On March 5, 1963, an article by Chairman Mao Zedong was published in the newspaper, paying tribute (向……致敬) to a young soldier, named Lei Feng, who died in an accident in 1962 at the age of 22. Since then, March 5 has been marked as "Learn From Lei Feng Day" and Lei has become a cultural icon (偶像).
Right after studying the article along with his partners that day, Wu Hongyuan, a songwriter who was then 33, was given a task to write a song, echoing (附和) Mao's article and encouraging people to learn from the young soldier's spirit.
On March 3, two days before the annual Learn From Lei Feng Day, Wu, 93 now, appeared in Beijing to announce a new project, calling for people to write their own versions (改编) of lyrics for the song, as a way to remind people especially the younger people, to keep the spirit of Lei alive.
"When I wrote the song, I was a young songwriter. I was very excited about the task, but I didn't know where to start. So I took all the materials about Lei Feng that I could think of, such as newspaper reports, and I soon came up with the lyrics. The process was smooth and natural," Wu recalls.
"As a songwriter, I wanted to write songs to express my respect and love for those heroes. So, when I started to write the song for Lei Feng, I was full of ideas and passion. "
(A) He has written more than 100 songs during his life and he considers the song about Lei as one of his favorites.
"I didn't expect that the song would be enjoyed by so many people and performed for 60 years. (B) It shows that the spirit of Lei Feng has a great influence on people in different times," he adds.
With the new project, Wu calls for people to explain their understanding of the spirit of Lei, which received warm welcome. People, who work in different fields, such as transportation drivers, as well as young students, shared their versions of songs.
