Chapter 162 The Moon of Yesteryear
At the beginning of the year, Xie Ning followed the crowd to listen to Chiang Kai-shek's New Year's Day speech, in which he talked about convening a "National Assembly," "promulgating a constitution," and "returning power to the people of the whole country," etc.
The broadcast continued, and then someone began to scoff.
"hypocritical......"
"It's just a political hoax."
Last year, the Kuomintang suffered a major defeat on the main battlefield, which directly exposed the corruption of the Kuomintang's one-party dictatorship. As a result, the reorganization of the National Government became a growing demand of the people, which is why Chiang Kai-shek made a vision for the future on the radio.
Everyone was well aware of Chiang's tactics, and they discussed how to break through them one by one. They then proposed the idea of establishing a democratic coalition government. The Chinese Workers' Delegation had already put forward this idea at the Political Consultative Conference last year, but the other side had ignored it.
Finally, they decided to send people to Chongqing for negotiations. Although they all knew in their hearts that the negotiations might be fruitless, the important thing was the significance. Their main purpose was to isolate the diehards.
Then came the preparations for the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Xie Ning quietly wrote the report he needed to give, and everyone else was also preparing in a tense but orderly manner, including the teachers and students of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts.
Xie Ning was slightly surprised when she saw the opera "The White-Haired Girl" in the auditorium, which was prepared as a tribute to the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China. She knew that this opera was very famous, but she had never seen it before. She did not expect that it was created and performed at this time.
It's very good and quite novel for this era, unlike previous operas such as "Brother and Sister Reclaiming Wasteland".
Ever since seeing an opera in the auditorium, Zhao Le has become obsessed with opera. Whenever he has free time, he asks Xie Ning to go see one with him, complaining that Xie Ning is buried in books and is turning into a bookworm. He says she needs to go out and see the sunshine.
It was a journey of more than ten miles. Xie Ning lay peacefully in the courtyard, basking in the sun. She didn't want to move, and having already seen it, she didn't want to see it again. Zhao Le only hummed twice before having Xiao Yang bring out the horse. Xie Ning just sat on the horse, and they walked.
But riding a horse makes your butt hurt, but when faced with the bright eyes of Erniu and the group of young men, Xie Ning gave in. Fine, go ahead. They'll all stay in the courtyard with her, and even the horses have to be let out for a couple of runs every now and then.
Zhao Le pointed to the stage and said, "The stage is very simple, and the actors' costumes and props are completely different from what I have seen abroad before. They are not as good as those in the auditorium. However, the spirit it conveys far surpasses any opera I have ever seen."
The entire opera, by exposing the sharp contradictions between the proletariat and the feudal landlord class, reflects the blood and tears of the lower classes and praises the leadership role of the Labour Party, thus possessing profound educational significance.
Indeed, after the opera performance in the auditorium, the leaders and others made an exception and went on stage to meet the performers and staff, shaking hands with them to express their congratulations.
"I heard that this story comes from a folk legend called the White-Haired Fairy?" One of the guards was from Hebei, and she looked into it after she got back.
"Yes, the fusion of poetry, song, and dance into a new national opera can be said to have pioneered modern opera. Our country is not like other countries, where opera is very popular."
As the music began, a huge crowd gathered below the stage, filling every available space—on the cave dwellings, in the trees, everywhere. Xie Ning, with her height advantage, could see clearly, though the sound wasn't as clear. She could hear a girl in a red, diagonally-fastened cloth jacket, with braided pigtails, slowly singing…
"The north wind blows, the snowflakes fall, the snowflakes flutter as the New Year arrives... I'm waiting for my father to come home for the New Year."
The operatic style of singing is melodious and graceful. The opening is a Hebei folk song, which fully demonstrates Xi'er's innocence and expectations for the future.
"Other people's daughters have flowers to wear, but I don't have enough money to buy them. So I bought two feet of red ribbon and tied it up for my Xi'er! Hey! Tie it up!"
Zhao Le unconsciously started singing along. Indeed, the lyrics were poetry in themselves, easy to recite, and very rhyming, making them perfect for singing. In just a few days, even Chuncao could sing it.
Xiao Guo was overjoyed. The child had become noticeably more cheerful, so he took the allowance he had just received and used it to buy Chuncao two feet of red ribbon. Then he carefully braided two small braids for Chuncao.
"Chuncao, are you ready? It's time for rehearsal."
"Alright!" Chuncao ran up to the little girl who was half a head taller than her. "Sister Aihong, can you teach me to sing and act? I want to earn money like them too."
Then my second brother will be able to get another pair of shoes.
"Haha, that's not making money, it's fundraising. We sing and act to promote the resistance against Japan, and the money we raise goes to the soldiers to fight the Japanese devils!"
"Yes, fundraising, I want to learn."
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