Notes:

① Chen-Heng refers to Chenzhou and Hengyang in Hunan Province.

② The Constitutional Protection Movement (Hufa Campaign): In July 1917, after Beiyang warlord Duan Qirui took control of the Beijing government by using force to expel monarchist Zhang Xun, he implemented a feudal autocratic dictatorship at home, aligned with Japanese imperialism abroad, abolished the Provisional Constitution drafted under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen after the 1911 Revolution, and refused to reinstate the National Assembly. This provoked nationwide opposition. Upholding the position of democratic revolution, Sun Yat-sen resolutely raised the banner of “Constitutional Protection” in Guangzhou, established the Constitutional Protection Military Government, convened an “Extraordinary Parliament,” and launched the Constitutional Protection War against Duan Qirui.

Introduction to the poet:

Lin Boqu (March 20, 1886 – May 29, 1960), originally named Lin Zuhan, courtesy name Suiyuan, style name Boqu, was a native of Liangshuijing Village, Xiumei Town, Anfu (today’s Linli County), Hunan Province. In his early years he joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui), and in 1921 he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party. He was one of the outstanding leaders of the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic of China.

Lin Boqu took part in the Nanchang Uprising, the Long March, and other major revolutionary events, and served as Chairman of the Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia Border Region Government. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Central People’s Government Committee and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the First and Second National People’s Congresses. Lin Boqu was a renowned proletarian revolutionary and statesman, and one of the important leaders of the Party and the state. Together with Dong Biwu, Xu Teli, Xie Juezai, and Wu Yuzhang, he was known as one of the “Five Elders of Yan’an.” On May 29, 1960, Comrade Lin Boqu passed away in Beijing at the age of 74.

On November 7, 1917 (October 25 by the old Russian calendar), the thundering cannons of the Russian October Revolution shook the world, ushering humanity into a new epoch of history. At that very time, Lin Boqu, who was fighting on the Hunan battlefield in the movement to protect the Provisional Constitution, learned of this news from a letter written by his close friend Li Dazhao. He was profoundly inspired; through the dense mists of history, a new hope rose in his heart.

Even before this, Lin Boqu had already been seriously reflecting on the old democratic revolution led by Sun Yat-sen and had embarked on a new search. More than twenty years later, he recalled these experiences with deep emotion in his autobiography:

“From the time of the Tongmenghui through the first ten years after the founding of the Republic, I personally participated in every stage of the national democratic revolutionary struggle. I endured countless setbacks and defeats, and countless martyrs shed their blood. Yet the reactionary forces continued to dominate China in turn, and a clear political order always seemed so far out of reach. Although I did not fully understand the true causes of this situation, I always felt that we could not continue along the old path. From painful experience we had to seek out a new road. But how could we carry the revolution through to the very end?”

Li Dazhao’s letter enlightened him, and the great victory of the October Revolution gave him encouragement. In the spring of 1918, with fervent enthusiasm, he wrote the above poem hailing the dawn of a new era in world history.