The enduring "Long March Suite"

80 years ago, the so-called "march that shocked the world" was not only an epic expedition to sacrifice and victory, but also a phoenix nirvana and spiritual rise of the Chinese Communists. There are countless literary and artistic works that narrate and praise the Long March of the Red Army, but there is one work that has lasted for a long time and endured, which has stirred up people's emotional waves through time and space again and again, and has given people great spiritual encouragement and inspiration, that is, "Long March Group Song".

(i)

In April 1964, the flowers on the banks of Hangzhou's West Lake were red and green, full of vitality. General Xiao Hua, who was recuperating here, was in the ward, but his heart was racing again and again in the years of flames. In particular, he remembered the arduous battles in the Long March and the countless comrades who sacrificed their lives, often making him sleepless at night, forgetting the torment of illness, and getting up from his hospital bed again and again to write a book of disease.

"The red flag is waving, and the military trumpet is sounding." Sons and daughters, don't go to your hometown... The main force of the Red Army embarked on the journey, and the strategy shifted to a distant place. Men and women, young and old, came to send each other, and the tears were wet and the clothes were long. The scene of the Red Army bidding farewell to the Soviet Union flashed in front of Xiao Hua's eyes: on the riverbank, mothers sent children, wives sent langs, and the flow of people was like shuttles. High-pitched screams, tragic and desolate, a farewell, making people shed tears and heartbreak... At this moment, Xiao Hua could no longer hold back the excitement in his heart, and the silent tears dripped on the paper, soaking between the lines.

"The Red Army crossed the Du River at night and crossed the Wuling Mountains to grab the Xiang River." The bloody battle on the Xiang River, one of the most tragic battles in the Long March of the Red Army. Xiao Hua, who had personally experienced this battle, recalled at this moment the tragedy of the blood-stained Xiangjiang River, remembered those comrades who fell around him, and the sound of charge and fighting still echoed in his ears, condensed into words intertwined with blood and fire.

"The Zunyi meeting shone brightly, and the whole party and the whole army celebrated in unison... Wise leaders take the helm, and the revolution moves forward. At the critical juncture of the revolution, the Zunyi Conference made a historic decision, and Chairman Mao returned to the leading post, thus saving the revolution and saving the party. The words flowing in the pen are full of the author's love for Chairman Mao, admiration and firm confidence in the victory of the revolution.

"The wind and rain have hardened the bones, and the wild vegetables are hungrier and stronger." Officers and soldiers are united in happiness and bitterness, and revolutionary ideals are higher than heaven. The beautiful words of the poem tell the hardships of the snowy mountains and meadows, and reveal the source of the strength of the Red Army's victory in the Long March. What force made the Red Army know that the road was far away, but it did not give up, went forward and followed, withstood the unimaginable test of hunger, cold, pain and other survival limits, and finally ran to the final victory? It is a firm belief and a magnificent ideal.

During the Long March, Xiao Hua was the youngest general in the Red Army, and he led the "International Division of the Young Communist Party" as a pioneer, grabbing passes and capturing passes all the way, and repeatedly accomplishing miraculous feats. He saw with his own eyes the fall of countless comrades around him, but the red army's troops had been moving forward with great vigor, spanning more than ten provinces and driving twenty-five thousand miles, from danger to victory. The history of the Long March has been stirring in Xiao Hua's mind, but after decades of military struggle, he has no time to complain to the end of the pen. Only after he was sick and bedridden, did he have time to fulfill this long-cherished wish, to comfort those comrades who sacrificed, and to inspire future generations to take a new long march. In this way, Xiao Hua recalled and wrote books while writing, I don't know how many sleepless nights, weight loss of many pounds, a few months later finally wrote the first draft of the "Long March Suite". After repeated solicitation of opinions, the draft was basically finalized in mid-November 1964. Xiao Hua then forwarded the poem manuscript to the Beijing Military Region Comrades-in-Arms Cultural and Labor Troupe for composing music, and asked it to be composed into a popular, easy-to-sing, folk song style for the 1965 "July 1st" or "August 1st" performances.

After more than half a year of writing and rehearsing, on July 19, 1965, at the Tianjin People's Auditorium, Xiao Hua reviewed "Long March Suite Song" for the first time. After watching the performance, he said: "Your performance made me very moved, and you sang it to life, because the Long March itself is great and touching, your songs show the face of the Great Long March, and your performance is successful." On August 1 of the same year, "Long March Suite Song" was officially performed at the Beijing National Culture Palace, which immediately caused a sensation throughout the country.

(ii)

From its creation to its performance, "Long March Suite" has always received the attention and support of the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries. As soon as the "Long March Suite" was staged, Chairman Mao listened to it on the radio and immediately praised it as a good program and enthusiastically encouraged the creative staff to strive for excellence. Premier Zhou has an indescribable indissoluble relationship with the "Long March Suite", he has always been concerned about the creation, rehearsal and performance of the "Long March Suite", and has visited the rehearsal site many times and directed the rehearsal one song after another. In order to make up for the lack of experience of the actors, he repeatedly told everyone about the struggle life in the Long March of the Red Army. At the rehearsal scene, Premier Zhou even moved the electric fan placed next to him again and again to the conductor and actors, saying: "You need the fan more than I do." ”

Premier Zhou not only likes to watch and listen to "Long March Suite", as long as there is a performance of "Long March Suite" in Beijing, he will take time to watch. Once, when the Beijing People's Theater performed "Long March Suite Song", the venue was full, and in the second half, Premier Zhou suddenly came and quietly sat in the last row of guard seats. He also specially asked the singers of the Comrades-in-Arms Song and Dance Troupe to teach him to sing the "Long March Group Song", and he cherished every singing section and every performance. In the process of creation, the Comrades-in-Arms Song and Dance Troupe revised some of the words and phrases of the original work, of which the original poem of the fourth paragraph of "Four Crossings of The Red Water surprise soldiers" was "The chairman uses soldiers to be wonderful as gods", because the word "miao" is not easy to pronounce and sing, so it is changed to "Chairman Mao's use of soldiers is really like a god". ”

In the 1960s, "Long March Suite" was slandered as a "poisonous weed" and falsely accused of "opposing Chairman Mao and opposing Mao Zedong Thought," and Xiao Hua was imprisoned. After hearing the news, Premier Zhou said to all the cadres, soldiers, and workers of the General Political Department at a meeting: "Comrade Xiao Hua has followed Chairman Mao for decades from the little red devil to the director of the General Political Department, so how could he oppose Chairman Mao and Oppose Mao Zedong Thought?" Can you write the "Long March Suite" that he wrote? It is impossible to write about Chairman Mao without deep proletarian feelings. The phrase 'Chairman Mao's use of soldiers is really like a god' is a stroke of God! I can sing "Long March Suite", why don't you sing it? Premier Zhou's heartfelt words not only cleverly protected Xiao Hua, the founding general, but also full of love for "Long March Suite". Until the last moment of his life, Premier Zhou still wanted to watch the "Long March Suite" again, at this time he was seriously ill and lying on the hospital bed, unable to go to the scene to watch, the actors could only perform on camera, premier Zhou watched through television in the hospital. In this special performance, the actors performed while shedding tears, and combined their infinite love for Premier Zhou into every lyric.

Like Premier Zhou, many proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation liked "Long March Suite", and Tan Zhenlin, Bo Yibo, Luo Ruiqing, and others who watched the performance at that time all spoke highly of and praised this work. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, under the personal instructions of the revolutionaries of the older generation, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun, the "Long March Suite" was re-rehearsed and performed, and Deng Xiaoping put forward an important revision suggestion after reading it. The last two lyrics of the original song "Breaking through the Blockade Line" are: "Surround and block the interception of me, hundreds of thousands of enemy troops are empty." Deng Xiaoping said that it was not the enemy who was empty and worried, but the Red Army that was worried. The Central Red Army broke through the enemy's four blockade lines and was still unable to escape the influence of the "Left" line. In the Battle of Xiangjiang, more than half of the losses were lost, and more than 30,000 of the 80,000 people were left. Xiao Hua listened to Deng Xiaoping's opinion and changed these two sentences to "The whole army misses Chairman Mao and hopes for the sun on the way to the fog." This change can be described as the finishing touch, making the meaning of the lyrics more accurate and profound.

A play, personally created by a founding general who has experienced hundreds of battles, has the care and support of many proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation, which is quite rare in the history of world stage art. It can only show that the Long March of the Red Army is too great! Only those who experienced that expedition could more deeply understand the "spiritual code" contained in it and more truly understand the great significance of publicizing the Long March. As salisbury, a famous American journalist, said in "The Long March: Unheard Stories": "Reading the story of the Long March will make people realize once again that once the human spirit is aroused, its power is endless." ”

(iii)

Exactly 80 years have passed since the rare eastern expedition in human history, and it has been half a century since the magnificent epic "Long March Suite" recorded and praised the Long March. In the past years, many precious stories and memories, many people's life values and pursuits, are closely related to the "Long March Suite".

Opening the slightly yellowed newspaper, the scenes of the performances in Yudu, Ruijin, Yan'an and other places jumped on the paper - the people of the old district were like greeting their relatives who had been separated for many years, greeting the crew of the "Long March Suite". Flags are displayed, gongs and drums are noisy, thousands of people are empty alleys, and men, women and children are welcomed in line. They brought their own rice wine to the actors, held homegrown peanuts and fruits, and danced local dances. Many surviving veteran Red Army soldiers came from ten miles and eight townships, took the hands of the actors, and sang "Committee Member Mao is with Us" and "Victory Song against "Encirclement and Suppression"" together...

"Long March Suite Song" also went abroad, spreading the story of the Long March and the spirit of the Long March to all continents and seas. On June 5, 1966, Premier Zhou personally led the crew of "Long March Suite Song" to visit Romania and Albania. Every time you go to a city, there are grand performances and tours for more than a month. Veteran actor Ma Ziyue tearfully recalled the scene of accompanying Premier Zhou on his visit to perform: "It was the happiest and most memorable performance I have ever experienced in my life, on the evening of June 26, 1966, after our "Long March Suite Song" crew held a large performance in Tirana, the capital of Albania, the premier happily walked on the stage to tell everyone that all comrades immediately cheered when dinner went to the Chinese Embassy to eat stickers. On the way to the Chinese Embassy, Premier Zhou said to everyone, 'After dinner, let's perform a few programs to comfort the embassy staff, I will sing with you, and we will sing the seventh song of "Long March Group Songs" "To Wuqi Town", okay?' Everyone was very excited. After eating, the prime minister sang and clapped, and the embassy staff burst into tears of excitement. That night, I will never forget. Since then, Premier Zhou has specially arranged for the "Long March Suite" to visit and perform in the Soviet Union, Japan and other countries, performing more than 60 times, and receiving warm welcomes everywhere he went.

"To sing the Red Army, we must first learn from the Red Army, and we must rehearse the "Long March Group Song" with the great spirit of the Red Army's Long March." At that time, Premier Zhou's cordial teachings to the crew of "Long March Suite Song" became the unremitting pursuit of generations of cast members. Many veteran actors learned from the Red Army and played the Red Army, and formed a deep friendship with the masses in the old areas and the old Red Army. Once, during a performance in Ruijin, an actor saw more than a dozen old Red Army and old cadres of the Soviet Union sitting in the front row watching, this singer who usually signed countless audiences, respectfully holding his military hat, crouching on the ground and asking the old Red Army to sign. He said: "Without you, there would be no victory in the Long March, without you there would be no us today, you are the real stars!" One of the old Reds could not write, and he drew a five-pointed star with trembling hands and said, "That's my name!" More new generations of actors have taken up the baton of their predecessors, carried forward the fine style of "singing the achievements of the Red Army and carrying forward the spirit of the Long March", moved the stage of the performance to the townships and villages on the way of the Long March, and personally carried out the sacred mission of literary and art workers in the new period, thus personally feeling where the source of artistic life lies, where the strength lies, and where the hope lies.

The story of the Long March cannot be told, nor can the story of the "Long March Group Song", which praises the great spirit of the Long March. It is through the lyrics and beautiful melody of "Long March Suite" that generations of people look back on the glorious years of the Long March. Despite the distant passages, the noble qualities of revolutionary martyrs who are not afraid of hardships and dangers and abide by their convictions still have a strong appeal and influence. "The heavens and the earth are heroic, and the thousand autumns are still awe-inspiring." On the road of the new Long March, accompanied by the singing of the "Long March Suite", more heroes will be born and more human legends will continue to be written. (Xiang Yingjia)