Xu Yunfeng is the leader of the Chongqing underground party in the novel "Red Rock", and a hero who we know and respect since the 50s and 60s.
After the novel "Red Rock" was officially published at the end of 1961, it caused a sensation in society and was hailed as "the tragic epic of the dawn". In less than two years, it has been reprinted several times in 4 million copies. By the 1980s, 8 million copies had been reprinted, the largest number of contemporary novels. I read this book in the spring of 1962. At that time, I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, and every day at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, my classmates and my classmates always had to play football on the playground of the nearby Tianshan Middle School. One day, I stumbled upon a long row of windows next to the lawn, and the middle school library specially dismantled 2 copies of "Red Rock" and pasted them in pages to meet the students' desire to read "Red Rock". I stand in front of the window every day and read, but I always feel addicted. This summer, my neighbor borrowed Red Rock from the library of Tianshan Middle School. I borrowed it from her, and since the borrowing period was up, she only promised me to watch it for one night. I got the book in the evening and read it all night with relish.
The group of communists with firm faith and strong will created in the book have left an indelible deep impression on our young souls: Xu Yunfeng righteously and righteously fought against the enemy chieftain; Sister Jiang was strong and unyielding in the face of the torture of ten fingers nailed with bamboo sticks; Long Guanghua heroically dedicated herself; Commissar Peng was beheaded; the old woman with two guns bravely hijacked the execution car; Hua Ziliang pretended to be crazy and sold fools to deceive the enemy -- the hero has a profound impact on the formation of our world outlook and life values. So much so that in our student days, people who covet enjoyment and have no ideals are jokingly called "traitors to Fu Zhigao".
The 1965 film "Eternal Life in the Fire", based on the novel "Red Rock", had a strong response in society at that time.
Xu Yunfeng in the film is played by the famous actor Zhao Dan. What Zhao Dan pursues in the film is a natural and plain life performance. Xu Yunfeng, played by him, has both an inherent heroism and an approachable intimacy. Xu Yunfeng is one of the most "staged" characters in the screen image created by Zhao Dan. In fact, it is true that true communists should not be "staged," but should be a person who is consistent in appearance, has constant faith, and has the ability to "be mighty and indomitable, and rich and noble not to be adulterous" for the benefit of the people.
Xu Yunfeng was born in 1916. At the age of 15, he actively threw himself into the torrent of anti-Japanese salvation; at the age of 22, he joined the Communist Party of China and served as the propaganda director of the Youth Committee of the Sichuan Special Committee of the Communist Party of China; and at the age of 24, he became the secretary of the Chongqing Xincheng District Committee. In April 1940, he was betrayed by traitors and unfortunately arrested. Kuomintang agents escorted him to the Xiufeng concentration camp in Guizhou. As a core member of the secret branch of the CCP in prison, he encouraged everyone: "The more difficult the moment, the more we must let the enemy know that the faith and firm will of the communists are unshakable." In July 1946, Xu Yunfeng was escorted by the enemy to the first detention center of the "Sino-US Special Technical Cooperation Institute" in Chongqing, the "White Mansion" prison. The enemy threatened Xu Yunfeng with 48 sets of torture equipment, and Xu Yunfeng angrily rebuked the enemy: Not only can you not scare me with 48 sets of torture equipment, even if you use 84 sets of torture equipment, you can't scare me! If I am afraid, I am not a Communist. The enemy in turn lured him with money and beauty, and high-ranking officials. Xu Yunfeng scolded angrily: You shameless people do not understand the lofty ambitions of the Communists! We regard official money as dung!
On November 27, 1949, on the eve of the liberation of Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek ordered a bloody massacre of revolutionaries in prison. Xu Yunfeng was put on a torture car, singing the international song along the way, calmly and righteously.
Xu Yunfeng's prototype is xu Xiaoxuan. After Xu Xiaoxuan's arrest, her wife, Jiang Qihua, moved to Shanghai in 1946 and lived in Jiangning Subdistrict. In that year, Xu Xiaoxuan once planted a pomegranate sapling on a piece of dirt in prison. After 50 years, the pomegranate seedlings have grown into leafy and red. When Jiang Qihua visited the old prison site, she pruned branches and brought them back to Shanghai, planted 11 pomegranate saplings, and then planted them in 11 schools.
On April 7, 2005, the unveiling ceremony of Xu Xiaoxuan's statue was held in Jiading Chang'an Cemetery in Shanghai. (Lu Haiguang)