There are three direct reasons why Xu Ruhui repeatedly insisted on writing the musical "Mulan Joins the Army":
First, to meet the needs of the Anti-Japanese War and support the upsurge of resisting Japan and saving the nation.
After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Japanese army launched a large-scale aggressive war against China. The beautiful mountains and rivers of the motherland were trampled, and the brothers and sisters were massacred. The contradiction between China and Japan became the main contradiction, and resisting Japan and saving the nation became The top priority of the Chinese nation. People of all ethnic groups in China immediately took action and set off an upsurge of supporting the frontline in the war of resistance. "There are people who can help, strength can help, money can help, money can help, knowledge can help knowledge." This is the common slogan of people of all ethnic groups in China, and it is also their unanimous action. Across the country, from cities to villages, both intellectuals and workers and peasants expressed their concern for the survival of the nation in their own way, quickly forming an unstoppable torrent.
In the upsurge of the National War of Resistance, musicals, as the most direct and powerful form of promoting resistance against Japan, boosting morale, and uniting the people, naturally became an important drama genre during this period. Many patriotic dramatists and composers Artists, dancers, and actors devoted all their efforts to creation and traveled to various parts of the motherland. Wherever they went, they spread songs and dances for national salvation and further ignited the fire of the Anti-Japanese War in various places.
Following masters such as Yan Shushi, Chen Dabei, Chen Gexin, Wang Luobin, and Ouyang Yuqian, Xu Ruhui was also deeply affected by the anti-war sentiments when he was in Chengdu, and determined to create the musical "Mulan Joins the Army" to support the national anti-war. A helping hand.
Secondly, the Datong Music Festival has an established mission, which is to help improve my country's old local dramas and new dramas from a musical perspective. Xu Ruhui has never forgotten his mission, and his desire to create musicals has never been extinguished.
Pan Gongzhan once pointed out: "Music is a very important link and is the main area of ??the Cultural Games." Wang Xiaolai also said: "If there is no music in a drama, what else is there to watch?" During the Anti-Japanese War, more than 270 plays were staged in Chongqing, including dramas, operas, children's plays, Yang operas, local operas, etc. At that time, there was already a trend of adding, arranging or composing music on the drama stage. The performance of a drama without music will be much worse.
Under such circumstances, drama research has become an important part of the Datong Concert Club’s revival plan: “Assist the country in promoting social education work in music, songs and operas”; and in the Datong Concert Association’s charter It is stipulated that the Director-General of Music Affairs is responsible for: "Responsible for the training of music, the collection, arrangement and performance of music, the manufacture, proofreading and review of musical instruments, and the research of local music, songs and dramas." Historical materials of the Datong Concert also specifically mention: "Organization The Datong Music Club plans to perform musical dramas frequently, integrating music and drama to promote state-owned culture and promote social education, which is more effective. At the same time, it can also obtain securities funds to supplement business funds. It has been registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs. It is the first "Mulan Joins the Army" will be performed on May 1."
Xu Ruhui and the Datong Music Club are looking forward to embarking on a new theatrical path by staging the musical "Mulan Joins the Army". "Mulan Joins the Army" is the beginning of Datong Music Club, and it is also their hope to ignite bright hope in the Yale Chinese drama belief.
Third, respond to the Nationalist Government’s call of “one inch of river and one inch of blood, one hundred thousand young people and one hundred thousand troops.”
The craze for joining the army under the call of "One Hundred Thousand Youth, One Hundred Thousand Army" was a youth patriotic movement in China at the end of World War II. In the second half of 1943, the Chinese troops stationed in India and the expedition The army was short of many men. In order to make up for this shortage of troops, on August 27, 1944, Chiang Kai-shek called on "one inch of rivers and one inch of blood, one hundred thousand young people and one hundred thousand troops" at the third session of the National Political Council to mobilize knowledge Young people enlist in the army. On September 16, 1944, Chiang Kai-shek made an impromptu speech at the National Political Conference: "At this critical moment of war, the country must put its own concerns first and enable educated youth to serve on the battlefield, because educated youth have knowledge and the ability to make automatic judgments. The addition of one educated youth to the team is equivalent to the addition of ten ordinary soldiers." On October 21, the Nationalist Government's Military Commission promulgated the "Measures for the Recruitment of Intellectual Youths into the Army" and other regulations. At the same time, an Intellectual Youth Military Steering Committee was established, composed of military and political leaders of the Kuomintang. It is composed of people and famous figures in the education field. Later, the Youth Training Directorate was established to be responsible for the training of young people recruited into the army. According to statistics, the number of applicants at Central University and Chongqing University has reached 1/3 of the students on campus.
Local authorities also followed suit, from Chongqing to Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Hubei, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu and other provinces and cities, forming a massive wave of young intellectuals signing up to join the army that shook the history of China's Anti-Japanese War.
It was in the context of the craze for joining the army that Chongqing Central Daily published a series of decrees, news and news such as "Soliciting operas, scripts and songs for the military movement, with profound expressions and correct implicits". On November 23, 1944, Xu Ruhui attended the "Preparatory Meeting for the Popular Propaganda Conference of Intellectual Youths Joining the Army" held by the Chongqing Party Headquarters on behalf of Datong Lehui. There were only six participants. In order to ensure the smooth performance of "Mulan Joins the Army", the Datong Music Club has taken a series of preparatory activities: First, a special performance committee was established, with 13 members, basically composed of Datong Music Club directors. In addition to promoting the repertoire, they also He is also responsible for subscribing and selling theater tickets, and must complete the quota within a limited time. The list of committee members is as follows: Wang Yansong, Wang Guanying, Wang Xiaolai, Jiang Yiping, Zhu Xuefan, Zhu Lianfu, Hong Lanyou, Kang Xinru, Xu Jingren, Pan Shijing, Pan Gongzhan, Yu Qiaqing, and Gu Yiqiao.
Secondly, because the Datong Music Club itself is not a theater company, "Mulan Joins the Army" is scheduled to start soon, and the theater and musical staff have been recruited in place, but the actors and performance venues have not been finalized. So Xu Ruhui turned to Pan Gongzhan for help. Pan Gongzhan was the director of Datong Music Club and the earliest advocate of "musical drama". He was the one who advocated the musical "Xi Shi" back then. Therefore, "Mulan Joins the Army" from script review to performance, He was involved and planned from beginning to end. After his introduction, Zhang Zhizhong, then the director of China Film Studio and a director of the Datong Music Club, vigorously assisted in the performance of the musical "Mulan Joins the Army" and helped solve the problems of actors and venues for "Mulan Joins the Army". Finally, Pan Gongzhao showed up for the costumes and contacted Chongqing "Huahua Company" to purchase clothing materials and customize costumes. Most of the actors in "Mulan Joins the Army" are from the "China Long Live Theater Company". The band musicians are from the Chinese music class of the Correctional Institution for Children, and the eight dancers are all from the Datong Drama Club.
Thirdly, if you want to perform on the Chongqing stage, you need to set up a drama club, and the "Datong Drama Club" came into being. On February 26, 1945, Wang Xiaolai and Pan Gongzhan stated that "the association believes that various local old plays and new dramas in my country fail to cooperate with music, so that they are relatively slow to promote social education" and "the association has created its own There are more than 40 kinds of musical instruments, more than 100 amateur members, and 30 students from the reformatory for children with disabilities. The musical accompaniment band has a foundation. The first musical is planned to rehearse "Mulan Joins the Army" to enhance women's anti-war spirit." In the name of the executive director of the Music Club, the "Datong Drama Society" was registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs and was affiliated to the Datong Music Club.
Fourth, after the script of "Mulan Joins the Army" was completed, it was officially published by Chongqing China Brothers Publishing Company in early April 1945, and was jointly sponsored by the Cultural Services Department of Chongqing Vientiane Weekly, Asia Book Society and Kunming China Brothers The general manager of the sales department of Kunming Branch of the publishing company issued two thousand copies.