A JOURNEY TO YENAN 1946
49
it was mid-winter, the countryside around was bare, brown, and dusty, and many people wore white surgical masks to keep out the fine dust. The hillsides in Yenan and on the way there were all seriously eroded, and there was little sign of the spectacular reclamation work on terracing slopes and damming streams of later years, the result of which can be seen by today's visitors.
Occasions in Yenan
Having unloaded our cargo, checked the manifests, and visited the hospital, we spent a day servicing the trucks. We were staying at the Guest House, a row of very comfortable caves with a terrace and a courtyard in front. We were in the middle of servicing, with petrol drums and wheels scattered around, ourselves under the trucks greasing and checking, when we were informed that Chairman Mao Tse-tung was coming to see us! The courtyard was rapidly tidied, overalls and dirt removed, and the party went to the ketang to wait. We then discovered that the Chairman had been at the Guest House for some time seeing someone else and had arrived unnoticed while we were under the trucks. We were all introduced and thanked for our assistance and help, to which I replied that this was part of our normal work and not something to earn especial thanks. The impression, which I recorded then, was of great confidence and quiet strength.
Two or three days later, we were invited to a performance of the well-known opera "Ta Ming Fu" (★1⁄2#) part of the "Liang Shan P'o" (b) series, which has a very suitable theme. We found ourselves sitting three rows behind the Chairman and other leading Party members, including Marshal Chu Te, all of whom enjoyed themselves as there was a strong cast with some excellent comic character performances. This was, of course, well before the growth of revolutionary opera.
On one evening, we were entertained by, I think, members of the Lu Hsun Academy of Art (or the Anti-Japanese Revolutionary University). There was a yang ke dance team with a performance extolling improved methods of pest control on crops, some songs, and then dancing for all, mostly folk dances but including some foxtrots and quicksteps played on er hu and pi pa. We were presented with a set of woodcuts by various artists working there, including Zhang Wan, Yan Han, Xia Feng, Gu Yuan, and Weng
A JOURNEY TO YENAN 1946
49
it was mid-winter the countryside around was bare, brown, and dusty and many people wore white surgical masks to keep out the fine dust. The hillsides in Yenan and on the way there were all seriously eroded and there was little sign of the spectacular reclama- tion work on terracing slopes and damming streams of later years, the result of which can be seen by today's visitors.
Occasions in Yenan
Having unloaded our cargo, checked the manifests, and visited the hospital, we spent a day in servicing the trucks. We were stay- ing at the Guest House, a row of very comfortable caves with a terrace and a courtyard in front. We were in the middle of servicing, with petrol drums and wheels scattered around, ourselves under the trucks greasing and checking, when we were informed that Chairman Mao Tse-tung was coming to see us! The courtyard was rapidly tidied, overalls and dirt removed and the party went to the ketang to wait. We then discovered that the Chairman had been at the Guest House for some time seeing someone else and had arrived unnoticed while we were under the trucks. We were all introduced and thanked for our assistance and help, to which I replied that this was part of our normal work and not something to earn especial thanks. The impression, which I recorded then, was of great con- fidence and quiet strength.
Two or three days later we were invited to a performance of the well known opera "Ta Ming Fu” (★1⁄2# ) part of the "Liang Shan P'o” (b) series which has a very suitable theme. We found ourselves sitting three rows behind the Chairman and other leading Party members including Marshal Chu Te, all of whom enjoyed themselves as there was a strong cast with some excellent comic character performances. This was, of course, well before the growth of revolutionary opera.
On one evening we were entertained by, I think, members of the Lu Hsun Academy of Art (or the Anti-Japanese Revolutionary University). There was a yang ke dance team with a performance extolling improved methods of pest control on crops, some songs and then dancing for all, mostly folk dances but including some foxtrots and quicksteps played on er hu and pi pa. We were pre- sented with a set of woodcuts by various artists working there including Zhang Wan, Yan Han, Xia Feng, Gu Yuan and Weng
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