"Lin Hai Snow Field" was published by Writers Publishing House in September 1957.
In the modern Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain" created by the Shanghai Peking Opera House, Tong Xiangling plays Yang Zirong.
The National Peking Theatre often performs stills from the play "Wise Tiger Mountain"
In the 2017 version of the TV series "Lin Hai Xueyuan", Li Guangjie (right) plays Yang Zirong, and Zhang Rui plays Shao Jianbo.
In the 2014 version of the movie "Wise Tiger Mountain", Tong Liya played Bai Ru.
In April 1946, some officers and men of the Mudanjiang Military Region's bandit squad took a group photo outside the Hailin Railway Station, and "Lin Hai Xueyuan" was created on the basis of the story of this squad's bandit suppression.
The vast and boundless Snow Plains of Linhai in the northeast have witnessed the heroic legend of the People's Liberation Army's bandit squad fighting bloody battles and skillfully smashing the bandits' nests.
1. "With the deepest respect, I dedicate it to my heroic comrades-in-arms Yang Zirong, Gao Bo and other comrades"
Qu Bo, whose original name was Qu Qingtao, was born in 1923 in Huang County, Shandong (now Longkou City) to a poor peasant family, he joined the Eighth Route Army at the age of 15, graduated from Jiaodong KangDa in the summer of 1944, and crossed the sea with the army the next year to the northeast. At that time, Mudanjiang concentrated many bandit commanders, such as zashan carving, Xu Da ma stick, Jiang left-handed... They operated under the control of senior Kuomintang agents. In order to eliminate the Kuomintang bandit armed forces, the Mudanjiang Military Region set up a bandit suppression detachment in accordance with the characteristics of the bandit armed forces, adopted the tactic of reconnaissance and fighting at the same time, and finally eliminated the Kuomintang bandit armed forces. In the winter of 1946, Qu Bo, then deputy political commissar of the Second Regiment of the Mudanjiang Military Region, led a heroic and good fighting detachment to participate in the battle against bandits, and fought a total of 72 battles in the deep mountains and dense forests around Mudanjiang, successfully completing the combat tasks. This experience became the material for his future novel "Lin Hai Snow Field".
In 1950, Qu Bo transferred to the industrial sector and served as the party secretary of the locomotive and rolling stock factory. In order to remember Yang Zirong, Gao Bo, Liu Yuncang and other comrades who died in the war, in February 1955, he officially wrote a long novel "The Record of the Bandits in the Snowy Plains of Lin Hai", and completed the first draft in August of the following year. On the title page of the later official publication of "Lin Hai Xueyuan", Qu Bo wrote affectionately: "With the deepest respect, I dedicate it to my heroic comrades-in-arms Yang Zirong, Gao Bo and other comrades." This shows his emotional motivation for writing the novel, and also shows that the comrades who fought with him at that time are the character archetypes of the novel.
For Qu Bo, who has only read books for six years, writing a long novel is not an easy task. Especially when the first three chapters of the novel were written, Qu Bo felt that his words could not express that period of history, and he burned the original manuscript in one breath, and the difficulty of writing could be imagined. However, the heroic deeds of his comrades-in-arms continued to inspire him to continue to write, and after a year and a half of "secret writing" in his spare time, the first draft of the novel was finally formed. At this time, Qu Bo, together with his "Records of the Bandits in the Snowy Plains of Lin Hai", had the privilege of meeting Long Shihui of the People's Literature Publishing House. Although the young editor believes that the manuscript is still lacking in art and writing, he still generally affirms the work when he reports to Lou Shiyi, the vice president of the publishing house. Therefore, after several months of revision, especially the "full authority" of the editor Long Shihui for more than three months, the novel was finally finalized. In the process, Long Shihui suggested that Qu Bo add some poetry and love words to the battle of a group of men, which is the origin of the character of Bai Ru. Although the author once said that "there are real people", many years later he also had to admit that the battle at that time "could not bring female soldiers". However, the "little white pigeon" Bai Ru is indeed indispensable to the novel. First of all, the white dove symbolizes the white-clad angel who saves lives and helps the injured, symbolizes peace, and directly expresses the lofty idea of the communists that "war is for peace"; on the other hand, the emotional elements brought by the lively and beautiful Bairu can dilute the tension of war and avoid the monotony of the novel story.
In order to expand his influence and listen to the opinions of readers, Long Shihui recommended the manuscript to Qin Zhaoyang, then deputy editor of People's Literature. After reading it, Qin Zhaoyang praised it greatly, and immediately selected some chapters in the February 1957 issue of "People's Literature" and named it "Surprise Attack on the Tiger and Wolf's Den", which attracted the attention of the majority of readers.
When the novel was published, the title of the book was changed from "Lin Hai Xueyuan Bandit Record" to "Lin Hai Xueyuan" in order to give readers room for imagination. Once, Shao Quanlin, vice chairman of the China Writers Association, asked Qu Bo about the title of his book in Beidaihe, and Qu Bo explained: "I was standing on the top of a high mountain, overlooking the forest in front of me, and when the wind blew, the forest was hollow and concave, like the waves of the ocean, the two words 'Lin Hai' came out; this snow was an endless wilderness, and this 'snow field' came out." After Shao Quanlin listened, he patted his thigh and applauded: "Look, how can you do it without life?" You see, a word also needs to live. ”
In September 1957, "Lin Hai Xueyuan" was officially published by the Writers Publishing House (then a subsidiary of the People's Literature Publishing House), which caused a huge sensation. In just a few years, the novel was printed in more than a million copies, becoming one of the most read works of the era.
As a literary work, the success of "Lin Hai Xueyuan" lies in the fact that it does not present the whole process of the squad in the Mudanjiang area to suppress the bandits, but concentrates on selecting several key plays of the bandits - "surprise attack on The Milk Head Mountain, eliminating Xu Da ma stick", "Outwitting Weihu Mountain, capturing a mountain sculpture alive", "Coincidentally on the Four Square Platform, annihilating the bandit leader Hou Xiema (Hou Diankui, Xie Wendong, Ma Xishan)". In Qu Bo's words, this is a "summary of his real experience", thus summarizing the 72 battles fought by the Second Regiment of the Mudanjiang Military Region at that time as "four battles, focusing on shaping several characters". Qu Bo admitted that regarding the location of the four battles, "not only did the name of Weihu Mountain not exist in the past, but also the names of Nipple Mountain and Sifangtai did not have in the past, but it was all my artistic creation." This kind of "artistic creation", especially the emphasis on "strange", "intelligent" and "clever", is prominently interspersed with various unexpected and interesting small stories in the plot organization, which produces a gripping reading effect, making it a popular reading material for all ages in that era.
Qu Bo's development of the national style was affirmed by the authoritative critic Hou Jinjing and others at that time. In "A Fascinating Novel - Reading 'Lin Hai Xueyuan]", Hou Jinjing believes that "the author's confession and our feelings after reading this book are at least common: this is the abundant feeling of revolutionary heroism, close to the national style and full of legendary characteristics." Qu Bo once said that for literary masterpieces such as "How Steel is Made", "I can only talk about a general idea, a spirit, or I can only understand and not pass on; but if I tell me about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "Water Margin", and "Yue Quan Biography", I can say it like a commentary, and even the best chapters I can recite" (Afterword to "Lin Hai Xueyuan"). The traditional heroic legendary art factor has such a profound influence on the writer, so that the text of "Lin Hai Xueyuan" shows popular and legendary characteristics, and is loved by a wide range of readers.
2. Marshal He Long asked, "Doesn't Yang Zirong have a horse?" In Peking Opera, riding a horse up the mountain will look better than stepping on the snow to go up the mountain."
The story of Yang Zirong's wisdom fighting bandits and capturing the bandits' first mountain sculpture alive is undoubtedly the most wonderful passage in Qu Bo's "Lin Hai Snow Field". This heroic legend was later reprocessed and completely recorded in the modern Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain". In the spring of 1958, several actors at the Shanghai Peking Opera House had a heated discussion about whether it could be adapted into Peking Opera after watching Jiao Juyin's drama "Wise Tiger Mountain". They decided to do what they wanted, and Huang Zhengqin, Li Tongsen, and Cao Shouchun drew up an outline, wrote several sessions in each session, and compiled the book in a few days. Their creative activities were supported by Tao Xiong, director of the academy's art room, who specially sent screenwriter Shen Yangsheng to "chi aid". Soon, Shen Yangsheng sorted out the drafts written by each person into a first draft, and then began rehearsals. On September 17, 1958, the Shanghai Peking Opera House's "Wise Tiger Mountain" was officially performed at the China Grand Theatre.
In 1963, in order to prepare for the National Peking Opera Modern Opera Observation and Performance Conference to be held in Beijing, Zhou Xinfang, president of the Shanghai Peking Opera House, proposed to process and revise "Wise Tiger Mountain" and assigned Tao Xiong and Liu Mengde to revise the script. In order to strengthen the modern atmosphere of this Peking Opera, with the consent of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the crew transferred the old director Ying Yunwei from the Shanghai Film Studio as the director and put it into rehearsal. The second draft of "Wise Tiger Mountain" retains the basis of the 1958 performance book in terms of structure, only deletes the plot of Dinghe Daoren, and at the same time compresses the individual negative character plays, slightly strengthens the singing and playing of Yang Zirong and Shao Jianbo, which is still too rough on the whole. Later, the crew of "Wise Tiger Mountain" went to Beijing to participate in the performance, and while learning from the many strengths of other plays, they obtained many suggestions for revision. For example, after watching the performance, Mao Zedong put forward the instruction of "strengthening the singing of positive characters and weakening negative characters". In order to implement this instruction, after the performance conference, the Shanghai delegation stayed in Beijing for more than ten days to listen to opinions. In particular, in order to strengthen the understanding of the life of the struggle against bandits in those years, the regiment also invited the author Qu Bo and his lover and his comrade-in-arms Sun Dade at that time. They enthusiastically and vividly told the story of Yang Zirong's battle and sacrifice for the crew, as well as their experience of suppressing bandits. These introductions to real combat life are of great help to the further modification and improvement of "Wise Tiger Mountain".
In March 1965, under the unified planning of the "Drama Reform" group directly led by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the crew enriched their creative strength. In the process, the show's lineup has also been greatly adjusted. Yang Zirong, who sang and played extremely heavy, was played by Tong Xiangling, Shao Jianbo was played by Shen Jinbo, and He Yonghua played a mountain eagle.
What really made "Wise Tiger Mountain" have the prototype of a later model play was the third revision after the observation of the performance conference. At two forums held after the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles and some senior PLA generals watched the play, the screenwriters absorbed a lot of good suggestions. Writers Wu Qiang, Lu Mang, Wei Jinzhi, and others unanimously proposed that the script should properly show the relationship between the military and the people and the water conditions, and strengthen the close ties between Yang Zirong and the PLA detachment with the masses. It is based on this suggestion that the screenwriter added a third scene in which Yang Zirong goes deep into the mountains to visit chang orion's father and daughter. This is how Xiao Changbao, who dressed as a man, sang against the bandits, thus making up for the lack of singing in the whole drama and the lack of rich musical colors. In addition, Marshal He Long once asked in the play: "Doesn't Yang Zirong have a horse?" In Peking Opera, riding a horse up a mountain is more beautiful than stepping on a snow mountain. The screenwriter who suddenly realized this added "horse dance" in Yang Zirong's "Fighting the Tiger on the Mountain" and combining the performance of the traditional Peking Opera with the body of the whip instead of the horse. Later, in order to highlight the group portrait of the squad, dances such as "marching" and "skiing" and the final "start" were redesigned. In 1967, during the first gathering of eight model plays in Beijing, Mao Zedong once again attended and watched "Wise Tiger Mountain", and proposed to change Yang Zirong's lyrics of "ushering in the spring to change the world", which became the finishing touch.
3. The prototype of the hero: "Write Spring and Autumn with Blood"
The revolutionary modern Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain" brought greater influence to "Lin Hai Xueyuan", and the protagonist of the story also naturally transferred to Yang Zirong, Qu Bo's deeply cherished comrade-in-arms. As people can see, the heroic and invincible image of Yang Zirong in "Wise Tiger Mountain" does show an incomparably dazzling protagonist aura. Among them, the famous singing section "There is a morning sun in the chest" expresses Yang Zirong's revolutionary fighting spirit and pride: "The mountain height cannot block the road, resisting the cold and melting ice and snow, and I have the morning sun in my chest." "Although this figure contains elements of artistic imagination, it is not completely fictional, but an artistic process based on real character experience.
When excavating and inspecting Yang Zirong's character archetype, it is not difficult for us to find that Yang Zirong on the real battlefield is an experienced and courageous HERO of the People's Liberation Army. It is reported that Yang Zirong' original name was Yang Zonggui, a native of Muping, Shandong. He joined the army at the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and was incorporated into the Second Regiment of the Mudanjiang Military Region. Bent on charging into the battlefield and killing the enemy, he was mistakenly assigned to the cooking class and became a gangster, only responsible for cooking and cooking. To this end, he often "did not do the right thing", and whenever he had the opportunity, he left the pots and pans to go to the front line to reconnoiter, and repeatedly built up miracles. In a bandit crackdown, after a squad leader heroically sacrificed, Yang Zirong was promoted by the line of fire and successfully led the squad of soldiers to complete the established task of suppressing bandits. In March 1946, in the battle against the remnants of the village of Xingshudi, in order to end the battle as soon as possible and reduce the casualties of the troops and villagers, Yang Zirong entered the village alone, and finally persuaded more than 400 bandits to surrender without bloodshed. He was also awarded the title of "Hero of Battle" and later promoted to reconnaissance platoon leader. In January 1947, Yang Zirong received a clue that Zhang Leshan, the leader of the bandits known as the "Mountain Eagle", was operating in Hailin County, and he disguised himself as the remnants of the bandit Wu Sanhu, gained the trust of the bandits, and broke into the interior. By February of that year, he had captured all the relevant people, including Liu Zhaocheng, director of the Liaison Department, and Li Yitang, secretary general, in one fell swoop. On February 19, 1947, the Northeast Daily reported in detail on his heroic deeds under the title of "Fighting Model Yang Zirong and Others Catch the First Mountain Sculpture of bandits alive": "Yang Zirong, a combat model of a regiment in the Mudanjiang Sub-district, and six other comrades were ordered to go to the area around Toad Pond on the second day of this month to investigate the bandits in plain clothes and did not hesitate to work hard. With clever and ingenious methods, day and night search and reconnaissance, when the arrangements were meticulous, so on February 7, bravely went deep into the bandits' nest, and in one fell swoop captured all twenty-five people below Zhang Leshan, commander of the second detachment of Jiang Ji's northeast second column, creating a combat example of annihilating the bandits with fewer victories and more, destroying an enemy bandit shack during the battle, and capturing six rifles, 640 rounds of bullets, and more than 1,000 pounds of grain. This is the prototype of the story of "Wise Tiger Mountain".
However, the hero's tragic song is something that Qu Bo can't bear to record in "Lin Hai Snow Field". In fact, Yang Zirong, who was in the real battle, died heroically in a battle shortly after the destruction of the mountain eagle, at the age of 30. "Today, I drank celebratory wine and swore that my ambition was not rewarded." On the second day of the celebration, Yang Zirong accepted a new combat mission and embarked on a new journey to suppress bandits, this time responsible for annihilating the stray bandits in the Lishugou area north of Hailin, that is, the bandits Ding Huanzhang and Zheng Sancang. Unfortunately, just when Yang Zirong and several scouts approached the enemy's nest and prepared to launch a fierce attack on the enemy, what they did not expect was that due to the cold weather, the guns were frozen and could not be fired, and the panicked enemy was able to take the opportunity to shoot outside the house, a bullet hit Yang Zirong, and the hero fell in a pool of blood... Although the remnants of the net were successfully eliminated by the subsequent troops, the hero left his troops and comrades forever. History also remembers this day forever: February 23, 1947. On March 7, Yang Zirong's unit held a solemn memorial meeting on the playground of the Korean Elementary School in Hailin Town, conferred on Yang Zirong the glorious title of "Reconnaissance Hero" and named the platoon he was in before his death as "Yang Zirong Reconnaissance Platoon". On the same day, the town of Hailin held an extraordinary funeral, and thousands of soldiers and civilians carried wreaths and white flowers on their chests, pouring here from all directions to send off the heroes they admired. The hero's body is buried on the hillside of Hailin Town, and a wooden monument is erected in front of the martyr's tomb, accompanying the hero to watch over the land forever.
Regrettably, because even the head of the unit at that time did not know the detailed birthplace of the hero, only that he was a Jiaodong soldier, so there was no place of origin information on his tombstone. It was not until later when "Wise Tiger Mountain" was staged and Yang Zirong's name became a household name, that the troops and the people stationed in the garrison sent people to Jiaodong again and again to search for the traces of heroes. In 1969, the relevant departments set up an investigation team to conduct a detailed investigation and visit to Yang Zirong's life, and almost traveled to more than 50 communes in 4 counties of Shandong Muping, Rongcheng, Wendeng, and Haiyang, consulted a large number of archives, and finally determined all the information about Yang Zirong. In July 1970, the Hailin County government built the Yang Zirong Cemetery, and in front of the tomb stood a stone stele of "Tomb of Yang Zirong Martyr". In 1978, the "Yang Zirong Martyrs Memorial Hall" was built here to display his relics and tell his heroic deeds. In 2009, Yang Zirong was named "100 Heroic And Exemplary Figures who made outstanding contributions to the founding of New China".
Just a month before Yang Zirong's death, his comrade-in-arms Gao Bo had been buried in the vast forest sea. According to Gao Bo's nephew's recollection: On January 19, 1947, when Gao Bo led a squad of soldiers to return to the army with a small train full of military supplies and daily necessities, the train traveled to the erdaohe bridge, the bandits detonated the bomb buried under the bridge in advance, and the small train was overturned under the bridge. Gao Bo led the warriors to fight the bandits, and was eventually captured and tortured because he was outnumbered. After the bandits removed Gao Bo's clothes, tied him to a big tree and carried out a brutal "freezing sentence" outdoors at nearly minus 40 degrees Celsius, Gao Bo was heroic and righteous, only 19 years old. Before his death, he wrote in a letter to his father: "Japan as published in the newspaper has surrendered unconditionally, but in the process of surrender, if some troops do not surrender their guns, we will have to quickly eliminate them.
4. Film and television adaptation: looking back at history and paying tribute to classics
So far, there have been three important film adaptations of "Lin Hai Snow Field". The first time was the 1960 film "Lin Hai Xueyuan" produced by Bayi Film Studio, which was written by Liu Peiran and Ma Jixing and directed by Liu Peiran. At that time, Liu Peiran wrote two episodes of the film script based on the novel and his experience of fighting with the troops in the northeast, and the content of the next episode mainly revolved around "outwitting the Tiger Mountain", so the film studio planned to shoot the next episode first. Because the drama of the novel is inherently strong, it is not difficult to adapt it into a movie. After the release of "Lin Hai Snow Field", people gave high praise to the image of Yang Zirong in the film. In the movie, Yang Zirong, who is "more like a bandit than a bandit" played by Wang Runsheng, has left a deep impression. It was not until 1970, when the color opera film of the same name adapted from the model play "Wise Tiger Mountain" was released, that Peking Opera performance artist Tong Xiangling surpassed Wang Run's body and became synonymous with "Yang Zirong" in the minds of generations of audiences.
The reason for the shooting of this version of the 1970 opera film is to consider the spread of the model play "Wise Tiger Mountain". At that time, the emerging art style of "revolutionary modern Peking Opera" could not produce greater influence due to the limitations of performance time and space, and the film obviously had a stronger communication effect. However, since there was no ready-made experience in the shooting of model drama films, director Xie Tieli was once in trouble when preparing for shooting. Later, under the inspiration of "copying the stage" of the black-and-white stage documentary "Wise Tiger Mountain" of Beijing Television Station, combined with appropriate film techniques and stage art effects, he successfully completed the creation in the way of "both restoring the stage and being higher than the stage". In September 1970, the model drama film "Wise Tiger Mountain" was filmed and designated to be released nationwide during the National Day. The film quickly caused a sensation after its release.
After 44 years of the release of the model drama film "Wise Tiger Mountain", "Lin Hai Xueyuan" finally ushered in the third film adaptation, which is the 3D film "Wise Tiger Mountain" directed by Hong Kong director Tsui Ke. This 2014 "Lunar New Year film" has Xu Ke's distinct martial arts style. 3D special effects technology adds visual spectacle to "Wise Tiger Mountain", for example, the trajectory of bullets and grenades in battle scenes is clearly visible in the air, making a war scene full of wolf smoke become a martial arts scene with charm in every move. The most famous thing about the film is the bridge section of "fighting the tiger on the mountain" that cannot be presented in the past film adaptation, with the help of computer special effects, the Siberian tiger in the movie is made beautifully. The adaptation has won the love of contemporary young audiences, and it is no wonder that the film was able to break through the fiercely competitive "Lunar New Year" with a box office of 880 million.
Since the 1980s, with the popularity of television sets, "Lin Hai Snow Field" has repeatedly become an important object of TV series adaptation. As with the film adaptation, there are three versions of the TV series here that are worth mentioning. The first is the 10-episode TV series "Lin Hai Snow Field" produced by Jilin Television in 1986. The drama is directed by Zhu Wenshun and starring Lin Daxin, Han Zaifeng, Bai Yujuan and others. In 2004, the 30-episode VERSION of the TV series "Lin Hai Xueyuan" was jointly produced by the Chinese Drama Troupe of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army, the Literary and Art Creation Center of the Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Vanke Film and Television Co., Ltd. The drama is directed by Li Wenqi and starred Wang Luoyong, Yu Yang, Tong Yao and others. In 2017, "Lin Hai Snow Field" was adapted into a TV series for the third time. As an important TV series to present the 90th anniversary of the founding of the army, this 64-episode "Lin Hai Snow Plain", jointly produced by the Propaganda Department of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee, Heilongjiang Radio and Television Station, Heilongjiang Radio, Film and Television Media Group Co., Ltd., directed by Jin Shuhui and starring Li Guangjie, Zhang Rui, Ni Dahong and others, has aroused a warm response after broadcasting and has also received general praise from the industry. Audiences agreed that this was the most complete, comprehensive, and systematic adaptation to date. It is reported that the screenwriting team of chief editor Jin Shuhui wrote a 650,000-word TV script, and the final presentation to the audience was a 64-episode TV series. This will have enough space to restore the whole novel story, so that the main plot that has not been fully displayed in the previous film and television adaptations can be fully expressed. In addition to this comprehensiveness, the most crucial feature of the show is the reverence for the original. As the audience can see, the drama does not pursue the so-called "market hot spots", but perfectly shows the revolutionary complex, heroism and people-centered dedication of "Lin Hai Xueyuan". In the eyes of the director team, this is not only a look back at history, a tribute to famous works, but also a inheritance of the story of "Lin Hai Snow Field" and its spirit.
To this day, movies and TV series adapted from the novel "Lin Hai Snow Field", including animated films, and even stamps, New Year paintings, screens, sculptures and other art forms are still emerging in an endless stream. Qu Bo's classic works, as well as the various art forms adapted from them, have long become people's eternal red memories, a cultural resource that connects revolutionary traditions. In the reading and appreciation of generations, this idealistic eternal monument is destined to show the enduring artistic charm.
(Author: Xu Gang, Special Researcher of the Research Center of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Associate Researcher of institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)