Saying this is still 5 years ago, I talked to Mr. Chang Baohua about the Qiming Tea House in the old Xidan mall. He kept trying to talk to me until the first two days when he was free. Qiming Tea House is an early "cross-talk conference" in old Beijing, that is, a field dedicated to cross-talk. Founded in 1938, it closed in 1948, 10 years before and after, and enjoyed a good reputation in Beijing. The matter of the Qiming Tea House is now an old saying. If you don't let people who understand it talk about it, I'm afraid that in a few years it will be forgotten. Why say Qiming Tea House? Chang Baohua believes that it is the birthplace of Beijing's civilized cross-talk and the "cradle" of the older generation of famous cross-talk actors, and it is necessary for the current Beijingers to understand it.
Mr. Chang Baohua is 74 years old this year, although he is more than a rare year, his body bones and spiritual head have not decreased. He usually speaks with humor after talking to him for most of his life, and he laughs and says to me: I am still a young man. "Boy" Chang Baohua has clear thinking and amazing memory. Speaking of the Qiming Tea House, it is impossible not to mention his father Chang Lian'an. Chang Lian'an is a legendary figure in the world of music and art. Chang's ancestors in the banner were Qing soldiers, and they belonged to the White Banner. There are nobles in the white flag, but there are many commoners. His family's old courtyard is in The Dazhi Camp behind the current Beijing National Culture Palace, which has long been demolished. The site is hard to find. When Baohua was young, although his family was very poor, he still talked about "flag ceremony" and shouted "Ago Ama". His grandfather died very early, and his grandmother remarried with her young only son, Chang Lian'an. However, Chang Lian'an had a stubborn personality and did not want to stay at home since he was a child, and when his mother saw him like this, she found someone to write "character evidence" and learned Peking Opera. Writing "notes" at that time was a bit like "selling" a child, and whoever took the "note" belonged to the child. Chang Lian'an was only 7 years old at the time. After studying with this opera teacher for more than two years, he went to the northeast. Chang Lian'an went to a small county in the northeast, sang and sang red, picked the class as a "big beam", because of his good voice, he gave a stage name "Xiao Xinkui", the locals did not know, he was only a teenager at the time. Later, he suffered from a strange disease called "Big Head" in the northeast, with puffiness all over his body and a very large head. Sick in the chicken feather shop, when he was dying, there was a military doctor who wanted to listen to the "Xiao Xinkui" play. The soldier healed his illness. After recovering from his illness, he missed his old wife in Beijing, and went to great lengths to return to Beijing.
After Chang Lian'an returned to Beijing, in order to continue to study drama, he was introduced to "Fu Liancheng", and Xiao Changhua was the principal at the time and accepted him as an apprentice. Chang Lian'an's original name was Chang'an, because he belonged to the "Lian" generation, Xiao Changhua said you don't have another name, add a ligature to the Word An, so he changed his name to Chang Lian'an. After studying drama for several years, Chang Lian'an's voice fell into the warehouse. At this time, when he was "laying the bottom fence" at the wu tie'an family in the capital, he met a trickster and found some "work" from him. After his throat fell, in order to make a living, he sold art at the temple fair. At this time, Chang Lian'an married a daughter-in-law, his wife was also a flag bearer, and his father-in-law was a blacksmith in Deshengmen. In 1922, Chang Lian'an took his pregnant wife and Zhao Xixian, the father of cross-talk actor Zhao Peiru, to Zhangjiakou to sell art in the North Market. A few months later, he had a son, Chang Baokun, chang Baohua's eldest brother.
Chang Baohua said to me: "The eldest brother Baokun was born smart and could speak before he was one year old. My father said that his little head melon had an amazing memory, as if he was born to speak cross-talk billets, and that words spoken at more than a year old could amuse people. When Baokun was more than two years old, Chang Lian'an took him to the stall in the North Market. Often Lian An changed the trick, he also followed the change of a small hand color or something, amusing people. In particular, improvising the movements of adults is even more popular. Because Zhangjiakou is rich in mushrooms, people gave him a nickname called "small mushroom". Baokun was less than 3 years old, Zhao Xixian's son Zhao Peiru was famous for saying cross-talk in Tianjin, peiru was only a few years old at the time, known as "little prodigy". Chang Lian'an and Zhao Xixian are brothers. In total, if you can let Baokun and Peiru, the little brothers, talk to each other together, it will be more colorful. So the two of them took Baokun to Tianjin. Baokun first worshiped Jiao Dehai, one of the "Eight Virtues" of the old predecessors of cross-talk, as a teacher, and then worshiped Zhang Shouchen as a teacher, and became popular in Tianjin at the age of 11, and "Little Mushroom" became a well-known cross-talk actor. Chang Baohua said that since I had my eldest brother, the Chang family has changed, and without Baokun, there would be no Chang's cross-talk. "Little Mushroom" is humble and studious, intelligent, talking and singing, proficient in everything, at the age of 18, in Tianjin's "Little Pear Garden", "Daguan Garden" two times a night, at the same time on two radio stations to say, and later to the Qingyun Theater and Ma Sanli and other famous artists to pick the stage, the most popular time, the front to say cross-talk, the back acting, "Four Soldiers", "Famen Temple" ShengDanjing Clown all kinds of horns can be picked up, but especially good at clowns. Later, a "brother troupe" was also established, and "Little Mushroom" became the leader of the troupe. In March 1951, "Little Mushroom" and Zhao Peiru, Fu Shaofang, Cheng Shutang and other composers participated in the first Chinese people's condolence mission to the DPRK, and on April 23, they were suddenly attacked by enemy aircraft on the way back from completing their mission, and "Little Mushroom" and Cheng Shutang were unfortunately killed. Tianjin held a grand funeral for the two, 15,000 people sent off the beloved cross-talk performance artist, Liao Chengzhi, Tian Han, Chen Yi and others made a special trip to Tianjin to pay tribute, along the way hundreds of thousands of people watched the mourning, the scene is unprecedented. In December 1951, according to Baokun's last wishes and Chang Lian'an's proposal, the Cultural Affairs Bureau officially approved the establishment of the Tianjin Quyi Troupe, with Luo Yusheng, Shi Huiru, Wang Peichen, Gao Yuanjun, Chang Baoting, etc. joining, with Chang Lian'an as the head of the group and Zhao Peiru as the deputy head of the group. Chang Lian'an has 12 children, 6 boys, the eldest son Baokun, the second son Baolin, the third son Baoting, the fourth son Baohua, the fifth son Baoqing, and the sixth son Baofeng are all famous cross-talk actors. Chang Guitian, the son of Chang Baokun, Guisheng and Guiyuan, the son of Baolin, Chang Yuan, the grandson of Baohua, and Yang Kai, the grandson of Baohua, are also cross-talk actors, and the Chang family can be called a cross-talk family.
Qiming Tea House in old Beijing
In the spring of 1937, Chang Lian'an took his second son Baolin to Beijing to perform at the "Silla Tian" in Beijing. Because the "small mushroom" has become famous in Tianjin, several of Baokun's younger brothers are ranked down with "two mushrooms" and "three mushrooms", and Baohua is four, and the stage name is "four mushrooms". Chang Lian'an and "Two Mushrooms" were very popular with Beijing listeners. One day, an old audience member said to Chang Lian'an, your family all talk about crosstalk, why don't you pick a class and make a garden? Chang Lian'an said, we use tricks to talk about crosstalk, where is the money? The audience member said, I can find a place for you, in the Xidan mall. If you look at it, I'll rent it out, and we won't lose money, but it's yours that you've earned, and it's mine that you've lost. Chang Lian'an was touched when he heard this. At that time, Hou Baolin and his master "big bread" in the north of the Xidan Mall, in 1936, the Xidan Mall caught a fire, almost the whole place burned out, they ran to the temple fair, and later went to Tianjin, a hit. At that time, Xidan Shopping Mall was still a "commercial street" composed of stalls and facades, with several famous shops such as "Houde", "Fushou", "Huide", and "Yude". After the fire, the merchants of Xidan Mall were about to gather popularity, and the audience also had this intention, so they invited Chang Lian'an here. Chang Lian'an looked at the place that this old audience had found for him, and he was able to sit a hundred people, and it was too small to open a garden. After summing it up, let's just change it to a tea house. What's the name? Chang Lian'an thought that there was no such juggling garden in Beijing, let's start with the beginning, let's call it Qiming. After the font size was typed, an audience member said, this name is good, there is a star in the sky, which is exactly what you mean.
After the opening of the Qiming Tea House, it was initially dominated by qu art, with Wei Xikui, Cao Baolu, Guo Rongshan, Han Chengxian's big drum, double reed, and "two mushrooms" and "three mushrooms" crosstalk there to support the stage, but the business was not good. Chang Lian'an told the old audience, this can't go on, we can't let you always lose money, just change it to crosstalk, because in juggling is the popularity of crosstalk. So from 1938 onwards, the Qiming Tea House was changed to a cross-talk conference, which specialized in performing cross-talk. Chang Baohua recalled that what impressed me most at that time was that there were 3 signs at the entrance of the Qiming Tea House: "Civilized Crosstalk", "Crosstalk Conference" and "Pocket Money". These three were all innovative breakthroughs in the music industry at that time. In the past, it was said that cross-talk was "flat ground cake", from "paddling" on the ground to picking the ground, it was "half of the wind, no rain". Moreover, in the past, "Everything returned to spring", and spring was "spring mouth", that is to say, the "spring mouth" at that time was mostly low-level and inferior meat paragraphs, and the jargon of cross-talk was called "stinky work", and women and children could not listen. "Qiming" advocates civilized cross-talk, not "stinky life". "Zero dozen money" did not sell tickets, and later developed to sell cards, two dollars 5 cards, one card to listen to a cross-talk. "Qiming" has "three more", one is more than one actor, about 10 years, there are more than 60 cross-talk actors in "Qiming" said cross-talk, taking turns on the field, the most day there are more than 20. Second, there are many famous actors, and famous cross-talk actors of the older generation such as Zhang Shouchen, Hua Ziyuan, Yu Junbo, Liu Xiantian, Luo Rongshou, Liu Dezhi, Zhao Xiaru, Wang Changyou, Ji Pingsan, Guo Rongshan, Wang Shichen, Liu Baorui, Guo Rongqi, Ban Degui, Bai Quanfu, Tan Boru, Sun Yukui, Su Wenmao, Yu Shide, Guan Chunshan, Zhao Zhenduo, Gao Deyuan, Li Boxiang, Ma Sili, Li Shouzeng, Chang Lian'an, Chang Baolin, and Chang Baoting have all said cross-talk at "Qiming." The so-called famous paragraph refers to the fact that this passage is only the best for a certain actor, and the audience loves to listen to it the most, such as Zhang Shouchen's "Little Immortal", Ma Guiyuan's "Thief Ghost Grabbing the Sword", Chang Lian'an's "Shandong Doufa", Liu Guitian's "Chopping the Scriptures", Guo Rongqi's "Theory of Playing Cards", Zhao Xiaru's "Layang Film" and so on. The audience single points out this paragraph and has to give money alone. The tea house was originally 200 square meters, later expanded to 400 square meters, the performance from 1 pm to 1 am, every day the performance is full, just in time for the festival, the audience is bursting, there is no seat standing to listen. The "Qiming" cross-talk conference has promoted the development of cross-talk art in Beijing, cultivated the cross-talk appreciation level of Beijingers, and also cultivated a large number of artistic talents. Peking opera performance artists Xun Huisheng and Yan Jupeng were regular guests of "Qiming"; Ma Lianliang and Jin Shaoshan also heard cross-talk in "Qiming"; Bai Guang, Shi Hui, Xie Tian, Ouyang Shafei, and Li Hanxiang in the performing arts world also often went to "Qiming"; Li Wenhua and Ma Ji, who later became famous cross-talk actors, were only teenagers at the time, and almost "bubbled" in "Qiming". There is no doubt that these artists have been influenced by the "Qiming" cross-talk conference on the road to growth. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Qiming Tea House was almost a household name in Beijing, and not many old Beijingers who liked cross-talk had never been to "Qiming".
After liberation, the Qiming Tea House ended with the renovation and expansion of Xidan Shopping Mall and the return of cross-talk actors. However, the impression of the Qiming Tea House in the hearts of old Beijingers has not been erased. Chang Baohua told me that one year, he visited the United States to perform, and an old Beijing who had settled overseas for many years also asked him about the Qiming Tea House. Wan Guoquan, former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was an old audience member of "Qiming", and when his family lived near the Xidan shopping mall, he met Chang Baohua and chatted with him about the past of the old "Qiming" for half a day. In the 1990s, the old manager of Xidan Mall had intended to restore the Qiming Tea House in the mall, but it was shelved for various reasons. Chang Baohua, who was a judge in the cross-talk sketch contest held by Beijing Television Station a few days ago, felt the lack of cross-talk talents and the audience's love for it, and believed that there should be a special performance venue for cross-talk in Beijing. While there are still a few elderly people in the cross-talk industry, if the Qiming Tea Society is restored, it will be a great blessing for the development of cross-talk. Mr. Baohua said that as a descendant of Chang's cross-talk and an old actor of the Qiming Tea Society, he was willing to do his best for this matter, but unfortunately, there is now a pot with rice and no firewood, who can add firewood for this?