Retrospective - Chinese Opera Masterpieces on Screen
The East is Red
东方红 (Dong fang hong) by WANG Ping
China / 1965 / 117' / 35 mm / Color
The Film
The East is Red is an adaptation of a large musical, created in 1964 to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the Chinese People's Republic. Assembled under the direction of the Prime Minister ZHOU Enlai, including sixteen professional artistic organizations and some three thousand performers from throughout China.
The film presents thirty-six revolutionary songs and twenty-four danses on twenty-eight stages to represent China as a whole. It takes its name from the song The East Is Red that became almost like the national anthem of China during the Cultural Revolution. In 1943, Li Youyuan, a peasant from the north of Shannxi, wrote these words, inspired by the rising sun which he compared to Mao. This song was heard everywhere up until the end of the period (schools, radio, television, rallies...).
Synopsis
A musical, The East Is Red evoques the histroy of the Chinese Communist Party by showing the most important event for each period of the revolution. The film begins with the song The East Is Red and finishes with The International. It Is composed of the following elements: The overture, The sunflower toward the sun, The East Is Red, One spark could start afire over the whole plain, Ten thousand floods and one thousand assemblies, The flame of the Anti-Japanese war, Bury the Dynasty of Chiang Kai-Shek, and The Chinese people rise.
WANG Ping 王萍 (1916-1990)
WANG Ping was born In Nanjing In 1916. In 1934, she became involved in the left-wing theatre association. One year later, she joined a film production company in the Northwest as an actress. After the breakout of the anti-Japanese war, she worked to spread the anti-Japanese resistance in Shanghai and later in Chonging and Hong Kong. She then acted in A Spring River Flows East (Yi Jiang Chun Shui Xiang Dong Liu, 1947), and Myriads of Lights (Wan Jia Deng Huo, 1948). In 1952, she became the first woman director of the People's republic of China. Her first fiction film The Story of Liubao Village (Liu Bao De Gu Shin, 1957) was very successful. Her films considered as classic's are: The Eternal Wave (Yong Bu Xiao Shi De Dian Bo, 1958), Locust Tree Village (Huai Shu Zhuang, 1962), Sentinels Under the Neon Lights (Ni hong deng xia de shao bing, 1964)...
Filmography
- Wang Ping 王苹
Director:
- Song of The Chinese Revolution 中国革命之歌 (Zhong guo ge ming zhi ge) (1985)
- We are the 8th route army men 我们是八路军 (Wo men shi ba lu jun) (1978)
- Songs Of The Long March 红军不怕远征难 (Hong jun bu pa yuan zheng nan) (1976)
- Qing Chun Hong Si Huo 青春红似火 (1966)
- Ni Hong Deng Xia de Shao Bing 霓虹灯下的哨兵 (1964)
- L'Orient Est Rouge / The East Is Red 东方红 (Dong fang hong) (1964)
- Locust Tree Village 槐树庄 (Huai Shu Zhuang) (1962)
- Meng Long Sha 勐垅沙 (1960)
- Jiang Shan Duo Jiao 江山多娇 (1959)
- The Eternal Wave 永不消逝的电波 (Yong bu xiao shi de dian bo) (1958)
- The Story of Liubao Village 柳堡的故事 (Liubao de gu shi) (1957)
- Breaking Through the Darkness 冲破黎明前的黑暗 (Chong po li ming qian de hei an) (1956)