China in 1920.
At this time, China experienced the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the faint and corrupt Manchu Qing government in 1911, and then experienced Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system, as well as Zhang Xun's braided soldiers, followed by various warlords dividing the territory, and the people who fought in the war for many years did not have a good life...
Yuan Shikai and foreigners
Although the Kuomintang, represented by Sun Yat-sen, continued to hold various uprisings, and Sun Yat-sen was once elected as the provisional president of the Republic of China, such activities had little effect. Sun Yat-sen was also forced to give up the position of provisional president.
Where is China going? This was a major issue that the patriots of the time pondered and debated.
Sun Yat-sen
The first episode of the "Ideal Shines on China" series, "The Taste of Truth", depicts the story in this historical context.
At this time, Chinese intellectuals were awakening. They went forward to explore and pursue the truth of saving the country and the people, and to explore the most suitable path for China's independence and self-reliance, and the revitalization and development path that was not subject to foreign colonial rule. Many of them studied in "Western" Europe and "Eastern" Japan in an attempt to explore theories and methods for saving the country and the people.
The "May Fourth Movement" in 1919 was a prominent manifestation of the awakening of Chinese intellectuals.
Photos of the May Fourth Movement
Because semi-colonial China was in chaos and weakness, so much so that the Paris Peace Conference after the First World War actually "ceded to Japan" The sovereignty of Germany in Qingdao, Shandong, a Chinese territory belonging to the "victorious power" side, which made patriotic intellectuals explode, and they took to the streets to hold protest marches, and this angry trend suddenly swept the whole country...
In the drama "The Taste of Truth", Chen Wangdao and Shao Lizi are real characters. But Chen Wangdao's Fa Xiaojiangliu should be a fictional character. This seemingly crazy figure, who shouted "reading is useless" and burned books and schools, represented a group of lower-class intellectuals in China at that time, and their disappointment and resentment with the country and the situation. A scene in the Salon of the French Concession in Shanghai in the play reflects positively the dissatisfaction of many intellectuals who are worried about the country and the people with the dissatisfaction with the national political situation and the anxiety at a loss.
Chen Wangdao
Chen Wangdao, facing the chaotic and disorderly China, cried out in his heart: "In today's China, there are too many mountains and too few temples. Which temple can save China? ”
The "mountain" here should refer to various "mountains", such as various warlords, as well as political factions such as the Kuomintang, and "temple" refers to the political program that the Chinese people can rely on and follow, as well as the political forces that use this as a basis to transform the country.
Shao Lizi was a well-known democrat in modern times, the first revolutionary to propagate Marxism-Leninism in China, and a social activist who wandered between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In the play, on behalf of Chen Duxiu and other communist believers, he arranged for Chen Wangdao to translate the Communist Manifesto.
Shao Lizi
It was precisely because Chen Wangdao first translated and published the Chinese edition of the Communist Manifesto that it aroused the complete awakening of China's advanced intellectuals. At the same time, due to the exemplary power of Lenin's "October Revolution" in Russia, which Shao Lizi said, the birth of communist groups in Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Wuhan, Jinan, Guangzhou and other places was born, and finally the great Communist Party of China was founded in 1921. Mao Zedong was the initiator of the Changsha Communist Group at that time, and then became a major representative of the party.
Chairman Mao said to Snow in 1936: "There are three books that are particularly deeply engraved in my heart and that have established my faith in Marxism... The three books are: The Communist Manifesto, Class Struggle, and History of Socialism. By the summer of 1920, in theory and to some extent in action, I had become a Marxist." Among them, the Communist Manifesto is the one translated by Chen Wangdao.
Cover of Chen Wangdao's translation of the Communist Manifesto
Therefore, Chen Wangdao can be regarded as one of the "fire-spreaders" of the communist theory of "sparks of stars." As he wrote to Jiang Liu in the play, "The road of hope I am looking for is in it," and he took the Communist Manifesto and told the audience: "This is the answer to the future of China."
The kites falling and flying at the beginning and end of the film symbolize the chinese intellectuals' transition from a confused and disorderly state of mind to the emergence of communist thought as a political theory and program for reform.
As for Chen Wangdao himself, he initially cooperated with Chen Duxiu and others to edit and publish the magazine New Youth (which was then an open organ publication of the Shanghai Communist Group), and also participated in the editing of the internal theoretical journal "Communist Party" monthly magazine and "Enlightenment" magazine. He once said that he did a lot of theoretical propaganda work for the founding of the Communist Party.
Chen Duxiu
On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai, and Chen Wangdao was identified as a delegate but did not attend. It is said that because of the contradiction with Chen Duxiu, he was angry and refused to participate. But he remained a member of the Communist Party and soon became secretary of the newly formed Shanghai Local Committee of the Communist Party of China. However, when the committee was re-elected in May 1922, he formally resigned and was not elected, and he also left the Communist Party.
The fundamental reason for Chen Wangdao's departure from the party was that he claimed to be "disagreeing with Chen Duxiu and having a distance from his practice." In 1923, the party organization sent Shen Yanbing to persuade Chen Wangdao to cancel his resignation from the party. He said: "Since I opposed Chen Duxiu's paternalistic style and resigned from the party, and now Chen Duxiu's paternalistic style is still the same as me, how can I cancel my resignation from the party?" ”
In fact, Chen Duxiu was later expelled from the party for making serious mistakes, and Chen Wangdao also had many opportunities to rejoin the party. But he did not rejoin the party until 1957. I thought that Chen Wangdao might feel that he was more suitable for theoretical propaganda work, and the most suitable occupation for him was to engage in education work, such as serving as the president of Fudan University, editing "Ci hai" and so on.
"Ideals Shine on China. Chen Wangdao in the play "The Taste of Truth" is played by the famous actor Jin Dong. His appearance and performance are in place, showing the image of a calm, persistent, insightful and tireless excellent intellectual. In the play, he eats rice dumplings in ink while translating the Communist Manifesto, highlighting that he is shocked by the truth in the book - this "taste of truth" is really touching.
Chen Wangdao, played by Jin Dong
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Communist Party of China and the era when our great China is forging ahead toward the peak of history, it is necessary to revisit the history of the birth of the Communist Party. Because history tells us that only the Communist Party of China can save China, and only the Communist Party of China can lead the Chinese nation to a more brilliant and brilliant future.