On the eve of the start of school, Wang Hongru, a graduate student majoring in electrical engineering at Tianjin University, made preparations to return to school early.
As the student president of the Tianjin University Beiyang Repertory Theater, she is busy preparing for the original drama "Hou De Bang" to be staged after the semester begins.
"One day, those factories will belong to us Chinese! One day, the ships on the rivers and seas will be made by us Chinese! One day, the sovereignty of those railways will belong to us Chinese!" This drama It tells the story of Hou Debang, a famous chemist in my country, the founder of China's modern national chemical industry, and a professor at Peiyang University (the predecessor of Tianjin University), who made alkali. It reproduces the story of Hou Debang's resolute abandonment of favorable treatment abroad and his devotion to my country's chemical industry to save the country.
The scene in which Hou Debang breaks Solvay Group's monopoly on alkali-making technology and produces soda ash through the "joint alkali-making method" is undoubtedly the climax of the entire drama, and it is also the plot that touches Wang Hongru the most.
Although she is already familiar with the script and can memorize almost every line, she still sheds tears of excitement every time she watches this scene again.
Wang Hongru said: "Every time I watch it, I have a different state of mind, and every time it seems to be a kind of spiritual baptism. Hou Debang dedicated his life to the chemical industry of the motherland, closely connecting his life with the future and destiny of the country and the nation, allowing us to understand What is the 'backbone of the republic'?"
Su Chang, director of the Aesthetic Education Department of the Youth League Committee of Tianjin University, remembers that since the first successful performance of "Hou De Bang" in 2015, the drama has ignited the enthusiasm of teachers and students in the school.
In the following years, the script went through several adjustments. Finally, Xu Ruisheng, a national first-level screenwriter, served as the director. Teachers and students from Tianjin University participated in the creation and performance, restoring a true and three-dimensional image of Hou Debang.
Every year, the crew of the play will perform 1-2 special performances on campus, and even travel thousands of kilometers to Henan, Guangdong, Fujian, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and other places.
A similar situation also occurred at East China University of Political Science and Law.
In November last year, the school's original drama "Standpoint" was performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts. It was also invited to participate in the 7th China Campus Drama Festival, the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Bay Area Youth Drama Invitational Exhibition and the opening performance of the Nanshan Drama Festival.
In recent years, many high-quality original school history dramas have emerged in universities, primary and secondary schools across the country. These dramas are usually based on the development of school history, focusing on telling the stories of well-known alumni who strive for self-improvement and serve the country scientifically. The teachers and students of the school participate in the creation and performance. .
The students performed the passion of youth with affection and heart, and the school history drama is also "breaking the circle" and going out of the campus, allowing more people to understand China in one "journey through time".
In Su Chang's view, the school history drama is more like a carrier of the campus spiritual connotation, which can vividly display the cultural heritage of the university campus and even the spiritual pedigree of the Chinese Communists to young people in the new era through complete and detailed artistic expressions. "This It is not only a simple stage experience, but also a kind of role model learning and ideological and political education."
New exploration of exploring campus cultural resources and assisting in talent cultivation
"Why study law? What kind of lawyer do you want to be?" The entire "Standpoint" revolves around one question. It takes the experience of Lei Jingtian, the old dean of East China University of Political Science and Law, in the impartial trial of the "Huang Kegong Case" as the main line, and focuses on restoring his experience among his comrades in arms. The choice between justice and legal justice attempts to lead the audience to find the answer to China’s red spirit of rule of law.
Du Yongqiang, an undergraduate at East China University of Political Science and Law, plays Lei Jingtian in the play. He believes that this is the first lesson for becoming a lawyer, and it is also an issue worth thinking about for the entire society.
In Du Yongqiang's eyes, Lei Jingtian is a resolute, just and courageous revolutionary predecessor.
Before taking on the role, he found that there were many places in the play where he needed to vent his emotions. Why did this revolutionary, who had always been calm and composed, feel so excited?
In order to better express the characters, Du Yongqiang read a large number of historical documents to understand, experience and integrate into the real historical scenes.
Du Yongqiang found that Lei Jingtian's emotions were complicated when he was trying the "Huang Kegong Case". "Everyone is engaged in a very fierce psychological struggle, but Lei Jingtian hid this struggle in his heart and finally chose legal justice." , this is the most admirable."
However, it is not easy to create a true and three-dimensional image of a historical figure. How to show both the rich character experience and the grand historical background in more than an hour is the biggest problem faced in the creative process.
Su Chang told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that Hou Debang made three major contributions in his life, including breaking through Solvay's alkali production method, inventing Hou's alkali production method, and producing small chemical fertilizers.
If it covers all aspects, it will easily become a running account; if it only highlights a certain contribution, it will easily become one-sided.
For example, in the process of making alkali, Hou Debang had to battle wits with the Japanese, deal with the Nationalist Government, and negotiate with MacArthur in order to get the equipment back. Which experiences should be selected to embody the "Scientist Hou Debang", which tested the creative team's understanding of reality. understanding of historical events.
In order to solve these problems, the crew has held script writing competitions, invited professional playwrights to create, and regularly provides professional guidance to student actors.
Wang Xiaohong, an associate professor at the School of Film and Television of Xiamen University, has been involved in script writing for school historical dramas for more than ten years.
As early as her student days, she created the script of Xiamen University's first school history drama "Tan Kah Kee" based on the story of the patriotic overseas Chinese Mr. Tan Kah Kee who founded Xiamen University and donated it to the country free of charge.
Later, she successively created the script "Goldbach's Conjecture", which shows Chinese mathematician Chen Jingrun's courageous climb to the peak of science, and "Looking at the Sea, Sky and Moon", which tells the story of Wang Yanan, the former president of Xiamen University, who is committed to the spread of Marxism and political economics research.
When writing "Looking at the Sea, Sky and Moon", Wang Xiaohong encountered the biggest bottleneck - there were very few historical materials recording Wang Yanan, and there were far from enough materials to complete the script creation.
In desperation, Wang Xiaohong began to search for clues in the papers left by Wang Yanan, trying to show the grand historical background by portraying Wang Yanan's wandering life for the revolution.
Wang Xiaohong believes that unlike other stories that bring their own traffic, school history dramas can allow students to glimpse the development process of New China from the development of higher education in China, making them more intimate and present.
At the same time, a high-quality school history drama will have higher requirements for the authenticity and artistic level of script creation. "These original school history dramas that show the Chinese spirit absorb the power of college students in the new era and can break the main theme of previous dramas." Modeling in content and form is a new exploration for universities to tap campus cultural resources and help cultivate talents."
Young people are looking for new spiritual idols
In recent years, Guo Weilu, Secretary of the Party Committee of East China University of Political Science and Law, has participated in more than 20 national performances of "The Stand". In his opinion, this drama integrates the history of the party, the history of the rule of law, and the history of the school in a form of expression that is easily accepted by young people. Condensing and inheriting the red gene is not only a "professional class", but also a vivid "ideological and political class".
Guo Weilu remembers that a student once said to him, "This drama has allowed many law students to think about life, which goes far beyond book study. As a law major, the law must go deep into the fields so that we will not lose our original intention to defend the law." ".
The students’ words allowed Guo Weilu to see the significance of the school history drama, “Only by telling students where they come from today can they know where they are going in the future. We must not only talk about reality and look forward to the future, but also talk about history. Through this process, we can Let students and teachers have a collision of ideas and stimulate their creativity."
Behind the popularity of the school history drama reflects the changes in young people's "idol views".
Wang Xiaohong observed that some netizens like to label young people as "Buddhist", "Lying flat" and "asking for nothing". In her opinion, this is just a superficial appearance. The deeper reason is that young people are looking for , establish new spiritual idols.
Wang Xiaohong believes that as age and experience continue to increase, the spiritual world of college students is gradually enriching. At this time, they need an idol group that can lead everyone to solve new problems.
The characters in the school history drama can become the most accessible objects of imitation and direction of efforts for young people.
In the school history drama of Xiamen University, every historical figure has a "human spirit". They are not only rigorous and realistic revolutionaries and scientists, but also kind and lovely elders.
Wang Xiaohong said: “The creation of school history dramas should bring the distance between young students and historical figures closer, allowing them to re-understand these seemingly distant people.”
This is reflected in Jiang Chenyang, who has just graduated from college.
As early as his freshman year, he joined the Beiyang Repertory Theater of Tianjin University. From playing some inconspicuous small roles to domineering villains, he can always find new insights into life in different roles.
For him, the charm of drama lies in being able to experience real life in a grand historical narrative.
Today, Hou Debang's fighting spirit of "standing up wherever you fall" is deeply imprinted in the hearts of every teacher and student of Tianjin University. Jiang Chenyang, who is studying abroad, still thinks of his days in the drama troupe from time to time.
Jiang Chenyang told reporters that whenever he encountered a problem and wanted to back down, the vow Hou Debang shouted in the play, "Not a little bit, but the slightest bit, the slightest bit! Not even 0.0001" seemed to echo in his ears.
On social media, Jiang Chenyang also wrote this emotion: "Hou De Bang" taught us how to stick to our love for our career, and also taught us how to ignite youthful passion for the country.
In integrated creation, giving vitality to "self-education"
For student actors, every performance is like a dialogue across time and space. The deeper the understanding of faith, the more empowering youth will be.
Wang Xuzhe, an undergraduate at East China University of Political Science and Law, plays Huang Kegong in "The Stand". This is a complex and dramatic character.
In the play, Wang Xuzhe needs to use full characters and down-to-earth lines to show the legal and emotional entanglement between Lei Jingtian and Huang Kegong.
From the nervousness and fear during rehearsal to the calmness and confidence on stage, Wang Xuzhe went through more than a month of intense training before he truly entered Huang Kegong's inner world.
At the end of the play, a beam of light fell on Lei Jingtian and slowly dissipated. Also dissipated were Wang Xuzhe's entanglements, contradictions and struggles when performing the role.
"No one can violate the law. This is a very fair trial." Wang Xuzhe gradually realized that the drama had changed him in all aspects. For example, his Mandarin became better, his mentality became more calm and calm, and he also had the ability to take root. The Chinese Communists in China have a deeper understanding of the rule of law practice.
Wang Xiaohong also found that students who have participated in drama performances will grow very quickly in terms of overall quality, attitude towards life and how they behave.
"They have witnessed the charisma of these figures with their own eyes, so they will naturally get close to such figures, and they will also look at issues from a more historical perspective."
In Guo Weilu's view, the reason why the student actors were able to perform this drama wonderfully is that young students have a huge performance space to express the theme. Through multi-perspective, group, and vivid narrative dialogue on the stage, young students can People have a deep and warm vision.
There is a scene in "The Stand" where student actors appeared on the stage holding signs engraved with "The Law Grows in the Land" and "Hold the People Above Their Heads."
These two signs were made by students themselves, and later followed the students to Shenzhen, Beijing and other places, and also appeared on the stage of campus drama festivals and national college tours.
Guo Weilu was particularly moved by these details that happened on stage and behind the scenes. He said: "Only when student actors enter the characters and stories with true feelings can the drama be exciting."
When talking about how school history dramas should be used in the future, Guo Weilu believed that to provide emotional education, students must participate in the drama creation process; to provide education with a standpoint, dare to tell the story of the Communist Party of China, and lead students to learn from China Find the answer to life in the century-old struggle history of the Communist Party; to provide creative and creative education, students can extract correct values through the process of reading scripts, learning history, and re-creating. In the integrated creation, "self-education" is given vitality.
With school history dramas frequently "out of the circle", how to better play the role of social radiation has become the direction of these universities' efforts.
In recent years, Tianjin University has carried out the "Hou Debang Spirit Publicity Month", which not only records behind-the-scenes footage, shoots photography, and launches in-depth reports, but also opens live broadcast rooms on new media platforms such as the official WeChat account and Station B to " "Barrage" enhances participation in watching dramas.
Today, the drama "Hou De Bang" has become a favorite cultural and artistic program among teachers, students and alumni, with a broadcast volume of 1 million.
Su Chang said: "This is just the beginning of the school historical drama 'Breaking the Circle'. On the journey of finding innovative expressions of the spirit of Chinese revolutionaries and scientists, young people have not stopped exploring. I believe that more dazzling performances will burst out on the stage in the future." of light.”
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily trainee reporter Xu Ziwei reporter Xu Ge Source: China Youth Daily