Singing the Yellow River chorus, I don't know where the repertory troupe is going
With the roar of the Yellow River, the sound of the wind neighing, and the harsh environment of the anti-Japanese frontier, the Yellow River Troupe took root and grew, injecting vitality into the cultural life of the base area. Their stories fade away with the passage of history, until an elderly grandmother reveals them to us, and the sacred figure of the Yellow River Troupe shines again.
The Yellow River Repertory Theatre has brought infinite vitality and fun to the troops marching and fighting with a variety of cultural activities. They not only taught and sang songs between battles to enliven the cultural life of the troops, but also undertook the task of propagating and implementing the party's policies.
They have footprints in the vast areas of Yangcheng, Qinshui, Jincheng, Gaoping and Jiyuan in Shanxi, and will perform and promote everywhere they go. They make full use of the stage in the village, and if there is no stage, they mobilize the masses to help build it.
Even in difficult places, they will find a place to do street makeup promotion. In short, no matter where it is, the Yellow River Repertory Theatre has made positive contributions to the propaganda of the Party's policies and the enlivening of cultural life at the grassroots level in its unique way.
Regiment Commander Ren Ying's pre-performance speech always departed from the old tune, painted with color and color, and was the way at the head, and sometimes even moved the villagers in the audience, making them excited, and even asked to join the army to fight Japan on the spot.
What touched the villagers the most was that whenever the Yellow River Troupe performed in a place, they would take the initiative to help the local villagers clean the yard and carry water.
In order to let more people understand our party's policies and political propositions, during the day, the troupe will go deep into the streets and alleys and villagers' homes to carry out propaganda. Sometimes, when we went to some villages to propagate, the villagers would be suspicious of us, and even mistook us for Kuomintang troops and did not dare to approach us.
But we immediately explained to them: we are the Eighth Route Army, a team representing the people, we do not beat people, we do not scold people, we buy and sell fairly, and we must compensate for damaged things. After our explanation, the villagers slowly began to approach us and listen to our propaganda of anti-Japanese propaganda.
In the evening, the comrades of the troupe would gather again to perform their own anti-Japanese dramas, including Peking opera and drama, many of which were written by Guan Fei, the deputy head of the troupe.
I also participated in the Peking Opera "Zhang Suo Joins the Army" written by Guan Fei, who personally directed and served as the Jinghu qin master. In our performances, there are usually some dance performances followed by theatrical performances.
Five or six little eight-way people around the age of ten, after putting on the makeup of little girls, they became excellent dancers. Among them, the little old woman played by Ma Hongwen was particularly outstanding, trembling all over her body during the beating, and her beautiful dancing posture won the warm applause of the audience.
Although there was only a harmonica as an accompaniment at the time, after the addition of Jinghu and Erhu, the harmonious combination of high and low notes made the dance more beautiful. In addition to the soothing "Children's Dance" and "Ding Ling Dance", they also performed the militant "Three Stages of the Anti-Japanese War" dance in response to the "On Protracted War".
The performances of the Yellow River Troupe are rich and colorful, attracting people from several miles nearby**, and each performance is crowded with people. However, the troupe members struggled with the harsh stage environment.
Although the Japanese army "sweeped" and besieged the first half of 1938 and the first half of 1939, the environment of struggle at that time was not bad, but the economic conditions were relatively difficult.
The three meals a day are mainly millet, the amount of oil per person per day is less than three yuan, and the stir-fried vegetables are oil-free, just like boiled water, only a little salty. Occasionally, eating white noodles is to improve life, and the troupe's funds are very small, and the troops are also very difficult, Commander Tang and Political Commissar Ao will still approve some money to buy curtains and gas lamps.
At that time, I bought two gas lamps and used them for stage lighting. Because I don't know much about lighting gas lamps, several attempts were unsuccessful, and later I learned that the steam was not enough, and the asbestos lampshade was crushed again (this kind of lampshade cannot be touched or pinched).
Once, this kind of lampshade was expensive and difficult to buy, and it was very heartbreaking when one broke. But now, there are more spotlights on the stage, and a broken one has little impact on the performance. Once, I tried my best to fix a gas lamp on the stage, but no matter how much I repaired it, it couldn't light up, and I was so anxious that I was sweating profusely.
Because the audience is looking forward to my skills as a gas lamp repairman. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the gas lights on. Later, Captain Ying came over to comfort me and asked me to unload the lights in the background and repair them slowly.
As a result, it lit up immediately with a long probe. The reason was found, and it turned out that the fuel injection hole was clogged due to the unclean gasoline. To solve this problem, we bought another spare gas lamp with approval.
Since then, we have been able to guarantee that every time the three gas lights are lit at the same time, if there is a problem, they will be replaced immediately, and the performance will still be guaranteed.
Writing slogans on the wall is also an important propaganda task of our Yellow River Repertory Theatre, and it is one of the propaganda tools to unite the people against the enemy. There are many brick houses in villages in Shanxi Province, and even ordinary farmhouses have many half-cut brick walls, and the slogans on the walls are smooth and beautiful.
Every time we go to a place, we leave a lot of white and pink propaganda slogans. From 1938 to the first half of 1939, the main content of our propaganda was to mobilize the people of the whole country to participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan, to strengthen the anti-Japanese armed forces, to support the front-line troops in the War of Resistance against Japan, and to strengthen the relationship between the masses and the troops.
With slogans such as "digging trenches, transporting bullets, delivering public rations, and making tea and rice" as a call, combined with the idea of "On Protracted War", we waged heroic resistance against the Japanese army.
In the second half of 1939, despite the inducement of the Japanese army and Chiang Kai-shek's passive resistance to war, we still held our position and mobilized a large number of Kuomintang troops from the rear in an attempt to raid our anti-Japanese base areas on the Shanxi-Henan border.
Persist in the War of Resistance, oppose surrender, insist on unity, oppose **, insist on progress, and oppose retrogression". There are also the inspiring sentences of "unite to carry out the War of Resistance to the end", "consolidate the anti-Japanese national united front", and "if no one offends me, I will not offend others."
If anyone offends me, I will offend him", these slogans were deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and became a powerful force against our enemies. We not only looked for a high-rise brick house in the village, borrowed an earth ladder to write from the eaves until it could be reached on the ground, but also painted each word of the big slogan "Adhere to unity, oppose **" on the red edge, which looked magnificent from a distance, and made people feel our determination and faith.
Under the circumstances at that time, these slogans could receive a certain propaganda effect on the masses in the border areas and the Kuomintang troops stationed in the later areas, and became a powerful force for us to fight against the enemy.
At that time, each member of the Yellow River Repertory Theatre was given a rifle for self-defense, and although some of the guns were of poor quality, I was extremely happy that I was able to get one.
I tried my back repeatedly, scrubbed and oiled every day, and even pushed the bullet into the chamber for the first time after wiping the gun once, and I felt extremely excited and excited to see the bullet come out of the chamber.
At that moment, I deeply felt our determination and conviction to fight the enemy.
That thrilling incident frightened the fellow villagers in the house and the comrades of the troupe, but fortunately the bullets only flew out of the roof and did not hurt anyone. Then we found out that this home-made gun needs to slowly push the bullet into the chamber, otherwise it may be dangerous.
During this period, the Kuomintang, Yan Xishan's troops, and bandits began to encircle and surprise attack the political power, mass organizations, and the three columns of death led by our party in various parts of our Shanxi-Henan border, and even created large-scale attacks.
Under these circumstances, the two regiments of the decisive death three columns mutinied under the instigation of Yan Xishan and Sun Chu, and from the director of the regiment's political department to the company instructor, they were all arrested and killed.
Not only that, but the Kuomintang also wanted to seize the anti-Japanese base areas on the Jin-Henan border established by our party, and openly forced our Eighth Route Army death squad to move eastward to Huguan and Binh Thuan areas.
Under the instructions of ***, we began to retreat eastward, in order to unite the war of resistance. Guan Tao and I were selected to be in charge of the eastward evacuation and containment work, and at the same time, comrades from two companies formed a combat group to transport the wounded and sick, and more than a dozen wounded and sick people, including Li Zhongxuan, the instructor of the machine gun company, and Cui Yun, the instructor of the Yellow River Troupe, were smoothly transferred under our care.
During the transfer, we encountered some difficulties. During the march, the people who carried Cui Yun's stretcher suddenly ran away, and we could not complete the task, so we could only carry the stretcher forward by me and Guan Tao.
After walking more than a mile, we recalled two people from the front, and after the persuasion of Guan Tao and me, they were willing to continue to carry the stretcher to catch up with the team in front.
In the end, we successfully sent the wounded and sick to the residence of Baijiazhuang in Binh Thuan County, and successfully completed the task assigned by the organization. The Yellow River Troupe is not only our story, but also the soul of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians.
Although the Yellow River Troupe is no longer known, it will not dissipate because of the end of the war and the well-being of the people. His spirit will forever be etched in our hearts and inspire us to continue on the road ahead.