"What impressed me the most was when the actor shouted 'Remember, Red Flag Canal, Remember, Chinese Spirit'. 9-year-old Han Linshu said solemnly. On the evening of December 28, 2023, in the small theater of the North Hall of Henan Art Center, Jinshui District, Zhengzhou City, two book dramas of "Red Flag Canal Water to My Village" and "Legend of Mountains and Rivers" were performed. Han Linshu, a third-grade student at Nongke Road Primary School in Zhengzhou City, accompanied by his mother, performed a performance. That night, the audience filled nearly 300 seats, many of which were parents accompanying their children**. This repertoire is also one of the activities of the branch venue of the second National Reading Conference of Scholarly Henan.
Why do we have to build this canal?It is to fundamentally change the appearance of Linxian County's 'nine droughts in ten years, and water is as expensive as oil'. If there are difficulties, we are not afraid, the masses are the real heroes. As long as we fully rely on the power of the masses, we have thousands of 'Monkey Kings'. Difficulties are like springs, if you are weak, they will be strong. In the book drama "Red Flag Canal Water to My Village", "Yang Gui" mobilized to repair the canal and divert water.
On the stage, in order to repair the canal, "Zhang Maijiang" recalled that more than 1,000 villagers who repaired the canal slept in caves, cliffs, and stone crevices. With the change of the background of the theater, in the audience, 10-year-old Liang Yirui opened her mouth wide, she said that she had heard her grandfather talk about the Red Flag Canal before, and it was the first time to watch the play, "It's shocking!."”
The last part of the second play, "The Legend of Mountains and Rivers", is designed to be a time-space dialogue between modern students and General Yang Jingyu, when Yang Jingyu asks the students in 2023, "What does New China look like?".Is it complete?Is it free?The student replied, "The country is unified and strong, and everyone is free and equal!"Yang Jingyu asked again: "Students, can you study freely?"The student replied, "Everyone has a book to read!."”
Ms. Yang, her mother, who accompanied Han Linshu to watch the drama, exclaimed: "Great!."The child was probably fascinated and stared at the stage the whole time, and I called him twice before agreeing. So focused, with an expression on his phone in life, haha!”
Ms. Zhang, who accompanied her niece to the show, said that her niece was 10 years old and had never known how to develop an interest in reading. Through watching the drama at night, she seems to have found some tricks, "The child also asked me if I was going to buy the original books of these two dramas."
According to the relevant person in charge of Henan Innovation Practice Education of Zhongyuan Publishing and Media Group, the organizer of the evening, the "Immortal Monument" series of book dramas "Red Flag Canal Water to My Village" and "Mountains and Rivers" are adapted from the books "How the Red Flag Canal Was Built" and "Mountains and Rivers" respectively. "Red Flag Canal Water to My Village" depicts the whole process of the construction of the "artificial Tianhe" Red Flag Canal in the form of a stage play, and profoundly reveals the connotation of the spirit of the Red Flag Canal. "The Legend of Mountains and Rivers" allows modern characters to dialogue with historical figures, so that the audience can feel the revolutionary career of General Yang Jingyu who dyed red and white mountains and black waters with his blood and martyred the country with his iron bones.
According to reports, the actors who participated in the two book dramas are all employees of Zhongyuan Publishing and Media Group, and all of them are paid zero.
The relevant person in charge of Henan Innovation Practice Education of Zhongyuan Publishing and Media Group revealed that there are five "Immortal Monument" series, which are closely presented around Henan's "Four Spirits", and the latter two focus on the spirit of Jiao Yulu and the spirit of Dabie Mountain, and it is expected that all the repertoire will be incubated in 2024.
* Henan Youth Times, Dongfeng News.