Watching a popular-spread out WeChat video by Water Mellon Video: said a US orchestra’s show in China State Opera House, the music played was the theme song in 1950’s Chinese war movie, an heroic Chinese People’s Volunteering Army infantry’s fighting against overwhelmingly stronger United Nations attacks at Shanggan Ridge. As every Chinese in audience familiars with every note of the melody, this international performance has been appraised the best theatric arrangement of the most and long-time popular Chinese song ever. The American orchestra was led by a grandson of President Eisenhower’s, who commanded the Korean War.
I compare this song with US’s the other patriate song America the Beautiful. Similarity sites on their common love of one’s home country. Even the lyrics, the former starts with “one river wide…” and the latter ends with “… from sea to the shining sea”. Many Americans felt better and easier to sing than the National Anthem, and more meaningful in long-run. The movie, the plot was similar to Winston Brooms’ Better Times than These, but let’t not confused with it. The Chinese movie (上甘岭) was overflowed with full fury against the enemy, mostly American; in contrast American war stories actually often mixed strong anti-war individual conflicts against the military authority. Two sides of the story, it is the two similar songs to express the same patriot and ant-war.
Here the comments said as “stunning” and “surprising” performance of American’s, Chinese audience have to as well appreciate Western’s more romantic and aesthetic approaches in music, even on other people’s song, even on their past enemy’s patriate song. Showing of a greater patriotism and tolerance, to face the past and modern world.
After all, above WeChat showcase, which moved many Chinese, was performed by BBC Orchestra, according context searched out from baidu,com. These were all hoked-up. But the sentiments were indeed true.
BBC has British’s own Shanggan Ridge story: 600 soldiers of the British Army took on a force of 30,000 Chinese troops crossing the Imjin River in Korea. Reporting to his American superior, Brigadier Tom Brodie of the Gloucestershire Regiment admitted the situation was “a bit sticky”. Such classic British understatement failed to secure the “Glorious Glosters” reinforcements or permission to fall back. At the end of the battle 10,000 Chinese troops had fallen. British losses stood at just 59, but only 39 of the survivors evaded capture. The regiment won two Victoria Cross Medals, also a monument in South Korea. (Through Korean War, British participated 90,000 troops, the loss was 1,078; US loss was 37,000. They thought North Korean and Chinese loss totalled 1.5M.)
以下翻译成中文：
观赏这个微信上盛传的西瓜视频：一家美国交响乐团在北京国家大剧院，表演1950年代中国战争电影《上甘岭》的主题歌。电影是讲述中国人民志愿军的前锋与超强联合国军的顽强战斗故事。由于所有中国观众都熟悉这首歌到每一个音符，音乐家的表演被认为是迄今对这首永远时兴歌曲的最好交响乐变奏。并说这个乐团是指挥联合国盟军、后来的总统艾森豪威尔的孙子领导的。
我比较这首歌于美国的《American the Beautiful》，同是表达对祖国的热爱，甚至歌词，这一首开始于“一条大河波浪宽…”，美国那一首结束于”从大洋到闪烁着的另一片大洋“。很多美国人觉得它更适合作为国歌，因其更上口、更适合国家的长远意义。而电影，情景和情节，很相似美国文学名著《比此现实更好的时候》。但别混淆了：中国的战争文学充满着集体一致对敌人的狂怒无情，而美国战争文学往往夹杂着个人与上级在心理和道义上的冲突。两方不同的故事，是类似的爱国歌曲表达了相同的爱国和反战情怀。
关于这段表演的网络评述，是一片印象深刻，是“惊叹“、是”意想不到“。看到音乐家能更浪漫和美学渲染地变奏了这首歌，甚至是一首他国的歌曲、极致到是曾经敌国的爱国歌曲，中国观众不得不欣赏。面对过去和现代的世界，一种恒大一体的爱国与宽融。
然而，这个感动了许多中国人的网上视频，在百度网站上搜索到的前后文，实际上是BBC交响乐团的演出，虽然英国也是当年朝鲜战争的联合国军成员，但并不是美国的乐团。原来竟是想象成真！但是，感慨是真的。
英国广播电台（BBC）也有关于英军类似上甘岭的故事：在朝鲜的Imjin河上，650名英军遭遇了3万中国军队。Gloucestershire Regimen军团的 Tom Brodie 准将报告其上级美国总部说“情况有些粘手”。由此典型的英国人对敌情的低估，使这个有古老传统的名旅（1881-1994） 不能受到增援也得不到撤退命令。战斗结束时，中国损失了万名士兵；英军损失59名，但是只有39人免于被俘。战后这个军团为此战斗赢得了两枚维多利亚十字勋章（英国军队的最高荣誉），在韩国人们纪念这次战斗，为Gloucestershire Regimen军团树立了一组群雕。（在整个朝鲜战争中，英国损失了1,078人、美国损失了37,000人，他们觉得其朝中对手共损失了150万人。)