In 1900, a fire broke out at the front gate of Beijing, burning more than 4,000 houses from Lao Deji in Dashilar to the guanyin temple to the west, and also burning the tea garden theaters that were densely packed in the area. Many entertainers have lost their livelihood and are forced to perform in other places.
Among the "running docks" army, there is Ye Chunshan, the class leader who will be in charge of the "first class of Peking Opera" for more than 30 years. Without that fire, without that trip to Jilin, there would have been no legend of pear garden that lasted for a hundred years!
A leaf in a pear orchard
In 1900, Ye Chunshan was only 25 years old, working "the last line", and was busy all day long in various drama classes.
Ye Chunshan
At the invitation of Niu Zihou, a giant merchant in Jilin Province, Ye Chunshan's drama class set off to perform at the Jilin Recreation Tea Garden. However, before he reached Jilin Province, Ye Chunshan suffered from wind chills on the way, and his throat could not make a sound. He took the initiative to find Niu Zihou, prepared to return the advance of the package silver, and resigned and returned to Beijing.
Jiang Siyi, author of "Peking Opera","The First Class of Peking Opera--Fulian Chengshe Research": Ye Chunshan has a set of logic in his own heart, which now sounds actually quite interesting, very ancient. He went to Niu Zihou and said, you invited me to act, I have a broken voice now, I can't sing, you don't have the value of inviting me, so I'm leaving, but in fact he doesn't have the strength to go.
Indeed, Ye Chunshan, who returned the silver package, could not even afford to buy a ticket back to Beijing. Niu Zihou immediately said: Natural disasters and diseases, people are inevitable, although you can't act for the time being, many things in the background need to be taken care of, how about you act as a manager in the background now?
Niu Zihou's move was actually to test Ye Chunshan to see if he could take on a big responsibility. Niu Zihou's plan was very ambitious, he wanted to copy a new performing arts system in Shanghai at that time: first build a fixed theater, and then train his own bottom bag actors, so that he could only use beijing to invite famous actors, which could save a lot of money and effectively meet the new market demand in emerging cities.
He wants this group of basic actors to be cultivated by himself, so he needs a really reliable person to do it. Ye Chunshan, who single-mindedly became a steward in the background, is a perfect candidate.
It is said that until the eve of the drama class leaving Jilin, Niu Ye and the two talked for four days and nights, but Ye Chunshan still did not agree to establish the class.
In the later book "Thirty Years of Fu Liancheng", he recorded this passage: Jingshi Keban, as many as carp across the river. However, none of them have achieved good results. The reason for the deduction is nothing more than the selfishness of the boss and the lack of talent to convince people.
Ye Chunshan's grandson Ye Jun:
"Later, on the day I came back, [Niu Zihou] gave my grandfather an envelope and said don't look at it first, and when you get to the car, my grandfather will look at it later when he gets to the car, or entrust him to go back to Beijing to run a small class for him."
Niu Zihou's sincerity finally impressed Ye Chunshan, and in 1904 the "Xi Lian Cheng" class was founded, and after 1912 it was renamed "Fu Lian Cheng".
Transfer students Mei Lanfang and Zhou Xinfang
In 1907, the Beijing opera class was lined up, and in the midst of cruel competition, Xi Liancheng soon encountered the first crisis after entering the theater garden.
The six disciples of the "Hi" character section
At that time, most of the main students of the head section "Hi" were sixteen or seventeen years old, and the collective entered the period of voice change, which was called "inverted warehouse" in Pear Garden jargon. This means that xiliancheng, who has only recruited one subject of students, has no reserve force to replace, and the performance power is insufficient, and the class is facing dissolution.
But it was precisely because of this crisis that Mei Lanfang, Zhou Xinfang, Lin Shusen, and Guan Dayuan, who were only teenagers at the time, came to Xiliancheng.
"Peking Opera "First Class"--Research on Fulian Chengshe" author Jiang Siyi:
"In the past, this training method was called a hand-held apprentice, that is, a teacher to an apprentice, or a teacher to several apprentices, and often such a child had better personal conditions. What are the disadvantages of these little actors? After he learned to play, he did not have a stage, that is, he did not have the opportunity to practice. ”
Xi Liancheng could just provide such a stage performance opportunity, and at that time, everyone recognized that there were excellent teachers here, and the stage style was also correct. The story of Mei Lanfang, Zhou Xinfang, and Xi Lian, who borrowed from stage to act and learn art in class, has also been rumored to be a good story.
These well-known children appeared on the stage of Xi Liancheng, which greatly improved the business situation. Xi Liancheng turned the crisis into safety and gained a foothold in the capital.
Heroes of the Crowd
On the night of the fifteenth day of the first month in 1909, 9-year-old Ma Lianliang was brought to Ye Chunshan, the head of Xilian Cheng's class. Ye Chunshan looked at him for a long time and said, "This child, Cheng! ”
Ma Lianliang entered the second branch of the "Lian" family, which was in 1909, and Xi Liancheng had just survived the biggest crisis since its inception.
On November 14, 1908, the Guangxu Emperor died, and on the 15th, Empress Dowager Cixi died. According to the Qing Dynasty system, the three years after the emperor's death were a period of "national mourning", during which all entertainment activities were prohibited, and at least 100 days were not moved.
Suddenly losing the source of income, the people's hearts in the class fluctuated, and Ye Chunshan faced a big problem: disband or maintain?
The position of the ancestor of pear garden
Although Ye Chunshan could disband the class for a hundred years, he would lose his faith in Niu Zihou, who had the grace of knowing himself, and the oath of preaching for the grandfather when he was righteous would also be put into the water, and dozens of students would also lose their dependence. But if it is not disbanded, how can it feed the dozens of people in this entire class?
Ye Chunshan's granddaughter-in-law Sun Ping:
"Basically, all the savings in the family can be sold, just to support the life of the rich society, the students have to eat and drink Lhasa, so many children, and how to give the teacher some living expenses." So at that time, he said a word, Ye Chunshan said, "Stand in the wind and be hungry and shy.". ”
The day after Ye Chunshan decided not to leave the class, Chief Teacher Xiao Changhua took out his treasured secret book, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was written and adapted by the famous Sanqing class in the late Qing Dynasty after the "big boss" Cheng Changgeng took charge, and invited Lu Shengkui, nicknamed "Lu Taizi" and good at writing Liantai plays. Since the dissolution of the Sanqing class, the audience in Beijing at that time had not appreciated the style of this drama for many years.
Fu Liancheng's general teacher, Xiao Changhua, later recalled: "At that time, I got the manuscript of "Chibi Soldier" from Mr. Zhou, but in fact, eight copies were not complete enough, and they were already mutilated. Rehearsing a play for the students of the class, there is no quasi-score, it must be picked clearly, neatly, what should be added, what should be made up, and what should be cleaned up. How can my own children be out of school, the bottom of the book is shallow, and it is not easy to sort out such a big drama. When I first wrote, I didn't dare to have many people, and there were many people who had many ideas. I had to sort out the sample, and then ask others to criticize strictly and express my opinions. ”
The "battle of tongues" is the first shot of the whole play to determine the victory or defeat, and it must be fired. As far as the drama is concerned, it is also zhuge Liang's first battle across the river. In this "tongue war", students get up every morning, wash up and read, in addition to eating, untie their hands, until they go to bed at night, and they don't go out of the house for a day, and they are "tied" to this play. This scene alone has been rehearsed for more than a month.
In the end, 36 copies of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms were simplified by Xiao Changhua and adapted into 12 books, namely 8 copies of "Chibi Soldiers" and 4 copies of "Take Nan County". After the ban, Xi Liancheng's students began to perform in Guangde Building.
Zhang Yonghe, author of "The Biography of Ma Lianliang": At that time, the actors Lei Xifu's Lu Su, Wang Xixiu's Kong Ming, and Hou Xirui's Cao Cao all played very well, and it was very sensational at that time, and everyone saw that such a big child could play the Sanqing class, and only once a year performed a good drama on stage, so all of a sudden Xi Liancheng's reputation was out.
Peking Opera Movie "Heroes of the Crowd"
In the 1950s, the Beijing Film Studio filmed the Peking Opera film "Heroes of the Crowd". As soon as the film was released, it attracted rave reviews. Among them, Zhou Yu is the fourth branch of Fushe, Ye Shenglan, a disciple of the "Sheng" character section, Lu Su is Tan Fuying, a disciple of the third branch of The Fushe, Huang Gai is the fourth branch of the Fushe, Qiu Shengrong of the "Sheng" character section, Cao Cao is the fifth branch of the Fushe, Yuan Shihai of the "Shi" character section, Jiang GanXiao Changhua is the chief teacher of the Fushe, and zhuge Liang is Played by Ma Lianliang, the second science student of Fu Liancheng.
Its main actors are either Fu Liancheng's students or Fu Liancheng's teachers, and some people laughed that this was the alumni gathering of Fu Liancheng of the Peking Opera class.
From 1904 to 1948, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, Fu Liancheng is not just a 44-year story. From Fu Liancheng to Yan'an Opera Troupe, to Taiwan's Dapeng Opera Society, to Hong Kong martial arts films, to today's Peking Opera, this is not even a 100-year story.
Watch Phoenix Vision
"A Leaf in the Pear Garden- The Legend of Peking Opera Keban Fu Liancheng"
Editor: Wang Dingyao
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