March of the Volunteers was originally the theme song created by Nie Er in 1935 for the feature film "Children of the Storm" filmed by Shanghai Dentsu Company.
This film tells the story of China intellectuals, represented by the poet Xin Baihua, who joined the army in the early 1930s and went to the anti-Japanese front to kill the enemy heroically to save the motherland.
It appeared twice in the film and left a deep impression on the audience.
Therefore, it soon became the most famous anti-Japanese war song in China.
After the founding of New China, it was named "National Anthem of China People and Chinese Nation", and later officially named "National Anthem of China People and Chinese Nation". Many people want to trace the origin of this song, and newspapers have published introduction articles many times, but opinions vary.
Among them, the most popular is that the lyrics of this song were written by Comrade Tian Han 1935 wrapped in a piece of paper after he was arrested in Shanghai.
Soon, he asked someone to take him out of prison and hand him over to Sun Shiyi and Xia Yan. Another statement was written before Tian Han was arrested. After his literary script of Phoenix Regeneration, he asked Comrade Tian Han which of these statements was more accurate and true. Comrade Tian Han said that he didn't remember it until198365438+1October 27th. Only in this way can we have a reliable basis. Comrade Xia Yan said in his letter: "This piece was composed by Nie Er in Japan on 1935 and sent back to Shanghai."
1934, Dentsu Company was established in Shanghai, and Comrade Tian Han was asked to write a movie script. By the winter of this year, Dentsu Company had solicited contributions from Comrade Tian Han.
Comrade Tian Han first handed in a simple literary script called Phoenix Regeneration and gave it to Comrade Sun Shiyi of Dentsu Company.
1935 February, Comrade Tian Han was arrested and imprisoned by * * *.
In order to start shooting as soon as possible, Dentsu decided to ask Sun Shiyi to rewrite Comrade Tian Han's literary script into a film literary script. With the consent of Comrade Tian Han, Sun Shiyi renamed the film "The Son of the Storm".
When dealing with the lyrics of the theme song, he only changed a few words, that is, the sixth sentence of the original words: "Braving enemy aircraft fire!" , changed to "braved enemy fire!" At that time, Comrade Nie Er was preparing to go to Japan and learned that the movie "The Son of the Storm" had a theme song to write. He volunteered to ask Sun Shiyi and Xu Xinzhi to give him the task of composing music, and said that he would send the song draft back as soon as possible after he arrived in Japan, which would never delay the filming.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before he sent it back to March of the Volunteers from Japan.
So all kinds of other myths about the plot of this song are unfounded.
After March of the Volunteers's score was sent back to Shanghai, He Lvting invited Aaron Afcharomov, a Soviet composer who was then the music director of EMI Records Company in Shanghai, to play the instrument.
It was quickly used in the movie "The Son of the Storm".
"March of Yitong Army" was later designated as "Chinese people and Chinese national anthem", and it also went through an interesting process:
1In the spring of 949, the World Peace Conference was held in Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia.
The delegation of China was invited to attend and learned that the Convention stipulated that all delegations should play and sing their national anthem when they entered the stadium on the opening day. The delegation was a little embarrassed, because the new China had not been established and there was no national anthem representing the new China, so we studied it together and decided to sing march of the volunteers instead.
However, the lyrics of the song "The Chinese nation is in the most dangerous time" are controversial.
Some people say, "Now that Peiping (Beijing was called Peiping at that time) has been liberated and the new China will be established, how can you sing like this?" Finally, Guo Moruo decided to change this sentence to "It's time for the Chinese nation to turn over".
After returning home, the delegation reported this situation, which aroused the attention of relevant parties to the formulation of the national anthem.
1In June, 949, the first CPPCC Preparatory Committee was preparing for the establishment of a new China, and felt that it was urgent to formulate a new Chinese national anthem. They handed this task to the Sixth Group of the CPPCC Preparatory Committee, with Ma Xulun as the leader and Shen Yanbing as the deputy leader, and established the "National Anthem Primary Selection Committee" composed of Tian Han, Shen Yanbing, Qian Sanqiang, Ou Yangyuqian, Guo Moruo and Xu Bei. Ma Sicong, Lu Ji, He Lvting and Yao were hired as consultants. On July 15 -26, the Sixth Group of the Preparatory Committee of the China People's Political Consultative Conference published a series of "Notices for Solicitation of National Flag, National Emblem and National Anthem" in domestic and foreign newspapers, which had a strong response. As of August 20th, a total of 632 national anthems were received with lyrics and music.
It was the painter Xu Beihong who first suggested march of the volunteers as the national anthem.
After repeated discussions, the sixth group was not finalized.
On September 2nd, the Sixth Group of the Preparatory Committee of China People's Political Consultative Conference held another meeting on the formulation of the national anthem. Comrade Zhou Enlai attended the meeting and listened to the opinions of the delegates. Zhang Xiruo, Guo Moruo, Liu Liangmo and Liang Sicheng all agreed with Xu Beihong's suggestion that March of the Volunteers be the national anthem of the people of China. Liu Liangmo said, "The national anthem represents a country and its national spirit.
Therefore, it should be produced in the struggle for national liberation and recognized by the people in the struggle, which is far from being replaced by the artificial emergency chapters of great poets and musicians. In my opinion, March of the Volunteers has withstood the test of struggle, comparable to the French national anthem "La Marseillaise" and can be selected as the national anthem of New China "; Li and Guo Moruo have a problem with the lyrics: "The Chinese nation has reached the most dangerous time" and think that the lyrics need to be changed. Tian Han said, "The lyrics I wrote had historical significance in the past, but now it should give way to new lyrics; Zhang Xiruo and Liang Sicheng believe that this song is a product of history, and the original words have profound meanings. In order to maintain its integrity, there is no need to change it.
Comrade Zhou Enlai finally made a speech. He said: "We still have enemies of imperialism before us. The more progress our construction makes, the more imperialism hates us, destroys us and attacks us. Can you say: We are no longer in danger? It is better to leave this sentence and always be vigilant! " Comrade * * * agreed.
In order to be prudent, * * * and Zhou Enlai held another consultation forum on the national flag, national emblem, national anthem, calendar and national capital in the conference room of * * * Fengzeyuan on the evening of September 25th, inviting people from all democratic parties and cultural circles to participate, and their opinions were unified.
Therefore, the Sixth Group of the Preparatory Committee of China People's Political Consultative Conference decided to take March of the Volunteers as the proposal of "National Anthem of the People's Republic of China" and formally submit it to the First National Political Consultative Conference for approval.
On June 27th, 1949, all CPPCC deputies passed it at one time. Before China's national anthem was officially decided, March of the Volunteers was adopted as the national anthem of China, and was adopted at the first session of the Fifth National People's Congress in 1978, and March of the Volunteers was designated as the national anthem of China.