1923, Qu Qiubai returned from the Soviet Union, served as the editor-in-chief of New Youth, the organ publication of China's * * * production party, and began to translate the Internationale.
The Internationale was first sung at a workers' rally in Lille, France, from June 6th, 19438 to June 8th, 1988. After more than forty years' circulation, this French workers' war song has become the war song of the proletariat all over the world, and the Soviet people used it to defeat the enemy and finally move towards a new victory. However, in China at that time, The Internationale did not spread. After The Internationale was introduced into China, there were two versions, but both of them were not ideal, and the lyrics were obscure, which was difficult for the working people to accept. This is why this great song has never been sung in China.
Qu Qiubai attended the Ninth All-Russian Soviet Congress in the Soviet Union and met Lenin. He was greatly encouraged by the vigorous development and revolutionary spirit of various undertakings in this new socialist country. He had already made up his mind to retranslate the Internationale, making it widely circulated in China and becoming the battle song of the proletarian revolution in China.
The purpose of retranslating The Internationale is to make the translated lyrics accurate and easy to sing, and to spread among the working people. At that time, Qu Qiubai lived in his uncle's house in Niu Niu, Huanghuamen, Beijing. Guarding an organ, he began to translate the Internationale. He compared the original word for word. Sometimes I meditate, sometimes I play and sing. Every lyric has to be finalized again and again. He stood up while translating, singing and translating the word "international". This word has only two words in Chinese, but it is a long list of syllables in foreign languages. If the word "international" is translated into "international-must be realized" like the original score. If the word "international" drags on for so long, it will be difficult to sing, and it will be very unpleasant.
Qu Qiubai thought hard about how to translate this word. He walked up and down in the hut, humming songs from time to time and thinking about his heart. After his experience in Moscow, another scene came into view: the excited singing voices of proletarians from various countries who yearned for socialism and came to Soviet Russia, the joyful singing voices of the liberated Soviet Russian people, and his own generous singing voice for the truth all converged into a magnificent and invincible melody, which echoed in his ears. He stopped suddenly, went to the piano insightful, put his finger on the keys and played this passage of the Internationale forcefully. Accompanied by the clear rhythm of the piano, he sang in a low but very solemn voice: "Internalxiong Nell, it must be realized!" "Lyrics and songs blend so harmoniously! Qu Qiubai finally solved this problem by transliteration.
After translating The Internationale, he once said to Cao Jinghua: "The word' international' is almost homophonic in the languages of western European countries. Now that Chinese has been transliterated, it not only makes singing possible, but more importantly, it can sing synchronously with the voices of other countries, so that the working people in China and the proletarians in the world can respond in unison to achieve the effect of sound synchronization and emotional integration. "
1924, Qu Qiubai was the head of the Department of Sociology, Shanghai University. On May 5th, the anniversary of Marx's birthday, at the commemorative meeting of Shanghai University, Qu Qiubai boarded the high platform and sang "The Internationale" with Ren and other teachers and students among a group of patriotic youths. From then on, this great melody spread all over the world, accompanied by the indomitable struggle between the people of China and the reactionary dark forces, until the final victory.
Qu Qiubai was arrested and killed by Kuomintang reactionaries in Jiangxi on February 1935 after retranslating The Internationale1years later. When he died, he held his head high and sang his own translation of the Internationale. He announced to the enemy with a song: "Internalsonnell, it must be realized"!