Text/Meng Zehui The seventh day of the tenth lunar month of the Xin Ugly Year
Shu Xiuwen is an outstanding chinese drama and film performance artist. Born in 1915 in Anqing, Anhui Province, to a poor teacher's home. At the age of 6, he moved to Beijing with his parents, entered the primary school affiliated to Beijing Normal University, and starred in a drama at the school at the age of 12, winning praise from classmates and teachers. At the age of 13, she dropped out of school due to family difficulties and worked as a dancer. At the age of 18, he went to Shanghai to make a living, and successively performed in drama groups such as "Tianyi Film Company", "Jimei Song and Dance Society", "Mayflower Drama Society", "Spring and Autumn Drama Society", "Shanghai Amateur Filmmakers Drama Society", participated in drama groups such as "Dead Road", "Death of Famous Talents", "Comrades-in-Arms", "Chaotic Bell", "SOS", "Plum Rain", "People Living on the Second Floor", "Seven Women in the Storm", and served as a voice actor in China's first sound film "Song Girl Red Peony". During this period, Shu Xiuwen's theatrical activities were carried out under the leadership of the party's peripheral organization "Drama Federation", which had a positive impact in Shanghai, Hangzhou and other places, making her firmly set the ambition of dedicating herself to progressive literature and art, and becoming one of the pioneers of revolutionary drama.
In 1933, Shu Xiuwen signed a contract with Shanghai Yihua Film Company and participated in the filming of two progressive films, "National Survival" and "The Furious Tide of the China Sea", created by Tian Han and Yang Hansheng respectively, and officially joined the ranks of film actors. In 1934, he joined the Shanghai Star Film Company, and until 1938, he successively filmed more than a dozen films such as "Night Fragrance", "Peach Blossom after the Disaster", "Blood Loyal Soul", "New and Old Shanghai", "Pressing The Old Money", "Cash Tree", "Qiankun in Dreams", "Living Dragons and Tigers", "Defending Our Land", etc., and also participated in the performances of dramas such as "The Great Thunderstorm", "Resurrection" and "The Wilderness". She has the ability to play a variety of different identities, different personalities, and the characters she plays have a strong artistic appeal. With her superb acting skills, together with Zhang Ruifang, Qin Yi and Bai Yang, she became the "four famous dans" in the drama industry at that time.
After the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japan, she went to Chongqing to engage in rescue drama activities. In 1937, Shu Xiuwen participated in the filming of China's first anti-Japanese film "Defend Our Land". Shu Xiuwen shouted the slogan of "Down with Japanese imperialism" for the first time in the film, and after the film was released, it caused great repercussions at home and abroad. Jointly performed the drama "The National Mobilization" with the Chongqing theater industry, which caused great repercussions among the audience. In 1941, he participated in the "China Art Drama Society" and successively played different roles in progressive dramas such as "The Flower of Tang Di", "Tiger Rune", "The Night Before", "Spring and Autumn of the Kingdom of Heaven", "Long Live China", "Luminous Cup", "The Roar of the Ancient City", "Thunderstorm", "Fog Chongqing", "Residual Fog", "Metamorphosis", "Two-Faced Man", "Face Problem", "Grievances", "Youth No More", "Walking", "Fighting Women", "Huanghuagang", "The Story of Mountain City", "The Son Of The Return", "The Motherland", "The Great Thunderstorm" and other progressive dramas, and gradually formed their own performance style. He also filmed films such as "Good Husband", "Plugged in the Wind", and "Blood Splash cherry blossoms" at the Chinese Film Studio.
Four famous dans
In early 1946, Shu Xiuwen filmed "Nepotism" at the Guoqin Film Company, which was a film that attacked the shortcomings of the times. In 1947, together with Bai Yang, Tao Jin, Shangguan Yunzhu and others in Shanghai Kunlun Film Company, "A River of Spring Water Flows Eastward". In the film, Shu Xiuwen successfully created the artistic image of Wang Lizhen, the "Lady of the War of Resistance" (courtesan flower), which is a sign of the maturity of her performing arts, and still has a huge impact at home and abroad. This film has also become the only masterpiece that has survived so that today's audience can enjoy Shu Xiuwen's wonderful performance. From 1948 to the eve of the liberation of Beijing in 1949, she was instructed by the party to work in Hong Kong. Under the leadership of Ouyang Yuqian, he filmed films such as "Wildfire Spring Wind", "Spring City Flowers Falling", "Murderer", "The Way of Love", "Weak, Your Name is a Woman", "The Vengeance of Liangshan".
Stills of Shu Xiuwen in the film "A River of Spring Water Flows Eastward"
After the founding of New China, Shu Xiuwen immediately returned to Beijing from Hong Kong and devoted himself to revolutionary literary and artistic work with more enthusiasm. He has participated in the performance of large-scale dramas "Roar, China", "Camel Xiangzi", "Guan Hanqing", creating a series of artistic images with a more distinct and unique ideological personality; filming films such as "Female Driver", "A Storm", "Li Shizhen"; and also dubbing the heroines in translation films such as "Village Female Teacher", "Conspiracy", "Innocent Man", "Mother", "Anna Karenina" and so on. In 1957, Shu Xiuwen was transferred from Shanghai to work at the Beijing People's Art Theater, where he played different roles in plays such as "Camel Look", "Beijinger", "Aesop", "Female Clerk", "Returning to the People in the Wind and Snow", etc.
Shu Xiuwen joined the Communist Party of China in 1958. On March 17, 1969, the People's Artist, who had made outstanding contributions to the cause of theater and film in china, died at the age of 54. She was elected as a member of the First National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a deputy to the Second and Third National People's Congresses, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Third All-China Women's Federation. He is a member of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a standing director of the China Dramatists Association and the China Filmmakers Association, and the deputy director of the Beijing Renyi Arts Committee. In 2005, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chinese cinema, Shu Xiuwen was named "100 Outstanding Actors in Chinese Cinema". In 2009, her autobiography Shu Xiuwen Biography was officially published.
Famous film performance artist Shu Xiuwen
After a long period of artistic practice, Shu Xiuwen has formed his own unique performance style. The feelings are sincere, the enthusiasm is spicy, the rigid is soft, the movements are delicate and stretched, the lines are clear and beautiful, and they are expressive. Her performing arts are deeply loved and praised by the audience, and the many wonderful screen and stage images she presents to the audience are still a precious artistic wealth.