The large-scale original drama "Military Song" created by Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) began its third round of performances in STA Experimental Theatre on 1 November 2020, which will continue until 6 November.
This round of performances coincided with the national grand commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army's fight abroad against US aggression and aiding DPRK. It has been found that many of the characters in "Military Song" are related to this war against US aggression and aiding Korea.
The main character of the play is Zheng Lucheng, a famous Chinese musician of Korean, who came to China to participate in the anti-Japanese war. “March of the Eighth Route” composed by him later became the “Military Song of the People's Liberation Army of China”. In 1950, with the approval of Premier Zhou Enlai, Zheng Lucheng returned to China with his wife and became a citizen of the People's Republic of China. During the war against US aggression and aiding DPRK, Zheng Lucheng went to frontline as a creator of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and composed songs such as “March of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army”, “Beloved Army and Beloved People” and “Singing for Baiyun Mountain” etc. In addition, Zheng Lucheng not only wrote Chinese military songs, but also Korean military songs. He composed the “March of the People's Army of Korea”.
Gong Mu, another important character in “Military Song”, is the author of the lyric of the “Military Song of the People's Liberation Army of China”. In history, Gong Mu not only created the lyric of “Military Song of the People's Liberation Army of China”, but also wrote the lyric of the theme song of the film "Heroes and Heroines" on the war against US aggression and aiding DPRK. This soul shaking song has been sung to this day.
This round of performances included a special performance of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Veterans Affairs, paying the highest tribute to the soldiers who fought bravely to defend the People's Republic of China. The main leaders of Shanghai Bureau of Veterans Affairs, Shanghai Theatre Academy and Shanghai Support Army and Care for Military Families Foundation attended the performance. After the performance, the veterans presented flowers to the crew of "Military Song" as a token of their love for the play. In honor of the soldiers of the People’s Republic of China, Xie Wei, Party Secretary of STA, presented flowers to the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Veterans Affairs on behalf of the crew of "Military Song".
After two rounds of performances last year, “Military Song” won wide praise. It won the "Excellent Work Award" (top ranking of drama category) in the "Shanghai Stage Art works Selection and Performance 2019", and the leading actor Xu Wei (playing Zheng Lucheng) won the "New Star Award" for performance. This current round of performances has absorbed the opinions of the audience and experts, and has embodied modified and upgraded text and music. In addition, new changes have also been made in terms of the performers, with the inclusion of the BA Acting 2019 students of the STA College of Continuing Education, thus establishing a brand new lineup of performers comprising teachers and alumni of STA as well as undergraduate, master and doctoral students of various colleges and departments of STA.
After seven consecutive performances at the STA Experimental Theatre, the crew of “Military Song” will go to Hubei in mid November to participate in the performances of the 4th China (Qianjiang) Cao Yu Cultural Week. After that, STA will continue to create a student version of "Military Song", especially the version performed by the BA Acting 2019 students of the College of Continuing Education, and will take this play for a tour to troops, universities and government departments.
