What has been left for the audience after more than 70 years? Shanghai middle school students collectively went to the battlefield to resist the US and aid Korea
In the early 1950s, five students from Shanghai Biluo Middle School joined the army and went to the battlefield to resist the US and aid Korea. The drama "Classmates" adapted from this period of history premiered in September. Recently, a seminar was held to polish the details and prepare for a new round of performances.
"The drama we are rehearsing now with this theme is a response from modern youth to their predecessors and to history, recreating the reality of history with artistic sincerity." Director Ma Junfeng selected 20 actors from more than 400 actors to participate in "Classmates". He required the young actors' eyes to change from turbid to clear, and their will to firm from weak.
Critic Song Baozhen was deeply impressed by the book-giving scene in "Classmates". "In the play, Fang Chenxin's father gave his son a copy of Xin Qiji's Poems. In the snow, Fang Chenxin and his comrades were exhausted after a long journey, but it was reciting Xin Qiji's poems that helped them get out of the predicament. They were poetic, aspiring, and well-educated art soldiers. Everyone yearned for beauty and love, but on the battlefield, they chose to bleed and sacrifice."
After joining the army, Li Maoxin, Lai Renqiu and Xiao Youyan, students of Biluo Middle School, became members of the Art Troupe of the 20th Army of the 9th Corps of the Third Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and are also the prototypes of "Classmates". Qian Jue, the screenwriter of "Classmates", said that the script started with "Shell Shells, Violins and Parachutes" compiled by Li Jing, the daughter of Li Maoxin.
Several elderly people have not talked much about their experiences in their youth until 2021, when they revealed some of their experiences on the front line. Li Jing completed "Shells, Violins and Parachutes" based on their oral accounts. This documentary literary work also attracted the attention of CCTV, and their story appeared in the first episode "Choice" of the documentary "Good Sons and Daughters of China" commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Li Maoxin remembered that he fell asleep in the middle of the night after a long march. "I was dreaming, but my feet were still mechanically moving forward. Suddenly I felt a tree in front of me, and I hugged it instinctively. When I looked closely, there was a cliff next to me. I woke up all of a sudden and didn't want to sleep that day. But I couldn't stand the long march every day, and after two days I was on the march again, dozing off." When the troops were resting, Li Maoxin wrote two letters home, both of which reported good news but not bad news. "When my mother received the letter, she didn't believe it was true at all. She even thought I had died a long time ago, 'How could my son's handwriting be so beautiful? Someone must have written it for him.'"
Xiao Youyan recalled, "During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the soldiers built fortifications and the art soldiers played a role in battlefield propaganda. I entered North Korea in October. In addition to bedding, a kettle, and three rice bags full of food, I carried a violin, a erhu, and a jinghu." Some trenches on the front line could only accommodate two or three soldiers, so they knelt by the side of the tunnel to perform. "I played the violin and another comrade sang. The jeep took us to sing from trench to trench, and we sang like this for several days. Sometimes we had just left when the battle started again."
The first mission Lai Renqiu received after entering North Korea was to carry as much food and ammunition as possible over the mountain while it was dark and out of sight of enemy planes, to provide logistical support for the troops. "As soon as the sun went down, we moved, each carrying 30 kilograms of rice, plus rifle bullets. The only time I cried in North Korea was when I was transporting food one night. My feet slipped and I rolled down from the top of the mountain and hit a big rock. My teeth were broken, my eyes were swollen, and my nose was crooked. My face was covered in blood, and my eyes were so swollen that I couldn't see. I thought I was going blind." Decades later, Lai Renqiu's two eyes are still one big and one small, which is the sequelae left from that time.
"Classmates" is jointly produced by Shanghai Theatre Academy and Shanghai Huangpu Culture and Tourism Group. When it premiered at the China Grand Theater, the protagonist and the audience looked back on their youth. Li Maoxin, Li Jing and others are alumni of Shanghai Theatre Academy. Critic Zhong Chengxiang said, "A higher art school should be good at seeking creative resources from its own historical evolution and leaving a cultural brand that represents the school. This is the right way."
In the view of Xu Jian, director of the news department of Literary Gazette, Classmates: Youth incorporates three narratives: youth narrative, growth narrative, and war narrative. "Youth narrative is the background of this play, which opens up a new way for red-themed narratives." Wu Dandan, editor-in-chief of Script, said with emotion, "We are not only the Shanghai of "Flower City", but also the Shanghai of "Classmates: Youth."
