When the news came that the elderly Du Guima had been awarded the "Honorary Citizen of Shanghai" badge and certificate, the warmth surged into the hearts of countless people in an instant, because people were too familiar with the story of this "grassland Erji" and "national child". The history of "three thousand orphans entering Inner Mongolia" is the national past that General Secretary Xi Jinping is concerned about, and it is also a good story of party history that has been passed down for generations.
For many young people, the touching story that began in Shanghai more than half a century ago began with a "Shanghai-produced" TV series. On September 26, 2019, the TV series "National Child" was launched on CCTV, which was directed by the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and produced by Shanghai Film Group, with Liu Xiaofeng, director of Battle, screenwriter Liu Hua, and national first-class actor of Shanghai Film Actor Troupe, as the general distributor. The prototype of Ulanqige in the play is the old man Duguima. Just three days after the series began, the old man was awarded the national honorary title of "People's Model".
"Grassland Erji" has become a great ordinary hero in people's hearts
At the time of its premiere, "National Kids" had consistently topped the charts, with a single episode receiving 1.41% and a highest rating share of 6%. In the following year or so, the work was replayed more than ten times on CCTV and local stations, and each time the ratings data could lead the way in the same time series. As the story of "Grassland Erji" is integrated into the lights of thousands of homes again and again, countless viewers are deeply touched by the "national children" who have been accepted by the party, and they are also deeply touched by this good story of national unity that occurred in socialist China. Of course, "Eji", who has a vast grassland and a deep love like a starry sky, has become a great ordinary hero in people's hearts.
"National Child" borrows the role of UlanQige, delicately restoring most of Duguima's life. In the play, Ulan is only 19 years old, the same size as Duguima at that time. She was recruited into a makeshift nursery, not yet married and child-bearing, and has begun to take on the task of caring for 28 children day and night. In the days of taking care of the "children of the country", the young steppe Erji was busy every day from morning to night, exhausted. When the night is the hardest time, one child wakes up crying, and the other children follow. Once the child is sick, Ulan will brave the cold wind and the danger of being surrounded by wolves to find a doctor dozens of kilometers away in the middle of the night. In the play, Ulan raises the "children of the state" as his own biological children. Under her persistence and meticulous care, none of the 28 "children of the country" were disabled, let alone died prematurely, and in that year of lack of medical treatment and frequent starvation, a miracle of love was created.
Today, when Du Guima has become an "honorary citizen of Shanghai Municipality", it is not difficult to review the creation trajectory of the TV series again, and it is not difficult to find that this is essentially the process of forging a good story in the history of the Communist Party of China into a literary and artistic work that the people like to hear.
"Every time the child shouts 'Eji' out, he wants to cry"
"Orphan" is a footnote to all human words about misfortune, pain, and sympathy. But in socialist China, orphans have become "children of the country" and "treasures" of grassland mothers because of the care of a strong motherland and the meticulous care of the party, and have grown up healthily. Liu Xiaofeng remembers that when he was preparing for filming in the grassland with screenwriter Liu Hua, he never heard a "orphan" from the mouth of the local herders, "Among the children, the oldest is seven years old, the youngest is only a few months, they all have a common name 'children of the country', and they are all treated as heart and liver babies by the grassland herders." The kind steppe people reached out to help and fulfilled the touching promise of "taking one, living one, and strengthening one" in the long years.
Today, recalling the days and nights of creation, Liu Xiaofeng said: "The family story that transcends blood, region and nation is the witness of our 56 nationalities and families, and it is also the history that cannot be forgotten that began in Shanghai." "Originally thousands of miles apart, Shanghai and the people of Inner Mongolia are not related by blood, and now they are linked by flesh and blood, and life and death are dependent on each other." It is such a heart-wrenching national unity story and Du Guima's love and heart that make the creators firmly believe in bringing the past to the screen. As Liu Xiaofeng said, he had the courage to carry out this "not optimistic about the market" creation to the end, because he "believed in the true power and the people's feelings."
Everything that happened later did not live up to the truth, sincerity and sincerity, and even more did not live up to the old man of Du Guima. Open the "National Child" in the video platform, you can see the countless bullet screens left by netizens: "Is there anyone like me, every time the child shouts 'Eji' out, I want to cry." Unsurprisingly, the "hot tears" in the follow-up barrage came through the years and generations.