Written by Yuan Guoxiang
Soon after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the movie "The White-Haired Girl" was an instant hit, and the heroine Tian Hua became a figure of national military and civilian attention. After seeing this, the vast number of commanders and fighters located in the border areas of the motherland were very excited, and they not only received a profound education at the level of eunuchs, but also gained a rare cultural enjoyment. "The north wind blows, the snowflakes flutter", on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve when the snow fluttered, Yang Bailao's song of tying a red head rope for Xi'er immediately resounded throughout the military camp and was popular in the land of Biansai.
Around 1953, Liu Ruzhou, head of the Art Troupe of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, came back from Beijing, and he excitedly said that he had met many old comrades-in-arms during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and also met Comrade Tian Hua. I asked him in surprise, "Are you familiar with Tian Hua?" He said: "We are both young actors in the children's troupe of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and we have been acting together since 1939. Not only is it familiar, but I also served as their vice-captain. As he spoke, he took out a photo of Tian Hua's 4-inch military uniform for everyone to see, and wrote on the back of the photo: "To the old captain Comrade Liu Ruzhou", and the following was signed Tian Hua and the year, month and day. At that time, we also asked him what kind of shows he played. He said that they were all songs, dances, and operas that propagated the anti-Japanese resistance and mobilized the masses to fight Japan, as well as some small programs that he had compiled.
This question is not further understood until we are all old. It was an old photo of the performance of the "Anti-Enemy Drama Society" in 1942 sent to me by the old chief Liu Ruzhou, and everyone might as well come and enjoy this precious cultural relic. At first glance, I knew that this was a still of propaganda against Japan, and the peasants were fighting with wooden sticks. But they are still a group of children, especially the girl Tian Hua standing on the right, who is even shorter. It is no wonder that after the liberation, she was only 20 years old, which happened to be a good year for "The White-Haired Girl", and she has more than ten years of revolutionary history of hard struggle and rich experience in stage performances. Therefore, her performance can be said to be perfect, and the films such as "The Party's Daughter" starring her in the future are also very popular and popular with everyone.
As for which one Liu Ruzhou played, the old chief didn't tell me in the letter. He asked me, "Don't go yourself!" ”。 In fact, as soon as I saw the photo, I recognized the second person standing on the left, the peasant with high cheekbones, big eyes, and a long war knife in his right hand was Liu Ruzhou. Although he was angry, he still showed a childish face, indicating that he was fifteen or sixteen years old at the time.
This photograph illustrates the revolutionary experiences of Liu Ruzhou and Tian Hua. They are all literary and artistic soldiers who came out of the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and they are all people who have made meritorious contributions to a new China. Looking at the vivid image of the anti-Japanese war drama in the difficult countryside in the photo, I was deeply moved and in awe. Now, Tian Hua is a white-haired film superstar, and often participates in voluntary performances. Whenever her glorious image appears on the screen, everyone will always think of the suffering "White-Haired Girl" and the brave and loyal "Daughter of the Party", and they all applaud warmly.
And Liu Ruzhou, who is over 80 years old, has also been engaged in cultural work all his life. Under his organization and leadership, hundreds of theatrical and theatrical programs have been diligently rehearsed, especially the song and dance drama "Battle Hymn of the Volunteers" which is still praised by newspapers and veteran comrades. These good repertoires that have penetrated his painstaking efforts have inspired the fighting spirit of thousands of soldiers on the battlefields full of flames, in the barracks on the arduous frontiers, in the mountains, forests, tunnels of the DPRK, and on the coastal defense front line with thousands of miles of blue waters, and have made major contributions to defending the motherland and building the army and strengthening the borders. Now, Liu Lao, who has long been retired in Guangzhou, is happy and peaceful, and he is almost worthy of it.
I met Liu Ruzhou on the way to Xinjiang. At that time, I was a young photographer who had just joined the Propaganda Department, but he was the deputy captain of the Second Propaganda Team of the Political Department of the Second Army. Because the Lhotse troupe joined our army after the defeat of Yuncheng at the end of 1947, the original old troupe leader Zhang Xiangting was the captain, and the newly sent deputy captain Liu Ruzhou and instructor Mu Lian became the actual leaders of the new propaganda team. They not only carried forward the specialties of traditional dramas, but also performed costume historical dramas such as "Nine Clothes", "Red Lady" and "Forty Days in Beijing"; also combined with the army's "two memories and three investigations" and grievance education, and rehearsed revolutionary modern dramas such as "Poor Man's Hate", "Blood and Tears Hatred", and "Liu Hulan". During the arduous war of liberation, everywhere they went, they were warmly welcomed by the vast number of commanders and fighters and the villagers stationed there. Even in Yan'an, the holy land of revolution after our army recovered, the drama they performed was also a sensation and was warmly welcomed by the people in the old area and the military and political leaders in the northwest. To this end, Liu Ruzhou also wrote an article entitled "A Brief Discussion on Commenting on Drama and the Second Column Propaganda Second Team", which was published in Yan'an's "Mass Daily" in November 1948.
The propaganda team marched and fought with the troops, and suffered hardships and hardships. When they arrived at Jiuquan, an important town in the Hexi Corridor, after a long journey, they performed "Forty Days in Beijing" to the troops. This is a new adaptation of a modern historical drama based on Guo Moruo's "The Three Hundred Years of Shenjia" recommended by Chairman Mao. But it is not an easy task to perform it in the form of Hebei Lhotse opera, which is popular with the masses. For this reason, Liu Ruzhou, a veteran literary director from Hebei, naturally has to make great efforts to arrange this new play. The content of this play was very closely integrated with the situation at that time, and the performance effect was excellent, not only educating the vast number of commanders and fighters who were about to win the victory, but also to guard against arrogance and rashness, to be modest and cautious, and not to be hit by "sugar-coated shells." Moreover, it boosted morale, inspired everyone's determination to forge ahead bravely and continue the revolution to the end, and effectively cooperated with the political mobilization to march into Xinjiang and liberate the whole of China.
On the way to Xinjiang, the second propaganda team had to put on a performance every time they went to Xinjiang, mainly to comfort the masses of all ethnic groups. In Yanqi and Aksu, he stayed for a long time, and he also had to perform to the rebel troops, express condolences, communicate with each other, and publicize our party's policies. I remember that at that time, I mainly played "Red Lady" and "Nine Clothes", and Deputy Captain Liu Ruzhou often participated in performances. He played a big landlord vividly, and sometimes added one or two Uyghur words, such as: "As long as the 'Ba Yi' (rich man) has 'pilaf' to eat, then care about those poor boys." It made the audience of all ethnic groups laugh.
We marched smoothly to Kashgar, and later moved into the small city of Shule. The first and second propaganda teams were merged to form the Art Troupe of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, and Liu Ruzhou became the head of the regiment. At this time, he showed his skills again; in addition to insisting on sending troops to perform to the vast number of commanders and fighters who were working hard in various counties surrounding the Tarim Desert, he also sent people to the border defense and rural areas to go deep into life and create works. Especially in 1953, when I was in Urumqi according to the instructions of the political commissar of Zuoqi, Wang Luobin, who was undergoing labor reform, was taken to Kashgar in the same car, and the creation of the art troupe was indeed on the stage. Later, Liu Ruzhou also served as the head of the cultural section. He often asked all the comrades of our section to watch the rehearsals of the art troupe's programs, solicit opinions extensively, and constantly make improvements. I, the one who has something to say, made a few suggestions, some of which he nodded, and some of which he shook his head. For example, in the musical "On the Side Card", I suggested that it be changed to "On the Pami Middle Plateau", but he did not adopt it at that time. However, in 1954, when the art troupe went to Lanzhou to participate in the Northwest Military Region art performance, this program won the first prize, and the name published in the "People's Army" newspaper was "On the Pamir Plateau". Of course, I am very happy, which shows that Section Chief Liu still listened to my opinion.
At that time, the Art Troupe of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region also won several awards. Among them, there are songs "Heroic Camel Team" and "Song of Victory Canal" written by Wang Luobin, but Wang Luobin is a supervisor, so he was not allowed to go to Lanzhou. Another program that won the second prize was "Red Lantern", which starred the famous actor "Second Girl" of the former Lhotse Theater Troupe, that is, Liu Ruzhou's wife Zhang Lianxia. In the form of pulling foreign films with red lanterns and accompanied by Beijing rhyme drum lyrics, it vividly reflects the arduous labor scene of our army in carrying out large-scale production.
In 1956, the army was reduced again, and the art troupe was abolished. Liu Ruzhou was transferred to North Korea and became the deputy head of the Volunteer Army Art Troupe and the head of the song and dance troupe. After returning to China, he served as the head of the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Political Art Troupe. After that, I don't know when he went to work in the South China Sea Fleet, and finally left his post as deputy director of the Political Department to recuperate. In 1987, I went to the Meihuayuan Sanatorium in Guangzhou to recuperate, and I visited him and Comrade Zhang Lianxia at the Chigang Navy Cadre Rest House. They lived on a two-story building, with a row of red blossoming triangular plums on the balcony, a large white Persian cat in the house, and both old comrades were healthy and seemed to live happily. They were very happy to see me, they told a lot of past events in Kashgar, and they didn't let me go after dinner, and left me to stay, plus one of their daughters, and the four of them played mahjong in the middle of the night. The next day, I drank "morning tea" before I was asked to go back to the sanatorium.
Before I left Guangzhou, I went to Shiliugang to visit the old section chief Chen Gang and Comrade Wang Peiqin, and then I went to visit the old chief Liu Ruzhou and his wife. They are cheerful and always have endless things to say, especially Lianxia (when we were in the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, we called her that) also complained a little, from which they also learned a little about the grievances they received during the Cultural Revolution. Liu Ruzhou served as the Minister of Culture, no matter how good your background is or how old your qualifications are, it is indispensable to say that you are a black-line person, not only have your home raided, criticized, and ruthlessly attacked, but you also have to be imprisoned in a cowshed for labor. And Zhang Lianxia turned out to be a first-class actor in the General Political Song and Dance Troupe, and she also "let me go to Hainan Island Farm to release ducks for 6 years". But now, once the work is resumed and the policy is implemented, both of them will enjoy the treatment they deserve as retired cadres, and the unpleasant things have passed. Lianxia also said: "I was also rated as the sixth level of literature and art, and my salary has increased greatly, and we are very satisfied." ”
In the autumn of 2003, when I was soliciting further cultural relics for the Military History Museum of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, I found Liu Ruzhou and his wife in Beijing. The two of them lived in the home of General Li Zhimin in the East Diaoyutai area, because Mrs. Li Liu Ping was Liu Ruzhou's own sister, and Liu Ruzhou, who had been in the Eighth Route Army at the age of 12, was brought out by his sister to participate in the revolution. Now, General Li Zhimin, who once commanded a chorus of 100 generals on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, has passed away, and it is also a pleasure for their sisters and brothers to meet and talk about the joy of family together. I made an appointment by phone and went to meet Liu Ruzhou and Zhang Lianxia, and in addition to explaining the accident, they also gave me two books and a picture album. After the incident, Liu Ruzhou not only sent relevant materials and photos to the Military History Museum of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, but also wrote to me and sent me two photos. He also said that after reading my books and picture albums, he immediately recalled the difficult years of marching into Xinjiang. For this reason, he also copied a banner written to him by his old comrade-in-arms, former chairman of the Xinjiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and veteran writer Liu Xiaowu:
"Meet Yan Zhao and shake Fengyan, and fight together with Sanqin Yuguan.
The waves add white hair to the sand, and Sijun dreams of the south sky. ”
It is probably this poem that summarizes Liu Ruzhou's revolutionary experience, and he touched the scene and gave it to me as a souvenir. A closer look at this poem really stirred up my reverence for these old revolutionaries. Speaking of which, Liu Ruzhou and I also have an unforgettable photography work complex. He was originally sent to the Yan'an Film Troupe from the Seventh Branch of Kang University, where he learned photography techniques from Master Wu Yinxian. Later, he went to the Jinsui Military Region as a photography officer, and later transferred to the second column. At that time, there was no small camera, so Commander Guo Peng bought him a large camera with a wooden frame, and he also used it to take pictures of the Yan'an army and civilians denouncing Hu Zongnan's bandit army to attack Yan'an in front of the revolutionary memorial house. Later, as a war photojournalist, he went to the post of deputy captain of the 359th Brigade Art Team. At the end of 1947, he was transferred to the newly established Second Column Propaganda Team as deputy captain. Therefore, when he was the head of the cultural section, he not only cared about my photography work, but also strongly supported it. For example, he supported me to go deep into the border defense, rode a horse to the Pamir Plateau, rode a camel to Ali in Tibet, and took some precious photographs, which were published in the "People's Liberation Army Pictorial" one after another, introducing the people and the situation of the border guards there to the world for the first time, and unveiling the mystery on the roof of the world. He then encouraged me to buy color film and medicine from Shanghai, and to experiment with me in developing and enlarging color photographs. In 1955, when a group of nine brightly colored photographs of Kashgar, the westernmost city of the motherland, were published in the People's Liberation Army Pictorial, I became the first person in Xinjiang to successfully take color photographs. (The color photos I took for the couple were not washed out in vivid colors at the time, but now they are clear of black, and they still show their abundance.) Therefore, when I see a large number of old photos taken in the past and continue to display their historical brilliance now, I am very happy in my heart, and I cannot but thank the party and the People's Liberation Army for nurturing me, and I cannot but thank many old leaders, especially Section Chief Liu Ruzhou, for their strong support.