New Year’s Day
[a tsu, to the melody As If in a Dream, Ju-meng Ling]
[Translated by Nancy Lin]
Ninghua – Chingliu – Kweihua.
Dense woods, treacherous moss through a narrow path.
Whither our march today?
Straight to the Wuyi valley.
To the Wuyi valley we go,
With red flags flaunting the wind –
A matchless tableau!
Notes [by Nancy Lin]
The famous Kutien Meeting in December 1929 laid down the proletarian military line with its double emphasis on Party’s authority and links with the people, which eventually set the Red Army in a new mould, ideological and organizational. Action was at once taken to open up new bases in south Kiangsi. From Kutien, west Fukien, the Red forces struck north through Chingliu, Kweihua, Ninghua and then westward to Wuyi Mountain on the Fukien-Kiangsi border.
This poem, written on route, reflects the confident mood of the growing Red power, having now well over 60,000 regular troops over some 15 liberated areas.
Four days later, on January 5, Mao published his famous article ‘A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire’.