Source: CCTV.com

09-13-2008 15:08

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It was just before daybreak in Chongqing, on February the 5th, 1941.

At Hong Shen’s home in suburban Gele Hill, his daughter Hong Ling had just woken up. She called to her mother, asking her to bring her some water, but there was no response. It was getting lighter outside, so she tiptoed to her parents’ room. She found both her mother and her father unconscious, with foam at the corners of their mouths. Frightened, she immediately called Guo Moruo.

20 minutes later, Guo Moruo arrived with a doctor. After a brief examination, the doctor declared that they had tried to commit suicide by taking quinine and mercurochrome. However, the doses had been insufficient to kill them. On a desk, Guo Moruo found Hong Shen’s will.

A month earlier, the New Fourth Army, or Wannan, Incident had been deliberately provoked by the KMT Government at Maolin, in Jing County, Anhui. In an interview, Chiang Kai-shek had said “The Japanese are a disease of the skin, while the Communists are a disease of the heart”. Zhou Enlai later had a poem published in Chongqing’s Xinhua Daily, in which he responded to the Incident.

Soon, the Japanese army increased its strength in North China. In 1941, two documents reached the commanders of Japanese forces in North China. One was Clearance Plan, and the other, Briefings on Diminishing the CPC. For the Chinese forces in the enemy’s rear in North and Central China, these events heralded a difficult period in the fighting. It was the second year of the second phase of the war.

After the Southern Anhui Incident, Chiang Kai-shek had closed down the Third Department of the Political Department, claiming that most of its staff were radicals led by the CPC. Hong Shen, director of the drama division in the Third Department, despaired for the political future. He was also in financial difficulties. So he and his wife had attempted suicide. Although their lives were saved, news of their suicide bid spread quickly across Sichuan.

The Cultural Committee of the Political Department of the KMT Government held a special meeting. It decided to offer Hong Shen 1,000 Yuan for his medical care, and move him to the Design Committee of the Political Department, where his income would be higher.

By the 4th year of the War, inflation was rampant in the areas to the enemy’s rear. By December 1940, the rate was 1276%. The KMT Government faced a huge deficit, which it tried to balance by issuing more money. This resulted in hyper-inflation also in KMT controlled areas. The salary, in real terms, of a professor in 1941, was just 1/12 of what it had been before the War. On January the 30th, the Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government issued its own paper currency to replace that in circulation. .

At the time, a play called Wang at the Temple Fair was popular in the counties and villages of the Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Region.

Such plays didn’t need a permanent stage. They were a vehicle for conveying news about current affairs, rather like newspapers. So they became known as “newspaper plays”. During wartime, the newspaper plays were highly popular in both the KMT controlled areas and the anti-Japanese base regions.

The most famous play at the time was Put Down Your Whip. Throughout the War, it was performed frequently in the KMT controlled areas and anti-Japanese base regions across China. It’s the story of a father and a daughter, who escape from the northeast after it has fallen, and scrape a living on the streets. The father tries to force his daughter to sing to earn money, but she refuses. The angry father then raises his whip, intending to thrash her. Just at that moment, a young man emerges from the crowd and cries: “Put down your whip!”

The photograph shows Zhang Ruifang playing the daughter. Zhang would go on to become one of China’s most famous actresses of stage and screen.

In the early years of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Drama Troupe of the Yan’an Literary Association performed a German play, called Collier. The production was praised by Mao Zedong and Zhu De. However, in the conditions of war over the following years, people in the border regions were not in the mood to appreciate such plays. Instead, newspaper plays became popular among the soldiers and ordinary people. The situation was similar also in the big cities, like Chongqing. Newspaper plays, teahouse plays and square plays became effective means of encouraging support for the war of resistance. A particular advantage was that, since the plays were staged in streets or squares, no ticket was required to attend. The new forms of play became free entertainment for the people during wartime.

On April the 10th, 1938, the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts was established in Yan’an. Initially, it had only three departments: of music, fine arts and drama. The department of literature was added later. Zhang Geng was the dean of the Department of Drama. Lan Ping, who had gained some fame in Shanghai as an actress, was transferred to the Department of Drama as an instructor.

In July of that year, Wang Zhenzhi and several other dramatists from the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts wrote a play called Drifting Team Leader, to commemorate the first anniversary of the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The premiere starred Cui Wei, Sun Weishi and Jiang Qing. Jiang Qing’s role went by the nickname, Big Red Shoe. In those days in Yan’an, thanks to her Shanghai background, Jiang Qing knew very well how to make the best of her looks.