1. Li Jinqi wrote and sang "The East is Red, the Sun Rises, and Mao Zedong was born in China" as the lyrics.
Since the founding of New China, "The East is Red" has been popular among the lyricists. There have been many changes in the signature: from 1949 to 1950, it was only signed "Northern Shaanxi Folk Songs"; in 1951, the "Northern Shaanxi Folk Songs" published by New Literature and Art Publishing House included the lyrics of "The East is Red", the predecessor of "Immigration Songs" The author is Li Zengzheng (from Zhangjiazhuang, Jia County, Shaanxi Province, Jia County was renamed "Jia County" in 1964); "Selected Chinese Revolutionary Folk Songs" printed by Shanghai Wanye Bookstore in 1952 and "Chinese Revolutionary Folk Songs" published by New Music Publishing House in 1953 The lyricist of "The East is Red" included in "Selected Folk Songs" is still Li Zengzheng. In 1952, the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee and the Suide District held a congress of literary and artistic creators. Li Youyuan (a peasant singer, native of Jiaxian County, Shaanxi Province, Li Zengzheng's uncle, 1903-1955) gave a speech at the meeting entitled "How I wrote "The Oriental" "Red"'s speech and subsequently became a news figure. After 1952, Li Youyuan replaced Li Zengzheng as the ex-officio "lyricist" of "The East is Red". In 1953, the seventh issue of "People's Pictorial" published an article in which the famous writer Xu Chi interviewed Li Youyuan, accompanied by a large photo of "Li Youyuan, the lyricist of "The East is Red"". In 1976, a tombstone was erected in front of Li Youyuan's tomb with the inscription "The Tomb of Li Youyuan, the Author of "The East Is Red"". In fact, Li Youyuan is not the originator of the lyrics of "The East is Red", but is just a "singer". Based on the collected historical materials, we will examine the origins of the author of the lyrics of "The East Is Red" as follows to restore the true face of history.
In the northwest plateau, on both sides of the Yellow River, there was a love song called "Sesame Oil" (also known as "No One Should Sell Their Conscience") that was popular in northwest Shanxi and northern Shaanxi a long time ago. There are many versions of the lyrics to this love song that has been sung for centuries. For example: "The buckwheat flowers are blooming in white. The third sister is really handsome. Her hairy eyes are watery. She is shouting, brother, I am moved." Another example: "Sesame oil, cabbage heart, I want to eat beans for cramps." "Jin, I feel like dying after not seeing you for three days, hello, oh my third brother."
After the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, there was an old actor Fang Xianzhang in the "Red Army Drama Club" in Yan'an. , before joining the drama club, she sang "Sesame Oil" while performing along both sides of the Yellow River. By 1938, An Bo, a musician who worked at Yan'an Lu Xun Art Institute, and others filled in new words with the tune of "Sesame Oil" that Fang Xianzhang had sung, and it evolved into a folk song reflecting the anti-Japanese content, and named it " Riding a White Horse". The first two paragraphs of the new poem are: "Riding a white horse, carrying a foreign gun, the third brother has eaten the grain of the Eighth Route Army, and wants to go home to see the girl. He is black, and he can't care about fighting Japan. He has to wear gray, and he is covered in gray. I have to carry a gun on my shoulder, my brother is a soldier and he is shaking, my little sister is left at home." This revolutionary folk song has been sung in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region ever since.
In 1941, Li Jinqi (also known as "Li Jinqi"), who graduated from Yan'an Border Normal School, returned to Jiaxian County to serve as the academic director and music teacher of Wan Primary School in Tong Town. Li Jinqi was a member of the Communist Party and came from Yan'an. He had an active mind and a good voice, so he taught students to sing many anti-Japanese songs in the school, making the school's singing activities famous in Jia County. After that, Li Jinqi wrote the lyrics of a song praising Mao Zedong and the Communist Party. After some revisions, the lyrics were finalized as: "The east is red, the sun is rising, China has Mao Zedong, he seeks survival for the people, he The Communist Party is like the sun. Wherever it shines, the people will be liberated. The Red Army loves the people and is a hero in armed struggle. In order to liberate all of China, Thinking about destroying the enemy everywhere. The red sun, revolutionary people, Marxism-Leninism shines, and her thoughts point the way and illuminate the people." After the lyrics were written, Li Jinqi would sing "Riding" when he was studying at the Yan'an Border Normal School. "White Horse", so the tune of "Riding a White Horse" was used as the tune of this song to teach students to sing. Soon after, more than 300 students in the school learned to sing this new song, and it became popular in Jia County. At that time, Li Zengzheng was studying in this primary school.
2. The lyrics and music were changed to "Immigration Song" by Li Youyuan and Li Zengzheng's uncle and nephew and became popular
In 1943, because Jia County suffered a drought, the government organized more than 70 poor people to Farmers migrated south to develop the barren hills. Li Zengzheng, who had graduated from Tongzhen Elementary School, served as the deputy captain of the "immigration team". On the way south, when he saw that some immigrants were homesick, Li Zengzheng, who was good at compiling yangko, said: "We are more prosperous on the road, and everyone will be homesick. Chairman Mao led the poor to turn around, so we will compose " "Let's Sing the Song "Chairman Mao Leads the Poor to Transform themselves" (later known as "The Immigration Song"). "The first verse of this song compiled by Li Zengzheng was the first verse he took from Li Jinqi's "Riding the White Horse" when he was still in elementary school. The lyrics were moved in, and the tune was "Riding the White Horse" chosen by Li Jinqi. Soon, Li Zengzheng and his uncle Li Youyuan wrote a nine-section folk song "Immigration Song" based on the tune of the northern Shaanxi folk song "Riding the White Horse". "Immigration Song" has both narrative and lyrical elements, expressing the joyful mood of the poor farmers in pursuing a happy life under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China. After the song was compiled, Li Zengzheng sang it many times at folk and mass gatherings, and was very popular among people.
Li Jinqi, who knew this, later said: "I wrote and sang the lyrics myself. Later, Comrade Ma Ke wrote the third paragraph, 'Chairman Mao, loves the people...' and deleted the original military paragraph. At this time, I was still finishing my small job in Tong Town. I knew everything about the situation, but I was a member of the Communist Party and a people's teacher. The mobilization of immigrants by the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government was a major event. I couldn't argue with Comrade Li Youyuan and others. The impact At that time, I never said anything about the movement.”
◆Li Youyuan
In February 1944, Wang Dahua (actor), Liu Chi (composer), and Ma Li from Yan’an Lu Xun Art Institute. Ke (composer) and others led the Yangko team to visit the 1st Independent Brigade of the Eighth Route Army stationed in Jiaxian and Wubao areas. They passed by Wulongpu (now Wuzhen, Jiaxian County), and after staying in a mule-horse shop, they learned that there were two model immigrants. Li Youyuan and Li Zengzheng's uncle and nephew also lived here, so he invited them over to sit on the big kang and chat. At this moment, Li Youyuan suddenly said: "We made up a song to promote immigration." As soon as he heard the new song, Liu Chi immediately took out a pen and paper and prepared to record the song and score. When the uncle and nephew of the Li family sang at the top of their voices, "The east is red, the sun is rising, China has a Mao Zedong, he seeks survival for the people, whoops, he is the great savior of the people..." Liu Chi heard this and thought to himself Isn't it the tune of "Sesame Oil"? Then the uncles and nephews of the Li family sang: "The mountains and rivers are beautiful, the sky and the earth are flat. Chairman Mao leads Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia to welcome immigrants and open up the mountains and forests. Our border area is full of red; three mountains are low and five mountains are high. Chairman Mao has made great contributions in governing the country. The border area is running well, and the common people Praise to Tang Yao; the border areas are red, the border areas are red, there are no poor people in the border areas, and if there are poor people, they immigrate, dig out the roots of poverty and turn over..." Because the Yangko team is rushing to arrange a Yangko opera "Xianan Road" with an immigration theme, and This song is related to immigration, so Liu Chi and others used this song in "Xianan Road". After performing in Jia County that year, Liu Chi sang this "Immigration Song" when he went to the county middle school to tutor the student chorus. After listening to it, the music teacher at the county middle school told Liu Chi that they had already known how to sing this song. The lyrics were written by Teacher Li (Li Jinqi) from a primary school near his home. Teacher Li *** wrote four paragraphs. The Propaganda Department of the County Party Committee thought it was too long and deleted one paragraph. The lyrics of the first paragraph were the same as those sung by Liu Chi. Afterwards, Wang Dahua and others felt that the first paragraph of "Immigration Song" was very catchy, and the content was about praising people's leaders, which was very good. It's just that this section seems to be unfinished. After they returned to Yan'an, they agreed to ask the poet Gongmu (Zhang Songru, who was teaching at the Lu Xun Art Institute at the time) to write two more lyrics praising the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army. However, Gongmu was busy selecting and organizing northern Shaanxi Folk songs, let this matter go for the time being.
On March 11, 1944, Yan'an's "Liberation Daily" published a report titled "Immigrant Singer" written by reporter Chen Bolin. This report not only introduced how Li Zengzheng "composed" "Chairman Mao Leads the Poor to Turn Around" (i.e., the Immigration Song), but also published all nine lyrics of the song and the score of "Riding the White Horse" in the Liberation Daily. Therefore, the song started singing immediately (this is why the lyricist of "The East is Red" signed Li Zengzheng's name in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China).
3. The song was rewritten and supplemented by Gongmu and renamed "The East is Red"
In the spring and summer of 1945, Gongmu, He Qifang and others co-edited "Selected Folk Songs of Northern Shaanxi" A book in which "Immigration Song" is compiled. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in August of the same year, the "Northeast Literary and Art Work Troupe" (also known as the "Eighth Squadron") was formed with teachers and students from Yan'an Lu Xun Art College as the main body. It set off from Yan'an in September 1945 and headed for the Northeast Liberated Area. After arriving in Shenyang in late October, because there was a celebration meeting to be held in a day or two and some programs needed to be prepared, the comrades of the cultural troupe discussed together that they should rewrite the "Immigration Song" and sing it, and recommended Gong Mu to write the rewrite and lyrics. . In this way, Gongmu chose the first paragraph of the original song, but changed the original word "to survive" to "to seek happiness." A second paragraph was added: "Chairman Mao loves the people. He is our leader. In order to build a new China, he leads us forward." Since the third paragraph wanted to praise the Communist Party, Gongmu chose The opening and closing lines of a short poem titled "Departure" that I wrote while marching to the Northeast are: "The Communist Party is like the sun, it shines wherever it shines" and "Wherever there is Communist Party of China Party, where the people will be liberated" was written into the lyrics. The fourth paragraph is written based on the unity of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army and the people, that is: "The Communist Party, the common people, the children of the Democratic Alliance Army, the military and civilians cooperate heart to heart, defend the country and enjoy peace." The lyrics were compiled by the composer. Liu Chi slightly processed the tune of "Riding the White Horse" and performed it. This performance, for the first time, was titled ""The East is Red" - Northern Shaanxi Folk Song" during the announcement. It was sung by the "Northeast Art Troupe" and conducted by Liu Chi.
After "The East Is Red" was performed in Shenyang, it quickly spread throughout the Northeast and major liberated areas in Guan. In January 1948, the title of the "Northeast Democratic Alliance Army" was cancelled, so the fourth verse of lyrics was naturally eliminated from subsequent singing. In the early days of national liberation, "The East Is Red" published in the officially published song collection had the first three lyrics compiled by Gong Mu, but the signature was either "Northern Shaanxi Folk Song" or "Li Zengzheng Ci" or "Li Youyuan Ci". As it spreads like this, people mistakenly believe that all three lyrics were sung by Li Youyuan. Some insiders also asked Gongmu about this matter.
Later, Gong Mu and others who wrote the lyrics and changed the songs felt that it was better to acquiesce. The acquiescence was a sign of respect and love for the peasant masses. Clarifying the facts seemed to be trying to gain credit, so no one studied it in detail.