Hou Changxi was born in Beijing in 1945, and his family lives in Zhushikou, Beijing, close to the tianqiao. At that time, the flyover was a civilian entertainment venue in Beijing, and various troupes performed here. Hou Changxi recalled that at that time, as soon as he went out, it was a wrestling field, and the opposite was a cross-talk field, and there were both foreign films and single strings singing in the overpass... When he was a teenager, Hou Changxi had a lot of fun, and the flyover was not far from home, so he often came here to watch the liveliness, and in these bustles, Hou Changxi initially liked to tell books. "At first, I didn't like to listen to crosstalk, I loved to listen to books, listening to "Little Five Righteousness", "Jigong Biography", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"... Occasionally, I listen to single strings and think that small tunes are very interesting." It is not surprising that the storytelling storyline twists and turns, attracting children, but liking single strings at such a young age makes people feel puzzling, Hou Changxi said, which is inseparable from the education at that time. "My Chinese teacher at that time was the last batch of Gongsheng of Guozijian, the history teacher did not have to read in class, the Russian teacher grew up in Russia, the qualifications of the teachers at that time were very good, and I received traditional education. In one class, I have to write two five-hundred-word essays, and I can't write dirty with a stroke of a stroke. It is in this atmosphere that Hou Chang loves to be very complex, not only likes to listen to single strings, but also loves to listen to Beijing opera. He said that at that time, his home was very close to the opera garden, and there was a drama garden at the mouth of the hutong, and when he was a child, he was naughty and often went there to listen to "rubbing opera". "I began to love to listen to the monkey play bouncing around on the stage, and then I loved to listen to hua face and old students, and I listened to Qingyi and now I will have the feeling of not being able to sit still."
Once, he went to listen to a single string, but he did not expect that this performance was not just a single string performance, but a "flower field". "The so-called 'flower field' is a variety of music and art songs performed on the same stage, there are some sayings and singing, and there are also tricks, after the single string is finished, I listened to a cross-talk, and after listening to it, I thought it was very interesting, and then I ran to the cross-talk field to listen." What makes people can't help but be amused is that Hou Changxi peed his pants for the first time when he heard crosstalk, he said that he was only five or six years old at the time, and the names of the crosstalk he listened to still remember - "Anyway", listening to Le's pants peed without noticing. After that, Hou Changxi often ran to the cross-talk field to listen to cross-talk, and came and went to know those who said cross-talk. "Sometimes the janitor asked us for tickets, and we didn't have them, and he said 'woo', which means to blow away, and we ran backstage to listen." In addition, the number of times he listened to it was relatively large, and hou Changxi's many cross-talks were heard in this way. "At that time, there was no tape recorder, no words, and no master teachings, that is, listening to it every day, remembering a sentence today, Ming'er remembering a sentence, which sentence was next to which sentence, and then stringing it together." The large passages in "Reporting the Name of the Dish" and "Eight Fan Screens" are all listened to like this, how many times do you want to listen to it? ”
By the time he went to school, what Hou Changxi had learned in Tianqiao had come to fruition. At that time, there were many literary and art groups in the school, including biology group, dance group, drama group, cross-talk group... Hou Changxi joined the cross-talk group, he and several classmates together to say cross-talk, although the performance is clumsy, but often the students under the stage to make the front and back together, whenever this time, Hou Changxi feels very satisfied. "I think crosstalk is very interesting, it can amuse me, it can amuse my classmates, and it is also a kind of satisfaction and pleasure for me."
In 1962, Hou Changxi, who was still a high school student, bid farewell to his parents and entered the military camp. "At that time, the state expanded recruitment, our school had ten places, I signed up, and as a result, I left the school and joined the army at the age of eighteen."
Hou Changxi's unit was in the current Yang Liuqing. When they arrived at the troops, the company would have a literary and artistic party every month, and each time Hou Changxi had a program, or play allegro or say cross-talk. In 1963, when there was a huge flood in the Hai River Valley, Hou Changxi went with the troops to prevent floods, but he was young and thin, and he could not work at all. "At that time, I couldn't eat or drink, the troops managed to eat but didn't care about fullness, each person had a nest head per meal, stick noodle porridge was pickles, porridge could be drunk casually, but it was not full." After eating, we waited, and the head of the kitchen said, 'Come on duty, add nest head'. Eight of us received two nests, one for four portions and one for each person. Hou Changxi's body was originally thin, coupled with the fact that nutrition could not keep up, and when he encountered flood control, his strength could not be used at all, so the leader arranged for him to shout slogans next to him. Hou Changxi wrote some small allegroes himself, and his comrades-in-arms were fighting floods and providing disaster relief, and he shouted slogans to encourage morale. Later, whether it was a parade in the division or a parade in the army, Hou Changxi would bring his cross-talk segments to the stage. His acting talents on stage and his creative talents were recognized by his superiors, and he was soon transferred to the military headquarters of his unit. The location of the military headquarters is the current Bayi Auditorium.
There is a cross-talk garden near the Bayi Auditorium, and Hou Changxi often goes to listen to cross-talk. "I listened to the cross-talk of so many families in Beijing, and when I arrived in Tianjin, I lived in the Bayi Auditorium, and all the people around me were cross-talk gardens, and tianjin at that time could really be said to be the temple of qu art, with Zhang Shouchen, Ma Sanli, Guo Qiru, Chang Baoting, and a number of other famous artists who were well-known throughout the country, and then I felt that Tianjin's cross-talk was really deep."
In 1964, the army set up an amateur propaganda team, Hou Changxi gave full play to his own strengths, wrote a cross-talk "Anti-Arrogance and Broken Fullness", wrote that after a new recruit joined the army, he looked down on the veterans, thinking that they did not understand anything, and then finally changed his mind after the guidance of the counselor. Because in the propaganda team, even during the "Cultural Revolution", Hou Changxi could still use the opportunity to write cross-talk and speak cross-talk. "During the Cultural Revolution, I am probably the only one who spoke cross-talk." During the "Cultural Revolution", the troops also began to rehearse model plays, Hou Changxi's unit played "The Red Lantern", and Hou Changxi played the role of Wang Lianju, at this time Hou Changxi had become the cultural officer of the army.
In 1974, Hou Changxi left the army where he had been staying for twelve years and transferred to the Art Department of the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Culture. At that time, the cultural bureau was divided into the performance group and the script group, and Hou Changxi was assigned to the script group because of his writing talent, and the well-known playwright Zhao Damin was his colleague at that time. Because Hou Changxi had been engaged in literary and artistic work in the army, he later took the initiative to ask him to be transferred to the Tianjin Quyi Troupe as a cross-talk actor. In 1978, after more than ten years of silence, literature and art gradually recovered, and Hou Changxi organized the country's first cross-talk conference. "At that time, there was no cross-talk performance, so I invited Ma Sanli, Chang Baoting, Su Wenmao, Liu Wenheng, Wei Wenliang and other famous artists to organize a cross-talk conference. The actors are basically unpaid, 10 yuan per person for transportation, and four movie tickets. Hou Changxi frankly said that organizing this cross-talk conference did take a lot of risks, before the performance he made a report to his superiors, and each cross-talk was labeled with the content of cross-talk on it. A total of two cross-talk conferences were performed, which caused a great sensation in the country, and Hou Baolin also specially led a team to Tianjin to listen to the cross-talk conference.
On May 27, 2012, Hou Changxi received apprenticeship in Beijing, Zhao Gen, a young cross-talk teacher at Hebei Baoding Art School, Ren Hao, a cross-talk actor at Xinzhou Song and Dance Theater in Shanxi Province, and Liang Yuan, a cross-talk actor in Dongying, Shandong, visited his door, and Li Boxiang, Wei Wenhua, Li Jindou, Zhang Zhikuan, and Fang Qingping, famous singers from Beijing and Tianjin, attended the meeting to congratulate him. In 1985, when Hou Changxi worshiped Yan Xiaoru as a teacher, ma Sanli, the master, wrote three sentences to him: "First, art cannot rely on luck. It takes hard work to get the true meaning of art; second, don't deceive the audience. The audience is our teacher, our friend, don't deceive themselves, don't deceive yourself, won't just don't, don't understand is don't understand; third, in the final analysis, don't say confused crosstalk. "According to the master's instructions to himself, at the worship ceremony, Hou Changxi also instructed his students." First, we must respect cross-talk, cross-talk is transmitted in our generation, we must add rice to this bowl of rice, add some dried scallops, shark fins, even if it is added some shrimp and rice skin, so that this bowl of rice is more nutritious. Second, respect the audience, the audience is our food and clothing parents, we want to dedicate the best to them." When it comes to how to make the audience love to listen to crosstalk, Hou Changxi said that he must improve his artistic skills. He said that the skill of language is the most difficult to practice, which is a comprehensive ability of knowledge, culture and experience, so it is necessary to continue to practice, inherit traditions, and innovate more. The second is to respect yourself, on which he said: "We must treat ourselves as actors, and then we must think of ourselves as artists, not as gadgets, joy worms, and go up and fool around." ”
When it comes to his own cross-talk, Hou Changxi's biggest feature is that he wrote and performed himself and kept pace with the times. "I can grasp the social hot spots, turn the things that everyone cares about and pay attention to into cross-talk, and when the performance comes, the audience sounds very kind and 'gives the ear'." At each stage, I will create according to my own understanding and artistic needs, and cross-talk should continue to follow the times, and if you do not follow the times, you will be out of touch with the times. Hou Changxi believes that crosstalk should also have the breath of life, keep pace with the times, inherit traditions, constantly innovate, let crosstalk continue to develop in a good direction, and do not be abandoned by the wheel of history!