The Ma Lanhua Children's Vocal Choir founded by Deng Xiaolan stepped onto the stage of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics from the dirt to show the world the style of Chinese teenagers.
Shortly after the end of the Winter Olympics, on the evening of March 21, Deng Xiaolan died peacefully at the age of 79 due to ineffective treatment for cerebral infarction. What happened to her?
This issue of Ziya Children's Funny Character Ji will lead everyone into the world of Deng Xiaolan and feel the musical power exclusive to her.
The second hometown - Malan Village
Malan Village is located in Nanzhuang Town, Fuping County, Hebei Province, and Deng Xiaolan has inseparable feelings with here. In 1943, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was in full swing, and the smoke of war and turmoil rose up all over the country.
In order to protect journalists, Deng Tuo, the president of a daily newspaper, decided to go deep into the Taihang Mountains and camp in Malan Village, Fuping County, to hide the newspaper.
At this stage, the social situation was chaotic, the village often faced the risk of being "swept up", and many people in the village were brutally killed by the enemy because they kept secrets.
It was in such a difficult environment that Deng Xiaolan was born. Due to the special work of parents, the danger is high, and they need to travel for a long time.
For the safety of Deng Xiaolan, Deng Tuo and his wife fostered Deng Xiaolan in an old couple's home in Malan Village for three years, until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Deng Xiaolan returned to his parents.
In Deng Xiaolan's small heart, she had long regarded this place as her second hometown. Even if you live in Beijing, you will come back regularly to see and feel the changes here.
On the Qingming Festival in 2003, Deng Xiaolan and some elderly people from the original newspaper went to Malan Village to visit the grave, and happened to encounter the Young Pioneers of Malan Village who were also sweeping the grave.
In the mutual exchange, Deng Xiaolan proposed that the children sing a song to everyone, but the children said no.
Looking at the closed environment of Malan Village and the innocent smiling faces of the children, Deng Xiaolan thought about it, and she planned to use music education to open the eyes of these children, build confidence in life, and feel the broad world.
Maran Choir
As soon as she returned to Beijing, Deng Xiaolan began to prepare, first mobilizing her brothers and sisters to donate money, spending 40,000 yuan to turn 4 classrooms in the village into 7.
She then collected musical instruments from relatives and colleagues to teach the children music. Every year after that, teaching her children music here took up a lot of her time every year.
She often runs in Beijing and Malan Village, and in the past 18 years, Deng Xiaolan has traveled more than 200,000 kilometers, about 5 times around the earth.
Piano, accordion, guitar... She teaches what she has at hand; "Unity is Strength", "In That Distant Place", "Ode to Joy"...
The music has wings and floats along the Rouge River and through the mountains. The Maran Children's Voice Choir was also formed, and these children sang in the mountains, sang in the crowds, and finally stood on the world stage and sang to people all over the world.
Deng Xiaolan always said: "Songs are poems, condensing the most beautiful and essence of human beings, which can change personality and purify the soul." ”
In Deng Xiaolan's view, rural children are not bad at all, as long as someone teaches, they will be better than urban children. In 2006, Deng Xiaolan set up a small band, there is no restriction on the recruitment of members, as long as you want to learn music, you can join.
In order to let the children of these mountains feel the breadth and beauty of the world, after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Deng Xiaolan took the children of the choir team to visit Beijing at his own expense, visiting the Forbidden City, Tiananmen, Bird's Nest, Zoo...
A pair of innocent eyes has more desire to explore the world. The members of the small band left one by one, but Deng Xiaolan was always there.
With the increasing number of children, Deng Xiaolan, who originally ran between the two places, often lived in Malan Village, and many people asked her why she did not let go of the matter at hand and rested well.
Deng Xiaolan humorously said, "Now many people like the farm, the landscape of Malan is so good, I feel like a tourist here, I like to travel in Malan." ”
Music festivals are held
In order to build a stage for these children to show themselves, Deng Xiaolan pondered again. In 2013, Deng Xiaolan saw the report of the German Forest Music Festival in the media and also thought of the idea of holding a music festival.
"I should create a chance for the kids to perform." The village of Malan is pleasantly scenic and the landscape is suitable, so it is better to hold a concert.
With this idea, Deng Xiaolan took action, and she found a large open space next to the waterfall in the mountain and built a "pigeon stage".
"The pigeon is like a big hand holding up the children's dreams and futures." Deng Xiaolan said. The children are also fully prepared, and on the day of the performance, the children performed perfectly, and the concert attracted many people around to watch.
Everywhere you look, the open space is full of people who come to the concert. The performance was over, and the applause was thunderous. This time the encouragement completely built up the confidence of the child this time, and it turned out that "I am also the best one".
Outdoor venues are always susceptible to the influence of weather conditions, in order to give children a better performance environment, while making concerts normal, want to build a suitable big stage for children has become a matter for Deng Xiaolan to remember.
A designer designed the "Moon Stage" for this purpose, and the design of the stage was satisfactory, but it was shelved for 8 years for various reasons.
During this period, this design won international awards and was favored by many people, but the designer chose to keep the design and guard the simple dreams of these children with Deng Xiaolan. Eventually, the design landed in the village of Maran.
Participate in the Winter Olympics
The story of Deng Xiaolan and the children of Malan Village began to be known to more and more people, and the team at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics also paid attention to this small group.
The spirit of hope and dedication conveyed by the Maran Choir coincided with the spirit transmitted by the Winter Olympics, so the team organizing the opening and closing ceremonies decided to let this group of children sing the Olympic anthem at the opening ceremony.
Knowing this news, Deng Xiaolan was also excited, and she was always with her children at an advanced age. These children need to sing Olympiad in Greek, for which language training is essential.
In order not to disturb the children's study, Deng Xiaolan just carried a stool and sat silently in the corner, and only got up to help if needed. Every time, she would confirm the time of the children's training in advance, and then rush back from Beijing to attend classes with the children.
As the practice deepened, as long as the children were there, you could always see an old man with short hair, standing in the corner with a kind face, waiting.
On the evening of February 4, 2022, the Winter Olympics were grandly opened at the Bird's Nest, and 44 children became a beautiful landscape, they came from the Ma LanHua Children's Choir.
Wearing a tiger's head coat and tiger head shoes that night, he presented the Ode to the Olympics to the world in Greek, and the song was pure and spread in all directions.
After the Beijing Winter Olympics, Deng Xiaolan, who is already 79 years old, still did not stop and rushed to Malan Village, preparing to organize a music festival that belongs to these children.
On the afternoon of March 19, she had a sudden cerebral infarction, sent to the hospital for rescue, and died on March 21.
Deng Xiaolan's children said in the obituary: "In the last 18 years of her life, my mother devoted most of her time and energy to children's music education in Malan Village, Fuping County, Hebei Province, which brought her happiness and satisfaction. ”
Although Deng Xiaolan left, he let the note fly with the wings of his dream and landed in the corner of Malan Village. How do you feel about her love and pursuit of music? Everyone is welcome to actively leave their own opinions in the comment area.
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