Venue display at the National Anthem Memorial Square

The country’s first and only National Anthem Memorial Square is located at the intersection of Dalian Road and Changyang Road in Yangpu District, Shanghai. It was completed on September 25, 2009. It covers an area of ??27,000 square meters and is a large open square. , there is a circular venue shaped like a record, symbolizing that the "March of the Volunteers" was sung from Shanghai to the whole of China. The National Anthem Exhibition Hall is located on the southwest side of the National Anthem Memorial Square, with a total area of ??1,500 square meters. Through more than 400 cultural relics, documents and historical photos, it comprehensively displays the birth background, process and influence of the "March of the Volunteers". It is reported that "March of the Volunteers", the national anthem of the Communist Party of China, is the theme song of the movie "Children of the Storm".

The historical background of the birth of "March of the Volunteers".

"Get up! People who don’t want to be slaves! Build our new Great Wall with our flesh and blood! The Chinese nation is at its most dangerous time, and everyone is forced to make one last roar..." You Do you know the origin of the national anthem? Do you know some unknown stories about its birth? A few days ago, reporters had an exclusive interview with Li Guocai, head of the National Anthem Exhibition Hall's exhibition office and deputy director of the Yangpu District Party History Office, and listened to his story about the national anthem.

Nie Er composed music forgetfully, and was nicknamed "Get Up" by his friend's mother

In 1931, after the "September 18th" Incident in Northeast China, seeing that the Chinese nation was facing a critical moment of life and death, literature and art Patriots from all over the world rushed to appeal. Dentsu Film Company, established in 1934, specializes in making left-wing films. At the beginning, it rented a dilapidated studio on Xietu Road in Shanghai as its production base. After moving to No. 405 Jingzhou Road in early 1935, the first movie shot was "Children of the Storm". The plot summary was written by Tian Han. "Tian Han was only in his early 30s at that time, but he was already a senior figure in the literary and art circles. At that time, wax paper mimeographs were used, and he wrote and printed one piece at a time. But Tian Han could write a poem in seven steps, and it was ready to be read immediately." Li Guocai told reporters. Unfortunately, in February 1935, Tian Han was arrested and imprisoned not long after he wrote the plot outline. His good friend Xia Yan took over and adapted the story into a movie script. Nie Er happened to hear about this incident. The 23-year-old young man ran to Xia Yan and said, "Leave the composing to me."

On May 24, 1935, "Children of the Storm" premiered at the Jincheng Theater in Shanghai and was a huge sensation.

Li Guocai said, "Back then, Nie Er was introduced to the party by Tian Han. Because he promoted anti-Japanese resistance, he was blacklisted by the reactionary authorities. The party organization decided to let Nie Er transfer from Japan to Europe and the Soviet Union to study. Nie Er was 5 He went to Japan on May 15th. On May 14th, he went to No. 405 Jingzhou Road to audition "March of the Volunteers". After arriving in Japan, he revised the song and sent the final version back. The recipient was Situ from Dentsu Company. Huimin and Sun Siyi."

While visiting Situ Huimin's daughter, Li Guocai learned an unknown anecdote: the first person in China to hear "March of the Volunteers" was actually Situ Huimin's daughter. Mother. It turns out that at that time, Nie Er often visited the house of the progressive Situ Huimin. Every time he finished composing a piece of music, he could not wait to sing it to Situ Huimin's mother. Situ Huimin's mother also liked this diligent music talent very much. When Nie Er finished the first draft of "March of the Volunteers", he sang "Get Up" over and over again at Situ Huimin's house, leaving a deep impression on Situ Huimin's mother. From now on, whenever Nie Er went to their house, Situ Huimin's mother would say "get up". One day before lunch, Nie Er went to their house again. Situ Huimin's mother said to her daughter-in-law: "Quick, quick, add more rice, 'get up' is coming."

Go to Japan on May 15 Later, on July 17 of the same year, Nie Er drowned while swimming. Li Guocai commented that Nie Er was a musical genius who had never attended a formal music academy, but composed thirty or forty popular songs in his short life, including "Newspaper Selling Song", "Dalu Song" and so on. 14 of them are collaborations with Tian Han. Not long after "Children of the Storm" was released, the theme song "March of the Volunteers" became popular. After Tian Han was released from prison, he heard this song being sung in the streets and alleys. He burst into tears and swore: "Without Nie Er, I will never compose lyrics again in my life."

Before the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao made the final decision that "the lyrics will remain unchanged"

Li Guocai said that in 1949, in preparation for the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, "The People's The Daily published a notice soliciting the national flag, national emblem, and national anthem. At that time, there were 632 submissions for the national anthem. However, after discussion by the national anthem collection group, they felt that none of them were very satisfied.

October 1st is the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China, and by September 25th, the national anthem has not yet been decided. At the same time, everyone elected "March of the Volunteers" as the national anthem. That evening, in Zhongnanhai Fengze Garden, everyone once again discussed the national anthem heatedly. As a member of the national anthem solicitation group, Tian Han suggested changing the lyrics because the background of the lyrics at that time was the Anti-Japanese War. Now that we have been liberated, the background has changed. But Zhou Enlai said: "Either use the old lyrics, so as to arouse emotions. After revising them, you won't have the same emotion when singing." In the end, Chairman Mao made the final decision, believing that although China was liberated, it must "never forget the dangers in peace and security" ”, so the lyrics remain the same. The matter of the national anthem was settled.

“Students have no passion for singing the national anthem because they do not understand the background of the birth of the national anthem.”

So how were the National Anthem Memorial Square and the National Anthem Exhibition Hall prepared? Li Guocai told reporters. In 2005, an article was published in "Yangpu Forum" mentioning Yangpu District as the birthplace of the national anthem. It turns out that "Children of the Storm" was filmed at Shanghai Dentsu Film Company at No. 405, the original Jingzhou Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai. During the production of the film, the first record of "March of the Volunteers" was recorded at the Shanghai EMI Record Company at the original No. 1099 Xujiahui Road (now No. 811 Hengshan Road), and the recording was transcribed onto the film of the film "Children of the Storm". In May of the same year, the film "Children of the Storm" premiered at the Jincheng Grand Theater (today's Huangpu Theater). From then on, "March of the Volunteers" resounded across the land of China. In this way, the birth of the national anthem is related to the three districts of Yangpu, Xuhui and Huangpu.

After some consultations, the National Anthem Memorial Square played the Shanghai card, that is, the "March of the Volunteers" was born in Shanghai, and everyone has no objection to this. After that, several comrades from the Propaganda Department of the Yangpu District Party Committee and the District History and Records Office, Cultural Bureau, and Archives Bureau began to prepare for the construction of a national anthem exhibition hall.

On the eve of preparations, Li Guocai had already made a plan in his mind: the lyrics of "March of the Volunteers" were displayed on the circular outer wall of the "National Anthem Hall" in Chinese, English, German, French, Japanese and other languages. Engraved on translucent steel plate. In the "Interactive Earth" exhibition area, a 1.8-meter-diameter earth model is embedded in the wall, with multimedia images of countries around the world projected on it. With just a touch of your finger, you can access the customs and customs of a country and region anywhere on earth. In the national anthem display area, people can request national anthems of various countries at any time.

After the completion of the National Anthem Exhibition Hall, it received rave reviews. But Li Guocai still has a little regret, "The current museum is limited by its area and cannot introduce the historical background of the birth of "March of the Volunteers" in detail."

In Li Guocai's view, the national anthem is the best for the next generation. Patriotism education, but now some teachers report that students cannot open their mouths when singing the national anthem, "Brave the enemy's fire and move forward!" Who does this "enemy" refer to? "Build our new Great Wall with our flesh and blood!" Why use "flesh and blood" instead of bricks?

Li Guocai said that after the "September 18th" incident, various anti-Japanese organizations were spontaneously formed in Northeast China, collectively known as "Volunteer Army", and fought to the death against the Japanese invaders. Japanese imperialism was quite cruel. "In the Fuxin coal mine, they boiled the killed Chinese people into oil for lighting lamps, commonly known as 'human oil lamps.' In Dalian Port, because there were too many corpses, the Japanese army also came up with a 'living bottom coffin' to carry the coffins to the wilderness. In the wild, the bottom was removed and the body was thrown away..." Li Guocai said: "Students today are not passionate when singing the national anthem. This is because they do not understand the lyrics. If they have some understanding of the background of the birth of the national anthem, it will be a problem. It will arouse a lot of passion.”

Old photos in the National Anthem Exhibition Hall: Nie Er took photos of evidence of aggression under the eyes of the Japanese army

In the National Anthem Exhibition Hall, there is a precious photo taken by Nie Er. The photo was found by Li Guocai from Yunnan. The content is of the Japanese invasion of Shanghai after the "January 28" incident. After the "January 28" incident, the film studio went to the battlefield to shoot scenes. Nie Er took his camera and met two American sentries by the river, and greeted them in English. Seeing that the young man was handsome and could speak English, the American sentry felt cordial and allowed him to take pictures by the Huangpu River. At this time, two Japanese soldiers came over. They saw Nie Er taking pictures of the Japanese warship and wanted to take him away. At this time, the American soldier acted as a peacemaker and suggested that Nie Er remove the film from the camera. Only then did the Japanese soldiers give up. Nie Er pretended to thank the American soldiers, took out his spare film and took pictures of them. He turned around and took the picture of the Japanese warships on the Huangpu River.

“There are many precious old photos in the National Anthem Exhibition Hall.

"Li Guocai told reporters that shortly after "Children of the Storm" was released, Dentsu was forced to close down in the second half of 1935. At that time, many people wanted to play roles in Dentsu's movies, including Zhou Xuan, who later became famous. In "Children of the Storm", I only got one role as Dancer A.