The TV series "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History" presents a panoramic view of how Comrade Deng Xiaoping led the Chinese people to create the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the critical period of historical turning point from 1976 to 1984, and the vivid practice and glorious course of his leadership. It fully demonstrates Comrade Deng Xiaoping's extraordinary courage and personality. It aroused a warm response as soon as it was broadcast in 2014, and won the 30th China TV Drama "Flying Apsaras Award" Outstanding TV Drama Award. Today, the broadcast of this drama on the "Revisiting Classics" channel has once again aroused the attention and heated discussion of the audience on major theme creation.
The play's chief screenwriter Long Pingping studied ethnology under Mr. Wu Wen-tsao in his early years. After graduation, he joined the then Central Literature Research Office (Note: later merged into the Central Party History and Literature Research Institute), specializing in Deng Xiaoping research. During this period, he came into contact with a large amount of relevant literary and historical materials and related figures, and began to delve into the field of film and television dramas starting from documentary themes. In recent years, he has served as the chief screenwriter of major revolutionary dramas such as "Awakening Age" and "Northwest Years", and has established a unique style in the field of revolutionary historical works.
"Revisiting the Classics and Talking with the Main Creators" specially interviewed Long Pingping, recalling his experience when he was in charge of the script creation of "Deng Xiaoping at the Historical Turning Point".
Long Pingping
Long Pingping : After I graduated from graduate school, I was assigned to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's Document Research Office, and then I specialized in studying Deng Xiaoping. Thanks to my research, I was able to read all the documents and archives related to Deng Xiaoping. Because of this, when I was preparing a documentary about Deng Xiaoping, people told me that you specialized in this field, so you should come and do it.
The first documentary I participated in was the 12-episode documentary "Deng Xiaoping". It was a classic. It was broadcasted from January 1, 1997, and broadcasted for 12 consecutive days. On February 19, Comrade Deng Xiaoping passed away. During the funeral period, all TV stations rebroadcast (this documentary). Everyone wanted to watch it, not only ordinary people, but also some leaders at that time. In fact, they had never seen Deng Xiaoping and did not know Deng Xiaoping. They all began to understand Deng Xiaoping through this film. 12 episodes, each 50 minutes long, such a large space introduced Comrade Deng Xiaoping's life, and it was introduced in a visual way. It was really shocking.
Deng Xiaoping is also the first documentary to be collected by the Central Archives and permanently preserved as a video archive. There are 12 episodes in total, and I wrote 5 episodes by myself. I can still remember many words. For example, "Deng Xiaoping Trail". "Deng Xiaoping Trail" is now known to everyone, but no one knew about it at that time. We discovered it when we went to Jiangxi to shoot this film. During the "Cultural Revolution", he stayed in Jiangxi for three years, living in the Army School. Every morning he had to go to the factory to work, and the distance was a long way. We didn't dare let him walk on the main road, for fear that people would recognize him, so we let him walk on the small paths in the fields, and if there was no road, he would walk on the ridges of the fields. The couple, plus a soldier who followed them, the three of them walked like this every day, rain or shine. There was no road before, but slowly a small path was created. On this path, he would think about many problems, all of which were national problems, so when I wrote it, I used this narration: Many of the things that happened in China later were extended from this small path.
Documentaries rely on two things: video materials and interviews. When we were creating the documentary "A Century of Xiaoping", we had already used all the materials and it was difficult to find new materials. So I discussed with Yan Dong (chief director) and decided to call it "oral history". We interviewed hundreds of people, probably more than 100 people. A very important feature of "A Century of Xiaoping" is that we interviewed all the people in (Deng Xiaoping's) family. Because I am very familiar with their family. In the end, it was a six-episode large-scale oral history documentary edited mainly by interviews (Note: "A Century of Xiaoping" is also China's first oral history documentary).
Nowadays, people say that I write TV dramas, but I started out as a documentary writer. I have made more than 20 documentaries, and each one is a big hit. But it’s all because of my profession, because you do this, and no one else can do this.
Poster for the TV series "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History"
Long Pingping : I started writing this script in 2009. There are several screenwriters for "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History", and I am the chief screenwriter. I said two things. First, for so many years, from 2009 (writing the script) to the broadcast, I can't say that I have been writing and doing this every day, but I really think about it every day, and I dare not take a day off; second, I can be responsible for every word in this film. Although some of them are in other people's first draft, they are all left after I have pondered over and over again. Therefore, I said that I must be responsible for every word here.
After the show was aired, there were a lot of debates, and many posts said that this historical data was wrong, that historical data was wrong. I went to many units to tell them that I was just making big promises, and I was responsible for every word I said. I had a basis for everything I said, not a single word was without basis.
Stills from the TV series "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History"
Long Pingping : Yes. The show was originally called "Deng Xiaoping" until it was almost aired (it was renamed "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History").
I traveled to many places to write "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History", including Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, etc. I collected materials, discussed and wrote at the same time. For example, I stayed in Sanya for two months during the Spring Festival. I did nothing else and ignored a lot of things. I just wrote it myself. Then I stayed in Langya Mountain in Anhui for more than 40 days. I went back and forth many times. It was mainly to determine the outline and ideas.
When the crew asked me to write the script, they clearly told me that the drama would start in 1978 and end in 1992, from the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee to the 14th CPC National Congress and the Southern Talks. This was the instruction I was given at the beginning. Later, I thought it would be difficult to write. So I decided to write until 1984. I extended the story a little bit, starting from the crushing of the "Gang of Four" and the end of the "Cultural Revolution", and then write about how (Deng Xiaoping) came back to power, the resumption of the college entrance examination, the convening of the National Science Conference, the adoption of the "Resolution on Certain Historical Issues of the Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", and then support for rural reform and the establishment of special economic zones. Finally, college students raised the banner of "Hello, Xiaoping", which was a perfect ending.
This idea was quite good. In the first one or two years, we mainly discussed the entire structure and plot, and then we started writing. To be honest, it was quite tight in the end. I was locked up in a temple in Sichuan for three months and went through it from beginning to end. At that time, I wrote a script of more than 500,000 words.
Stills from the TV series "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History"
Long Pingping : It has never happened before to put all these leaders (Deng Xiaoping, Ye Jianying, Chen Yun, Hu Yaobang, etc.) on the screen. So critic Li Jun said that this is a "hero list" of reform and opening up. As for the leadership, there are three levels: the first level is the second generation of leadership represented by Deng Xiaoping; then the core level of the central leadership; below that, there are some leaders at the provincial and ministerial levels, some real people and some fictional people.
I think "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History" sets a very good precedent by introducing fictional characters. Reform and opening up did not happen naturally, but was the result of negotiation. You cannot show this negotiation process directly, so you have to rely on these fictional characters.
The fictional characters are divided into several layers. I fictionalized the younger generation, such as Tian Yuan, Xia Jianhong, and Xia Jianguo, who grew up in the reform and opening up. They are the backbone of Chinese society, including those who finally raised the banner of "Hello, Xiaoping". This (banner) was not raised suddenly, but was the true feelings of the people. At that time, society naturally emerged. This is the voice of the people. So the TV series (Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History) has been broadcast on several channels in the past two years. I occasionally watch it and I am quite excited after watching it.
Long Pingping : When I was designing this, I was most worried that the real character and the fictional character would become two separate entities and not fit together. This is very possible. But later I saw that this did not happen. They really fit together very well. For example, Tian Zhiyuan, who was repeatedly summoned by Deng Xiaoping in the play, who was he? I said he was someone else, and ten people were combined into him.
Many of the stories of young people are my own personal experiences, so I wrote them into the play. For example, I did two somersaults after receiving the college admission letter, and that was also written in the script. Later, when we were filming the scene where Xia Jianguo received the admission letter, the actor said he couldn't do somersaults, and somersaults on the Loess Plateau wouldn't look good. So we exaggerated it artistically, kneeling on the Loess Plateau and shouting, and I said that this is also good. This is a kind of catharsis. The desolation of the Loess Plateau, combined with the character's hoarseness, is more expressive than somersaults. Somersaults are when you can feel the emotions yourself, but others can't feel them, and it's not as good as this. You are like Tian Yuan, who got zero points for the composition test. I have also experienced it.
It not only contains my experiences, but also the experiences of many people of my generation. In terms of their ages, Xia Jianguo was born in 1949, and Tian Yuan was born in 1950, five or six years older than me, six or seven years older. They are from the "old third generation", just like my brother and his friends. But my experiences are not much different from theirs. I also went to the countryside, took the college entrance examination, and after graduation, I joined the work and carried out reform together. This is my own destiny.
Stills from the TV series "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History"
Long Pingping : I study Deng Xiaoping. He was with his family every day. For example, the opening is a kind of life-like beginning. It is not written like this in the past when writing about great men. (In the play) it seems that it is an ordinary old man and old woman working on the stove. He does not have an office. He works at home. If you want to find him to report on work, you have to come to his house. When he reports on work, sometimes his little grandson is playing around. That's him.
The things I made up about my family are all plot-based, but they all have a basis. You can't make them up randomly. We still believe in "major events are true, minor events are not restricted", so when it comes to real people, there must be historical data to support them. You can't make them up randomly. Some words are made up, but of course they have been repeatedly scrutinized and must be reasonable.
Long Pingping and Sarina, who plays Zhuo Lin in the play
For example, when Chen Yun discussed Tao Zhu's rehabilitation, he met with the special case team and had a debate. This was made up, but it had a basis, because it was Chen Yun who proposed to dissolve the special case team. Moreover, he was the one who presided over the rehabilitation of Tao Zhu and Liu Shaoqi, so it was reasonable for him to have some debates with his subordinates. After the film was broadcast, no one, including their families, had any objections to these issues.
Long Pingping : We are now in a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Why is it called a new era? The main contradiction in society has changed. Before the new era, the main contradiction in our society was that the people's growing material and cultural needs were not met. Now this problem has been solved, and material things are now abundant. Our current contradiction is the problem of imbalance and insufficiency. After the material problem is solved, cultural needs will be highlighted. Therefore, spiritual power and cultural requirements are particularly important in the new era. It is a very important carrier for guiding and uniting people.
People have different understandings of classics. For example, I particularly like "Four Generations Under One Roof". I never get tired of watching it. This is a classic. There are all kinds of characters in "Four Generations Under One Roof". In one TV series, you can feel the various aspects of human life. When revisiting classics, I think we should bring out the best things and repeatedly educate and inspire people. This is the role of classics. If you keep showing those messy things, it will play a negative role, confuse right and wrong, and mess up people's thoughts.
From time to time, I have to look through the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin to find inspiration for my creations and see how others did it. So classics are classics, and their role is eternal. Especially cultural classics, they are particularly enlightening to people's thoughts, and this role cannot be erased. So I think it is really good to show some classic film and television works now, so that you can enjoy it.
This article is an interview article from the "Classic TV Drama Memories" oral history collection project. The original article was published on March 18, 2025. The original title is "Revisiting the Classics | Long Pingping's Oral History: Many Stories No One Knew Before - The Screenwriter of "Deng Xiaoping at the Turning Point of History" Talks about His Creation Experience"
