The story of Nie Er's epitaph

In 1954, the People's Government of Yunnan Province decided to rebuild the cemetery for the people's musician Nie Er, and asked Guo Moruo to write a tombstone and epitaph. In February of that year, Guo Moruo wrote the inscription "Tomb of the People's Musician Nie Er" and the epitaph:

　　Comrade Nie Er, the clarion call of the Chinese revolution, the voice of the people's liberation. His "March of the Volunteer Army" has been selected as a substitute national anthem, and those who hear its voice are not proud of patriotic thoughts, solemn and ambitious, and resolute but interested in the common bird. Nie Erhu, majestic, it lives with the nation, and immortality! Comrade Nie Er, also a member of the Communist Party of China, was born on February 14, 1912 in the beautiful kunming, and drowned on July 17, 1935, on the coast of the Japanese Hoonuma, at the age of twenty-four. Unfortunately, he died in an enemy country, which is a pity. The reason for drowning is still unclear!

　　Today, the Nie Er cemetery, which people visit in the mountains between the Longmen and Taihua Temple in Kunming's Xishan Mountain, is a new site for burial in the early 1980s. Moreover, the epitaph inscribed on the left screen wall of the cemetery by Guo Moruo also deleted the words "Unfortunately, he died in an enemy country, for regret." The reason for drowning is still unclear! " sentence. Nie Er drowned in 1935, when Japan gradually implemented its plan to invade China.

　　In that year, after the news of Nie Er's death spread back to China, many patriots and people in cultural circles deeply deplored the loss of such a musical genius, and wrote articles in dozens of newspapers and periodicals such as "Morning Post", "Dentsu", "China Daily", "New Music Monthly", "Ta Kung Pao" and other newspapers and periodicals to commemorate this pioneer fighter who sounded the warning horn at the most dangerous time of the Chinese nation. Guo Moruo also wrote a poem mourning Nie Er.

　　Although Nie Er died of drowning, while people miss Nie Er, they cannot help but have doubts about the cause of his death, which was also a normal mentality at that time when China and Japan were in a state of hostility.

　　In February 1954, when Guo Moruo wrote an inscription and epitaph for Nie Er, China and Japan still had no diplomatic exchanges, and they still regarded each other as "enemy countries". Therefore, Guo Moruo has "unfortunately died in an enemy country, for the sake of regret." The reason for drowning is still unclear! " words.

　　In fact, although the two countries were still "enemy countries" at that time, the Japanese people also missed Nie Er very much. On November 1, nine months after Guo Moruo inscribed his epitaph, the Japanese people erected the Nie Er Monument near the place where Nie Er was killed on the Honuma Coast in Fujisawa City. In 1963, with the trade between China and Japan, the Japanese people rebuilt the granite monument in the shape of "ear", and the Japanese dramatist Mr. Akita Yuque wrote an inscription introducing the life of Nie Er, and asked Guo Moruo to write a monument. Guo Moruo's book is inscribed with six big characters: "The Land where Nie Er's Ears End".

　　In 1972, China and Japan established diplomatic relations. In May 1980, the leaders of Fujisawa City, Japan, where Nie Er was martyred, came to Kunming City and planted the Yunnan famous flower Rhododendron and Fujisawa City Tree ——— Vine Tree at the Nie Er Cemetery to express their nostalgia for Nie Er and hope that the two cities would use Nie Er as a link to establish a friendship city. The people's governments of Yunnan Province and Kunming Responded to the enthusiasm of the Japanese and decided to relocate and rebuild the Nie Er Cemetery. The tombstone still uses the inscription of Guo Moruo, and if the epitaph continues to be used, the last two sentences should be deleted.

　　In early 1982, the Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Culture submitted this idea to the Ministry of Culture for approval.

　　After receiving the report from the Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Culture, Zhou Weizhi, acting minister of culture, believed that if Guo Moruo had died, how to decide the matter still needed to consult Hu Qiaomu, who was in charge of ideology at the central government. The General Office of the Ministry of Culture presented the report of the Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Culture to Hu Qiaomu, with the full text of Guo Moruo's epitaph inscribed in 1954.

On February 24, Hu Qiaomu asked his secretary Li Hong to reply to Zhou Weizhi:

　　The letter from Comrade Qiaomu has been read. Elder Guo wrote an inscription for Nie Er's tombstone, and Comrade Qiao Mu had deleted the last two sentences (see the attachment sent).

　　On February 26, Zhou Weizhi forwarded Li Hong's reply to the General Office of the Ministry of Culture:

　　According to this letter to the Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Culture. Before the tombstone is re-engraved, the last two sentences are erased with cement, and the color should be as consistent as possible with the original stone stele.

　　On March 3, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture, in accordance with the instructions of Hu Qiaomu and Zhou Weizhi, sent an official letter to the Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Culture, asking them to "comply with the implementation."

　　In accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Culture, the Kunming Municipal People's Government re-engraved Guo Moruo's epitaph on the left screen wall of the cemetery and deleted the last two sentences. (Source: People's Political Consultative Conference Daily)