Chapter 59 Part Four: Film Regrets: A Glimpse of Unfinished Movies by Famous Actors

After returning to Beijing, Zhou Enlai first approached relevant persons in charge of the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Culture, and the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army. After talking freely about his ideas and general ideas, he was unanimously approved. Everyone was excited and expressed their feelings.Therefore, Zhou Enlai made a decision on the spot. Zhou Yang, the deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department, will be in charge of this matter. Together with the leaders of the Cultural Department of the General Political Department, they will form a working group and start preparations immediately.

On July 18, Zhou Enlai presided over the meeting of the party members of various ministries of the State Council. During the talk on the theme of the international situation, Zhou Enlai once again couldn't help but turn the topic to the big song and dance performance. He was excited at the meeting Express my own thoughts: "We are going to celebrate the National Day this time. This time when I went to Shanghai, Boss Chen took me to watch a song and dance with more than 3,000 people in Shanghai. I was very tempted. I think it is not bad. Yes Such an idea is that it is best to gradually show the development of our revolution, starting from the birth of the party, through artistic performances during the 15th National Day... I would like to ask Comrades Zhou Yang, Xu Bing and other relevant comrades to help. It is only two months away from the National Day. In short, someone needs to write a few heroic epics. Comrade Zhou Yang, please preside over it. Beijing can cooperate with Shanghai. The song and dance in Shanghai is an international song, and the next scene will be soon Arriving at Jinggangshan, this is too sudden..." Zhou Enlai talked eloquently, up and down, making use of strengths and avoiding weaknesses, and made up his mind to do a good job in the big song and dance performance.

Two days later, when Zhou Enlai met with the heads of the Foreign Affairs Office of the State Council, the Foreign Cultural Affairs Commission, and the Ministry of Culture, in addition to criticizing the obvious bureaucratic style of holding concerts and Asian cultural and artistic international cultural and artistic activities in Beijing, Zhou Enlai once again focused on Deployed specific work on the big song and dance: "On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the National Day, it is very necessary to reflect the revolutionary history of the Communist Party of China with such a big song and dance. It expresses the revolutionary spirit and new atmosphere. This big song and dance is very important. It can’t be done. Although the time is tight, there are big dances in Shanghai, the "Great Singing of Revolutionary Songs" by the General Political and Cultural Troupe, and "Flying to Luding Bridge" and other dances that express revolutionary historical themes. Based on these Processing is possible."

On July 24, according to Zhou Enlai's instructions, Zhou Yang, then deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, convened the heads of the State Council's Foreign Affairs Office, the Foreign Cultural Affairs Commission, and the Ministry of Culture to conduct careful research and demonstration on the issue of singing and dancing. In the name of the Central Propaganda Department, he wrote a request for instructions to the Central Committee, and proposed to use the form of comprehensive art to produce a highly generalized song and dance show that the Communist Party led the Chinese revolution process for National Day performances.

After the meeting, Zhou Yang non-stop, together with the heads of the Ministry of Culture of the State Council, the Department of Culture of the General Political Department, and the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, planned, purposefully, and step-by-step began to enter the countdown stage of the operation of live ammunition.Everyone involved in the preparations for the big song and dance deeply understands that this is a tough battle for a major political task, and it is also a generous gift in the form of artistic creation to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Republic.The personnel organization and personnel transfer involved both Beijing and Shanghai, as well as national, local, and military art groups. The clues were complicated and the lineup was huge. It had to be reported in accordance with a master plan for rehearsals of the big song and dance before the central government could coordinate it.

First of all, the people in charge of the project team had more than one debate and discussion on the name of the big song and dance. In the end, of course, the two big songs and dances, "Singing of Revolutionary History Songs" and "Singing and Forging Under Mao Zedong's Banner", were both lengthy and long-winded. , and a catchphrase-like name, and finally after a lot of thought and thought, it was initially named "Ode to the Lighthouse". Finally, Li Wei, the deputy director of the Culture Department of the General Political Department, actively proposed a suggestion, and finally decided to use the northern Shaanxi folk song "Dongfanghong". "is the overall name of the show.

After three nights and days, Zhou Enlai concluded his visit to North Korea and returned to Beijing as scheduled.The next day, Zhou Yang, in the name of the Central Propaganda Department, submitted a request to Lu Dingyi, Kang Sheng, Zhou Enlai, and Peng Zhen titled "Request for Instructions on Performing a Large-Scale Song and Dance "Dongfanghong" During the National Day."In addition to emphasizing the importance of rehearsals to show the course of the Chinese revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the report also fully categorized and explained the scale, content, artistic expression and division of labor of the big song and dance.Zhou Enlai took the report, carefully reviewed it word by word, carefully reviewed and revised it.

On July 30, Zhou Enlai convened a meeting of relevant parties in his apartment in Zhongnanhai Xihuating to make a final decision on the big song and dance.Regarding the series of issues raised in Zhou Yang's report, a meeting was held with the heads of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee, the General Political Department of the PLA, and the Ministry of Culture of the State Council. actual problems encountered.After listening to the report, Zhou Enlai stood up and expressed his opinion: "The name of this large-scale song and dance is set as "Dongfanghong"; we will strive to complete it on the 15th anniversary of the National Day as planned, but considering the creative constraints Difficulties, it doesn’t matter if we can’t make it on October 1st, it’s equivalent to an education in revolutionary traditions and party history for all of us; I have to personally grasp the large-scale singing and dancing. If there are problems that cannot be solved, you can directly come to me. For the convenience of work, a leading group is composed of relevant comrades from the Central Propaganda Department, the General Political Department of the PLA, and the Ministry of Culture of the State Council. 'General Command'".

On August 1, the 37th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Zhou Enlai was pleased to solemnly write down the word "agree" in the revised special performance report and sign his name , formally passed Zhou Yang's report, and decided to launch the big song and dance immediately, and try to stage it on National Day.Immediately, acting resolutely, Zhou Enlai personally "pointed out generals", drafted and initially drafted a list of 13 leading groups and organizational command groups.Leading group leader: Zhou Yang; Deputy group leaders: Liang Biye, Lin Mohan... Team members: Qi Yanming, Zhang Zhixiang, Chen Yading, Zhou Weizhi, Xu Ping, Lu Ji...Organize the command group (later called the "General Command" of the big song and dance) Directors: Chen Yading (then Deputy Minister of Culture of the People's Liberation Army); Deputy Director Zhou Weizhi (acting Deputy Minister of Culture and Director of the Art Bureau of the Ministry of Culture), Xu Ping, Li Wei, Shi Lemeng, Hu Guoguang 6 people. The "Headquarters" has various grading agencies, each with its own responsibilities.

In order to fully ensure that each clause in the report can be implemented, Zhou Enlai also reviewed and approved the following principles in person with relevant comrades: (1) Make every effort to do it well, and stage it on National Day. If it is not done well by then, or there are major shortcomings in the arrangement and it is too late to correct, the performance will be postponed and replaced by modern Peking Opera; (2) The participating teams are mainly military troupes (the General Political Troupe is the main force), supplemented by local performance troupes from government-affiliated cultural and artistic units (the Central Song and Dance Troupe, the Central Orchestra, and the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe all participate), and some Shanghai Collaboration among writers, directors and performers;

(3) The list of 13 members of the leading group and 6 members of the organization and command is attached; (4) Establish a separate organization for this work, so as not to affect the rectification of the leaders of the Ministry of Culture and various associations; (5) After the recitation and lyrics are finalized, they must be sent to Comrades Peng Zhen, Chen Yi, Ding Yi and Kang Sheng for final approval. So far, the preparations, creation and rehearsal preparations for the big song and dance "The East Is Red" have officially kicked off...