In 1998, screenwriter Wang Xingdong visited the exhibition "The National Flag in My Heart" in Beijing, and for the first time he knew that the designer of the national flag pattern was named Zeng Liansong. 23 years later, the drama "Zeng Liansong and the National Flag" written by Wang Xingdong and produced by the Shanghai Theater Academy premiered at the Shanghai Opera Experimental Theater and became the opening drama of the Youth Art Creation Week of the 2021 China Shanghai International Arts Festival.
As the president of the China Film and Literature Society, Wang Xingdong has been in the industry for nearly 50 years, and his works include the films "The Day Of Leaving Lei Feng", "The Great Cause of the Founding of the People's Republic", "The Xinhai Revolution", "Jiang Zhuying", "Kong Fansen" and "The Case of Huang Kegong". He recalled that after visiting the exhibition "The National Flag in My Heart", after many contacts, he found Zeng Liansong, who lived in Shanghai. "He was hospitalized with a cerebral thrombosis." Wang Xingdong lived in Shanghai for 15 days, interacting with Zeng Liansong's family, friends and neighbors, and conceiving the script of "Zeng Liansong and the National Flag".
On September 28 this year, the people's daily front page article "How can we continue to succeed" mentioned the birth of the national flag, "In July 1949, in order to welcome the new China that was about to be born, the Preparatory Committee for the New Political Consultative Conference decided to collect the national flag pattern for the whole country. In nearly 3,000 design schemes, the "five-star red flag" style designed by Shanghai employee Zeng Liansong became the greatest common divisor and was eventually determined as the national flag pattern. ”
Under Wang Xingdong's pen, Zeng Liansong's image becomes more vivid. In order to design, he borrowed a compass from his friend, "hid" in the attic at night and did not come out, and his wife found wax paper everywhere when cleaning in the morning, but she had no idea what her husband was busy with. In the eyes of his neighbors, Zeng Liansong was gentle and elegant, "Every Spring Festival, he writes couplets to everyone. ”
Wang Xingdong has participated in the creation of major historical theme works and knows the importance of authenticity. After returning to Beijing, he plunged into the archives to search through historical materials and interview the participants in the national flag pattern collection activities of that year. In one search after another, the story of Zeng Liansong and the national flag became clearer and clearer in the script, "At first, Zeng Liansong was not sure whether his own pattern was chosen, until the eve of the next year's National Day, he went on a business trip to Beijing, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sent people to the guest house to verify the original design with him, and then he received a courtesy invitation to celebrate the first anniversary of the founding of New China, and in November he received a letter of thanks from the General Office of the Central People's Government." Zeng Liansong has always treasured these documents, and Wang Xingdong has checked them one by one," Mr. Zeng is a calligrapher, and his notes are particularly meticulous. The thank-you letter mentioned that Zeng Liansong was rewarded with a prize of 5 million yuan (about the equivalent of 500 yuan). His son told me that Dad used the money to buy a watch for Mom and 5 bags of flour for the family. ”
As a major literary and artistic creation funding project of Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation, "Zeng Liansong and the National Flag" gave a lesson to teachers and students of the opera. "What have I done for New China?" Countless "Zeng Liansong" asked themselves 72 years ago: "What do we do for the motherland?" "Every aspiring young person today should ask himself this question.
Dong Jian, deputy dean of the Shanghai Drama Film Academy and director of "Zeng Liansong and the National Flag", said that after the creator got the script, he was both excited and nervous, and everyone was thinking about how to read and read through the connotation of the script in a short period of time, and presented a matching performance. Under the leadership of the director, the main creative team gave up the summer vacation break and visited Zeng Liansong's former residence and other places to draw creative inspiration. Three turntables create spaces on stage that take viewers back to the days before and after the founding ceremony of 1949.
The biggest feature of the play is "young", the average age of the teachers and students of the whole crew is less than 30 years old, most of them are young teachers who are on the theater and students who host art. Young teachers and students joined hands to take the stage, which has become a vivid practice for colleges and universities to tell the story of party history.
The premiere of "Zeng Liansong and the National Flag" marked the opening of the 2021 China Shanghai International Arts Festival "Youth Support Project" and Youth Art Creation Week. In the early stage, the organizing committee of the event received nearly 80 applications from all over the country, and finally determined 15 exhibition activities, a total of 28 performances and 3 exhibition works will be held and exhibited at the Huashan Road Campus of Shanghai Theater Academy.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Shi Chenlu
Source: Author: Zhuge Yi