As you may already know, March of the Volunteers is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China. So, how did it come about? What was the fate of its creators?
In the autumn of 1934, the movie "Children of the Storm" was planned to be released, but Japan was eyeing it externally, the internal situation was turbulent, and a war was about to break out. Tian Han, a literary activist and one of the three founders of modern Chinese theater, wrote a long poem for the film, one of which became the lyrics of "March of the Volunteers".
However, Tian Han was unfortunate and imprisoned. Despite this, the filming of the film did not stop because of this, and director Xu Xingzhi took over the filming of "Children of the Storm".
Tian Han was not idle in prison, he quietly wrote the lyrics on the back of the cigarette box paper. On one visit, he gave the original manuscript to the visitor. However, the tune of the March of the Volunteers has not yet been determined, and someone is in dire need of composing it.
Nie Er took the initiative to ask to compose the music for "Children of the Storm", and promised to send back the song manuscript as soon as possible after arriving in Japan. He quickly completed the first draft of the score, and then changed the lyrics in 3 places after discussing with Sun Shiyi, and completed the songwriting.
The score sent back did not have the title of the song written, but only 3 words - march. Therefore, some people named it "March of the Volunteers". The song was released on May 10 in "China **" and released as a record on the 16th.
At a time of national crisis, the March of the Volunteers inspired the enthusiasm of countless patriots to resist the invaders and win the victory of the revolution.
On July 17, 1935, Nie Er, a young ** talent, drowned while swimming in Fujisawa City, Japan, at the age of 23. After Tian Han was released from prison on bail, the "77 Incident" broke out, and he immediately devoted himself to the anti-Japanese rescue work in the cultural circles, created the five-act drama "Lugou Bridge", and performed to comfort the army.
In August of the same year, he went to Shanghai to devote himself to the more intense anti-Japanese rescue work. With the fall of Shanghai, Tian Han traveled to Changsha, Wuhan and other places to actively carry out the anti-Japanese united front work in the theater circles.
Soon after, he successfully organized and established the All-China Theater Association to Resist the Enemy, and made unremitting efforts for the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tian Han was appointed to become the director of the Opera Improvement Bureau and the Art Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, but unfortunately passed away in 1968.