''Children of Troubled Times'', also known as ''Fēngyún Érnǚ'', ''Scenes of City Life'', ''Children of the Storm'', and several other translations, is a patriotic 1935

Chinese film The cinema of China is one of three distinct historical threads of Chinese-language cinema together with the cinema of Hong Kong and the cinema of Taiwan. Cinema was introduced in China in 1896 and the first Chinese film, '' Dingjun Mountain'' ...

most famous as the origin of " The March of the Volunteers", the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The movie was directed by

Xu Xingzhi Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ...

and written by

Tian Han Tian Han ( zh, 田汉; 12 March 1898 – 10 December 1968), formerly romanized as T'ien Han, was a Chinese drama activist, playwright, a leader of revolutionary music and films, as well as a translator and poet. He emerged at the time of the ...

and

Xia Yan Xia Yan is the name of: *Xia Yan (Ming dynasty) (1482–1548), Ming dynasty politician *Xia Yan (playwright) Xia Yan (; 30 October 1900 – 6 February 1995) was a Chinese playwright and screenwriter, and China's Deputy Minister of Culture bet ...

Yuan Muzhi Yuan Muzhi (; March 3, 1909 – January 30, 1978) was an actor and director from the Republic of China and later of the People's Republic of China. Career As an actor, Yuan became extremely popular and took on the nickname "man with a thousan ...

plays an intellectual who flees the trouble in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

to pursue the glamorous

Wang Renmei Wang Renmei (; December 1914 – 2 April 1987) was a famous Chinese actress and singer nicknamed the "Wildcat of Shanghai". She was mainly active during the 1930s, and her most notable film was the 1934 ''Song of the Fishermen'' (available onli ...

only to join the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

resistance after the death of his friend.

Plot

A young poet Xin Baihe flees

with his friend, Liang. Liang soon joins the resistance against the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

invaders, but Xin chooses to pursue a relationship with a glamorous and westernized widow in

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

. After hearing that Liang has been killed, however, Xin has a change of heart and rushes to join the war effort.

Communist themes

The film was a strong communist production, produced by the

Diantong Film Company Diantong Film Company () was a short-lived but important film studio and production company during the 1930s in Shanghai, China. Though it produced only four films during its existence between 1934-1935, all four films became important examples o ...

and based on a story by

, a Communist Party member since 1932. Tian was arrested by the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

shortly after it was released. In addition, it starred Yuan Muzhi, who would join the Communists in 1940 and had music by the Communist composer

Nie Er Nie Er (14 February 1912 – 17 July 1935), born Nie Shouxin, courtesy name Ziyi (子義 or 子藝), was a Chinese composer best known for "March of the Volunteers", the national anthem of People's Republic of China. In numerous Shanghai magaz ...

. The story itself, with its tale of a wealthy man who learns to abandon the decadence of

Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

for self-sacrifice, was also a common theme among leftist films of the period.

Theme

The

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of the movie, " The March of the Volunteers", was sung by

Gu Menghe GU, Gu, or gu may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Gu (instrument), Chinese drums ** Bangu (drum) () or Gu (), a Chinese "flowerpot" drum * ''Global Underground'', an electronic dance music compilation series Other media * GU Comics, an ...

and

. The song was released as an album by the

Pathé Records Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s. Early years The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé ...

label (which later became part of

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

in 1935). " The March of the Volunteers" was selected as the provisional

of the

in 1949.Pickowicz, 65 This decision was formally written into the

Constitution of the People's Republic of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further revisions about every five years. It is the fo ...

in March 2004.

Notes

References

External links

''Children of Troubled Times''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

rroneously_translated_as_''Scenes_of_City_Life''.html" ;"title="Scenes_of_City_Life.html" ;"title="rroneously translated as ''Scenes of City Life">rroneously translated as ''Scenes of City Life''">Scenes_of_City_Life.html" ;"title="rroneously translated as ''Scenes of City Life">rroneously translated as ''Scenes of City Life''
''Children of Trouble[d] Times''
at Dianying's Chinese Movie Database
''Children of Troubled Times''
at the Internet Archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:CHILDREN OF TROUBLED TIMES Chinese black-and-white films 1930s Mandarin-language films 1935 films Second Sino-Japanese War films Articles containing video clips Chinese drama films 1935 drama films

Plot

Communist themes

Theme

See also

Notes

References

External links