At a time when the people of the whole country were actively participating in the anti-Japanese salvation movement, the Nanjing Nationalist Government wanted to ban a patriotic song, which seemed like a fantasy.

However, this is indeed the case.

Since the end of the "Battle of Songhu", the Nanjing government has always avoided provoking Japan and deliberately suppressed anti-Japanese activities in the country. After the failure of the "Great Wall War of Resistance" and the secret signing of the "Tanggu Agreement" between China and Japan, the Nanjing government's intention to ban the non-governmental anti-Japanese movement became even more starry.

Half a year later, that is, in February 1935, Chang Kaishen and Wang Zhaoming would even jointly issue the "Order on the Strict Prohibition of the Anti-Japanese Movement", and then the Central Committee of the Kuomintang issued a notice to newspapers and news agencies across the country: prohibiting the publication of news about the anti-Japanese movement and the boycott of Japanese goods.

Under the ideological guidance of the Nanjing government, the two songs "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" and "On the Songhua River" are absolutely songs that must be banned. Including Zhou Hexuan's "Non-Offensive" magazine, the whole article is propagating anti-Japanese ideas, and it will be completely closed down by February next year at most.

At that time, no matter how much money there is, it will be useless, because it seriously violates the international diplomatic policy of Chang Kaishen and Wang Zhaoming.

However, the exception is EMI Records, which has historically released many anti-Japanese patriotic songs, none of which have been banned by the Nanjing government. The reason is simple, EMI Records' background is too complicated, with major shareholders coming from the United Kingdom, France and the United States.

Britain, France, and the United States are all fathers, and EMI is the industry of the three fathers, and neither China nor Japan dares to attack EMI Records - at most, they will protest and warn.

Don't think that Wang Zhaoming's performance is too cowardly, he will be scared when he hears that it is a British company, even if he is replaced by Chang Kaishen, he can only choose to turn a blind eye.

During the Republican period, all aspects of China were controlled by foreign powers. The largest mine shares are controlled by foreigners, the largest tea companies are controlled by foreigners, and the largest fishing companies are controlled by foreigners...... Unless the Nanjing government completely tears its face and forcibly accepts these foreign-funded industries, it can only obediently call Dad.

Of course, although Wang Zhaoming did not dare to directly order the ban of records, he had other means. For example, all radio stations in China are prohibited from playing Zhou Hexuan's songs, and relevant records are prohibited from being played in public.

These tactics were very effective, and there were originally two films that wanted to use "The Great Wall Never Falls" as the theme song, but now the government ordered that the film company immediately abandon this idea. There is also the upcoming North China Games, and the organizers plan to use "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" as the entrance song, but now they can only give up.

The more the Nanjing government banned it like this, the better the record of "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" sold, perhaps because the people were aroused to rebel.

In just a few days, just in Shanghai and the surrounding areas, "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" sold more than 2,000 copies, and "Orchid Grass" also sold more than 600 copies.

The British don't care about Sino-Japanese relations, and they don't care whether you Chinese love your country or not, they just want to sell more and more records and make real money.

The major newspapers were warned by the Nanjing government not to publish articles discussing the songs. However, there were not so many underground publications, and many underground magazines published complete song scores and distributed them to Northeast China, Japan, and even Southeast Asia, making "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" and "On the Songhua River" spread rapidly and became familiar patriotic songs.

In particular, in the four northeastern provinces that had already fallen, many anti-Japanese troops specially asked people to teach them to sing, and the soldiers sang these two songs with tears in their eyes and bravely killed the enemy.

……

Haig Road, Zhou Mansion.

Edgar Snow sat opposite Zhou Hexuan, holding a shorthand book and laughing: "Mr. Zhou, your poems and songs have been widely circulated recently, and you are considered the greatest contemporary Chinese poet and songwriter. ”

"Not the greatest, there are many great people in China, and I'm just a little famous." Zhou Hexuan said.

Edgar Snow is a handsome young man, and of course, in a few years he will become a bald uncle. He is a China correspondent for the New York Daily News and a lecturer in journalism at Yenching University, covering people from Northeast China to Southeast Asia and Japan.

Snow smiled: "You are too modest, many Chinese I have seen are like this." ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "Humility is a virtue. Only the kind of countries and nations that have no cultural background will be rampant when they gain power, such as Japan. ”

"You hate Japan?" Snow asked.

Zhou Hexuan emphasized: "Extremely annoying! ”

Snow said: "There are three most influential scholars in China, one is Hu Shi, the other is Lu Xun, and the other is Your Excellency. I interviewed Hu Shi and Lu Xun, and they are different from you. ”

"How?" Zhou Hexuan said.

Snow said: "Hu Shih was a liberal, and his ideas were American. Lu Xun was a revolutionary, and he did not seem to reject Japan, but focused on China's national transformation. And you have some nationalist tendencies, and your words and deeds are based on the state. ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled: "You have summed it up a little interestingly. And your interview style is also interesting, you like to talk to the interviewee rather than a question-and-answer approach. ”

"Of course, the question and answer is too purposeful, and it is easy to ignore a lot of details," Snow said, "Do you know what ideas have been most popular in the United States in recent years?" ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "Liberalism and civil rights. ”

Snow said, "Can you tell us what you think?" ”

"Liberalism and civil rights have a long history, but in recent years they have been prevalent in the United States, mainly due to the economic crisis," Zhou said, "and the United States is experiencing an unprecedented Great Depression, where the basic rights of citizens are not guaranteed, and even free speech is suppressed." Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and it is easy to understand why liberalism and civil rights are popular in the United States. ”

"Very interesting insight," Snow nodded, "and can you compare the difference between the liberal movement and the civil rights movement in China and the United States?" ”

Zhou Hexuan analyzed: "The United States is a capital politics, and the construction of the rule of law is relatively perfect. Therefore, both the freedom movement and the civil rights movement in the United States revolved around the U.S. Constitution. Neither supporters nor opponents can break the checks of the U.S. Constitution. So the freedom movement and the civil rights movement in the United States are controllable, guided, non-violent, and legitimate. But China is different, China is a power politics, and the construction of the rule of law is still in its infancy. Just now you said that Hu Shih was a liberal, but he only wrote a few articles calling for constitutionalism before he was forced overseas by the authorities. The civil rights movement in which Lu Xun participated was directly suppressed violently, and Lu Xun himself fled to the concession for refuge many times. ”

Snow smiled: "You have a thorough insight, you have grasped the essence of things, and you are a true wise man." ”

Zhou Hexuan spread his hands: "Wisdom is very precious, but sometimes, wisdom is useless. ”

Snow asked: "What do you think of the relations between China and Japan?" ”

"There will be a war, and China will win." Zhou Hexuan said.

Snow smiled, "You are really different, you are very confident. The other Chinese I interviewed spoke of apprehension, a deep lack of self-confidence, and an unspeakable fear of the future. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "My self-confidence does not come from myself, but from my country, my people, and my culture. ”

Snow suddenly mentioned Ding Ling: "Last year, Ms. Ding Ling, a famous Chinese female writer, disappeared, and many people participated in the rescue operation. You don't seem to be participating? ”

"I don't know anything about this." Zhou Hexuan said.

Snow suddenly lowered his voice: "The American Civil Liberties Union is joining forces with the China Civil Rights Protection League to plan the rescue of Ms. Ding Ling. Is Mr. Chow interested in joining? ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled: "If it's just a few articles, I'm very happy." After all, Ms. Ding Ling is also my friend. ”

"Mrs. Sun has a plan with the Joint Committee on International Political Prisoners, an agency of the American Civil Liberties Union that works specifically to protect the civil rights of political prisoners under a totalitarian politics," Snow said. If you want to join, you can get in touch with Mr. Elosen. Do you know Eloson? ”

"I met in the Netherlands with Eloson, an American left-wing writer and journalist. ”

"Since we're all friends, it's even better." Snow laughed.

Zhou Hexuan really doesn't care, because Ding Ling doesn't need him to save him at all. Now Ding Ling is under house arrest in the villa of the spy leader Xu Enzeng with her live-in boyfriend, in addition to having no freedom, Ding Ling eats and drinks comfortably, and even the Kuomintang spies will take Ding Ling's mother and son away.

There are two reasons why Ding Ling has such a generous treatment:

First, Mrs. Sun is actively rescuing and frantically promoting Ding Ling at home and abroad. Today, Ding Ling is not only famous in China, but also has countless readers in the United States. The Kuomintang was afraid of attracting bad influences, so they didn't dare to kill or let go, so they could only lure Ding Ling to defect every day;

The second is the favorite aunt wife of the spy leader Xu Enzeng, who is the Communist Party Fei Xia who defected a few years ago. Although Fei Xia defected to the enemy, he was still more sympathetic to the Communist Party and often dissuaded Xu Enzeng from using torture. Putting Ding Ling under house arrest in the villa and slowly luring her down was also Fei Xia's idea, and Xu En once obeyed her.

Historically, Ding Ling was finally released, mainly because the United States played a role. The Nanjing government could not withstand the pressure of international public opinion and could only be forced to release Ding Ling. If Zhou Hexuan participated, things might be much smoother, at least Ding Ling could be freed half a year early.

Of course, there are also Ding Ling's own reasons.

Fei Xia, a traitor to the Communist Party, after being Xu Enzeng's wife, lured many Communist Party. And after Ding Ling was arrested, no matter how Fei Xia lured him to surrender, how he gave benefits, and even brought Ding Ling's mother and son, under coercion and temptation, Ding Ling persisted for two whole years and did not surrender.

Now that he has taken over the task of rescuing Ding Ling, Zhou Hexuan feels that he should go to the United States.

It's ridiculous to say that if you want to save people in China, you have to go to the United States to build momentum. Perhaps, in the eyes of the Nanjing government, the public opinion of the American people is far more important than the public opinion of the Chinese people.