Chang Xiangyu
"Everything in the world is leisurely, and I just think that the drama is bigger than the sky."
Chang Xiangyu has been practicing art for more than 70 years and has performed no less than 100 plays.
Sing well, sing well. It has always been the most basic and long-lasting persistence in her artistic career.
In the autumn of 1928, a small village in Gongyi County, Henan Province, gathered the people of four villages and eight townships. It is not a wedding or funeral, nor is it a new year's festival, but because this village is going to "sing opera" today.
For the people of that era, "singing" can be called the most upscale and most people-friendly "entertainment activities".
Therefore, regardless of men, women and children, as long as they have leisure, they will take a step forward to "join in the fun".
Zhang Miaoling, who is only five years old, followed her family from a neighboring village to listen to the play. Most children of her age can't understand those "babbles", just eating candy and playing around with other children.
Zhang Miaoling listened intently, lying on the edge of the tutai and looking intently.
Listening to the adults, the stage sang the play "Throwing Big Braids".
Zhang Miaoling couldn't understand it, but this performance that could be called "simple" had "sprinkled" "fire" in her young heart.
"If you grow up in the future, you can also go on stage and sing a paragraph."
In Zhang Miaoling's view, this is not just a dream of her childhood. It is also the best choice for her to get rid of her fate and earn a "way to live".
Zhang Miaoling's father also used to sing opera, but later he hurt his throat and could no longer sing. In order to support his family, he did some miscellaneous work in the drama team.
But even so, the family is still "poor and can't open the pot".
Young Zhang Miaoling is not afraid of not having enough to eat and wear, and she is even more afraid of being a "child bridesmaid" for others.
All three of her aunts were child brides, and two were killed. For girls from poor families, survival is an extremely difficult problem.
Zhang Miaoling did not want to repeat the back road of several aunts, but fortunately, her father also "pitied" her.
Little Fragrant Jade
"I'd rather you learn to play with me and be beaten to death by me than be beaten to death by someone else."
Although her father's words were cold-blooded and cruel, they really sought a "way to live" for Zhang Miaoling. Learning to sing in order not to be a child bride is Zhang Miaoling's most primitive idea.
At that time, the status of "drama" was very low. Because Zhang Miaoling followed her father to learn to sing, the clan elders in their clan felt that it was immoral and lost the face of the ancestors of the Zhang family.
Therefore, Zhang Miaoling was not allowed to continue to be surnamed Zhang, and she was not allowed to enter the ancestral tomb of the Zhang family after her death in the future. For women in the old society, it can be said that they have "broken the foundation".
However, Zhang Miaoling did not care, and if she did not sing, she could only "wait for death", which was more concerned about the food and clothing in front of her than in the future.
Chang Xiangyu performed stills
After various twists and turns, Zhang Miaoling worshipped a singing master, Chang Da, as her righteous father, and changed her surname to Chang and took the name Xiangyu.
Chang Xiangyu is talented and hardworking. So from the age of nine, he performed everywhere on stage. In order to accumulate acting experience, she has played Xiaosheng, Wusheng, Clown...
A variety of roles, only have the opportunity, Chang Xiangyu will try. Her typhoon and skills are also becoming more and more varied and solid.
By the age of twelve, Chang Xiangyu was already famous. In her own words: "At that time, I was worth eight oceans a month." ”
Yu opera "Chang Xiangyu"
In Chang Xiangyu's view, her life can be "reversed" all by singing.
Her attitude toward singing has also changed from the initial necessity of survival to a lofty ideal and a career of lifelong struggle.
In 1938, at the age of fifteen, Chang Xiangyu began to campaign for the anti-Japanese campaign.
She arranged for the Xiqu Research Society to rehearse the new play "Hitting the Land", which was the first modern play in the history of Yu opera. It not only publicized the anti-Japanese slogan, but also created a new theme of Yu opera performance.
During this period, Kaifeng, Luoyang and other places fell successively. Chang Xiangyu retreated all the way to Xi'an, and even with the hustle and bustle of the war, her charity performances never stopped.
The country's ups and downs, the people's love and hatred. They are all arranged in a play, and they are cleverly arranged, thousands of turns.
In Chang Xiangyu's heart, she always firmly believes that "drama has feelings", and these dramatists have always carried the industry ethics of patriotism and national salvation.
Chang Xiangyu in his youth
In 1951, the whole country set off an upsurge of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Chinese People's General Association for Resisting US Aggression and Aiding Korea issued a call to launch a campaign to donate weapons and eliminate the greatest number of enemies with the least sacrifice.
At this time, Chang Xiangyu established the Xiangyu Drama Society, and the total number of actors and actresses in the entire drama club was only about fifty people.
However, Chang Xiangyu made a solemn vow: through the charity performance of the Xiangyu Society, he would donate a fighter jet to the country within half a year.
In order to achieve this goal, Chang Xiangyu sold the truck in his family and took out all the family's savings to support the charity performance. In order to devote herself to the charity performance, Chang Xiangyu sent her three young children to kindergarten.
"This donation of aircraft charity performances is like a warrior going out on a campaign, and it will never be returned unless the battle is won."
After knowing chang Xiangyu's motivation for this charity performance, Henan's fathers and fellow villagers rushed to tell each other. Everyone waited intently for Chang Xiangyu to perform in his hometown to give up his strength.
At that time, there were even elderly people who traveled a long way to send a basket of eggs and "contributed" to the War of Resistance with their own hearts.
Chang Xiangyu and Chen Charter
In half a year, Chang Xiangyu led the troupe actors to travel thousands of miles, Henan, Shaanxi, Hunan, Hubei... A total of 170 performances were performed, with an audience of more than 300,000 people.
A play of "Mulan" won the applause of the whole hall, and Chang Xiangyu's patriotic and righteous deeds and the warm pillow of serving the country were also worthy of a sentence of "contemporary Mulan".
Chang Xiangyu's tour was a complete success, and all the proceeds from the performance were also purchased according to the prior commitment.
The fighter jet, named "Xiangyu Opera Society", is still displayed in the China Aviation Museum and is a patriotic "medal" for the traditional artists of Chang Xiangyu's generation.
In Chang Xiangyu's heart, Yu opera not only carries the painstaking efforts of their generation, but also a kind of inheritance of Chinese culture and feelings.
Therefore, finding a "successor" for the Xiangyu Drama Club is a big thing in her heart.
When Chang Xiangyu was nineteen years old, after a performance, many well-known people expressed their opinions.
One of the men, Chen Charter, caught her attention, and the man pointed out the problems in her lines.
"I see that his eyebrows are clear and loyal, and this sentence is not accurate. People who are not eyebrow-raising must be loyal. ”
Chang Xiangyu couldn't help but laugh out loud, he just thought that this man was very interesting to talk to, and he knew a lot of drama.
She didn't understand what love was at the time, only that she was panicked when she saw him, and she always thought of him in her heart.
Unfortunately, however, Chen Charter already had a family at that time. Under the opposition of his parents, Chang Xiangyu broke off contact with him.
Who knew that a year later, Chen Charter actually came looking for him again, looking at the man in front of him, Chang Xiangyu was fierce.
"I don't marry someone who is an official, I don't treat others as a little wife, and I can't tolerate others rejecting me as a singer."
When she said this, she wanted to completely break Chen Charter's thoughts.
Who knows, the other party listened to her words and just laughed.
"I've divorced, and the official has resigned. As for the dislike of you for singing... After all, what I like is the way you sing. ”
Chang Xiangyu did not expect that the other party gave up everything in order to be with her. So what reason did she have to refuse?
After getting married, Chen Charter took on all the things inside and out of the family. Just to let Chang Xiangyu sing and perform better.
Chang Xiangyu also did her best to love their children, as well as the sons of Chen Charter and his ex-wife.
Although there is no blood relationship, Chang Xiangyu and his stepson have a very good relationship. Even Chen Bailing, the daughter of his stepson, was also very fond of him.
Chen Bailing's parents are both students of Chang Xiangyu, so she has lived in the Liyuan family since she was a child, influenced by her grandmother and parents, and has a strong love for Yu opera.
Chang Xiangyu has high hopes for her, hoping that she can inherit her "mantle" in the future.
After chen bailing graduated from the Zhengzhou Opera School, she successfully entered the Zhengzhou Yu Opera Troupe and became famous with "Mulan From the Army".
Chang Xiangyu identified her granddaughter as a "material that can be made", after some thought.
Chang Xiangyu called Chen Bailing to the front, looked at the young girl in front of her, and seemed to be able to recall her appearance.
He will eventually grow old, and Yu Opera cannot be followed by no one.
"Are you willing to carry forward the orthodox Yu opera of the Chang school, and if you can, I will give you the stage name of Xiao Xiangyu."
Chang Xiangyu, Xiao Xiangyu. The meaning behind this stage name is self-evident. Chen Bailing was pleasantly surprised, which was a great honor and sustenance for her.
She didn't hesitate and immediately nodded her head to reassure, "I can do it." ”
Chang Xiangyu smiled happily, and the big stone that had been pressed in his heart for many years finally "landed". In order for Chen Bailing to "deserve" the stage name of Xiao Xiangyu, Chang Xiangyu began to personally guide her.
Chang Xiangyu's original intention was to hope that Xiao Xiangyu would inherit and carry forward the performing arts of Changpai Yu opera by regularly performing the three representative repertoire of "The Legend of the White Snake", "Kao Hong" and "Mulan".
These traditional dramas condensed Chang Xiangyu's lifelong performance efforts and experience, so her guidance to Xiao Xiangyu was very strict.
In the beginning, Xiao Xiangyu also fully complied with her grandmother's requirements for training and performance. With several wonderful performances, plus the name of "Little Xiangyu".
Soon, Chen Bailing became famous in the Yu opera circle. Xiao Xiangyu is also well known to more and more audiences.
The popularity of Xiao Xiangyu has added a lot of new colors to the cause of Yu opera. Chang Xiangyu felt very relieved in her heart, and she consciously cultivated a qualified successor for the Yu opera industry.
However, before she could retreat to the "backstage", she noticed something strange.
After Xiao Xiangyu became famous, she stopped performing traditional plays.
In her own words, she began to innovate. New elements such as dance and martial arts are combined into traditional performances.
The original drama has undergone various "processing", although it looks like a cluster of flowers, but it completely loses the original intention of theatrical performance.
Chang Xiangyu felt that the Changpai Yu opera performance she had founded with her own hands had gradually "changed its taste".
In her opinion, if a inheritor just blindly "finds another way" and abandons the original essence. Then she is not a competent "heir".
Chang Xiangyu felt that Xiao Xiangyu's various practices were "deviant."
She had reason to be angry, but before that, she specifically asked Xiao Xiangyu why she was doing this.
Xiao Xiangyu tasted the "sweetness" of success at that time, and in the face of the bitter old man, he did not feel that he was wrong at all, but felt that his grandmother was too "pedantic."
"Today's era is developing so fast, if you don't innovate in time to keep up with the pace of social development, you will be eliminated."
Looking at the vitality and "ambition" on her granddaughter's face, Chang Xiangyu was speechless for a long time.
Yes, she's old. I don't know how to keep up with the pace of the times, but because the times are developing too much, some fresh things can be bright for a while, but they can't "last forever".
Opera is an art full of "charm", which requires time processing and testing. Even if we want to innovate, we must also keep the "roots", so that we can always be "undefeated in Changchun".
Chang Xiangyu and Xiao Xiangyu
Her granddaughter is still too blind in her pursuit of temporary achievements. Just, can I say she's wrong? Maybe in the eyes of the other party, he is the wrong one.
However, if she uses the name of Xiao Xiangyu, those traditional songs of Chang Xiangyu have not been performed for many years. Then this stage name is in vain.
If these are just two different views on tradition and innovation, then Xiao Xiangyu's closure of the art school really "chilled" Chang Xiangyu's heart.
In 2004, in order to promote opera, Xiao Xiangyu opened an art school in Shanxi. The original intention of the establishment is to let more young people understand and learn Yu opera.
In order to support her granddaughter's "glorious" decision, Chang Xiangyu ignored her illness and personally ran to the school to help Xiao Xiangyu deal with various problems. Even the help of various departments was "successful" by Chang Xiangyu' trip to run.
In Chang Xiangyu's view, opening a school is a good way to pass on traditional arts. As a member of Yu Opera, this is their responsibility and obligation.
However, in the subsequent operation and management of the school, there was a shortage of funds. Xiao Xiangyu felt unprofitable and planned to close the art school in order to avoid wasting more time and money.
In her own words: "I still want to make some works quickly, so let's close the stalls." ”
This disappointed Chang Xiangyu, in her opinion, the current difficulties were not as difficult as the situation when she was young.
Now the times are better, the conditions are better. The younger generation is not as good as the predecessors, and perhaps for art, they have long lost that "reverence".
In the face of her grandmother's questioning and the stagnation of her career, Xiao Xiangyu, who had never experienced setbacks, simply chose to "break the jar and break it".
"I don't learn, I don't act, I don't do it."
After that, on the stage of The Yu Opera performance, for a long time, there was no shadow of Xiao Xiangyu. Instead, she began to be active in various sketches, variety shows, film and television stages.
Leaving the drums ringing, the cloud sleeve scarf, Xiao Xiangyu earned "full of pots" in the spotlight.
For older artists, art is priceless. The greatest "blasphemy" of art is nothing more than just using it as a tool to make money.
Chang Xiangyu was only "disappointed" with Xiao Xiangyu.
In 2004, the elderly Chang Xiangyu became seriously ill. This "originator" of china's modern Yu opera industry has struggled all his life for the beloved Yu opera cause.
Truly implement the "drama is greater than the sky" into every performance.
Now when the old man is dying, it is regrettable that there is no "successor" in Yu opera. In the midst of my heartache, I made a decision.
She made a will and decided to take back her granddaughter Chen Bailing's "Xiaoxiangyu" stage name, and at the same time entrusted a lawyer to draft a statement.
At that time, the old man Chang Xiangyu still had a bit of luck and did not immediately release the statement. She still vaguely hoped in her heart that one day, her granddaughter would be able to walk back to the "right way".
Unfortunately, until the old man died, Xiao Xiangyu could not make changes.
For this reason, on the first anniversary of the death of the elderly Chang Xiangyu, the statement of retracting the stage name was published.
At this point, the "entanglement" between Chang Xiangyu and Xiao Xiangyu's grandchildren was officially announced to the public. An artistic dispute over inheritance and innovation has once again "taken the top spot" and has become a topic of discussion.
They have their own positions, which is right and wrong, which cannot be measured by a sentence of right or wrong.
Nowadays, the call for the revival of traditional Chinese opera is getting higher and higher, and Henan, as the "heart" of Chinese culture, has also begun to re-pick the beam of the "Renaissance" step by step.
"One move and one style show the foundation, sing and do all the articles."
The people on the stage sang all kinds of life, and people's feelings were cold and warm. The people in the audience sighed that the birds flew through the air, leaving no trace. This is the romance and charm unique to Chinese literature and art.
The legacy of the old man changxiangyu in the past will be inherited by future generations, and the innovation road of Xiaoxiangyu will certainly be able to walk out of a new "chapter".
Afraid of the flowing water, the spring is gone, and dreams of finding a pear orchard to return.