Author: Shi Suiying (Dean of the School of Literature, Yunnan Yuxi Normal University, President of Yuxi City Nie Erhe National Anthem Research Association)
This year marks the 110th birthday of the famous Chinese musician Nie Er. Although only 23 years have passed, the light of music created by Nie Er has crossed the barriers of time and space, illuminating the past, present and future, erecting the backbone of the Chinese nation, and turning it into the rebirth of an ancient nation from the ashes.
Statue of Nie Er in Yuxi, Yunnan
Stepping on the bluestone slab, walking into the prosperous Yuxi Beimen Street in the past, you can see a civil structure dwelling on the first floor and one bottom, simple and quiet, there are still half vaguely visible relief patterns on the eaves, and the horizontal plaque with gold characters on a black background. , “Nie Er’s former residence” four big characters seem to echo the sound of the years.
This is where Nie Er’s parents lived in their early years. Nie Er’s father, Nie Hongyi, was a famous Chinese medicine practitioner in Yuxi Prefecture. In order to support his family, he moved his family to Kunming in the late Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, where he practiced medicine in the hanging pot. Nie Er was born in Kunming after the gunshots of the “Chongjiu Uprising”. Because it is the fourth child in the family, Nie Er’s parents did not have high expectations for him, and named him “Jiaxiang”, but hoped that he would grow up smoothly and everything would be auspicious.
Unpredictable circumstances, at the age of 4, Jiaxiang was hit hard. This year, my father died. Lost in childhood, in the most carefree childhood, this ignorant child felt the fragility and sadness of life. “My father’s death has determined my fate in this life, and has shown me the path I should take.” In 1930, Nie Er wrote down his thoughts on growing up in his diary.
“The ideal is straight, but the reality is curved”, a 4-year-old child has embarked on a road of self-improvement and twists and turns.
Overlook of Nie’er Music Square in Yuxi, Yunnan File picture
“What I don’t forget at all times is ‘Reading!’ ‘Playing the piano!'”
“I don’t want to waste a minute and a second of useful time on boredom. Music, drama, and movies are my career in life. I’d like to study and study in this life.” As early as Nie Er’s letter to his brother in expressing his life aspirations. There is no life that lies flat, only years of running. Like a shooting star streaking across the sky, Nie Er, “What I never forget is ‘Reading!’ ‘Playing the qin!'”
Nie Er is a genius, but the phrase “genius is labor” is vividly reflected in Nie Er. Sun Shiyi, who worked with Nie Er on “The Pioneer”, said: “Can you say that Nie Er is not a genius? He has never stepped into the academy; can you say that Nie Er does not work hard? He has not wasted his time. one cent……”
“Mom! Our family is poor and can’t afford to read. Can you take me to the school?” When 6-year-old Nie Er kindly expressed his wish, Peng Jikuan, who came from Ailao Mountain, stepped on A pair of Dai women with bound feet in the late Qing Dynasty who were self-reliant and self-reliant said something like this: “No matter how poor you are, you will be sent to study. This family and this nest, although there is no gold or silver, must have backbone and ambition.” Subsequently, the eleven family rules she formulated laid a solid character foundation for Nie Er.
This great mother not only made Nie Er develop the spirit of standing firmly in the wind and snow, but also sowed a seed of music in Nie Er’s heart, which is also the first piece of Nie Er’s musical life. cornerstone.
Unprepared, Peng Jikuan, who took on all the family responsibilities, began to practice medicine to support his family. In her spare time, she often sang beautiful lantern tunes, Dongjing music, ethnic folk tunes to Nie Er, and sang many folklore stories to Nie Er, so that he planted a love for traditional culture in his heart since childhood. and seeds of folk music art. Neighbors Qiu Carpenter and Zhang Yuhou successively took Nie Er to learn the skills of playing flute, erhu, sanxian, Yueqin, violin and other musical instruments. Foreign teacher Bai Xiwen also prompted him to become interested in instruments such as piano, which further deepened his understanding of European music.
Nie Er (left) and Tian Han in Shanghai in 1934.Profile picture
Because he led his classmates to actively support the school’s struggle against the feudal forces occupying the school buildings and win, the founder of the private Qiushi Primary School, Su Honggang, said to Nie Er, “Comrade Nie Er has a sense of justice and the spirit of fighting against evil forces since he was a child.” Later, while studying at Yunnan Provincial No. 1 Normal School, under the direct leadership of the Underground Party and the Communist Youth League, another seed, a seed of revolution, was sown in Nie Er’s mind like a moon rushing out of the clouds. .
Before going out for a long journey at the age of 18, Nie Er’s various experiences eventually gave birth to the two seeds of music and revolution. In the following five years of hurricane life, they broke through the ground, such as wind and fire, blue blood and heart; such as lightning and thunder, light nonstop.
“How to make revolutionary music?”
In 1930, from Tingzhou to Changsha, in the interweaving of progress and failure, Mao Zedong wrote the poem “An International Elegy Song, Cyclonus Falls from the Sky for Me”. This year, Nie Er, who often played “The Internationale”, was 18 years old and took refuge in Shanghai from Yunnan. Two years later, he played The Internationale on the violin at Tsinghua University. In the future, he drew on the “Internationale” to create a more lively “March of the Volunteers”, which had a spiritual resonance with this great man.
Because he was blacklisted by the reactionary authorities, in order to avoid arrest, Nie Er replaced the third brother, Nie Xulun, and became a boy in “Yunfeng Shenzhuang”. Half a year later, “Yunfeng Shenzhuang” went bankrupt, and when the unemployed young Nie Er was desperate, he broke into the “Mingyue Song and Dance Troupe”. In his anxiety, he was appreciated by Li Jinhui, the father of modern Chinese song and dance, and was then introduced to a new one. art world. Before meeting Li Jinhui, Nie Er was not confident enough about his musical talent. “My personality is that I like industry very much. If I have the opportunity to study, I would like to enter engineering. I believe that I am a little artistic genius.” In Nie Er’s life options, music was initially just a hobby.
At that time, Li Jinhui did not expect that Nie Er, a young man who seemed to have good qualifications and seemed to be a “soft tofu”, would take out the hard work of a real knife and a real gun and attack him without thinking of the grace of the encounter.
At this time, in 1932, “the Chinese nation has come to the most dangerous time”. But the music that fills the society is “Dizzy Rain” and “Sister, I Love You” and the likes of Lai Shi’s extravagant voices. Detour and evasion are dereliction of duty! Lai’s singing and dancing was a dissonant note in the strong tones of the era when the nation and people’s livelihood were concerned at that time. In the music environment full of thorns and mud, Nie Er was breathing, observing and thinking. The sense of justice and fighting spirit boiled in his heart again. Under the aliases of “Black Angel” and “Blue Angel”, he wrote articles “Li Jinhui’s “Poems on Banana Leaves” and “Short Commentary on Chinese Songs and Dances”, criticizing the songs and dances of Li’s style, “scented and sensual, showing enthusiasm”, and was an anesthetized young children. “soft kung fu”.
“You think, the capitalists live in high-rise buildings and enjoy their blessings, and the workers are weeping under the machinery with sweat and sweat. What means should we use to seek a savior for the toiling masses?” “What we need is not soft tofu, It’s the hard work of real swords and real guns!” Nie Er’s deafening shouts called for justice, inspiring the world, and urging Li Jinhui to change.
Li Jinhui once recalled that the progressives around Nie Er loved him and liked to call him “tweezers”, just like a surgeon picking rotten skin from a human body, and those who were picked would inevitably feel pain. “Since then, I have also accepted his sincere and cordial criticism and revelation to me, and wrote several decent songs.”
“Strive to save the country, fight for war, let’s do our best to serve the country! Quickly break the evil imperialism…” Li Jinhui also wrote “The March of the Volunteers”. The two masters and students, under the call of a sense of justice, in the spirit of the times Under the influence, in the name of “March of the Volunteers”, a reconciliation was achieved, and a soul resonated with empathy.
The confrontation with Li Jinhui made Nie Er start to think about “how to make revolutionary music”. “If the brain is not cultivated with correct thought, however developed it may be, it will always develop abnormally. Then all actions will have no stable and correct foothold.”
Ask him how clear he is? For there is a source of living water. The cultivation of correct thinking has already begun to take shape as early as Nie Er was studying in Kunming. On October 13, 1927, Nie Er recorded Marx’s life in detail in his diary. In the raging storm, the seeds of Marxism were sown in the heart of a 15-year-old artistic youth and began to take root and sprout.
In 1928, 16-year-old Nie Er became an honorable member of the Communist Youth League. Since then, he has always been strict with himself in accordance with the standards of revolutionaries, and has always urged himself to be aggressive, eagerly reading progressive books, and earnestly studying Marxist works.
In early January 1933, under the influence of the wrong line of “Left leaning”, left-wing literary and artistic work in Shanghai was shrouded in an atmosphere of “white terror”. In this environment where everyone is in danger, Nie Er went upstream and joined the Communist Party of China after being introduced by Tian Han. Tian Han wrote in “The Road to Nie Er’s Victory”: “Nie Er is a young man with talent for music, and what is even more rare is that he is a patriot… He admires the Party and seeks the Party so much. He said that his determination is very good. Study hard and contribute his talents to the party.”
Where a tree has roots, it can grow; where water has a source, it can rush. From then on, under the leadership of the party, Nie Er was like a ship getting the guidance of a lighthouse, heading in the right direction and path, using his pen as a knife and gun, using his songs as cannon fire, to further pursue his own artistic development and embark on a path The road of revolutionary music under the guidance of the party’s popular literature and art policy.
“Screaming in place of the crowd”
On February 7, 1932, on the 10th day after the “January 28” Incident, Nie Er asked himself in his diary: “I spend a few hours a day practicing hard, and I will become a violin player in a few years and decades later. What about home? Can you arouse the emotions of the toiling masses by playing a piece of Beethoven’s “Sonata”? This is no way! Wake up early!”
After awakening, Nie Er began to seek a way out from the masses. He believes: “Music, like other arts, poetry, novels, and dramas, is a cry for the masses, and the masses will inevitably demand new content and performance of music, as well as a new attitude of composers.” Therefore, he clearly pointed out that, “Currently engaged in the music movement, the first problem to be solved is to establish a “revolutionary music” that “replaces the shouting of the masses” while maintaining a high artistic level.
In 1985, at the commemorative concert held for the 50th anniversary of Nie Er’s death, a group of young female workers who loved to sing Nie Er’s songs in the 1930s, all of whom were grey-haired old people at this time, gathered together to perform in music. At the meeting, “New Women” was sung affectionately.
Meng Bo clearly remembered that a group of female spinning mill workers in Yangshupu, Shanghai said to him with tears in their eyes: “Mr. Nie Er is the first person in China to write songs for our workers! Not to pity us or just to sympathize with us, but to sing about the strength and ambition of our working class while telling the painful life of our workers.”
In the process of creating “New Women”, Nie Er went to the spinning mills in western Shanghai to observe the labor and life of female workers many times on autumn nights when the sky was full of stars and frost. In order to deeply reflect the life of the factory and the suffering of women in the exploited labor, Nie Er recruited a group of young women to form the “Lianhua Singing Orchestra”, and personally served as the piano accompaniment.
The singing from the studio is harmonious, lively and powerful, with beautiful timbre and moving melody. Cai Chusheng, who came to visit Nie Er, quickly forgot that it was a singing voice, “and felt that it was the voice of ‘people’; and was introduced into the scene of real life and the scene of struggle. I saw the dim morning light and dim street lights. In the streets of the city, many women workers who have been exploited and trampled and lost their blood are hurrying on their way; I heard the roar of the machinery in the factory, and saw the tragic scene of people becoming slaves to the privileged and the machines…” The singing stopped, Nie Er seemed to have just gone through a fierce struggle, panting heavily, sweating profusely, and the flames of struggle still burning in his eyes.
Nie Er focuses his creation on the workers and the toiling masses who live at the bottom of society and are struggling to die, reflecting their suffering, struggle and hope. “Song of Hunger and Cold”, “Mining Song”, “Dock Worker Song”… The works reflecting the life of the working class and the toiling masses occupy the main part of his entire creation.
Nie Er realized, “No matter which way you run, your foundation of philosophy is unstable, and it is difficult to get through in the end.” Ai Siqi, a popular philosopher, was a close friend of Nie Er. During his studies, he encouraged Nie Er to compose music that inspired the Chinese many times. Two Yunnan youths from far-flung frontiers, one composed a song to replace the public’s cry, and the other wrote a book that made philosophy accessible to the public, and together they shone the light of public belief.
“I was born for society”
“Genius is not expensive; hard work is not expensive; knowledge and experience are not expensive; only when these three things are combined can actually benefit the society, they are valuable.” During the period, the two often talked about ways to make art flourish.
Only when the roots are deep can the leaves grow, and when the roots are strong, the branches can be prosperous. When he was studying at Yunnan Provincial Normal School, Nie Er once put forward the goal of “destroying evil society and building a new society” in the composition “My Outlook on Life”, and actively prepared for “war”. In his letter to his mother, he said: “I was born for society, and I do not want any obstacles to prevent or hinder my transformation of society. I want to do great things in this human society.” This The foundation of the great fact is that Nie Er summed up four important things in his life in his 1926 composition “My Annual Vacation Life”: self-study work, patriotic sports, social undertakings, and physical and mental exercise.
Nie Er’s classmate Deng Xianglian remembered that they once went to the tomb of Xue Erwang in Heilongtan, Kunming. Nie Er was overwhelmed by Xue Erwang’s tomb, and couldn’t help but talk about Xue Erwang’s national integrity, preferring broken jade rather than tiles and dying for the country. “The reason why the martyrs are different from the Heng people is because of their battles and friendship.” Beside Xue Erwang’s tomb, Nie Er burst into tears and shouted: “China! China!”
The day before leaving home for Shanghai, Nie Er and his elder brother Nie Xulun went to Xishan. During the storm, Nie Er played the French national anthem “Marseille.” In the beautiful melody co-authored with the sound of wind and rain, Nie Xulun murmured how great it would be if someone in China could compose a song like “Marseille.” Nie Er said simply and firmly, there must be such people in China!
But what he didn’t expect was that this person would be himself, set the trend of the times, pioneer the times, wake up first in the snowy night, and light up the light in the dark.
In April 1932, the Mingyue Opera Club was full of chorus songs, and the clothes and temples were connected. Excited and restrained, Nie Er was received by Tian Han, a well-known “Tian Boss” in Shanghai’s literary and art circles. In Tian Han’s initial impression, Nie Er was a young man with vigor, an artistic fighter who was talented, wealthy, loyal and ready.
This fall, they collaborated on “We’re Bleeding and Sweat” “Mining Song.” After introducing Nie Er into the party, they started a road of cooperation like a child. The fourteen songs including “Graduation Song” and “Mei Niang Song” accounted for almost half of Nie Er’s total works. The “March of the Volunteers” jointly created by them stands at the pinnacle of Chinese musical works and uses music to create spiritual miracles, which is a true portrayal of their spiritual unity as revolutionaries.
“How to make revolutionary music?” “March of the Volunteers” answered the question posed by Nie Er. Revolutionary musical works should inquire about life, call on the public, sing for the country, and speak for the times.
“How to make revolutionary music?” On the way of Nie Er’s search up and down, he is also exploring the revolution of music everywhere. “The new brain needs to be loaded with new nourishment at any time, so that it can develop on a new track.” “In the future, my policy of research and creation of literature and art will change”, and “run on the road to a new art movement.” In Nie Er’s diary, he talked many times about his confidence and pursuit of bold innovation and creation. His songs have created new styles in both form and genre. They are free and unrestrained without exaggeration. They can also break stereotypes, be bold and innovative, and are good at creating song structures that fit the form of lyrics.
“Go deep into the masses, in which you will have fresh materials and create fresh art. Hey! Work hard! That is the road of the times!” The musical spirit and cultural spirit who came and disappeared suddenly , fresh, agile, amiable and lovely, with dreams and light, he blew the glory and dreams of the future, and completed the dual cultural identity and identity of revolution and music.
“Get up!” “Go forward!”
“March of the Volunteers” was mailed back to Japan after Nie Er arrived in Japan in the summer of 1935. Before going to Japan, after getting the task of composing the music for “The Children of the Storm”, in the rental house on Xiafei Road, Nie Er forgot to eat and sleep, day and night. For a while humming the lyrics, for a while hitting the table, right when the “beat”. The thunder was vibrating, the lightning flashed, the storm was sandwiched with the showers, and the furious foam splashed from the ocean hit Nie Er’s body and heart, who was boiling with blood. He raised his arms high and shouted: “Get up! Get up! Get up! …”
Nie Er was kicked out of the rental house by the landlord’s old lady because he was too invested and seriously disturbed the people. Situ Huimin, a recording engineer and one of the singers, accepted him at home. According to Situ Huimin’s daughter, Situ Enmei, her grandmother was the first listener, and the rushing music of the voice of the nation and the call of the motherland infected her. She couldn’t help but say: “Yes! I am also unwilling to be a slave. man!”
The grandmother was deaf, and her memory was not very good. So, the old lady called Nie Er “get up”. Coincidentally, the famous “Nie Er” and “Rise up” in the future all originated from nicknames given by others. One is the musical talent displayed by flexible ears, and the other is the revolutionary feeling reflected in song creation. Revolution and music, form and content, are dense and continuous, how can they be made clear?
In the modification of the lyrics, Nie Er added three “rise”, one more passionate and appealing than the other, thus leading the development of music to a climax, full of motivation. The added three “forwards” balance the structure of the music. The magic stroke is to add a “jin” after “forward”, which indicates that the Chinese nation will always be on the road. Kuafu goes every day, Jingwei reclaims the sea, Wu Gang cuts Gui, and Yugong moves mountains. Our ancestors not only created the myth of the nation, but also created the national spirit that never stops and advances.
Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is a long-distance relay that goes on and on. On this long-distance relay race track, getting up is a vertical movement, it is “the rich and the noble cannot be promiscuous, the poor and the lowly cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be subdued”, it is the upright posture of the Chinese nation’s vitality and standing tall; advancing is a horizontal movement, a continuation of getting up The healthy development of China is “the sky is healthy, the gentleman is self-improvement”, and it is the full and continuous spirit of Chinese civilization. Standing up and standing is always a life-and-death situation; continuous progress is destined to face trials and tribulations.
On the evening of September 25, 1949, in Fengze Garden, Zhongnanhai, the discussion on the lyrics of the national anthem continued. Some representatives believed that the sentence “the Chinese nation has reached the most dangerous time” in the lyrics should be revised. Mao Zedong said: “We want to fight for China’s complete independence and liberation, and we have to carry out an arduous struggle, so it is better to keep the original lyrics.” Mao Zedong’s opinion was approved by the participants, and the “March of the Volunteers” was used as the national anthem.
Governance does not forget chaos, and security does not forget danger. Retaining “the Chinese nation is at its most dangerous” is to store the worrying genes of the Chinese nation. It carries a profound national spirit, “born in sorrow and dying in peace”.
If there is love in the sky, the sky is also old, and the right path in the world is vicissitudes. At about 3 pm on October 1, 1949, with the voice of a great man who shocked the world, the Chinese people have stood up since then! “March of the Volunteers” was broadcast from Tiananmen Square all over the world by radio waves. stand up! go ahead! This battle song and military song, which carries the history of suffering, distress, solidarity, and progress of the Chinese nation, has acquired a new meaning of life at this moment, and has become an indestructible, insurmountable, and unprecedented spiritual Great Wall. The symbol and emblem of the People’s Republic of China.
Looking back at 1935.
This year, Fujisawa Huanuma, Nie Er, who longed for a new life, was like a petrel before a storm.
This year, in Changting, Fujian, Qu Qiubai, who was in handcuffs and shackles, sang his translation of “The Internationale” to the execution ground, sat down with his knees crossed, said “This place is very good”, and then drank bullets and died.
This year, in Paris, France, Xian Xinghai, who was eager to return to China, had a tired look on his face that was blown black by the sea breeze, so he resolutely devoted himself to the torrent of anti-Japanese national salvation, and then composed the “Yellow River Cantata”.
This year, in Shanghai Academy, Zhu Rongshi, who was immersed in Nie Er’s songs, was extremely saddened to hear the bad news and determined to practice Nie Er’s path. Later, he changed his name to Zhu Jian’er and wrote “Sing a Folk Song for the Party”.
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A string of familiar or unfamiliar names, since 1935, has inspired the spiritual power of “Get up!” and “Forward!” at the same frequency. The source code of this spiritual power is to be consistent with the party and the people. Breathe, share the destiny with the motherland, and share the pulse with the times. This kind of spiritual power has gathered into a sea of stars, which together enriched the eternal river of Chinese history, illuminated the spiritual home of the Chinese nation, and broadened the spiritual channel of Chinese civilization.
Yuxi landscape education elite, “Rebels” a song for the whole people
In 1932, Nie Er published a commentary on “A Dialogue with the Director of “Humanity”, using the pseudonym “Huanyu”, “fantasizing to return to his hometown Yuxi”. Nie Er is the musical spirit and cultural spirit nurtured by Yuxi. The people of the hometown have been telling the “Story of Nie Er and the National Anthem”, singing Nie Er’s songs and marching forward!
Walking on the streets of Yuxi, you can see venues and buildings named after “Nie’er” everywhere, such as Nieer Park, Nieer Culture Square, Nieer Memorial Hall, Nieer Concert Hall, Nieer Grand Theater, Nieer Primary School, Nieer Choir… … Yuxi, like a city decorated with the story of Nie Er and the national anthem, like a colorful music hall, seems to be echoing the swan song of Nie Er’s youth and the excitement of the national anthem all the time.
Here, Yuxi people can tell the story of Nie Er and the national anthem in familiar words. The unspeakable kindness and unique pride constitute the unique cultural context of Yuxi people. People here think with music and live with music. The air seems to be filled with the fragrance of Nie Er’s music.
Here, July 17th every year is a special day, “Nie Er Memorial Day”, a cultural festival that pays tribute to Nie Er in the name of music, and love and feelings go both ways. Every year at this cultural festival, the people of Nie Er’s hometown sing their love for the party, the motherland and their hometown with sincerity.
“I was born in Yuxi, a beautiful place with beautiful mountains and rivers, and I grew up singing Nie Er’s songs since I was a child.” The 85-year-old Qisong was already trembling, but when he talked about Nie Er, he was full of energy. For 50 years, Qisong has been collecting materials and researching Nie Er. A calligraphy of “the soul of the country” has accompanied Qisong for many years.
“Learn to express in singing Nie Er’s songs, have a tough quality like water, and understand the meaning of persistence.” This is the sound of the warm and healing “Wakasui” choir after winning an international award. Qingyue’s ethereal child’s voice sings Nie Er’s melody, the meaning of perseverance, and the sweetness of life.
In the magnificent Nie Er Square, stories and reality are integrated. Looking down from the air, you will find Nie Er standing on a huge violin.
At the quaint Beimen Street, the roar of machines broke the tranquility of the air. The Nie Erhe National Anthem Training Center is in full swing, carrying the blend of history and modernity. Thousands of mountains and rivers follow the eternal melody and are ready to go.
“Guangming Daily” (13 edition on October 28, 2022)
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责编：孙宗鹤 ]