First, the tentacles of culture

Since the establishment of the Third Hall on April 1, it has been three full months since the anniversary of the "July Seventh" was completed. The budget had not been approved, and much of the original work plan could not be carried out. In the past three months, I have only done some sporadic work, and it is more focused on red and white ceremonies. My friends feel bored when they don't have a job, and they are busy when they have a job. But as soon as the work was finished, it calmed down again, and the depression deepened.

We are constantly reviewing ourselves and trying to change this cold-fever style and determine a work policy as far as possible.

Originally, when we were retreating from Shanghai, although our friends in the cultural circles did not have a strict organization, they all had a common idea, to extend the tentacles of culture to the people as much as possible. At that time, this idea was manifested as an inward shift of cultural people.

However, the cultural people who moved inward, except for some who went to Yan'an, were almost concentrated in Wuhan. Not only from Shanghai, but also from Pingjin, Northeast China and other places, and as a result, Wuhan became a second Shanghai. It is already a waste to concentrate a lot of people in a city, not to mention that the work is not easy to carry out. Isn't this a self-surrender to the House of Reflection and a concentration camp?

Spread out, break the situation of this disguised introspection house or concentration camp, and conscientiously extend the tentacles of culture to all parts of the country as much as possible, to the rear, to the war zone, to the front line, and even to the rear of enemy lines!

It's easier to reach to the rear. The Japanese invaders were constantly attacking, not only by land and water, but also by land, water and air. Although we relied on Soviet volunteers and planes to defend us in the air and fought several beautiful air battles for us, after the anniversary of the "July 7th," Wuhan was bombed more frequently. Therefore, all public and private institutions or individuals have stepped up their evacuation. Some of the warriors who have always opposed "front-line doctrine" among the cultural people are even more courageous in running towards Chongqing or Chengdu.

What is more important is to reach out to the war zone and to the front line to work. Although it seems to be detrimental to the dignity of culture and culture to be denounced as "front-line" by those few warriors, this work is by no means swayed by chattering "criticism" for the sake of facts. The question is how to make the cultural tentacles reach the front line, to the war zone.

The presence of the three halls here does play a role. At that time, many brave journalists went to the front line, and it was the third department that issued passes. I'm sure my friends still remember it. But in addition to this, the Third Department itself has also strengthened the work of comforting the frontline and the wounded and sick soldiers and their families, strengthened the work of transporting spiritual food to the front line, and strengthened the work of the subsidiary team to tour various places - before the evacuation of Wuhan, we successively sent out nine anti-enemy drama teams, four anti-enemy propaganda teams, and trained four film projection teams, and let the children's theater troupe constantly flow in the rear.

If we look at the Three Halls, from a critical point of view, and think that its existence made some contributions during the Anti-Japanese War, it does not care about the several vigorous but empty expansion propaganda it did before and after the Three Towns of Wuhan, but really the comfort, encouragement, and enlightenment that these cultural tentacles gave to the various war zones and the rear. Although the work could not be carried out smoothly because of the restrictions on the front, and sometimes it required more difficult adaptation, at least the arrogance of the reactionary forces was always partially contained. What is particularly noteworthy is that the cultural people went to the countryside and were influenced by the common people, so that the new culture itself with a foreign temperament was replaced with a national temperament. This is especially evident in acting or singing. This is a big deal, and I hope that the critics should look beyond this circle.

2. Consolation work

Relying on the "77" donation, we set up a consolation association to coordinate all the consolation work. The meeting was formed by a combination of public and private organizations and was a form of non-governmental organization, but in fact it was presided over by the three government agencies. The president is Chen Cheng, and the vice presidents are Ma Chaojun and me. Later, it was moved to Chongqing, and due to the establishment of the Ministry of Social Affairs, a vice president Gu Zhenggang was added. In August 1940, the Third Hall was reorganized, and as a result, this meeting was robbed by Gu Zhenggang.

On the whole, the Comfort Association did a lot of work during the Anti-Japanese War. For the sake of this, of course, we must thank the patriotic citizens of the three towns of Wuhan for their dedication to defend Wuhan. Although the three towns of Wuhan were not well defended later, and fell only three and a half months after the commemoration of the "July Seventh," causing the patriotic compatriots in the three towns to be ravaged by the enemy and hypocrisy, and suffering for seven years, I dare to say responsibly today: Under the control of the General Association of Condolences and Workers, not only did not a single cent of the patriotic compatriots' "July Seven" donations be wasted, but they also used one money as ten or even a thousand.

Within my personal responsibility, there are a few large sums that I remember very well.

A sum of 200,000 yuan of foreign exchange was approved to purchase medical equipment and medicines, which was urgently needed at that time. Especially like the quinine pill, although it is a very ordinary medicine, but it is blocked by the enemy, it is very lacking, and it is almost as precious as a pearl.

At that time, it was Yang Hansheng and Cheng Bugao who took on this task. At the same time, I also asked them to bring an extra 100,000 yuan of fiat currency to purchase ordinary consolation items in various parts of Guangzhou, which is the second one.

The third was in mid-September, when a consolation group was organized for the northern and southern battlefields. The southern battlefield is the ninth theater presided over by Chen Cheng, and the northern battlefield is the fifth theater presided over by Li Zongren. We gave 50,000 yuan to each battlefield in cash. The money was personally sent to the front by the consolation group and handed over to the commander, and we dare not insure what the whereabouts are.

The use of these three funds was mainly for my own ideas, so I remember it very well. The other 600,000 or so uses have been reported. Fortunately, the General Association is organized by various organizations and organizations, and there are representatives of the Audit Office, so there is no problem with the cashier. The question is whether there is any oil when the individual handles the purchase of goods. In this regard, I dare not say that we can be absolutely insured.

But as for the one handled by Yang Hansheng and Cheng Bugao, it is the largest and most prone to fraud, but it is a piece of public benefit, a lot of profits, and high hard work, which is grateful.

The arrival of the two seems to have taken place in early September, and they stopped their purchases and were about to set off when the unfortunate fall of Canton (October 21). So I asked them to buy 10 trucks with enough gasoline to transport the goods to Kunming and from Kunming to Chongqing.

This is a very troublesome piece of work, and it took more than half a year to complete.

This is indeed a great credit to Yang and Cheng, although they did not receive any "victory medals" after the victory, but who can erase the achievements of these two?

Think about it, the things they purchased with 200,000 yuan of foreign exchange were already worth more than 5 million yuan when they arrived in Chongqing. Even Zhang Lisheng was very happy and reported this incident to the "leader" and exaggerated it as the work of the Political Department in the report of the Military Commission.

Please think about it, those precious medicines and medical equipment were later divided into eleven parts, one for each of the ten war zones, and Chen Cheng asked for one for him at the United Middle School in Enshi. The theaters were brought by the North and South Comfort Labor Corps in 1940. How many fighters did that comfort?

Please think about it, the materials procured by various organs in the Anti-Japanese War are piled up in **I don't know how much they are rotted, how much they are rotted in Haiphong, and how much they are rotted in Kunming! However, the items purchased by Yang and Cheng did arrive in Chongqing, and they did arrive in the war zone.

If this is not a merit, at least it is not a sin, right? - Hehe, but here's the wonderful thing, it is precisely the people who do things seriously that are suspicious "bad elements", which is the measure of the Kuomintang reactionaries. Yang and Cheng are too serious. If they had been clever enough to simply eat those things, or change hands, or open a Western pharmacy somewhere in Kunming, I dare to guarantee that they would have received two "victory medals".

In any case, I dare to say this to the patriotic citizens of Wuhan: Your hard-earned money has not been in vain.

3. Battlefield cultural services

At that time, the battlefield felt two things that were most urgently needed, one was the lack of medicine for injuries and diseases, and the other was the lack of spiritual food. In the first case, we let the General Association handle it, and in the latter case, we had to find another way. Not only ordinary books and newspapers, but also the so-called spiritual food in a narrow sense cannot reach the front, and even ordinary propaganda materials have become a big problem. It stands to reason that this should be sponsored by the rear service department. To make it smaller, it should also be hosted by the Office of General Affairs of the Department of Political Affairs. And yet they don't. They have to take care of their fanny packs, not their heads!

Doesn't anyone do it? Exactly, let's take care of it. Therefore, at a propaganda meeting, I proposed the organization of a war cultural service office, which was responsible for transporting all spiritual food and propaganda materials to the front, and recommended He Gongdang to take charge of this work.

He Gongdang is a member of the design committee of the three departments, he has the ability to do business, and several budgets of the three departments were compiled by him. He had worked in distribution at the Commercial Press, and he was a person that the Kuomintang could rest assured of, and it would not be a problem to ask him to preside over the War Cultural Service.

As a result, my proposal was approved. The War Cultural Service was established, although formally it was jointly run by various agencies, but in fact it was subordinate to the three departments. There are quite a few people sent by the Third Department to participate in this institution, including Lu Guangsheng, Zong Junren, Guan Changyuan, and so on. There are also many young people who come from outside to serve, and the treatment is very meagre, and they are all willing to eat. This can be regarded as a characteristic of the Wuhan era, where all the exiled youths from all over the country enthusiastically participated in the rescue work, and they were proud of the meagre treatment, and the more they were poor, the more glorious they were. As soon as the Wuhan period passed, this sentiment gradually disappeared.

The War and Literature Department has a terminal in Hankou and sub-stations in Changsha, Guilin, Shangrao, Xi'an, and other places. The propaganda print of the public and private organs can reach the front line and is properly distributed. Especially after the evacuation of Wuhan and the transfer of the main station to Chongqing, the war zone was extensive, and the traffic was blocked, and the work was already very difficult, but because we had more than a dozen trucks (ten of which were transported back by Hansheng from **, and two were purchased when Wuhan retreated), we formed a traffic team and regularly divided the north and south to overcome this difficulty.

The work of the War Documents Division and the General Relief Association is closely coordinated. The truck-mounted propaganda materials went to the front line, and when they returned to the car, they could procure the materials that could be used for comfort in various places, and at the same time, they could also transport necessary items for other agencies. Of course, journalists can also use it if they want to go to the front. So it's convenient for everyone.

However, in the eyes of the diehards of the Kuomintang, it became a grand nail. Zhang Lisheng, He Jinhan and others in the ministry first created rumors, saying that "smuggling in the three halls". But what stranged them was that no one believed it. Then they changed the door and said that the War Literature Department was the transportation organ of the Chinese Communists, and it specialized in transporting propaganda materials for the Chinese Communists.

In the summer of 1940, a month or two before the reorganization of the Third Hall, He Jinhan suddenly searched the stack of the service office in the middle of the night, but found nothing. At the same time, he searched a traffic car that was going to Xi'an the next day, and opened all the packaged books and newspapers. However, pitifully, most of them are prints of the Three Youth Leagues. In this way, the "Taibao" sacrificed his sleep for a whole night.

The nervous breakdowns and paranoids of the diehards are, to be honest, to a terrible extent! If the Third Department wants to turn the War Literature Department into the transportation organ of the CCP, people with a little common sense will understand, why should He Gong dare to come out as the director? He Gongkang was a member of the Kuomintang and a lone faction, and for a time he was very close to the nationalist Shabaab. Isn't it ridiculous to put a red hat on He Gongda's head?

However, those treasures were unreasonable, and soon after the search incident, the War Literature Office was finally canceled for no apparent reason. They hijacked our truck and gasoline and used it as a special transportation vehicle for the Political Department to run between the city and the countryside.

What about mental hunger on the front line? Later, I rarely heard the appeal. There's a reason for that. Everyone is armed for smuggling, and they have lost their spirits at all, so there is no hunger.

Fourth, the ninth anti-drama team

The Anti-Enemy Drama Team established the Ninth Team, which was also after the anniversary of the "77th Century". This is the work of Tian Shouchang, Hong Shen, and Zhang Shu in the six places. It is mainly adapted from the drama troupes of rescue groups exiled to Wuhan from all over the world, and most of them are exiled from Shanghai. After the victory, there were two films that were popular, "Eight Thousand Miles of Clouds and Moon" and "A River Flows Eastward", in which many scenes were taken from these teams.

Regarding the formation of these teams and their subsequent experiences, Shouchang once wrote a very detailed report, which I remember publishing in a drama magazine, but unfortunately there is no way to check it now.

They underwent two months of military training in the Epiphany Forest after they were formed and before they were distributed to the war zone. Most of these are resolute and self-sacrificing young people, and needless to say, the treatment is very meager, but they are just as happy. The hardships and sufferings they experienced after they were distributed to the war zone are truly indescribable. Some of them died on the front line, some died of illness, and some of the entire team were imprisoned (the third team sent to Shanxi was imprisoned by Yan Xishan for a long time). After many times of adaptation, elimination, doping, and differentiation, some numbers have been canceled, and some have completely changed. But some of them lasted in purgatory for seven or eight years until after the victory. I believe that the history of each team would be very valuable if it were written by the comrades in charge of each team and then collected into a book. I'd like my friends to get in touch and come up with a plan to get this done. I believe this opportunity will come soon.

The person in charge and distribution location when the original team was formed, I now list it as follows (mainly relying on Naichao's memory):

(1) The first captain of the second anti-enemy drama team was Zheng Junli, and was later succeeded by Lu Fu.

(2) It should be Xu Shijin.

(3) The original work of the ninth volume of "Moruo Anthology" "Liu Mansheng (?) It is now corrected according to the author's revised handwriting.

(4) It should be Lu Wanmei.

Incidentally, I would like to describe the local drama training class organized by Shouchang.

No matter where you go, you can get very familiar with folk artists, which is Shouchang's great skill. After the anniversary of "July Seventh", in order to defend Wuhan, he actually organized the main folk artists in the three towns of Wuhan. The Chu Opera Class, the Han Opera Class, the Peking Opera Class, the Ping Opera Class, and the Juggling Troupe were all gathered together and underwent a period of training. On the one hand, he instilled in them the problems of the current situation and the significance of the Anti-Japanese War, and on the other hand, he also wanted to change their habits and let them understand some new dramatic arts.

The artists of the old drama are very enthusiastic, and when there is usually a call, they sponsor it very vigorously. For example, if they donate money for a drama, they will spare no effort. During the training, they were also very enthusiastic to listen to the lectures. When the Wuhan was evacuated, such as the Chu opera troupe, he abandoned his life for many years, retreated with the army, and went into exile in Sichuan. Isn't that very moving?

I remember that the captain of the Chu Opera Class was Wang Ruoyu, who originally played a harlequin, was in his fifties, and he was very sincere. Whenever he sees us, he calls us "teachers," but there is so little we can do to help them. After arriving in Chongqing, they performed in "One Garden" for a long time to maintain the life of a group of people and their dependents, and life was very difficult. Later, he was oppressed and went into exile in Lu County. Then I don't know what happened.

5. The Fourth Anti-Propaganda Team and others

The fourth team of the anti-enemy propaganda team was formed by Hu Yuzhi and Zhang Zhirang, which was slightly later than the establishment of the ninth anti-war team. The team members were probably selected from the well-known rescue groups at that time, such as the Ant Society, the Youth National Salvation Corps (generally known as the Youth Salvation), and the National Pioneer Team (generally known as the Minxian).

The nature of anti-propaganda is exactly the same as that of anti-drama, and the hardships they have experienced can really be said to be difficult brothers. After the reorganization of the three halls, all the anti-propaganda and anti-drama were ordered to be changed to the "anti-enemy drama propaganda team" and merged into ten teams, and they were truly combined.

With the help of my friends, I was able to write down briefly what happened to the four teams (mainly what Wu Dizhou told me).

The captain of the first team was Wu Dizhou, who initially stayed in Wuhan to work with his subordinates, and then moved through the Changsha fires in Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and southern Jiangxi, and moved to the border with Vietnam.

The captain of the second team was He Wei, who was assigned to Pingjiang first. After the evacuation in Wuhan, it traveled from Zhejiang-Jiangxi Road to Shangrao, and flowed in eastern Jiangxi and western Zhejiang.

The captain of the third team was Zheng Hanhua, who was first assigned to Shashi and Jingmen, and then to Laohekou, Xiangyang, Fancheng and Badong.

The captain of the fourth team was Xu Zi, who was sent to the Eighth War Zone and moved to Xi'an through Henan. Later, it seems to have merged with the third team of the anti-drama.

The fourth team of the screening team was established later than the fourth team of anti-propaganda team, I only remember that they had not graduated when they retreated from Wuhan, and they followed the third hall along the way, and they were still training in Changsha and Hengyang.

The organization of the projection team is more difficult, as it requires at least one projector and a film that can be screened, which requires a little bit of specialized technology. And if something goes wrong with the projector, the work stops. Therefore, they could only work near the capital later, and their effectiveness was not as extensive as that of anti-propaganda and anti-drama.

These four teams are mainly organized by Zheng Yongzhi, I only remember that the captain is Ouyang Qixiu (Han Sheng's younger brother), and I don't remember the captains of the other teams. The team members are included by the examination, which is not quite consistent with the nature of anti-propaganda and anti-drama. But from these team members, some film crews have probably been trained.

Zheng Yongzhi is also the director of the Chinese studio with the head of the second section of the sixth department, and the Chinese system is rather his main position. At that time, Janssen Garden, located in the northern suburbs of Hankow, was originally a subsidiary of the Administrative Training Office of the Camp and was taken over by us. But our reception is only about one aspect of the business, not about its financial operations; On that aspect, we asked Chen Cheng's direct subordinate - the General Affairs Department to meet He Jinhan.

The Chinese system had achievements in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. There are a lot of talented people in terms of screenwriters, directors, actors, and technicians. Those people are almost the essence of the film industry, and they are all treated with very modest treatment and dedicated to serving the Anti-Japanese War. It is precisely because these are our friends that we have the courage to accept the business supervision of the Chinese system.

To be fair, Chinese-made films such as "Bloody Loyalty", "Protecting the Hometown" and "Anti-Japanese War Special" have indeed exerted the power of education and propaganda. At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army's "Pingxingguan Victory", it sent personnel to take special photos. In order to film Yang Hansheng's "Plugging the Wind and Cloud", a brigade of actors and staff led by director Ying Yunwei was sent to Yulin, passing through Yan'an on the way. Compared with the Central Photography Field under the jurisdiction of the Central Propaganda Department, it is much braver and much more active.

But anything that was even slightly desirable was bad in the eyes of the Kuomintang reactionaries. Kuomintang members like Zheng Yongzhi, who were born in Huangpu, and those who were close to He Jinhan, were mainly for economic friction, and they couldn't get along with Chen Cheng or Zhang Zhizhong, who was later in office. When he was in Chongqing, he was arrested by Zhang Zhizhong and imprisoned for a year, and the Chinese system was a mess, and it was already silent and smelly. (Please note: not silently odorless!) ）

6. Hengshan advance team

At that time, there was such a plan, in case Wuhan was withdrawn, and Hengshan was prepared to be used as the base camp of the Anti-Japanese War.

Therefore, when Wuhan began to evacuate, the Political Department decided to retreat some people to Hengshan in advance, and the Third Hall was naturally no exception.

About one-third of the staff from the third hall were sent by Du Shousu, and the children's troupe was also brought with them.

Du Shousu is our big brother, we usually call Du Lao. He was born at Kyoto Imperial University in Japan, and the famous Marxist economist Dr. Hajime Kawagami was a senior student, four years before me. Before the Anti-Japanese War, he was arrested by the reactionaries in Shanghai and imprisoned for several years, and was only freed before the Anti-Japanese War began. During the Battle of Songhu, Zhang Fakui served as the commander of the Right Wing Army, sat in Pudong, and asked us to organize a field service team for him, with Qian Yishi as the captain and Du Lao as the section chief. He traveled in the war zone for months before joining the Third Hall. Now we have to grieve him again and take the advance team to Hengshan.

Yes, it is true that it cannot but be said to be "grievances". Hengshan was still in the rear at that time, and when the battle to defend Wuhan was about to reach a hot point, who wanted to go to a remote place and live a calm office life? Moreover, the head of the ministry is Zhang Lisheng (who has been promoted to vice minister), he is a person who specializes in internal work, who is more willing to be cold under him? Therefore, no one in the various divisions was willing to go to Hengshan, even the deputy director Fan Yang was unwilling to go (he had to stay in Wuhan to do the task of "supervising the army"), and the drudgery had to fall on Du Lao's shoulders.

But Du Lao was also happy to take on this errand. Although he is an expert in economics, he has a profound literacy in Chinese studies, he likes the logic of the Mohists among the sons of the pre-Qin dynasty, and he also has the spirit of diligence and thrift in life. But he is for the people, not for the "princes" like the Mo family - he is Dou Erdun, not Huang Tianba. This made him willing to endure hardships for the sake of the revolution, as if the more bitter he was, the more willing he became.

When the advance team arrived at Hengshan, it was very interesting that they were stationed in the Temple of Literature, and a Mohist giant really fought against the Confucian sage. What's even more interesting is that Du Lao's style actually made Zhang Lisheng of the ministry admire him so much. The internal work is very organized, the health service is very neat, there are no overnight official documents on the table, and there are string songs that leak through the night in the apricot altar, especially He Chengxiang, who went with him, is a person who has read "The Prime Minister's Legacy" very well, and when he gets a lot of documents from the ministry, he has to ask the three departments to draft them. Zhang Lisheng has preached in public several times at the commemorative week, asking everyone to take the three halls as a model and learn from the three halls. In private, he praised Du Lao, he said: People like Du Shousu don't look like leftists, and it's a pity that there are too few people like Du Shousu.

Relying on Du Lao's steady style, the advance team's external work in Hengshan was not hindered by any major obstacles, especially the children's troupe, which strengthened its internal learning under his guidance and gained relative freedom in its itinerant work. During the short time they were stationed in Hengshan, they went to Changsha, Hengyang, Xiangtan and other places to do work. Zhang Gong Lisheng, who used to despise them as "dolls playing monkey shows" in the past, also openly took a fancy to them, and every time there was a mass gathering, he had to let them perform, as if they were the young pioneers who brought glory to him.

Of course, there are many people who are unhappy with Du Lao. Sachiko Ikeda, Shikajiwa's wife, was one of the most radical of these. In addition, there are a small number of female dependents of employees, who are people who go to the countryside for the first time from the city, and it is not easy to get along with the rural life, so they have aroused discussions: "Strange costumes, glamorous in the city." Du Lao couldn't help but interfere, so they also came to a counterattack, saying that Du Lao was "old-fashioned and stubborn".

But Du Lao's degree of "stubbornness" is what we all approve of.

There is also an important note to be made here. At the time of the establishment of the Third Office, there was an unwritten rule that, in order to avoid unforeseen obstacles, female staff should not be hired except in affiliated bodies. This was understood by the big sisters who were advancing at the time. In order to accommodate, what kind of grievances are we all suffering!