The light and shadow on the stage condense the turbulent years, and the artistic depiction reflects the sincere original intention. "Sunrise over the Bohai Sea and Shining over the Tianshan Mountains" successfully debuted at the 7th National Ethnic Minority Arts Performance and started touring at the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on September 21. The play is adapted from the long documentary "Western Expedition" by Shandong writer Chen Puping. The protagonist "Mei Yue" in the play changes her name to Nuo, encourages herself to have "both sides", and uses her life to interpret the sincerity of her family and country and the unity of the nation. This profound artistic name is not made up out of thin air, but accurately reproduces the life background of Liu Shuangquan, a frontier guard who came from Ningjin, Shandong.
Liu Shuangquan, a native of Ningjin, Shandong Province, joined the army in the autumn of 1946 and joined the New Corps. In February 1947, he was incorporated into the Bohai Sea Region Teaching Brigade (later reorganized into the Independent Sixth Brigade of the Second Column of the Northwest Field Army) and participated in many battles to liberate and enlarge the northwest. After the liberation of Xinjiang, Liu Shuangquan followed the army to settle land and guard the border. He successively served as the commander of the 29th Regiment of the Second Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, deputy director of the Bazhou Revolutionary Committee and director of the Bazhou Agricultural Reclamation Bureau, the second deputy division commander of the Second Agricultural Division, the acting division commander and division commander of the Second Agricultural Division, and the commander of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. On December 9, 2022, Liu Shuangquan passed away in Urumqi due to illness at the age of 94.
1. The name expresses the original intention—loyalty and filial piety are both worldly expectations.
In 1928, Liu Shuangquan was born in a simple farm family in Ningjin, Shandong. Three generations of the family have a single family. The parents had a son in middle age, and the grandfather named him "Shuangquan", which entrusted the purest and simplest expectations of the people of Qilu - loyalty and filial piety, and a happy family and country. Rooted in Qilu's profound family tradition of advocating justice and inheriting loyalty, Liu Shuangquan cultivated the character of being sincere and benevolent and morally courageous from an early age. At a young age, he cared about his country and his country, was brave and courageous, and actively participated in grassroots revolutionary work. He became a young party member and joint defense captain in the village. He understood the heavy responsibility and responsibility behind the word "double-quan" early on.
In 1946, the war was raging and the mountains and rivers were uncertain. The important task of the era of liberating the northwest and stabilizing the frontier was approaching. News of the Western Expedition of the Eighth Route Army's 359th Brigade spread throughout the old Bohai area. At that time, the situation was turbulent and the road ahead was difficult and dangerous. The journey to the west was difficult and unpredictable, with thousands of miles in the desert and unpredictable life and death. Countless villagers were worried and hesitant. According to the policies at the time, Liu Shuangquan, the only son in the family, could have stayed in his hometown, served his parents, and lived a stable life. However, due to the interests of his family and country, the 18-year-old Liu Shuangquan stepped forward and took the lead in signing up to join the army. He said frankly: "All the young people in the village are looking at me. If I don't take the lead, how can I mobilize others?" After that, he traveled to the countryside and went to each house to mobilize, actively preaching the revolutionary situation and the cause of national salvation, and led all the militiamen in the village to enlist in the army, and were collectively organized into new corps, and later reorganized into the Bohai Sea Region Teaching Brigade, becoming the backbone of the Western Expedition and border defense.
I left my hometown overnight and spent half my life traveling to the mountains and rivers. There were no impassioned words, only the firm belief in caring for the country and the deep reluctance to say goodbye to loved ones. I bid farewell to my hometown at dusk and waved goodbye. This time I turned around, separated by mountains and seas for half a lifetime. At that time, he never expected that he would eventually subvert the "double world" of conventional wisdom: he could not stay at the knees of his parents and fulfill the loyalty and filial piety of his small family, but he made the decision to commit himself to the country and take root in the border areas, achieving both the stability of the great country and the harmony of the nation.
2. Practicing righteousness in this life - guarding the border and working hard to achieve both goals
The journey of thousands of miles to the west is magnificent every step of the way. Following the Western Expedition of the Teaching Brigade of the Bohai Sea Region, Liu Shuangquan climbed over lofty mountains and crossed the Gobi desert. He endured severe cold, hunger and thirst, fought against hardships, and overcame all difficulties. He crossed thousands of miles of uninhabited land and endured countless life and death tests. He finally advanced to the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains and took root in the Western Region. This heroic force originating from the coast of the Bohai Sea not only eliminates bandits and stabilizes border defense with iron and blood, but also uses the fine style of a civilized division to sow the seeds of national unity in the land of Xinjiang and write a red chapter of the unity of the military and the people to help each other.
On the way to the west, in the face of rumors and incitement from reactionary forces, the brigade soldiers were taught to strictly observe mass discipline, practice the "three no-nos" principle, respect the customs and beliefs of all ethnic groups, and actively visited religious representatives and enlightened gentry to preach the truth and clarify fallacies. The troops slept on the streets without disturbing the people. Qiu Wuwei was considerate of the people's sentiments. He crushed rumors and warmed the hearts of the people with his words and deeds. He won the sincere support of the people of all ethnic groups along the way and wrote a moving chapter of unity between the army and the people and national unity. This also laid a profound foundation for Liu Shuangquan to take root in the border areas and deepen the cause of ethnic integration in the future.
The flames of war are gradually extinguished and the beacon smoke has ended. When many soldiers missed their homeland and longed to return to their hometowns, an order to "reclam and build Xinjiang on the spot" resounded throughout the Tianshan Mountains. At that time, Xinjiang was a vast desert with vast deserts and plains. There was no fertile land to cultivate, no large buildings to live in, and no roads to connect. All construction had to start from scratch. Faced with the choice of returning home for reunion or staying behind to guard the border, Liu Shuangquan resolutely chose the latter. He regarded the vast Gobi as his second hometown and devoted his life to guarding the border as his mission, developing Xinjiang as his own responsibility, and enriching the people as his original intention.
After decades of taking root in the border areas, Liu Shuangquan has always adhered to his original aspirations and worked hard, without losing his military uniform and remaining true to his civilian character. He took root in the fields and worked hard on the front line of construction, opening up wasteland, dredging for water conservancy, paving roads and building houses. He was everywhere where the tasks were heavy and the conditions were difficult. He always cares about the people of all ethnic groups, and regularly goes to the village yurts, sits down with people of all ethnic groups, communicates candidly, listens to the people's appeals, and solves urgent problems and worries.
During the long-term construction of border defense, he has always worked together with the people on the border, shared joys and sorrows, and made progress together. Working side by side day after day and staying true to each other year after year have made the friendship across regions and ethnic groups deeper and deeper. It has vividly implemented the concept of community where all ethnic groups share weal and woe, honor and disgrace, life and death, and destiny. The roots of national unity have been deeply rooted in the Tianshan Gobi, and the flowers of blending and symbiosis have bloomed in the Western Regions all year round.
3. Light and shadow continue to fuel the fire - the spiritual balance across mountains and seas
The protagonist Mei Eryue of "Sunrise over the Bohai Sea Shines over the Tianshan Mountains" protects the legacy of her comrades and sticks to the frontier land, and resolutely changes her name to Mei Shuangquan. The change of name is the condensation of the original intention and the persistence of the promise. It is also a noble artistic tribute to the life-long character and righteousness of the border guard Liu Shuangquan and the righteousness of the family and the country. On the stage, the name "Shuangquan" runs throughout the play, carrying the profound friendship between the army and the people and the nation; off the stage, the real Liu Shuangquan spent his life guarding the border, fulfilling the original mission of the same name. The moving story performed by light and shadow is never a fictional legend, but the epitome of the real life of a generation of Bohai Navy Region teaching brigade soldiers who go from the individual to the greater self and unite with loyalty.
In the play, the lover Liu Ye never marries, protects her original intention, fulfills her filial piety for the martyrs, educates the orphans of the martyrs, and interprets the righteousness of her family and country with her ordinary perseverance; Mei Xue, a cadre who aids Xinjiang in the new era, continues her ancestors’ original intention, takes root in the border areas to develop businesses and enrich the people, and continues to write a new chapter of Shandong-Xinjiang cooperation and national unity. The two-way journey and the passing of the torch across more than seventy years, both inside and outside the play, comprehensively reproduce the spiritual background of the ancestors who guarded the border: they are flesh and blood, with homesickness and concern, love for their children, and reluctance to leave. They are also the guardians of the family and country, hiding all kinds of tenderness in their hearts, shouldering huge responsibilities on their shoulders, abandoning their small family for everyone, and abandoning personal feelings to pursue the righteousness.
The years have gone by, and the original intention has become stronger over time. Taking root in the Western Regions for more than seventy years, Liu Shuangquan devoted his life to building the border areas and benefiting the people of all ethnic groups. He personally witnessed and participated in the great changes of the Gobi into an oasis, the barren beach into a hot land, and the border into a new city. He used hard work and perseverance to build a solid foundation for border stability and national unity. Throughout his life, he failed to achieve "loyalty and filial piety" in the secular sense, but he devoted his life to completing the answer to the era of having both family and country, military and civilians, and Lu and Xinjiang.
Looking back on the 70-plus years of history, from the teachings of the Bohai Sea Region marching thousands of miles westward, guarding the border and revitalizing the Xinjiang, to the cadres from Shandong aiding Xinjiang in the new era who continued to work hard and cultivated the Tianshan Mountains, the sons and daughters of Qilu and the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang stayed close to each other, helped each other, and passed down the torch. They transcended the barriers of mountains and seas and the changes of the times, building an unbreakable bond of national unity.
When the stage finally comes to an end, the spirit will always have the power to be passed on. The wonderful blooming of "Sunrise over the Bohai Sea and Shining over the Tianshan Mountains" is not only an affectionate look back at a period of red history, but also a noble tribute to generations of ancestors who guarded the border and aided Xinjiang in their responsibility for their country and their country and their feelings of unity. Standing at a new historical starting point, reviewing the turbulent years of Liu Shuangquan and other border guard ancestors, and digging into the red heritage of Shandong and Xinjiang working together to build dreams, is to inherit the red blood, continue the fire of national unity, build souls with history, and use culture Moisten the heart, use emotion to gather strength, and continue to tell the story of China where many ethnic groups blend, coexist, and build dreams together, so that the red love of the Bohai Tianshan Mountains can be passed down from generation to generation, and the flower of the Chinese nation's community can always bloom and flourish in the land of China.
