Editor's Note
"What do you want your life to be like?" How do you spend your youth without regret? What is happiness? "This is the question of the youth era. Generations of young people are determined to struggle and sing the song of youth. Always follow the party and forge ahead into a new era. In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Youth League of China, the Dasizheng Edition of China Youth Daily has opened a series of all-media personality columns of "Spiritual Road Signposts • My Life", welcoming readers to pay attention to messages and discuss related topics, our mailbox: [email protected].
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The flag is faith, direction, and strength. In April 1949, the first national congress of the New Democratic Youth League decided to formulate the league flag, and the designer Zhou Lingzhao based on the positioning of "the youth league is the party's assistant and reserve army", expressed in a simple and clear design that the youth league is an advanced youth organization under the leadership of the party, and the youth are united around the party organization. With the banner to unite the youth and guide the youth, a clear spiritual sign has been formed. In different historical periods, the requirements of party organizations for the league have changed, but the party banner has always pointed to the direction of the league banner, condensing groups of young people to continue to struggle. Recently, a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network interviewed Zhou Lingzhao, who is 103 years old.
China Youth Daily: Where did you come from in designing the flag?
Zhou Lingzhao: I realized from the text "United around the Communist Party" that the design of the regimental flag should have two visual image subjects, one is a five-pointed star, symbolizing the ruling Communist Party of China; the other is a circle, I place the circle on the periphery of the five-pointed star, this closed circle line, from the plane to constitute this visual communication design basic analysis is composed of countless points, symbolizing the countless advanced youth united around the party. With a concise and clear main body image, I immediately drew another sketch of the color effect, and after 30 minutes, the regimental flag design was completed in one go.
Sixty-two years later, in 2012, a few days before the anniversary of the Communist Youth League, I unexpectedly saw a copy of the sketch of the flag I had designed and learned the following after the design was delivered. My design plan and the hundreds of plans selected and sent by various localities were selected and selected and sent to the central leadership for review and decision. On my sketch of the plan, Chairman Mao Zedong wrote "Agree to this formula," Chairman Liu Shaoqi wrote "This is good," and Premier Zhou Enlai wrote "Agree with this" and specifically pointed out that "the golden circle and the five-pointed star must be placed in the middle of a quarter of the red flag." Soon after, the flag I designed flew during the May Fourth Movement and the Anniversary of the Communist Youth League.
China Youth Daily: You have experienced years of war and turmoil, but you have always adhered to the concept of art serving the people. When did you establish your faith and strengthen your faith?
Zhou Lingzhao: I was born on May 2, 1919, two days after the May Fourth Movement broke out. For China, it was a passionate era of ideological revolution, but also a turbulent era of revolution and counter-revolution, restoration and repeated restoration, which ended China's more than 2,000 years of feudal monarchical society, anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism were the motivation and purpose of the efforts of many knowledgeable young people of our time.
I entered the society when I was a teenager, and I have been doing the work of art to serve the society and publicize the public, and with the accumulation of life experience, I have gradually strengthened my faith.
I was 12 years old in 1931 and graduated from elementary school. At that time, the social situation was turbulent and the economy of my family was deteriorating, so I planned to skip the junior high school entrance to the High School of Fine Arts. He studied English at the Changsha Youth Association and Ancient Chinese at Zhengde School. During this period, the "918" incident occurred, and the Japanese occupation of the three eastern provinces of our country was regarded by the Chinese people as the eternal "National Shame Day". I also went back to Changsha Middle School to learn to write anti-Japanese slogans with Mr. Wang Zhongqiong in fine art characters, learned to paint anti-Japanese propaganda posters, and posted them everywhere; I joined the propaganda team of primary school students, gave lectures at the long-distance bus station, distributed leaflets, and publicized the War of Resistance. I remember that I was still young at that time, and I still lacked the ability to understand and analyze major state affairs and social politics, so the speech was improved with the help of Zheng Jiayi, my mother who had joined the Socialist Youth League (that is, today's Communist Youth League), and I recited it to give a speech.
In his youth, after years of war, it was difficult to continue to learn painting in the classroom, and he took the road of "society is school, life is education".
In 1937, when I was 18 years old, the "August 13" incident occurred, the Japanese invading army bombed Shanghai, I participated in the Anti-Enemy Painting Society in Changsha, and my friends rushed out of a painting exhibition every week to tour the streets and towns to publicize the anti-Japanese resistance; at the age of 19, in the art department of the Third Hall of Wuhan, I participated in the creation and painting of the large mural of the Yellow Crane Tower's "All-People War of Resistance"; with the fifth team of the anti-enemy drama, I went to Burma through Guilin, Liuzhou, Guiyang, Dali, Baoshan, and Xishuangbanna to comfort the Chinese expeditionary force and publicize the anti-Japanese resistance all the way. On the road, the mountains are undulating, ethnic villages, clothing and silver jewelry, and I can't finish the paintings. That life had a very profound significance for the formation of my future worldview. True beauty exists in nature, in the greater society. School inspires you to know beauty, you need to travel thousands of miles, to nature, the big society to find beauty, experience beauty, create beauty, in learning and exploring at the same time to understand the society and know themselves.
In 1942, when I was 23 years old, I went to Liuzhou to participate in the fifth team of the anti-enemy drama. The Anti-Enemy Drama Brigade was established by Comrade Zhou Enlai in 1938 under the historical conditions of the anti-Japanese national united front in the areas ruled by the Kuomintang, and was a revolutionary literary and artistic contingent that carried out anti-Japanese propaganda activities in the special combat environment of the Kuomintang-ruled areas.
In the fifth team, I designed stage art and performance posters for the seven anti-fascist dramas "Between Man and Beast" staged in Liuzhou, Guilin, Yunnan, Chuxiong and other places, and Cao Yu's "Ding Dafu" (also known as "Metamorphosis").
In the drama "Between Man and Beast", the sets I designed were all made of gray military blankets from the team members. Hanging a curtain on the heavy gray military carpet means a residential house, changing an iron fence to refer to the enemy prison, etc., the military carpet scenery film relies on the lighting to change color to create an atmosphere that fits the plot. And take advantage of the change of the scene when the lights are dark, pre-arranged actors to carry the scene nearby, props to place the next position, the light scene has been quickly changed, the next stage, just the military blanket scene film is placed in a different position, which not only strengthens the overall effect of the whole scene, and the convenience time for changing the scene is short, but also saves the production cost of the scene, more in line with the principle of light armor in wartime, from simple to simple, this ingenious design makes the actors and audiences happy. The design of this stage set has been praised by many connoisseurs as a combination of realism and constructivism in one furnace, with a refreshing expressionist style, which is a pioneering innovation in the history of the Chinese drama movement. The performance poster of "Between Man and Beast", which I printed with red and black slate, the effect was strong and well received. The play was performed at the Guilin Dahua Cinema, and the venue was full.
At the age of 23, I am so happy to receive such a high evaluation from experts, and I have strengthened my confidence in moving forward.
China Youth Daily: In the summer of 2018, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, you and seven other veteran professors wrote to the general secretary expressing their aspirations for socialist builders and successors who will further strengthen aesthetic education and cultivate the all-round development of morality, intellect, body and beauty. The general secretary specifically mentioned you in his reply. How do you think it is possible to build a solid foundation of faith among young people through aesthetic education?
Zhou Lingzhao: Humanities and arts are the most concentrated and typical forms of aesthetic education, covering literature, music, art, drama, dance and so on. The language of beauty, the sound of beauty, the beautiful picture, the image of beauty, the dynamics of beauty, the color of beauty... It's refreshing and enjoyable. This fully demonstrates the appeal of beautiful things and also reflects the necessity of aesthetic education.
Last year, China won a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty and built a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and the foundation for survival was solidified, followed by the imperative of aesthetic education. Aesthetic education came into being to meet people's spiritual needs, and aesthetic education is to enhance human spiritual civilization and cultivate people's spiritual beauty and behavioral beauty. Aesthetic education makes our society more civilized and harmonious, and makes people's hearts and deeds more beautiful.
The foundation of faith is not achieved overnight, the family environment and social environment can not be ignored, adhere to the concept of contributing to society and serving the people needs to be supported by positive energy. Humanities and arts can enlighten the mind, make people more and more enlightened, promote the big self and abandon the small self, aesthetic education is an important way to build a solid foundation of faith.
In the past hundred years, I have seen the magnificent mountains and rivers of the motherland, and the beautiful mountains and rivers. China is multi-ethnic, the culture is splendid, the great society and nature are beautiful, and it is the source of my discovery that beauty creates beauty. In the face of such a beautiful river and mountain, as an artist, as an aesthetic education educator, and as a student who has received aesthetic education, I believe that young people, whether sooner or later, whether they are majoring in humanities or arts, as long as they recognize the importance of aesthetic education to human progress, realize that humanities and arts can make the world a better place, and take the initiative to pay attention to and accept the universal education of aesthetic education, they are expected to build a solid foundation of faith.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network: What is the life you want, has it been realized?
Zhou Lingzhao: I began to be exposed to applied art at the age of 14; I began to do public art propaganda against the War of Resistance at the age of 18; at the age of 29, I painted woodcut leaflets to welcome liberation, and designed the venue for the Peking Peace Talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China; from the age of 30, I painted the portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong hanging at the founding ceremony of the Founding Ceremony of the People's Republic of China hanging in the Tiananmen Gate Tower; and later participated in and created a series of national images such as the emblem of the Cppcc Association, the national emblem, the regiment flag, the team flag, the banknotes, and the stamps. As an artist, I have worked in various art designs, mostly related to people's daily life and political life. China is a vast country, a large population, and the requirements for art are diverse, and I feel that artists can be competent is happiness. These jobs of serving the society and the public, I have always been a hundred years old, because this is my lifelong pursuit. For more than 80 years, I have also traveled to many mountains and rivers of my motherland, wherever I went, sketching and collecting materials, drawing sketches, and then engaging in some free creation when I was free. Looking back on my hundred years of life, I am rich, fulfilling and down-to-earth.
China Youth Daily: What do you think are the similarities and differences between the current post-90s and post-00s and when you were younger? What is your message for youth?
Zhou Lingzhao: I am 103 years old and 104 years old this year. At the age of 20, in the face of war, we used our own strengths to do our best to save the country, live hard and improve our strengths; from the age of 30, we were faced with the poverty and whiteness of the post-war and the founding of New China, and we worked hard to exert our strengths, live hard and temper our strengths for the construction of the country.
Young people in every era have their own responsibilities, and today's post-90s and post-00s are no exception. Today's China has become much richer, the education level of the whole people has increased, the civilization has been much closer, and it has also drawn a lot closer to the world, so today's young people are facing more levels, the region is wider, and the problems to be considered are more complicated. But I think that the starting point of young people is higher than ours, as long as we firmly believe in doing our duty for society and serving the public, I believe that one generation is stronger than the next.
(Photo: Li Yinbai Poster Maker: Li Han)
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Wang Congcong, Mei Xiaoyu Source: China Youth Daily
Source: China Youth Daily
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