Mr. Zhang Jiqing left, it was noon, and the festival was a little cold.
In fact, I have only seen Mr. Zhang and me twice.
In the late spring of 2018, I was invited by People's Daily to direct an episode of Kunqu opera in a series of documentaries called "Hearing China." I assembled a small team and went to Nanjing in the middle of summer. That shooting, the time was nearly two months, the protagonist was Zhang Jiqing's disciple Shan Wen. During the filming process, we did an interview with Mr. Zhang, and later filmed the most popular song "Soap Robe" in "Peony Pavilion" cooperated by Mr. Zhang and Shan Wen at the "Zijin Culture and Art Festival", which was Mr. Zhang's last appearance on stage.
Kunqu master Zhang Jiqing (1939.1-2022.1) played Du Liniang in "Peony Pavilion".
There is no such sound in the old garden
Before taking the stage, I accompanied Mr. Zhang to eat the actor's dinner of the Jiangsu Grand Theatre, and Mr. Zhang also instructed me to sing the gas method of "Three Eyes". She was so kind, in Shan Wen's words, like a neighbor's grandmother. But when she put on a red cardigan that she had brought with her, which seemed very common to others, put on two conch-shaped gold earrings, put on a little makeup, and slowly walked out from behind the stage with that kind smile, the people in our team who had never been exposed to opera before exclaimed, it was really radiant. Benjamin's "halo" is not a lie. Shan Wen is a color dress, and Mr. Zhang is a cappella, but I feel that at that moment, the divinity descended on Mr. Zhang, "the original Zi Yan red opened all over, as if so all paid with the broken well decadence", raising his hands and feet, it was the last moment of fireworks, it was the mountain cherry blossoms flying in the sky. This is Du Liniang.
In 2018, Zhang Jiqing (left) and her disciple Shan Wen took the stage to perform, which was the last time she stood on the stage.
The two shooting transfers, I was in the car, the journey of the car connected Mr. Zhang's slightly cramped residence next to the Zijin Grand Theater, in the Small Fire Tile Lane, the quaint and deep Jiangning Fuxue, and the magnificent Jiangsu Grand Theater overlooking the Yangtze River, from Baixia to Jianye, from the Qinhuai River to the Yangtze River. Which of these three geographical spaces is also the anchor of time, which one is thicker and longer?? The giant river that is rolling in the east, the dead are like si!
Nanjing city skyline, Qinhuai River and Ming City Wall.
I often think that the temperament of the Kuntuan and the territory has a tendency to complement each other. Nanjing is far away from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, far away from the Golden Que chaotian of Beijing, not to argue, alone. I once told a friend in Nanjing that Nanjing is an enlarged Qin Huai, and she deeply believed it. Qin Huai's sparkling paddle shadows, Zhongshan's birdsong and flowers falling, one is the cold eyes in the comings and goings of passers-by, and the warm heart that is still beating vigorously under the cold eyes; the other is the self that inhabits the eight wildernesses of the ancient world and the earth, and the thick time in the empty valley where his god meets. Look down on but not indifferent, intoxicated but persistent. This environment is suitable for nourishing pure and simple art.
I talked with Mr. Zhang about drama, people, and the situation of Kunqu opera, and my emotions were more excited than Mr. Zhang's, and Mr. Zhang was always so peaceful and responded with a faint smile. But I will never forget when Mr. Zhang entered the long-lost Jiangning Fuxue, that is, the kun opera station in Jiangsu Province, when the machine in the West Wing was still being debugged, the temperature in the room gradually rose due to the lights, and she walked out of the house and looked at the emerald green lawn in the fuxue for a long time. I know that she has the same feelings as me, but she can't say it.
In the last century, the sound of hanging voices in the middle of the school, and the incessant practice steps in the two sides of the box, have turned into verdant dew on the lawn, a few rows of vegetable furrows in the southeast corner, and cloth clothes dried on the crooked pomegranate tree. Nanjing, compared with Shanghai and Beijing, is already slow enough, but it is still in a hurry. It takes time to realize and grow, and time is like a sponge in the desert, with little moisture. Mr. Zhang once told me that there was a long gap between their performances that year, so they could also fully summarize and continuously improve. Now the young actors are very busy, with many social activities and performances. The gap between the superiors and the market demand is to leave them with the surplus of accumulation and learning, although they all work hard and dedicate themselves, but the surplus is very little after all. Although they are in the same city, they are only a few miles apart, and the number of times they meet each other is still limited, not to mention the young actors who are not in the same city. Perhaps Mr. Zhang's old age is more like a person waiting, and what awaits is a minority. How many old artists are the same?
When I learned the news of Mr. Zhang's death, it was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day. I am not a star chaser, and I have only met Mr. Zhang several times, why do I have such a strong emotion? So that once you are alone that day, you will burst into tears? When I woke up from the dream the next morning, my hazy consciousness thought of Mr. Zhang's death, but I still couldn't stop. Why is that? I think this grief is not entirely directed at Mr. Zhang alone.
Kun Opera House of Jiangsu Province, the former site of Jiangning Fuxue.
Always worry about Chitose
Mr. Zhang is famous for his "Three Dreams" ("Peony Pavilion, Frightening Dream, Dream Hunting" and "Rotten Keshan Dream"), so Bai Xianyong's "Youth Version" "Peony Pavilion" asked her for guidance, the "Campus Version" "Peony Pavilion" looked for her guidance, and Suzhou Shen Guofang's "Inheritance Version" "Peony Pavilion" looked for her guidance, but her decades of performance career, not only "Peony Pavilion". She has said more than once that she wants to pass on the Zhengdan drama on her body to the younger generation, but I don't know if her wish has been realized later?
Zhang Jiqing played Cui Shi in "Rotten Keshan".
There are eight major Kuntuan in China, and to exaggerate, there are almost eight versions of "Peony Pavilion" left now. In Yu Pingbo's words, is this a revival or a "rebellion"? Yu Zhenfei has mentioned many times that in the past, the old artists of Suzhou Quanfu Class claimed to be able to perform 800 folding plays, less than half of the more than 1,700 surviving scripts; to the "Chuanzi Generation" Xianni Society, which could perform more than 400 plays, accounting for only a quarter of the surviving scripts; and in the 1980s, the entire plays that could be seen on the stage were only "Fifteen Consecutive", "Hall of Eternal Life", "Wall Head Horse", "Peony Pavilion", "West Garden", and "West Chamber". Many people say that the inheritance of Kunqu opera in China is "halving between generations", how can it not be sad!
I once asked some Kunqu opera actors how many folds they could perform, and the number of them was about a dozen, not more than twenty, and the number of traditional folds was even less. I am afraid that I can reach this level, and I am already the best among the Kunqu opera actors now. Moreover, the plays that everyone learns and plays are too similar. The money is invested, there are more people, but the drama is getting less and less. Half of the reasons are related to the attendance of the market. "Peony Pavilion" and "Jade Hairpin" have high popularity and high attendance rate, and they naturally act more and learn more. And from the "project system" that is widely practiced today, people can find the other half of the reason. Two parallel tracks, which are supposed to complement each other rather than converge on the logic of the same instrumental rationality, are only one from the market and the other from the bureaucratic level.
Hundreds of years of tradition actually accumulate on this person who is "less than a hundred years old". And man, in Heidegger's words, is that there will be a dead person. It may be very cruel to say this, but what hurts us most about Mr. Zhang's death is probably the prelude to the gradual withering of the group of old artists who we think we can watch forever and always wait for us to visit and ask for benefits. After all, a few days ago, Shanghai's old artists were still singing and sighing. And Mr. Zhang's performance status on the stage, especially in the "master version" "Peony Pavilion" in previous years, is definitely the best of that generation of old artists. We have to wake up from the slow enjoyment, and the time is running out. We can't afford a whole generation of zero drops, especially this one.
In 1921, Zhang Zidong, Pei Jinmei, Xu Jingqing and others established the first school in the history of Kunqu opera, "Suzhou Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute", which shows a group photo of Kunqu opera "chuan" generation artists.
People have the same heart, and their hearts share this reason. Therefore, after the death of Mr. Zhang, many Qu friends, in addition to grief, proposed to quickly launch rescue record work and stressed the need to rely on the strength of the people. Connect yourself, shoot yourself, share retention. Kunqu societies everywhere and tuanxue organizations in colleges and universities can and should take action. Perhaps today we can't be like Mr. Zhang Zidong, Pei Jinmei, Xu Jingqingzhu, using the power of the people to re-cultivate a new batch of "chuanzi generation", but we can keep a picture of the old artists, not to benchmark well-made video programs, but to advocate slightly rough drama and acting videos. What is needed now is charcoal in the snow, not the icing on the cake. In fact, television stations everywhere, especially the radio and television systems at the city and county levels, should also participate in this kind of rescue work, and instead of producing some meaningless entertainment programs, it is better to use technical advantages and organizational capabilities to make some solid contributions to China's future.
Don't wait, don't hesitate, just don't regret it.
Mr. Zhang's life is closely related to Kunqu opera. The older generation of artists, their career is life, that is, the whole life. Compared with today, they regard themselves as small and their careers as large, and they only have the word "serious" in their lives and careers. How much courage it takes to decide when you want to quit the stage, and how to uphold an attitude of being responsible for the audience and art. This seriousness and rigor in treating art is the spiritual strength left to us by Mr. Zhang. Only when we take this seriousness, protect this art, and don't let the richness and subtlety of this art go with us, is the best consolation for Mr. Zhang.