On July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the all-out war of aggression against China. During the second Kuomintang cooperation, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army (led by Zhu De and Peng Dehuai) and marched to the front lines of North China and the enemy's rear. After the victory at Pingxingguan in the first battle, Mao Zedong commanded the forward headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the Central Northern Bureau of the Communist Party of China to establish an anti-Japanese base area behind enemy lines; the Party Central Committee left Nie Rongzhen, deputy commander of the 115th Division, to establish an anti-Japanese base on the borders of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei provinces centered on the Wutai Mountain area. Democratic base.
On November 7, 1937, General Nie Rongzhen led more than 2,000 troops and was ordered to establish the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region in the Wutai Mountain area of ??Shanxi. In January 1938, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Government was established, creating the first anti-Japanese democratic base area in North China, which was praised by the Party Central Committee as a model anti-Japanese base area behind enemy lines.
With the development of armed struggle and democratic political power construction in the base area, cultural work has also developed, and is carried out simultaneously with the military, political, economic struggle and democratic government construction in the base area. Literary and artistic workers in the border areas used revolutionary literature and art as powerful weapons in their hands to build revolutionary base areas and strive for victory in the Anti-Japanese War. They created a large number of poems, dramas, novels, reportages, essays, music, fine arts, photography, and folk arts. and other works have played a huge role in uniting the people, educating the people, attacking the enemy, and destroying the enemy in the magnificent cause of national liberation.
1. Several stages of the rise and development of literature and art in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region
(1) Initial period: 1937 to 1938
At the end of 1937, The Eighth Route Army Propaganda Team carries forward the fine traditions of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, uses literary and artistic forms to publicize and organize the masses everywhere, and spread the seeds of new ideas and culture. (1) Establishing literary and artistic work in the military system: the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region Anti-Enemy Club was established, the Central Hebei Live Line Drama Club and more than a dozen military division drama clubs were established one after another. (2) Local literary and artistic work has also been carried out: the People's Theater Troupe, "Anti-Enemy Daily" (later changed to "Jin-Cha-Hebei Daily") opened a literary supplement "Haiyan", anti-Japanese national salvation music and drama are active in the vast rural areas of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei ( Most of the programs come from the rear area and Yan'an). In December 1937, writer Zhou Libo visited the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region and subsequently published "Impressions of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region" in a Wuhan newspaper. This was the first external report on the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region.
Establishment of a literary and artistic team: In May 1938, the Yan'an Literature and Art Troupe came to the border area; on January 3, 1939, many comrades from the Northwest Field Service Corps came to Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei from Yan'an. The General Political Frontline Reporters Group, the Northeast Cadre Corps Tieliu Society, the Art Troupe of the Second Anti-Japanese University Branch, the 120th Division Combat Drama Club, and many young students from Pingxi and Tianjin... came to the border area to participate in literary and artistic work, forming a vibrant A literary and artistic team has begun to take shape, and has developed poetry, drama, music, battlefield communications, reportage, and novels. (Street poetry, music, drama, and communication reports are relatively active, and novels are in their infancy, with some wall novels appearing)
After more than a year of hard work, the soldiers and civilians in the border area defeated the enemy's many encirclement and suppression campaigns and established an iron The disciple soldiers have established a firm foothold in the border area. In January 1938, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Government was established, establishing a solid democratic regime... With the development of military, political, cultural, and struggle in the base areas, the masses are hungry for cultural food and need more literary and artistic works to reflect their new policies. life and great struggles. In early 1938, cultural units such as the Anti-Enemy Newspaper and Jungkook Newspaper initiated the establishment of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Cultural Workers National Salvation Association, which enabled the literary and artistic work in the border region to be carried out with purpose, organization, and leadership, and vigorously carried out various literary and artistic forms. The anti-Japanese and national salvation propaganda activities strengthened the masses' confidence in persisting in victory in the war of resistance behind enemy lines.
(2) Development period: 1939 to 1942
Under the new situation, the National Salvation Association of Cultural Workers could no longer adapt to the needs of the development of cultural work. The Border Region Cultural Association was established in 1939 An interim representative meeting was held on February 15, and it was decided to rename the Cultural Association the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Cultural Sector Anti-Japanese Salvation Association (referred to as the Cultural Salvation Association), elect a new leadership organization, and decide to organize the association in each region, county, district, and village Establish cultural and literary rescue organizations universally to make them become mass organizations with a strong mass base and spread literary and artistic work to the vast number of rural areas.
On February 26, 1939, a symposium on creative issues in the border areas was held.