branch of the military retirement center opened a link and showed it to him. The old man was very happy and laughed a little shyly.
The video "All People Single-Mindedly Defending the Homeland" appeared on the platform of learning to strengthen the country
Half a year later, the old man Zhu Yangsheng passed away. Family members said that before the old man died, he listened to the video several times and said that he had no regrets.
In less than a year, the Jiujiang Military Rest Center shot more than 50 hours of video footage. The carefully edited finished product, in the major communities of Jiujiang City, in the railway station, in the bus shelter, in the enterprise, in the school... Every place that is played receives a good response.
Up to now, the audience of the "Oral History" activity of Jiujiang Military Rest Center has reached more than 1.4 million times, the cumulative number of relevant media publicity articles has reached more than 1 million times, and the series of micro-videos has been played more than 100,000 times.
Article source: Chinese veteran (ID: zgtyjr). Reprints should be indicated as coming from the "Chinese Veterans" WeChat public account, otherwise it will be deemed to be infringing.
Source: China Veterans Magazine, January 2022
Author: Wang Huang