After the influx of opium into China, the Qing government of China a hundred to two hundred years ago was unable to ban opium or restrict the use of opium, and Western countries vigorously dumped opium into China to reverse the Western world's trade deficit with China, which made many Chinese become "sick men of East Asia". In the 19th-century Qing Dynasty book "Dream Factory Miscellaneous Works", the pain of opium smoking was recorded in this way:
"Addiction, its people are in tears, the hands and siblings can not lift, that is, the white blade is added to the front, the leopard and tiger are forced to the back, and only the head is bowed to death, and can not exercise a little." Therefore, those who have been eating opium for a long time have their shoulders shrugged and shrunken, and their colors were withered and dying, if the sick man first rose. ”
Peking opera was originally only a local opera, but after entering the capital, it was simplified by generations of famous characters, and became more and more mature. Compared with other artistic disciplines at that time, theater had an absolute advantage. Yu Pai, Ma Pai, Tan Pai and other famous characters moved the capital and led the trend of an era. However, few people know that many of these theater stars have the bad habit of smoking big cigarettes.
Among them, the biggest smoking addiction is Wang Xiaoyi. It is said that he smoked two or two cigarettes every day. Deeply corroded by the smoke, it became difficult for him to even get out of bed in the morning. Every morning, her aunt would take a big cigarette and spray it on his face to wake him up. After getting up, Wang Xiaoyi was not in a hurry to eat, he had to smoke a dozen cigarettes first, and then eat.
He often takes more than an hour to come down with this set. All the theater gardens in the capital knew this vice, so every time they asked him to sing, they had to urge him to get up in advance.
Tan Xinpei is known as the king of the Ling world, and single-handedly founded the "Tan School". As the originator of Peking Opera, he is also inseparable from big smoke. At that time, the Qing Dynasty explicitly banned the smoking of large cigarettes, and Tan Xinpei did not dare to act against the wind. However, after not smoking a lot of smoke, Tan Xinpei felt bored in everything he did. As a result, he simply stopped singing.
However, Empress Dowager Cixi preferred to listen to drama. During the Dragon Boat Festival in May, she ordered Yang Xiaolou, Tan Xinpei and other famous characters to enter the palace to sing. Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Cixi waited left and right, and Tan Xinpei was always late. Prince Su was worried that the empress dowager would be angry, so he personally went to Tan Mansion to inquire about the reason, and only then did he understand that Tan Xinpei was trapped by smoke.
After Prince Su reported to Cixi that he knew, Cixi smiled and said, "Since this is the case, I will allow him to enter the palace and smoke." As long as he sings well, smoke is not a problem. I was happy to sing, so I sent two eunuchs to fill cigarettes for him. Boss Tan was overjoyed after hearing this, and immediately took out a smoking gun to get over the addiction for a while.
As the empress dowager with great power, for personal preference, she even regarded smoking ban as a child's play, which is no wonder that the Qing Dynasty repeatedly banned smoking but repeatedly banned it.
It is popular to smoke in the capital drama, not only the famous character Tan Xinpei, but even the famous Qiu Guixian also has this bad habit. It is said that because Qiu Guixian smoked all year round, the rats in his family had a very serious addiction to smoking. Once, when Qiu Guixian led his family out to perform, he once blocked the door of the house. When he returned, he found that the ground was full of dead rats.
It turned out that the rats in his family had a seizure but did not smoke, and one by one fell to the ground and fell to their deaths. Although this matter is somewhat exaggerated, Qiu Guixian's whole family smoking is indeed a real thing. His son Qiu Shirong has been a smoker since he was a child, and he has a very serious smoking addiction at a young age. Due to long-term smoking, Qiu Shirong soon developed lung cancer. Eventually he died of cancer before he was even sixty years old.
Under the influence of the famous characters of the predecessors, the newcomers in the theater industry drew scoops according to the gourd, and they also quickly became addicted to smoking. It is said that at that time, the apprentice learned to sing with the master, and many times it was done by the smoke bed.
Seeing such a smoky miasma in the theater world, some people said sarcastically: "Use the smoke bed as a classroom, the smoke tray is like a blackboard, and the smoke stick is simply used as a teaching whip." If the demonstration knife and gun target does not have a tool, it is only necessary to dance the smoking gun. Although this statement is somewhat exaggerated, it is not completely fabricated. When Tan Xin pei taught Yu Shuyan, he was teaching with one hand and smoking a big cigarette with the other.
Yu Shuyan is Tan Xinpei's proud protégé, and while inheriting his master's mantle, he also learned the bad habit of smoking big cigarettes. After becoming famous, many foreigners invited him to perform abroad. However, Yu Shuyan always politely refused.
When asked why, he said, "I don't go to the United States, France, Japan, the Soviet Union, and if it's India, I can consider it." When asked why he wanted to go to India, he explained: "There are cigarettes in India, and I am better than a smoker." "It is really regrettable that the big names in the pear garden have put smoking a big cigarette in the first place.
The dramatists smoke a lot, not only because they are not determined, but also because the money in their hands comes too easily. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the people liked to listen to the drama, and the drama did not worry about money at all. At that time, the monthly salary of government clerks was only about thirty yuan, but it was not a popular play, and singing a play could also get one or two dozen yuan.
Not to mention the famous corner of the pear garden, when Tan Xinpei, Yu Shuyan and other people sang the church meeting, without saying other income, the monthly package silver had 10,000 yuan. In this way, they can smoke unscrupulously. These famous characters are also deeply affected by their bodies while smoking heavily. The atmosphere in the old society was not correct, and there was even a saying that "no big smoke, but a thousand".
In other words, if the famous person does not smoke a lot, it means that he is not famous enough.
In such an atmosphere, it is no wonder that celebrities will smoke as a habit of life. After entering the new society, facing a complex social environment, there are many ugly social phenomena: the epidemic of opium and tobacco, casinos, brothels... These ugly phenomena poison the physical and mental health of the people, and smoking cigarettes has become a disgusting thing for everyone. Thus, a vigorous "anti-smoking campaign" began.
Soon, these celebrities tried to force themselves to quit smoking.
Resources:
["Famous Horns" of the Late Qing Dynasty", "Secret History of the Qing Dynasty", "Notes on the Dream Poems of the Red Yin Dynasty", "The Anti-Smoking Movement in New China"]