Fan Di'an: Adhere to the people's position and depict the magnificent atmosphere of the new era
Education powerhouse
★★★★★
In May 1942, a total of 21 artists participated in the Yan'an Literature and Art Symposium. After the meeting, printmaker Hu Yichuan wrote in his diary: "Chairman Mao's speech has suddenly opened up our thinking, and many issues have become clear, and in order to improve the level of art, we must first go to the people" and "I have made up my mind to really go deep into the lower classes of the masses to experience life and learn from the masses." Encouraged by the symposium, on the evening of May 23, he formulated 20 themes to create. Under the guidance of the spirit of Comrade Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art", Chinese literature and art have opened a new chapter in history, and serving the people has become a new ideological direction and a new driving force for the vast number of literary and artistic workers. Taking art as an example, after the Yan'an Literature and Art Symposium, the art creation represented by the teachers and students of the "Lu Yi" Art Department showed three distinctive characteristics: first, it went to the front line of resistance against Japan, depicted the War of Resistance against Japan led by the Communist Party of China, portrayed revolutionary heroes, and showed the scenes of the bloody struggle between the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and the people. At that time, photography was limited, but the small woodcut prints depicting the Anti-Japanese War from multiple angles by printmakers spread on the front line, which greatly boosted the morale of the military and civilians. In 1944, after hearing the heroic deeds of the five heroes of Langya Mountain, he fought at night and created the woodcut comic strip "Five Heroes of Langya Mountain", which made the heroic feat widely praised. Comrade Zhou Enlai presented this set of comic books to American journalists, and the American magazine "Life" specially printed a single book to introduce this work to Western readers. For example, Gu Yuan's "Rent Reduction Meeting" and "Marriage Registration", Wang Shikuo's "Transformation of the Second Rate", Yan Han's "Douxuan" and other works depict the new democratic politics in the base area and the spiritual outlook of the people as masters of the country, the characters and scenes portrayed are full of life, and the identities, appearances, and consciousness of the characters are extremely vivid. After seeing the Yan'an woodcuts in Chongqing, Mr. Xu Beihong excitedly published an article in Xinmin Daily to praise them. At the beginning of 1949, he said in "A Glimpse of the Art Works of the Old Liberated Areas": "The art of New China will inevitably start from the Liberated Areas of Northern Shaanxi. Mr. Xu Beihong was a pioneer who studied in Europe in the early 20th century and devoted himself to Chinese art education after returning to China, and his admiration for Yan'an revolutionary art saw the new direction of art development, which is the conclusion of the historical proposition of thinking about how Chinese art can go out of the Chinese road. The third is to actively explore ethnic and folk styles in terms of art form and language, draw nourishment from the modeling of folk New Year paintings in northern Shaanxi, combine printmaking and New Year paintings, and carry out the New Year painting movement, so that the original style that was obviously influenced by Western printmaking has been transformed into a style with the aesthetic taste of Chinese ethnic and folk, showing the Chinese style and Chinese style that the people like to see.
Comrade Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art established the fundamental attribute of Chinese literature and art, that is, to express and serve the people. Inheriting the excellent tradition of Yan'an literature and art, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chinese art has made it clearer the fundamental pursuit of literature and art to serve the people. From a large number of revolutionary historical paintings such as the oil painting "The Founding Ceremony", the creation of reliefs of the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the major designs such as the national emblem and the emblem of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, to many excellent art works since the reform and opening up, they have all become classics in art by reflecting the common aspirations and thoughts and emotions of the people. Inspired by the spirit of the speech, generation after generation of art workers have consciously devoted themselves to the great practice of creating history by the masses of the people, and have portrayed the spiritual outlook of the masses of the people. A painter like Liu Wenxi, who has been rooted in the land of northern Shaanxi all his life, has depicted the people all his life, from the "Four Generations of Ancestors and Grandchildren" created in his early years to the 100-meter-long scroll "The Master of the Yellow Earth" created in his later years, he has devoted his whole life to practicing the spirit of the "speech". Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in his "speech" that "our literature and art are for the masses of the people," called on literary and artistic workers to "go to the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers, to the fiery struggle, and to the single broadest and most abundant source." He hoped that the important thesis that literary and artistic workers would move from "small Lu Yi" to "big Lu Yi" still exudes the brilliance of their thinking.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a series of important speeches by General Secretary Xi Jinping on literary and artistic work have inherited and developed Marxist literary and artistic ideals and Mao Zedong's literary and artistic thoughts, which have been inherited from the spirit of the "speech" and advanced with the times, setting the course for Chinese literature and art in the new era, and making expositions rich in the connotation of the new era on the people's nature of literature and art. In 2014, the general secretary pointed out at the symposium on literary and artistic work: "The needs of the people are the fundamental value of the existence of literature and art", emphasizing the adherence to the people-centered creative orientation. In his speech at the 11th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 10th Opening Ceremony of the China Writers Association in 2021, the general secretary once again emphasized that "the people are the mother of literature and art", and hoped that the majority of literary and artistic workers would adhere to the position of the people, integrate their ideological tendencies and emotions with the people, sink their hearts, feelings and thoughts into the people, sing songs for the times and the people, and write an endless people's epic. Since the new era, the majority of art workers have carried forward the literary and artistic spirit of Yan'an, based on the land of China, facing the development of the times, consciously going deep into life, enthusiastically eulogizing the people, reflecting the party's century-old glorious history with a large number of thematic art creations and realistic art creations, and depicting the historical great cause created by the people. The scenes and stories of poverty alleviation, all-round well-off, urban construction, rural revitalization, aerospace high-speed rail, and fighting the epidemic have all become touching pictures. The five large-scale sculptures standing in the square of the Party History Museum, symbolizing the image of the party with the party flag, the group sculpture with the theme of "four greats" takes the image of the people and the group portrait of the people as the main body, showing the party's centennial struggle and glory, and the more than 270 characters carved are the representatives of various historical periods, fronts and industries, and have created a real image for the people's ideals, struggle, creation and contribution. Today, the vast number of literary and artistic workers are more and more aware that the people are the masters of history and the times, and the explorers, practitioners, and strugglers of the Chinese dream. Adhering to the people's position and listening to the people's voices among the people can move the soul and swell the passion for artistic expression. We must firmly follow the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech, strive to think about and grasp the theme of the times of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, depict the vicissitudes of contemporary China and the grand atmosphere of social development, take root in the fertile soil of Chinese culture, and further concentrate our efforts. In the new era and new journey, the people-centered road of Chinese literature and art starting from Yan'an will surely become broader and broader.
[Fan Di'an: Speaker of Chang'an Street Reading Club, Chairman of China Artists Association]
Note: Authorized to publish, this article has been selected and included in the "Chang'an Street Reading Club" theoretical learning platform (People's Daily, People's Political Consultative Conference Daily, Beijing Daily, Chongqing Daily, Xinhuanet, CCTV, National Party Media Information Public Platform, Vision, Beijing Time, Surging Government Affairs, Phoenix News Client "Chang'an Street Reading Club" column synchronization), reprinting must be uniformly marked "Chang'an Street Reading Club" theoretical learning platform source and author.
Editor-in-charge: Xu Xuejing; Preliminary review: Cheng Ziqian, Chen Jiani; Re-examiner: Li Yufan
Chang'an Avenue live
In order to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we are now jointly carrying out relevant party building reading and learning activities for the party schools (administrative colleges), cadre colleges, Marxist colleges, and new era civilization practice centers (institutes, stations) where the central and state organs, central enterprises, and provinces, cities, counties (districts) are located. Recently, with the approval of relevant departments, it has been officially agreed that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission, the Organization Department of the Central Committee, the Working Committee of the Central Committee and State Organs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and other designated units have joined the "Chang'an Street Reading Club" Party Building Reading Cooperation Mechanism, and jointly undertook the "Chang'an Street Reading Club" series of reading and learning activities.