1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Chapter 35 "The Song of a Strong Army"

When I was in the first year of junior high school.

They ate glutinous rice balls and dumplings... After all, the people in the cultural troupe came from all over the country, so it was a way of taking care of everyone's eating habits.

Zhou Xu had previously read online that people in Northeast China eat dumplings from the first to the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. He didn't know if it was true, but it seemed possible.

Sometimes Zhou Xu finds dumplings delicious, but eating them as a staple food all the time can get boring.

He got a bowl of dumplings in the morning and ate them slowly.

……

We declared a state of alert last time. But there's still a month until the actual start of the war.

As a member of the cultural troupe, Zhou Xu definitely wanted to play his part in such a critical moment, but his greatest role was to spread propaganda and inspire people by creating inspiring works.

So he wrote a military song.

Why not write novels?

Because compared to novels, singing is the most accessible and easily understood form of communication. As something that even uneducated people can understand, folk songs are no exception!

The most basic emotions of the people are infused into the song. That's why the song has a wider reach!

This is why many composers in the military are actually music writers. Because singing is the only way soldiers can truly connect and share emotions!
He can't possibly be reading novels while on the battlefield, can he? Besides, he wouldn't be able to write an excellent novel in such a short time.

So Zhou Xu wrote a song!

After dinner.

Zhou Xu took the military song he had composed and written lyrics for to the studio and knocked on the door: "Director Bai Hua?"

"Come in!"

Zhou Xu saluted, then went into the office, pushing his self-composed lyrics and music towards Director Bai Hua:
"Director, last time you said that we should create new works during this period, and later I wrote this song based on what I saw and felt in the military camp."

Bai Hua was also taken aback: "You can write songs?"

“I’ve studied music!” Zhou Xu blinked.

Bai Hua looked at Zhou Xu's application materials and realized that he had more than just the talent of writing novels. When registering his special skills during his enlistment, Zhou Xu had also listed "proficient in erhu"!
So it's not surprising that the child in front of us can write songs.

Bai Hua was initially surprised because Zhou Xu was a writer, and it's not unusual for writers to write screenplays, but his foray into the music industry was a little unexpected.

"Then let me see it?"

Bai Hua can't read sheet music. He used to write poems, scripts, and novels, but he can't write songs.

So his first instinct was to look at the lyrics and music.

"The Song of a Strong Army? That's a fitting name! Now is the crucial moment for building a strong army and preparing for battle!" Bai Hua commented.

"Listen, the bugle call of the new journey has sounded, the goal of building a strong military is calling us forward. If the country is to be strong, we must take on the responsibility. The battle flag is filled with the glory of iron and blood. Soldiers obey the Party's command, are capable of fighting and winning battles with excellent style. They are not afraid of strong enemies and dare to compete, and fight to win the battle for the motherland."

This is the first verse of lyrics; the following verses follow a similar pattern of arrangement and combination.

However, the rhythm and rhyme schemes of poetry and lyrics are common, because poetry evolved from lyrics.

To be honest, the earliest collection of poems, the Book of Songs, was taken from folk songs from the Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn periods.

Bai Hua nodded: "These lyrics are really good! Hey... I don't know much about songs, but after reading the lyrics, I felt they were full of righteousness and courage! It felt like I was about to shout it out! It was so powerful!"

Zhou Xu felt that this was the most widely spread military song of the 21st century.

In March 2013, the former General Political Department's Propaganda Department approached Wang Xiaoling and Yin Qing, hoping they could write a song in the shortest possible time to educate and guide officers and soldiers to keep in mind the goal of building a strong military, strengthen their belief in building a strong military, and dedicate themselves to the practice of building a strong military, so as to promote and sing it throughout the army. The initial draft was titled "Song of Building a Strong Military," but after suggestions from relevant comrades in the former General Political Department, the character "之" (zhi, meaning "of") was changed to "战" (zhan, meaning "war").

As for how amazing Wang Xiaoling is, his works include "The Soldier," "On the Sunny Road," "The Song of a Strong Army," "When That Day Comes," and operas such as "Yimeng Mountain" and "The Wild Goose Brigade."

Yin Qing is also a first-class composer of the General Political Department. His works include "Entering the New Era", "Singing in the West", "The Heavenly Road", "Under the Brilliant Sunshine" and "Towards Rejuvenation", as well as the operas "Daughter of the Party" and "The Canal Ballad" and the dance drama music "Mazu".

After this song came out, Zhou Xu felt that in this day and age, who could stop him!
In the 21st century, it had no chance to play a combat role, and Zhou Xu brought it with him for 79 years.

……

Looking at the lyrics, Bai Hua clicked her tongue in amazement and couldn't help but praise Zhou Xu!

These lyrics sound great!

Zhou Xu asked, "Then can these be distributed to the performing arts troupe for study?"

"Sigh~" Bai Hua didn't respond, but continued, "Let me take a look at the lyrics first! I'll ask the political commissar and Lao Gao to come over and review the sheet music later!"

"Then I'll go back first...?"

Bai Hua nodded: "Wait, when you get back to the studio later, call Gao Ruxing over!"

"I understand, Director!" Zhou Xu nodded and left.

He had absolutely no worries about this song!
It is full of righteousness, so righteous that it can drive away evil and bring good fortune. After listening to it, you will feel your righteous spirit last forever!
Secondly, it's simple and easy to understand! After listening to it once or twice, even tone-deaf people can shout along!
Zhou Xu left the office.

He went straight to the studio and saw Gao Ruxing writing on the table. Zhou Xu called out, "Old Gao, the director wants to see you!"

Gao Ruxing was both a veteran member of the performing arts troupe and a composer, so it was natural to invite Gao Ruxing to participate in the review.

Enter the office.

Bai Hua handed the sheet music to Gao Ruxing and asked, "This is a new song submitted by a comrade. I don't understand it, so I'm showing it to you first!"

Bai Hua also avoided revealing Zhou Xu's name immediately, preventing Gao Ruxing from doing the same thing as herself, by immediately denying that a writer could produce excellent songs.

Gao Ruxing took the sheet music.

I looked over curiously.

In its melody design, "The Song of a Strong Army" breaks away from the traditional military song's single pattern of "positive beat and strong rhythm," and makes the music itself a "carrier of power" through "contrast between strong and weak beats" and "rhythmic changes."

Therefore, this song is even more powerful!

"Hmph hmph hmph..." Looking at the sheet music, Gao Ruxing frowned repeatedly and couldn't help but hum softly.

Bai Hua was also quite surprised, as the lyrics were supposed to be good.

Is the composition really that bad?
Otherwise, why would Gao Ruxing have such a disgusted expression?

"Old Gao, what's the situation? Tell me quickly! Give me your opinion!"

Gao Ruxing asked, "Was this written by a writer from the General Political Department? Or was it specially approved from somewhere?"

"Huh?" Bai Hua's hand, which was smoking, trembled involuntarily. What did that mean?
"What do you say?"

Gao Ruxing couldn't help but tremble as she said, "This song is awesome! It's so damn awesome! Just reading it makes me so excited I can't even speak... It's so good... so good that just looking at it makes my blood boil!"

Gao Ruxing couldn't help but swear a few times.

(End of this chapter)