Source: CCTV.com

03-22-2008 18:05

The high-spirited march was the orchestra's masterpiece. Almost every one of its performances, including weekend dances, began with the song.

There were hundreds of foreign experts working at the factory. The workers union would invite them to the weekend dances.

During the three years of natural disasters, fewer dances were held. By the start of the Cultural Revolution, they had stopped all together. Although the weekend dance lasted for only ten years, it still holds happy memories for many people.

Sweethearts stopped attending the dances, and instead they spent time on their own. In the 1950s, the lake in Beihai Park was a favourite haunt of courting couples. Boating together on a lake was the classic romantic scene at the time. The natural disasters of the 1960s didn't kill romance but made it even more precious.

The special breakfast vouchers were issued during the three years of natural disasters. Because he gave a voucher to Song Shumin, Liu Erxin had to go hungry.

Liu Erxin also sent Song Shumin some furniture, along with a bunch of flowers. In effect, it was a marriage proposal. This was common practice at the time, reflecting people's expectations from life. In his work Parents, artist Wang Jinsong created a collage of images of many old couples.

A typical "happy family" photograph from the time has a portrait of Chairman Mao hanging in the tidy room; the children are all smiling innocently; an expensive radio set is placed in a prominent position, ready to convey messages from the central government.

On June the 5th, 1960, the China Central Philharmonic Orchestra and the Workers' Orchestra gave a performance at the People's Theatre. The concert was under the direction of Shu Heng, a young lathe operator and the composer of the music.

Shu Heng said, "I was completely calm after the prelude. Everything went smoothly. I wasn't nervous any more, or inhibited. My hands moved lightly with the music."

The joint performance by the Workers' Orchestra and Central Philharmonic Orchestra was headline news at the time. In the programme, the name Shu Heng, the worker-conductor, was listed above that of Li Delun, the leading Chinese conductor.

Shu Heng said, "The leaders of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra were very happy after the concert. They praised me, saying I'd kept very calm. But in fact I'd been very nervous. I'd actually dreamt about the performance. A few days before I'd dreamt that I was chatting with Li Delun."