Qianlong 55 years of the Qing Dynasty. Drama troupes performing in the south enter Beijing or cooperate with artists in Hubei. At the same time, some group repertoire of Kunqu Opera Qin Cavity and Folk Tunes was absorbed and integrated, and Peking Opera was formed in continuous exchange and reference.
As we all know, in ancient times, it refers to a very low status in society. "The merchant girl did not know the hatred of the country, and sang "Backyard Flowers" across the river." For the drama, it is more similar to this kind of evaluation. In "Pipa Line", the pipa girl was very popular with everyone when she was young, but she still belonged to the untouchable and could not be elegant.
With the passage of time, during the Republic of China period, although people also classified the drama as a role such as the lower nine streams, more and more entertainment forms of culture were also accepted by people. Peking opera was founded and carried forward in the Qing Dynasty, and when we talk about Peking opera, we will think of Mei Lanfang, who is the founder of Mei Pai.
Now there was also such a famous woman at that time, her name was Liu Xikui, her appearance was very beautiful, and her artistic attainment was also very high. There were five presidents who pursued her, but she did not agree, but then she was widowed in the countryside and buried in Babaoshan after her death.
A generation of famous Liu Xikui
Liu Xikui has performed in Harbin, Tianjin, Shanghai, Vladivostok and other places. He and Jin Magnolia, Xian Lingzhi, are known as the "Three Masters of Female Pity". Liu Xikui was born in 1894 in Heilong Village, Zhaizi Town, Nanpi County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, and when he was a child, Liu Xikui's family was not rich.
At the age of eight, he went to Tianjin to learn singing, mainly learning the flower face, wusheng, dao ma dan and so on in Peking opera. In 1905, when Liu Xikui was ten years old, he worshiped Song Yongzhen as his teacher. At that time, the performance of the actress was not popular in the industry, and most of them were played by men. In desperation, Liu Xikui finally entered the industry by playing Wusheng.
Later, people probably got tired of hearing the roles played by men and felt new to the roles played by women at the beginning. At that time, Beijing set up a special class to train Kunling, and Liu Xikui became a student to study in the team, after a period of packaging and tuning. So Liu Xikui catered to the taste of the public, seized the opportunity, and began to perform.
The performance is superb and the appearance is dusty
Liu Xikui is petite, looks gorgeous, temperament is dusty, and when he dresses up, he is even more immortal. Naturally, Liu Xikui and Liu Xikui sing are all selected beauties, and when Liu Xikui has not yet appeared, the stage is full of beauties, all like heavenly immortals, but liu Xikui debuted, the voice is melodious, and the beauties who play with her have become vulgar fans under her background.
Fascinated by her is not only the dignitaries, but also the celebrities, she once caused a sensation. Once, after the performance, someone broke into Liu Xikui and kissed her forcibly, and was later fined 50 silver dollars by the police.
Later, it was said that this person was Duan Qirui's nephew, and this matter was once the talk of people before tea after dinner.
With her superb acting skills and singing skills, she has won the love of many audiences, which can be described as a hit. After entering the industry, Liu Xikui has been doing things in a low-key manner and trying to practice his singing skills. Finally, he gained a place in the opera world.
Later, Liu Xikui also performed all over the country, performing on the same stage with many Peking Opera performance masters. At this time, Liu Xikui was already well known to the public, and in her own choreographed opera, there were many patriotic elements mixed in.
There are beautiful people in the north, who are relict and independent
In 1911, Liu Xikui constantly innovated and reformed the old plays, creating many new plays that were popular on the basis of the old plays. At that time, a very famous new fashion play was "The Orphan Girl of the Righteous Soul".
The following year, Liu Xikui attended a church meeting for Zhang Xun at the Jiangxi Guild Hall in Beijing, and during the performance, Zhang Xun liked Liu Xikui very much. Zhang Xun showed a very strong love for Liu Xikui and wanted to take Liu Xikui as his concubine. However, Liu Xiquining was a poor wife, not a rich concubine, and eventually refused.
In 1914, Liu Xikui performed a new play in Tianjin, and she also integrated the concept of national salvation into the art of opera. Warlords and bureaucrats were attacked and criticized, and freedom and democracy were promoted. At the same time, it also stimulates the patriotic feelings of students.
For example, "Eunuch Tide", "New Camellia", etc., among which the premier who studied at Nankai University is her audience. The following year, Liu Xikui and Mei Lanfang, Tan Xinpei, Yang Xiaolou cooperated on the same stage and co-starred in "Hongyang Cave", "Water Curtain Cave", "Noble Concubine Drunk" and other operas. Tan Xinpei was very amazed by Liu Xikui's performance and felt that he was inferior to her.
In 1917, Zhang Xun and Kang Youwei supported Puyi's restoration, and once met Liu Xikui in a church play and asked to marry Liu Xikui. Duan Qirui organized a rebel army to attack Beijing directly, and Zhang Xun fled in a hurry, taking care of himself, which was the only way to relieve the siege for Liu Xikui. In 1918, Liu Xikui won the selection of the Shuntian Times as the emblem of The Great King of Kunpi with 238606 votes.
In 1921, Liu Xikui participated in Cao Kun's sixtieth birthday, and after singing, Cao Kun had bad intentions toward Liu Xikui and forced Liu Xikui to stay, Liu Xikui did not agree, but there was no way. Later, Cao Kun's wife was very angry when she found out, and Liu Xikui escaped from the clutches of the devil.
Widowed for life, actively resisting
Among the many celebrities who have seen Liu Xikui perform, many have some ideas about Liu Xikui. Among them were Duan Qirui's uncle and nephew, Li Yuanhong, Zhang Xun, Cao Kun, Yuan Shikai's father and son, and others, but Liu Xukui was not afraid of power and firmly refused.
Later, because Liu Xikui wanted to get rid of the entanglement of noble power, in a hurry, he married Cui Changzhou of Wuqing County. After getting married, Liu Xikui found that Cui Changzhou had three views of Zheng, a cheerful personality, and a kind and humorous personality. Liu Xikui is more than ten years younger than Cui Changzhou, cui Changzhou is very loving and protective of his young wife, and the life of the two after marriage is also sweet.
Cui Changzhou has been suffering from illness and later traveled to Jiangxi, Henan, Fujian and other places. In 1925, Cui Changzhou became ill and died in a French hospital.
Liu Xikui and Cui Changzhou were only together for more than three years, and the Cui family was afraid that Liu Xikui would leave the Cui family, and later passed Cui Changzhou's nephew to Liu Xikui, who later decided to be widowed for Cui Changzhou and never marry again.
After deciding to get married, Liu Xikui left the Peking Opera stage and also stayed away from those who pursued her because of her appearance. Liu Xikui is not afraid of power, does not covet vanity, and only wants to make achievements in artistic creation, and is very responsible for his family. After Cui Changzhou's death, Liu Xikui stayed at the Cui family and raised his children.
In 1937. After the July 7 Incident broke out, Liu Xikui had to live in anonymity and live in a hutong in Beijing. When Japan invaded China, Japanese soldiers inquired about where Liu Xikui lived. And spent a lot of money to hire Liu Xikui to perform in Japan.
In the case of the Japanese army invading China, the Chinese people were in a hot environment, and thinking of this, Liu Xikui hated the Japanese very much in his heart and strictly refused to perform in Japan.
After this, Liu Xikui, as a Chinese, decided to make a contribution to China's resistance to Japan. Subsequently, charity performances were held throughout the country, and all the money obtained was donated to the front line of the War of Resistance.
He has performed many charity performances for the victims of hebei and donated all the honorariums received. Once there was a huge flood in Anhui, Liu Xikui donated 2,000 yuan to the ocean to provide disaster relief to the affected people.
Later, after the founding of New China in 1949, the premier learned that Liu Xikui was now living in Beijing, so he quickly sent someone to visit Liu Xikui. The society began to stabilize, and Liu Xikui began to appear and re-perform on stage.
At a banquet held by the Ministry of Culture in 1950, Liu Xikui was invited, and the premier toasted Liu Xikui. And said to Liu Xikui, this opportunity should be passed on to future generations. After that, Liu Xikui went to the Chinese Opera School to give a lecture.
brief summary:
Later, the 70-year-old Liu Xikui died of illness in Beijing, as a generation of Chinese celebrities, once five presidents pursued her, but in the countryside widowed, and finally buried in Babaoshan. Looking back on Liu Xikui's life, she was born in an ordinary family and can bear hardships and stand hard work.
With his beauty and super high acting skills, he became very popular, but he did not choose to ask for these rights and wealth, not afraid of power, indifferent to fame and fortune, and returned to a plain life.
"Out of the mud without staining, Mao Qing lian without demon", she used her own nobility to live this life, not coveting wealth, and stepped forward when the country needed it, her life was convincing.