When people mention the famous writer Ma Shitu's fate with movies, people often think of director Jiang Wen's film "Let the Bullets Fly" adapted from "The Thief of Officials" in "Ten Tales of a Night Story". But as the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, who was once in charge of literature and art, how could Ma Shitu not have any contact with local filmmakers?
Director Wang Jixing, who has directed the movie " Jiao Yulu " and the TV series " Black Ice ", told me that he entered Emei Film Production from a demobilized soldier and a small worker with neither a university degree nor film works. He was appointed as a screenwriter in the literary department of the factory, and Mr. Ma Shitu was one of the people who recommended him.
In an exclusive interview with The Paper, the former deputy director and art director of E Film Factory still couldn’t let go: “To be honest, I have long wanted to make a movie of Ma Lao’s novel “The Song of the Qingjiang River”, because Due to various reasons, the film was not filmed, and I feel sorry for Mr. Ma." The following is presented in Wang Jixing's oral form.
Wang Jixing
[Oral]
In 1958, Ma Shitu was ordered to establish the Sichuan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (renamed the Southwest Branch in 1961 and is now the Chengdu Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Hereinafter referred to as the Chinese Academy of Sciences Chengdu Branch). He was the president and secretary of the party committee, and served from all fronts across the country. A large number of scientific researchers and outstanding cadres have been transferred. My mother Li Chunyu is one of them. She was transferred from the Provincial Procuratorate to the Southwest Institute of Organic Chemistry, a branch of the science and technology branch, as deputy secretary of the party committee. She is Mr. Ma’s subordinate. At that time, the branch hospital had not yet moved to Huaxiba, and was still in Chengdu. It used the office building of another unit to work. The family hospital and the office building were next to each other. The yard is very small, only as big as a basketball court. Other units are doing infrastructure construction, and the dust is flying.
Look up, don’t see me, look down. As a kid in primary school, of course I know Dean Ma, but he doesn’t know me. What impressed me most was that he commuted to get off work by bicycle every day and never took a car. Second, I often saw him in the yard, teaching his newly found eldest daughter, who had been separated for twenty years, how to ride a bicycle. Deep love. Third, when I was in middle school, I read the novel "Qingjiang Zhuangge" written by Ma Shitu. I also listened to my mother telling Mr. Ma's past events intermittently, and I knew that this novel was based on the author's personal experience. The novel begins with Ren Yuan finding his twenty-year-lost daughter in Beijing in 1960, and Ren Yuan is actually Ma Shitu himself. I was reading the novel and watching the characters in the book teach my daughter to ride a bicycle in front of me. This scene made me feel particularly magical and impressed me deeply.
The first edition of "Qingjiang Zhuangge" in 1966. The picture is from Wang Jixing's personal collection.
In the early days of the "Cultural Revolution", one of the first leading cadres to be criticized and overthrown was Dean Ma. He was labeled a "counterrevolutionary revisionist", "traitor" and "gangster". Of course, this is all an attempt to incriminate, so there is no reason to worry - when the Science Branch was established, he transferred many senior intellectuals from all over the country. Most of these people had experience studying abroad, and some were still in the National Government. Served.
I remember that at that time, more than a dozen large trucks took the leading cadres of scientific branches, leading cadres of various institutes, and "reactionary academic authorities" on a parade in the city. After that, they were criticized, locked up in cowsheds, and forced to labor. My mother was Mr. Ma's "fighting companion" has become Mr. Ma's friend in trouble. My mother later told me that even under such circumstances, Mr. Ma still insisted on exercising and secretly wrote novels while hiding in bed in the middle of the night. Later, this matter was reported by a "comrade" in the same bullpen, and the "special team" confiscated the manuscript. This made Mr. Ma so angry that he even got into a fight with that person over this matter.
In the late period of the "Cultural Revolution", Mr. Ma resumed his work after being "liberated". He was already over 60 years old at the time, and I was assigned to work as a worker at the Southwest Institute of Biology after I was discharged from the army. I often saw him running and exercising every morning while listening to the semiconductor radio. Before the "Cultural Revolution", Mr. Ma was the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Southwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and concurrently served as the dean and party secretary of the Science Branch. After the "Gang of Four" was crushed, he served as the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC, in charge of literary and artistic creation.
At that time, I was bent on making films, and I wanted to be transferred to the Literary Department of E Film Studio to be a screenwriter.So I asked someone to hand over the manuscripts of the movie script "Battle Hymn of the Wasteland" that I created, which reflects the success of the military farm in transforming saline-alkali land to grow rice, and the five-act drama " breaks " that reflects the educated youth taking root in the countryside, to Mr. Ma and the then president. Mr. Li Maozhang, the dean of Sichuan People's Arts, reviewed it in order to obtain their advice. Unexpectedly, my script was recognized and appreciated by two old writers. They took the initiative to recommend me, a young author whom they had never met, to the leadership and literature department of Eying. Eying quickly transferred me to the Literature Department as an editor, and later as a screenwriter, director, deputy director, and art director until my retirement. It can be said that Mr. Ma and Mr. Li led me into the palace of movies and changed my life and destiny.
In 1991, the movie "Jiao Yulu" was a great success after its release. Mr. Ma once said happily, "I discovered and recommended Wang Jixing!" In my mind, Mr. Ma will always be my role model in life.
At the filming scene of "Jiao Yulu" in 1989, director Wang Jixing (first from the right)
In the golden autumn of 2020, at the launch ceremony of the "Starry Sky Screening" of the 35th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Awards, the main creators of "Jiao Yulu" reunited. The picture on the big screen is the ending of the film.
