It is reported that Mr. Tan Yuanshou, a deputy to the Fourth National People's Congress, a member of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a representative descendant of the national intangible cultural heritage (Peking Opera) project, and the fifth generation of Peking Opera Tanmen, died in Beijing at the age of 92 due to illness at 12 o'clock on October 9.
On July 30 this year, the beijing evening news five-color earth supplement published the article "Friendship with Tan Yuanshou's big brother because of the "newspaper"" by Mr. Zhang Yonghe, a national first-class screenwriter and famous opera critic, in which the author fondly recalled his deep friendship with Tan Yuanshou's big brother for 60 years, and his voice and smile were as if he was in front of his eyes. Today, after hearing the bad news, Mr. Zhang Yonghe accepted the invitation of this newspaper and added many details of exchanges to express his deep condolences.
▌ Mr. Tan Yuanshou
I met my eldest brother in 1957 and have been around for 63 years. For decades, the relationship has not changed. I know so many Peking Opera actors, among them, the first friend I met in Liyuan was the three Tan men brothers - one of Tan Fuying's sons and two apprentices, Tan Yuanshou's eldest brother, Ma Changli's third brother and Gao Baoxian's eldest brother. This is the friend I first met in the drama class, and I have always maintained a deep friendship, and I have not broken off my relationship for decades.
The first acquaintance tan yuanshou big brother introduced by a great monk
My acquaintance with Tan Yuanshou's eldest brother was thanks to the introduction of a monk named Baolin. The Tan family has a deep relationship with the temple and the Buddhist Gate, and Mr. Yuanshou's great-grandfather, Tan Xinpei, who has the reputation of "the king of the Lingjie World", has a particularly deep friendship with the old abbot of Jietai Temple. Every summer, his grandfather would go there to escape the heat. The tomb of King Tan was given to him by the old abbot of this jietai temple. Therefore, Tan men have had a deep relationship with Buddhism for several generations.
It was 1957, and I had just started my freshman year of high school. Because I was a world friend, I knew a great monk. This is a monk who has studied Buddhism, Confucianism, and other studies in traditional Chinese culture. He wasn't old either, a little over 30. Can write and draw, write a good brush, especially he is also a Chinese medicine doctor, a doctor with the qualification to practice medical treatment. His only hobby is Peking Opera. He sat in a Chinese medicine shop at the door of Deshengmen to see a doctor, and there were still many patients. At that time, many Peking opera actors loved to communicate with doctors, because the actors sang opera and were afraid of a bad voice, in case something went wrong with the voice, there was a doctor who knew himself to see, and he was relieved in his heart, and he saved a lot of trouble, mainly without delaying time. Therefore, Baolin Zen Master has many friends of Peking Opera actors, the best of which are Tan Yuanshou, Ma Changli, huang Zhengqin in Shanghai, wu Suqiu, Jiang Tielin and so on.
One day, I received a letter from Big Brother Pauling. He said that he wanted me to go to the Chinese medicine shop where he was sitting in the afternoon one day, and he wanted to introduce me to a friend, tan Yuanshou. At that time, although the eldest brother of Yuan Shou was not yet the big name of the present, he was also a very great Peking Opera actor. I am of course very happy. He arrived at the medicine shop on time according to the requirements of the letter. At that time, Mr. Yuanshou had already arrived first, and after I was introduced, I saw a big actor who was not tall, but full of spirit, and his eyes were shining with reflections for a long time. I was seventeen or eighteen years old at the time, I should say that I was a young man, and I was very excited at that time. Because I was a die-hard fan of Tan Pai at that time, the mood at that time, people who had been ticket friends, would understand very well. What did we all talk about? I can't think of anything now.
After talking for a while, it was time to eat the next night. The monk's eldest brother asked his friends in the medicine shop to buy cut noodles, which were fried sauce noodles, but there was no meat in it that was eggs - because he had to take care of the vegetarian Paulin monk, the noodle size was cucumber, and there were two heads of garlic. I'm a little embarrassed, pro! The heart says such a simple meal, can this great actor eat it? Unexpectedly, after the noodles were served, our eldest brother ate very fragrantly. According to Baolin's elder brother, every time The elder brother of Yuan Shou came to the medicine shop to chat, this monk uncle was accompanied by vegetarian fried sauce noodles. The most he could do was to prepare two or two pots of white wine, two washed cucumbers to drink, and according to him, he ate it very fragrantly every time. This left a very deep impression on me at the time.
At that time, Big Brother Baolin introduced me to meet Big Brother Yuanshou, and there was another deep meaning. At that time, although I was a high school student, I was already inking in dance. Earlier, I wrote an article for Ma Changli, the disciple of The Elder Brother of Yuanshou, entitled "Ma Changli Who Won the Silver Medal at the World Gala Festival", which was published in the weekly newspaper "Introduction to Repertoire" run by the Beijing Cultural Bureau at that time. The newspaper was 4 pages long, the same size as the Beijing Evening News at the time, sold in various theaters, had a large circulation, and was very influential among some fans and audiences. Zen Master Baolin wanted me to write an article for Tan Yuanshou's eldest brother, and I agreed without hitting Ben'er at all, and decided to talk to Elder Brother Yuanshou in two days, and then I started writing.
▌ Stills of Mr. Tan Yuanshou's "Lost Space"
He was related to Tan Yuanshou's eldest brother because of "retribution"
After a few more days, I didn't expect that Tan Yuanshou's eldest brother personally came to my house. This was quite unexpected. The eldest brother was 10 years older than me, I was 17 years old, he should be 27 years old, a veritable big brother. At this time, my family still lived in a bungalow, but it was a single courtyard, so the visitors were looking for our home. At that time, I felt that there was a shadow shaking and a soft knock on the door outside the door, I opened the door of the house and looked at it, it was the eldest brother of Yuan Shou, standing in the doorway with a smile, I quickly invited in. It was just in time for me to eat, and everyone else in the family was out, and I was alone. The meal that day was very miserable, at the dinner table was just a nest head, and Beijing's soy sauce tofu, stinky tofu and shredded green onions, there was nothing else.
I'm embarrassed to say that this time you've caught up, and I can't invite you to eat. Elder Brother Yuanshou smiled and said: Brother Yonghe, I have already eaten, what is bad about eating wotou, our family also often changes the taste and eats some miscellaneous grains. You eat first, and we'll talk later. I quickly finished this simple meal, so I made tea, and the two of us chatted. The eldest brother mainly talked about their family's family affairs, as well as his business situation and the recent performances. After talking for about two hours, the eldest brother of yuanshou said goodbye, and I personally sent it to the door, and apologized for the poor hospitality, and the elder brother of yuanshou responded with a kind smile and shook hands with me.
After this meeting, I wrote a thousand-word article entitled "Tammen Youhou", which was soon published in the "Introduction to the Repertoire". At that time, there were three people in charge of this newspaper, and the editor-in-chief was called Zheng Youzhi. He is the lover of the great poet Liu Qian, and two other editors, one named Hu Xianzeng, an old newspaperman, and the other named Liu Jianhua, a graduate of old Peking University, who also once worked as a director of the film studio of the enemy and hypocrisy. In the late 1970s, Mr. Jianhua was transferred to the Beijing Opera School to assist Principal Tong Zhixian in his writing work. He worked conscientiously and responsibly, and published several books on Peking Opera. At that time, Mr. Jianhua was responsible for issuing this article. After the publication, the eldest brother of Yuanshou quickly saw it and expressed his satisfaction.
But I felt very unhappy and wanted to write another article or two for big brother. So, shortly after that, I wrote an article entitled "Tan Jia V" and gave it to the Beijing Evening News. At that time, the editor of the evening newspaper's supplementary opera was Mr. Huang Yachang, a senior editor, who was very interested after reading my article, saying that it was well refined, but it was necessary to have a photo of TanMen. It was not a coincidence that the eldest brother of Yuan Shou was out touring at that time, not in Beijing. The newspaper office was in a hurry again, and at this time, I thought of my mentor, Professor Zhou Yibai of the Central Academy of Drama. Once, when I went to his house, I saw two stills of Tan Xinpei and Wang Yaoqing hanging on the wall of his house, one was "Fenhe Bay" and the other was "South Heavenly Gate". In order to save the emergency, I went straight to the staff dormitory of the Central Academy of Drama at No. 22 Cotton Hutong, Jiaodaokou. As soon as I entered the door, I explained my intentions to Teacher Zhou and wanted to borrow one of the two photos. The teacher agreed very happily, and let me borrow the stills of "South Heaven's Gate". Of course, after the photos were finished, I sent them back to the teacher.
About a year or two later, I want to write a more systematic and detailed article for Big Brother Yuanshou, introducing the generations of Tanmen. I also want to publish it in the Beijing Evening News, when the editor of the Beijing Evening News who manages opera has been replaced by Ms. Hou Qi. One day, the two of us went to the Tan family's old house at No. 1, The Great Outer Porch Camp outside the front door to interview. The Tan family has several courtyards, and the eldest brother lives in the box of the last courtyard. The main room is inhabited by Mr. and Mrs. Tan Fuying. We arrived around 3 p.m., when Big Brother Yuanshou was taking a nap when he saw us hurrying to get up and apologize. We had a good conversation and were going to write three articles about Tammen in a row. However, the article was not written in the end, because soon after I was introduced by Ma Changli to the Beijing Opera House in Jilin Province as a screenwriter, and I had to leave Beijing. These three articles are "yellow".
▌ Mr. Tan Yuanshou is ready to take the stage
Later, I wrote an article for my big brother, that is, more than 20 years later. In 1990, in order to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Huiban's entry into Beijing, Tan Yuanshou's eldest brother and daughter-in-law, the famous Danjiao artist Yan Guixiang, performed the stage-famous "Black Water Country" (that is, "Mulberry Garden Sending Son"), which I wrote in the Beijing Evening News. But I still feel that I have never written a very decent article for Big Brother Yuanshou. Later, when I finally had the opportunity, I published a 4,000-word article in the 4th issue of the Beijing Chronicle magazine in 1994, "Tan Men VII, Dubu Pear Garden", from Mr. Tan Zhidao to Tan Zhengyan, and finally fulfilled my wish. Some time ago, I published an article in the People's Political Consultative Conference Daily entitled "Sixty Years of Friendship with Tan Yuanshou", which is also a precious commemoration of my sixty years of acquaintance with Tan's elder brother.
Tan Yuanshou asked me to watch a few plays
I watched a lot of plays by Tan Yuanshou's eldest brother, how can there be several plays that the eldest brother asked me to watch? There are really no, there are three plays, it is the eldest brother of Yuan Shou who paid for tickets from his own pocket to buy tickets for me to watch. The first one is the "Wild Boar Forest" in which he starred in both culture and martial arts, the second is the "Heroes of the Crowd, Borrowing the East Wind" starring him, followed by another "Three Forks", the former and the later Wu, and the third is all the "Lost Space Chop" that he starred in.
In fact, there are many plays in the Yuanshou Big Brother Society, wenwu old life drama, martial arts drama, monkey drama, etc., about 200 out. Why he paid me to watch these three plays makes sense. First of all, his "Wild Pig Forest" is based on the Pure Li (Shaochun) Sect! When he was young, he had worshipped Li Shaochun. This masterpiece of Teacher Shaochun was the dream he chased when he was young. When he was in Shanghai, the play had been performed many times in a row, and it was often full. I see that his play does have the charm of Li Pai, whether it is the literary drama in the front, including the difficult "White Tiger Hall" and the "distribution" in the back. All very exciting. In the final fight, one person hit 8 people, and the martial arts skills were very skilled. So this is a very authentic play that he inherited from the Li Sect.
The second play, "Heroes Of the Crowd, Borrow the East Wind", was in cooperation with his disciple Ma Changli. Chang Li played Kong Ming, of course, he also played very well, Lu Su, Ke Shaoqiqiu, and the Tan family's generations of old students all played Lu Su, showing the loyal and honest and resourceful demeanor of Dr. Lu.s politician. Later, his martial arts play "Three Forks" cooperated with Zhai Yunkui, a disciple of his rich society. He plays Wusheng Ren Tanghui, with a clean body, beautiful waist and legs, and is very rich in character, which is also a Li Pai style.
▌The author took a group photo with Mr. Tan Yuanshou
As for "Lost Space", it is the killer skill of the Tammen Ben Sect. At that time, although the eldest brother of Yuan Shou was only more than 30 years old and still very young, the Zhuge Liang he played was very weighty and majestic, that is, a Han Dynasty minister. As for his singing voice, it is all Tammen charm. Speaking of the voice of Big Brother Yuanshou, it is high-pitched, bright, crisp and strong. The whole play is sung, the voice is rich, and the effect is very good.
Why did he ask me to watch these three plays? It is to let me have a more comprehensive understanding of his art. Brother Tan's other plays, I have basically seen, limited to space, I will not introduce them one by one, but in particular, when he was 60 years old, he was still able to act in "Playing Gold Bricks". This is also his masterpiece of learning from teacher Li Shaochun. In the previous "On the Roof", he sang a large section without saying. At that time, he was already a year old, and there was no sense of reluctance, but handsome, drifting, and slippery, showing the solidity of his young worker. The applause in the theater roared, wave after wave. Sitting on the stage watching the play, I was so excited that my heart almost jumped out of my cavity.
(Zhang Yonghe, national first-class screenwriter, famous opera critic, expert enjoying special allowances of the State Council)