This year is the centenary of Mr. Qiu Shengrong's birth, and Mr. Qiu Shengrong's contribution to the peking opera flower face line and the development of the whole Peking opera is well known, and it is very worthy of all of us to learn and remember.
I checked the information, nearly a hundred years ago, that is, in 1920, my father Mei Lanfang and Mr. Yang Xiaolou cooperated to establish the Chonglin Society, this class, there are 6 flower faces, Mr. Qiu Shengrong's father Mr. Qiu Guixian was ranked first among the 6 flower faces of the Chonglin Society.
Qiu Guixian's "Grass Bridge Pass"
Mr. Qiu Guixian is famous in the capital of the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, he pays attention to singing, full of words, meticulous pronunciation, is a noble artist who sings and performs very well, I still have some of his records, and we are fortunate to be able to hear his voice. At the same time, he also played the huqin very well, and he had played the piano for Tan Xinpei's father and son for many years, which has historical records.
On the occasion of the centenary of Mr. Qiu Shengrong's birth, there is one thing I want to talk about that I will never forget. Before the founding of New China, I was attending primary school in a church school in the French Concession in Shanghai, which was a French school, and the level of education in that school was relatively high. My father said to me, you must study, you must read well. At that time, it was the period of Kuomintang rule, Shanghai prices soared, the currency depreciated, and the school's funds were also difficult due to soaring prices, so the school hoped that we would perform a charity performance for the school. Of course I agreed, because I was a student at that school. My father and mother were very happy when they learned of this matter, and said that they must collect donations for this school, run this school well, and cultivate more good students.
Qiu Shengrong's "Thief of the Imperial Horse"
My sister Bao Yue is now deceased, she was studying at that time, her enlightened teacher was the famous movie star Lu Yan's mother Li Guifen teacher, we later discussed with the theater, I and my sister sang "Two Into the Palace". "ErjinGong" needed an actor who played Xu Yanzhao, and at that time, I wanted to ask Mr. Qiu Shengrong to bring the two of us to sing this play. Mr. Qiu Shengrong was only in his 30s at that time, very energetic, and he was performing regularly at the China Grand Theatre in Shanghai, and my father personally told Mr. Qiu Shengrong about it. My father said, "Bao Jiu and Bao Yue are still young, they just learned this play, and you give them a little on the stage." After Mr. Qiu Shengrong listened, he replied to my father like this: "You can rest assured, I will definitely tighten the two little bosses." "I was very happy at the time, but unfortunately the performance did not leave that recording, if I left this information, how valuable it would be now."
After the founding of New China in 1949, Mr. Qiu's art has been greatly developed, almost to the point of pure fire, and the "ten pure nine Qiu" is well known to everyone. In the 1960s, we worked at the Peking Opera House in Beijing, but we were not in the same group, and there were not many opportunities to meet. Every time we met, he cared very much about me and Bao Yue's sister, because he and my father had been friends for many years, and he cherished this friendship very much.
Mr. Qiu Shengrong founded his own "Rong Society" in Beijing in 1947, and in the mid-1950s, Qiu Shengrong's performing arts had reached its peak state, and everyone was learning from the Qiu School. But in 1966, when the "Cultural Revolution" came, Mr. Qiu Shengrong was beaten into a "reactionary artistic authority", when the old Beijing Peking Opera Troupe performed "Harbor", let him play Gao Zhiyang, he could not play the A role, only let him play the B role. But the audience is also very smart, when the "Harbor" performance, everyone first asked, today Boss Qiu played? He plays everyone to buy tickets, he does not play everyone will not come to see, the audience still wants to see the art of Teacher Qiu Shengrong. It's a memory.
Qiu Shengrong, Ma Lianliang, Zhao Yanxia's "Cuckoo Mountain"
Mr. Qiu Shengrong not only inherits the tradition, but also has the courage to innovate, in more than 40 years of stage practice, constantly enrich and improve his own performing arts, absorb the strengths of all, promote the strengths and avoid the shortcomings, dare to make breakthroughs, combine their own conditions, closely follow the pulse of the times, and push the art of Peking Opera flower face industry to an unprecedented new peak and new stage.
Today, if our young generation wants to inherit the art of Qiu Pai well and commemorate Mr. Qiu Shengrong well, then it is necessary to work hard and seriously to learn the moving performance style and style of Qiu Pai art. To learn his precision and strength, but also to express the thoughts and feelings of the characters, with a moving singing voice to move the audience, these are Mr. Qiu Shengrong's artistic biggest, but also the most precious two highlights.
The afterglow is around the beam, and the three days are not extinguished, so that the perfect and moving Qiu Pai art can be passed on from generation to generation, so that Mr. Qiu Shengrong will always live in our hearts.
June 1, 2015
("Pen and Ink with Sound")