On April 16, 1949, the China Youth Art Theater, with yan'an Youth Art Theater as the predecessor, was established in Beijing. The famous actor Jin Shan, known as the "Emperor of Drama", also appeared at the opening ceremony. For his appearance, many people can't help but be a little surprised.
Because Jin Shan is a popular star at the same time, he is also a famous screenwriter and director, and he is also the "closed disciple" of Du Yuesheng, the leader of the Green Gang. Before liberation, he often shuttled between politicians, magnates, and warlords of the Republic of China, talking and laughing with them, and even served as a "member of the Kuomintang" as a "member of the Kuomintang."
Some people also said that if he had not joined the Kuomintang's peace talk delegation and stayed in Beiping with Zhang Zhizhong and others to wait for the founding of the country, he would have been arrested long ago. Therefore, many literary and artistic people thought that he could attend the opening ceremony of the Youth Art Theater, that is, he would just go to the theater to mix bowls of rice and eat.
However, when The dean Liao Chengzhi introduced the leaders of the theater to everyone, he specially pulled Jinshan, and joked to everyone with a smile: "The vice president I introduced to you is the big secret agent of the Communist Party, Jinshan." "
At this time, everyone suddenly realized. It turned out that Jinshan was actually an underground party member who had been hidden for 17 years! So much so that later, when Zhang Zhizhong saw him, he smiled and said to him: "Jinshan, you are really a good actor!" "
Stills from Kanayama's youth
Teenage tribulations become dramatists
Jinshan, whose original name was Zhao Mo, was born on August 9, 1911, to a wealthy family in Sanduoqiao, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.
He was intelligent and studious since childhood, and in his spare time at a private school, Jinshan developed a strong interest in traditional Suzhou local opera, as well as the civilized drama that was just emerging at that time, influenced by Western culture and performance.
After watching these performances, he will simulate them one by one when he goes back, and he will also add his own plays. It is precisely by relying on this dedication and love of art since childhood that Kingsoft laid a solid foundation for performance and paved the way for his future career.
In 1921, at the age of 10, Jinshan enrolled in Xuhui Public School in Shanghai. In the spring of 1927, he was expelled for offending the priests at the school. In desperation, he could only return to his hometown of Suzhou. At this time, because of the death of his biological father, he was not welcomed by his stepfather, and once lived on the streets, and even embarrassed to go to the temple to ask for renunciation.
Later, the desperate Jinshan also worked as a coolie on the docks, worked as a proofreader in the tabloid hall, performed civilized plays in the drama club, and joined the 17th Teaching Regiment of the National Revolutionary Army stationed at Xiyuan Temple for a while.
He suffered a lot, and he also saw all the warmth and sorrow and joy in the world. This experience has greatly benefited his future acting career, enabling him to accurately grasp the personalities and characteristics of various characters and create a vivid stage image.
Of course, he also learned how to deal with different characters, which provided a good opportunity for him to later carry out underground work and deal with all kinds of people.
Shanghai was the center of art in China at that time
After surviving the most difficult years, Jinshan arrived in Shanghai. There, his acting talents began to gradually emerge.
After the outbreak of the September 18 Incident in 1931, a vigorous patriotic salvation movement was set off throughout the country. At this time, Jinshan also joined the anti-imperialist grand alliance and threw himself into this anti-Japanese propaganda campaign.
Kanayama did not start his acting career in theaters and theaters. He performed deep into factories and rural areas. Out of his love of drama, he used it as the starting point of his artistic career.
He directed and acted in many plays, and also wrote two one-act plays "Burst" and "Wanderer" himself, which caused a sensation.
Later, he was admitted to the Tax Police School, where he was further exposed to progressive ideas and the theories of the Chinese Communist Party, which suddenly opened up Jinshan, who was full of ideas of national salvation but did not know where to start.
It was then that he actively engaged in left-wing causes and used his special status to rescue progressive students who had been arrested by the Kuomintang reactionaries for propagating anti-Japanese propaganda.
The theater in Shanghai at that time
Joined the Communist Party and starred in "Midnight Song"
In December 1932, Jinshan secretly joined the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. After joining the party, he became more active in the progressive cultural movement under the leadership of the party, sponsored the progressive newspaper Far East Times, and organized the Oriental Drama Society with Zhang Luo and others.
Jinshan later joined the Left-Wing Opera Singers Alliance, vigorously carried out anti-Japanese patriotic propaganda among workers and students, and deepened progressive theatrical activities into the people.
At that time, under the guidance of famous literary and art figures such as Xia Yan and Yu Ling, Jin shan worked hard to raise his acting skills and skills to a new height.
As a well-known drama actor at that time, Jin Shan and Zhao Dan and other friends jointly founded the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association and played important roles in a series of plays, such as "Nala" and "Chincha Minister".
When Ibsen's drama "Nala" was performed in Shanghai Beach that year, Jin Shan played the male protagonist in the play, Glock Stei, who made a living by lending usury. He portrayed the image of an insatiable despicable villain into the wood, and once staged, it was a great success, winning unanimous praise from the audience and people in the literary and art circles.
It was through this drama that Jin Shan established his "king" status among Chinese drama actors at that time. But on the road of acting, Jinshan did not stop moving forward.
At that time, Shanghai was already the central city of China's film industry, and Jinshan took advantage of this opportunity to star in the famous film "Midnight Song" in 1937.
He plays the male protagonist Song Danping. Although most of the protagonist is just a shadow in the dark, even if he occasionally appears, wearing a mask or hiding under a black cloak, it is in this situation that Jinshan portrays a young revolutionary who is hunted down by warlords and forced to change his name to become a drama actor.
Because of the pursuit of beautiful love, Jinshan was persecuted by evil forces and disfigured, resulting in psychological distortion and a great change in temperament. Jin Shan successfully shaped the artistic image of Song Danping by reciting the lines in different tones and tones, and with exaggerated movements and vicious laughter.
By depicting the love tragedy of two young men and women, this film points the spearhead directly at the imprisonment and strangulation of feelings and free thought by feudal etiquette and evil forces, which has caused great repercussions in society.
After the film was released, it became a hit, and Jinshan also became a big star of the amphibious drama (electric) film (talk) drama through this film. Song Danping also became almost synonymous with him at one point.
Jin Shan's role as Song Danping in the film "Midnight Song" was well received
With the outbreak of the July 7 Incident, China entered an all-out war of resistance. Under the frenzy of the all-out war of aggression against China by Japanese imperialism, the Communist Party of China called for an end to the civil war and the formation of a national united front.
In the context of the second Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, Kingsoft's acting career also underwent a major change soon.
As the Kuomintang government carried out a one-sided war of resistance, the frontal battlefield lost its divisions and lost ground, and it was gradually defeated and retreated, and Shanghai, Nanjing, and other Yangtze River Delta areas quickly fell into the hands of the enemy.
Jinshan and a group of performing arts people at that time were unwilling to stay in Shanghai, which had become an isolated island, and retreated to Wuhan, which was the rear area at that time.
There he finally met Zhou Enlai, vice chairman of the CPC Central Committee. He originally wanted to go to Yan'an, but Vice Chairman Zhou considered that going to Yan'an with his fame was of great use, and staying in Dahou to publicize China's all-national War of Resistance at home and abroad, calling on the whole nation to fight against Japan with the same enemy, and at the same time raising donations could play a greater role.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the troupe performed dramas reflecting the War of Resistance in the streets
So Jinshan gathered a group of patriotic artists in Wuhan and organized the Chinese Salvation Theater Troupe to perform everywhere in the rear area. During the performance, Jin Shan quickly became acquainted with Gui clan dignitaries such as Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi.
Later, at their gracious invitation, Jinshan led a delegation south to Guangxi. The troupe performed continuously in Nanning, Guilin and other places to publicize the anti-Japanese resistance, and caused a great sensational effect, and received very good results.
Subsequently, Jinshan took advantage of this trend to go all the way south, first to Yunnan, and then to Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya and other Southeast Asian regions where Chinese people live to perform anti-Japanese performances, which caused a great anti-Japanese boom in the local Chinese community.
Driven by this upsurge, many overseas Chinese children took the initiative to return to China to participate in the war, and those who could not return to China for the time being also donated money and materials to support the motherland's War of Resistance. This was the sensational "Nanyang Tour" of that year.
With the outbreak of the Pacific War, Jinshan and the troupe had to return to Chongqing in the rear in February 1942, and Zhou Enlai gave a high evaluation to this tour, believing that it had encouraged the anti-Japanese fighting spirit of overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese, and also won international support, which was an extremely successful cultural offensive.
Zhou Enlai then gave Jinshan a new and more difficult task.
Become a disciple of Du Yuesheng
At this time, when the offensive of Japanese imperialism in the Pacific Theater was at its peak, the Japanese army strengthened the structure of the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines on the one hand, and actively induced the Kuomintang on the other hand. The surrender faction in the rear area was very loud, and many high-ranking Kuomintang officials and senior generals defected to the enemy.
In order to counter this wave of surrender that was passive and actively anti-communist, Jin Shan starred in qu yuan in the newly edited historical drama "Qu Yuan" written by Guo Moruo under the arrangement of Zhou Enlai.
In the second act of the play, Jin Shan expresses Qu Yuan's lyrical monologue of "Ode to Thunder and Lightning" with a majestic momentum with a thick voice, passionate body language, and intimidating spiritual strength. The performance was once again a great success, the sound shook the mountain city, and this "Qu Yuan" finally established Jinshan's status as the "drama emperor" in the domestic drama industry.
Due to the performance of "Qu Yuan", the Kuomintang diehards faced great pressure from the people, and the indignant authorities immediately sent military police and spies to block the play, and began to persecute the actors who participated in the performance, forcing some actors to go underground or go to other places to avoid being hunted down by secret agents.
Stills from the drama "Qu Yuan"
But as the protagonist of the play, Jinshan is safe and sound in Chongqing! This is why, because he has traveled extensively and maintained a close relationship with Du Yuesheng, a big gangster in the Green Gang, the spies are afraid of Du Yuesheng's name and dare not offend Jinshan.
Jinshan's relationship with Du Yuesheng began as early as when he was acting in Shanghai. As one of the "Three Tycoons of Shanghai Beach", although his cultural foundation is not high, after he developed, he began to be attached to elegance everywhere and befriended famous literary and artistic figures.
It was at that time that Jin Shan met Du Yuesheng. Because Du Yuesheng's power was very large, even Chiang Kai-shek looked at him differently, and it was very beneficial to befriend Du Yuesheng to carry out his work and protect his own safety, and Jinshan began to consciously take the initiative to communicate with Du Yuesheng.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Du Yuesheng's attitude toward the War of Resistance was more positive. He left Shanghai, which was about to fall, moved to Hong Kong, made many statements advocating the War of Resistance, and joined the Anti-Enemy Support Organization, and also took the initiative to donate vehicles and aircraft for the War of Resistance, and repeatedly refused the solicitation and abduction of the Japanese and puppet sides, and had a good reputation.
In December 1941, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, Du Yuesheng moved from Hong Kong to Chongqing, established the Hengshe Headquarters, and developed his forces to the rear area. Du Yuesheng continued to expand his anti-Japanese prestige and influence in Chongqing.
In order to win the support and protection of Du Yuesheng's literary and art groups that propagated the War of Resistance, the Chongqing underground party decided to send Jinshan to establish good relations with Du Yuesheng.
Jin Shan learned that Du Yuesheng loved drama, so he attended du Yuesheng's banquet, relying on his superior Peking Opera skills to help the banquet, and every time he won the full hall of color from Du Yuesheng and other guests, Du Yuesheng soon fell in love with this big star who would come and be empathetic.
The people of Chongqing in the rear celebrated the victory of the War of Resistance
In this way, Jinshan then used Du Yuesheng's connections to intervene in dredging up the Chongqing authorities and allowing him to open a troupe.
In December 1942, Jinshan established the China Arts Drama Society in Chongqing, with himself as the director-general, and Du Yuesheng paid for the renovation of a new theater for Jinshan, Ginza, for the Chinese Arts Drama Society to perform new plays.
Du Yuesheng also personally hired Zhang Daofan and Pan Gongzhan of the Kuomintang side for propaganda affairs to serve as honorary directors of the drama company, and announced to the outside world that the Chinese drama society was a legitimate theater troupe with a future.
In this way, the hooligans in Chongqing were deterred, and even the Kuomintang military and police constitutional agents could only pretend to be deaf and dumb, ensuring the safety of the troupe and the actors.
Jinshan then brought together a large number of famous artists, screenwriters and directors in Chongqing and other large rear cities, including Zhang Luo, Shi Dongshan, Zheng Junli, Zhang Ruifang, Lan Ma, Sha Meng, Huang Zongjiang, Tao Jin, etc., and jointly participated in Mr. Ba Jin's large-scale drama "Home".
This drama was staged for three consecutive months, with a total of 108 performances and an audience of more than 100,000 people, creating an unprecedented record in the history of Chinese drama that year.
Since then, Jinshan has maintained a delicate and close relationship with Du Yuesheng, and even Du Yuesheng has become a witness to Jinshan and Zhang Ruifang. Under Du Yuesheng's "golden signboard", Jinshan can be described as a smooth sailing in the rear area.
On August 15, 1945, Japanese imperialism announced its unconditional surrender under the attack of the Allies. Du Yuesheng returned to Shanghai. Jinshan, on the other hand, was ordered by Zhou Enlai to go to the northeast as a so-called "receiving officer" and went to Changchun, the "capital" of puppet Manchukuo, to receive the film product factory left by the Japanese and puppets, and served as the director of the Changchun Film Studio.
In the northeast, Jinshan conscientiously protected the shooting equipment and consciously cultivated new talents, cultivating a reserve team for the film industry after the founding of the People's Republic of China. In the complex and arduous underground struggle, Jinshan even took the time to make a movie "On the Songhua River". He also returned to Shanghai in 1947 and recognized Du Yuesheng as an "old man" and his "closed disciple".
The old appearance of Changchun Film Studio
In the second half of 1948, with the outbreak of the strategic decisive battle of the Liberation War, Jinshan left changchun, which was about to be liberated, and returned to Nanjing.
At this time, the collapse of the Kuomintang reactionaries under the offensive of the People's Liberation Army was a foregone conclusion. The Kuomintang government has begun to secretly contact well-known people in society in an attempt to bring them all to Taiwan, and the Chinese Communist Party is already preparing for the establishment of a new people's republic, which has also intensified its struggle for these famous people.
As a "sea hearer", Du Yuesheng is naturally one of the objects of struggle between the Kuomintang and the Communists.
On February 1, 1949, Chen Cheng, then chairman of Taiwan Province, called Wu Guozhen, then mayor of Shanghai, asking him to mobilize famous people who would remain in Shanghai, such as Du Yuesheng, Chen Guangfu, and Li Ming, to go to Taiwan.
The CPC Central Committee sent a tit-for-tat telephone call to Ye Jianying and Li Kenong on February 17, hoping to win Du Yuesheng's stay in Shanghai through Jinshan's relations, and asked Jinshan to convey to Du Yuesheng that he should strive to keep Shanghai from major chaos, protect all ships, civil aviation planes, factories, banks, companies, and shops in Shanghai from losses, and prevent Shanghai's assets from moving south and waiting for the people's liberation army to take over.
If Du Yuesheng can do so, the Communist Party is willing to cooperate with him, and the people of Shanghai will forgive his past. After receiving instructions, Jin Shan visited Du Yuesheng many times, and mobilized huang Yanpei, Zhang Shizhao, Shi Liang, Zhang Lan and other well-known people to frequently contact Du Yuesheng, and repeatedly urged him to stay in Shanghai.
On the eve of the Battle of the Crossing River, Acting Kuomintang President Li Zongren organized a peace delegation headed by Zhang Zhizhong to Beiping to negotiate with the Chinese Communist Party.
In addition to Zhang Zhizhong and foreign representatives, the delegation also included Shao Lizi, Huang Shaohu, Zhang Shizhao, Li Sheng, and Liu Fei; the advisers of the delegation were Qu Wu, Li Junlong, Liu Zhonghua, and others. As a representative of the literary and artistic circles, Jinshan also joined the delegation and became an advisor.
During the negotiations, Jinshan, as an internal line, constantly informed our delegation of the bottom card of the negotiations on the Kuomintang side, so that our side could have a clear understanding of the conditions for negotiations on the Kuomintang side, and at the same time accurately grasped the attitude of the members of the delegation towards the peace talks.
In April 1949, the Kuomintang peace talks delegation took a group photo in Beiping
Because the Kuomintang government did not have the sincerity of the peace talks, it only hoped that the negotiations would delay the time and wait for changes in the international situation, and eventually the negotiations between the two sides would break down.
Through persuasion and work, Zhou Enlai and others eventually won all the members of the peace talks delegation to stay in Beiping to wait for the founding of the country, so that the Kuomintang government fell into an extremely passive situation both militarily and politically, and Jinshan played a great role in it.
At this time, Du Yuesheng of Shanghai still refused to go to Taiwan despite Chiang Kai-shek's personal intervention and repeated solicitation. On April 27, 1949, he quietly took a boat to Hong Kong.
Although he did not return to Shanghai later, he repeatedly contacted personnel sent by the CCP, including Qiao Guanhua, Pan Hannian, Zhang Shizhao, Jin Shan, and others.
Du Yuesheng said that although he could not return to Shanghai for various reasons, he was willing to "serve the people of Shanghai as much as possible" and promised to restrain the disciples and protégés who remained in Shanghai, asking them to obey the laws and regulations of the people's government, keep to themselves in peace, and serve the country.
Du Yuesheng's attitude directly affected the gang elements in Shanghai, and to a large extent ensured that there was no major turmoil and chaos in Shanghai during the liberation.
As an underground party member and Du Yuesheng's closed disciple, Jinshan used his dual identity to do a lot of work and made great contributions to the liberation of Shanghai and the maintenance of Shanghai's stability.
On August 16, 1951, after Du Yuesheng died of illness in Hong Kong, the Shanghai newspaper published his obituary, which was a very unusual signal in that special era at that time, representing the people's government's attitude of approval of Du Yuesheng.
Du Yuesheng, the leader of the Shanghai Youth Gang
In the movie "Storm", he starred as barrister Shi Yang
After liberation, Jinshan continued to stay on the literary and art front. Therefore, on the day of the establishment of the China Youth Art Theater, the director Liao Chengzhi would make a joke about Jinshan.
Jin shan later also served as the general director of the China Youth Art Troupe, and continued to concentrate on artistic creation activities, playing Paul in the play "Paul Kochakin" and "Vanya Uncle" as Vanya. He also directed and starred in the drama "Red Storm".
In 1959, Kingsoft wrote and directed the film "The Storm", which was the peak of his artistic life. Jin Shan played lawyer Shi Yang, a martyr of the February 7 strike, in the movie.
As a Communist Party member with a special profession as a lawyer, Shi Yang was awe-struck in front of the warlord Wu Peifu and argued with reason; in front of the working class, he showed his approachable and amiable image.
Kanayama's performance perfectly blends these two very different images into the personality of the characters. Kingsoft also succeeded in combining the artistic means of drama and film, integrating a series of rhythmic movements into real-life mannerisms.
In particular, his thousand-word sonorous and powerful defense for the arrested workers in the film is completed in one go, reflecting his superb acting skills.
Jin Shan played the martyr Shi Yang in the movie "The Storm"
In 1978, Jin Shan, who made a comeback, served as the president of the Central Academy of Drama, the director of the China Television Arts Committee, and directed the drama "In the Silent Place". Although Jinshan's health at this time was already very bad, he still made many pioneering contributions to the emerging television art industry.
On July 7, 1982, this performance genius, the famous People's Artist, died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage, ending his legendary and wonderful life.
Resources
The Biography of the Drama Emperor Jinshan, China Literary Association Publishing Company
"Film Character --- Actor Director Kanayama"
"The Interaction between Secret Party Member Jin shan and Du Yuesheng"—Xinmin Evening News, June 12, 2011