March of the Volunteers has been yelled out forhalf a century,
But have you ever heard the story of Nie Er?
The national anthem has been chanted forcountless times,
But have you ever hearkened to Nie Er?
Young Nie Er took an active part in thestudents’ movements. To elude capture by military police, he bade farewell tohis hometown and first love Yun Xi and escaped to Shanghai with his musicdream, only to struggle for a living. Then a rare chance occurred when hedemonstrated his musical talent and got appreciated by Boss Li from Bright MoonClub, secret Communist leader Xia Ping and famous singer Tian Tian.
After the outbreak of Songhu Anti-Japanese War,Nie Er followed Bright Moon Club to condole the casualties in the 19th RouteArmy, only to be condemned by the soldier for his “soft music and gracefuldancing”. He awakened all of a sudden and got determined to become a musicianwho complied with the aspirations of the people. For this, he didn’t evenscruple to “break” from his respected teacher Boss Li.
Under the guidance of Xia Ping, Nie Er composedfor many progressive films and created many popular songs. Tian Tian expressedher love for him, but Nie Er couldn’t forget Yun Xi and the hometown balladsshe sang. Yun Xi’s parents heard various rumors about Nie Erin in Shanghai andforced Yun Xi to marry other people. In order to resist the policy of“Pacifying the Interior before Resisting the Foreign Aggression ”, Nie Er andothers put Tian Han’s anti-Japanese drama Song of Rejuvenation, whichtriggered the fury of Director Jia who was keen on performing “banditsuppression”. He tried to use the dignity of the leading figure Boss Li tosuppress Nie Er. Unexpectedly, Boss Li took out an anti-Japanese song hecomposed and invited the group of Nie Er for an audition. Nie Er reconciledwith his teacher and joy was overflowing among all people. Being outraged byhumiliation, Director Jia ordered to arrest Nie Er.
However, Nie Er came out of the waves with asmile on his face, sunny and unrestrained as he used to be. He told people: “Marchof Volunteers has been completed! This is the loudest fanfare of the era.”He called upon the Chinese people unwilling to be slaves to march on, march on,march on and on!
