Preface
Brick by brick, grass and tree, people and things, the houses in the city, just like the square Chinese characters, write the vicissitudes of the city for a hundred years, and the great changes. They came together into a beautiful poem, a generous passage, the content of the text, the story that belonged exclusively to the house and its owner.
In the streets and alleys of Huangpu, there are many buildings with stories like this.
That room, that person, that thing, is the exclusive text that belongs to Huangpu.
At the corner of Hazel Street, Fangbang Middle Road, Huangpu District, there is an ancient courtyard-style building facing north and south, which many old Huangpu people may know is the Liyuan Mansion founded by the famous Shanghai Lingjie artists more than 80 years ago.
Since the late Qing Dynasty, Peking Opera arose in the Beijing Division, and then became popular in Shanghai, and received many citizens. As a result, the Shanghai Beach Beijing Opera team has been established, and the Peking Opera Theater and stage have been opened one after another, and there have been about 100 of them. In order to survive, various drama classes and theaters often compete with each other, friction occurs, and often loses both sides, and people suffer from it.
In the thirty-first year of the Qing Dynasty, xia yueheng, xia yueshan, xia yueqiao, and other celebrities in the lingjie circle, in order to safeguard the interests of the lingren, coordinate the contradictions in the lingjie, and strive for the social status of the lingren, initiated the organization of the Shanghai Lingjie Federation, and raised funds to build the Pear Garden Office. It was built at an old temple at 593 Middle Fangbang Road. The public fund is funded by the public institution from the public performance income of the Dangui Tea Garden and the donations of various Beijing opera houses and opera classes, and the perennial fund stipulates that the people will provide five percent of the money according to the size of the package silver, which is called "five percent donation".
When the Liyuan Office was first built, it was dedicated to the statue of the god Ofeshi Laolang, the ancestral hall, the hall, and the east and west wing rooms, which were in the shape of mouth-shaped buildings, and the second floor was the office and discussion room of the leader of the Lingjie, and the gatherings and activities of the lingren were carried out in the hall. Every New Year's Festival, the ancestors are worshipped, and the incense is quite popular. In the first year of the Republic of China, the fifth floor and five bottoms and six partial rooms were added.
The office also runs Hazel Primary School, whose name was named after Wang Xiaonong, a famous patriotic artist in the late Qing Dynasty. Hazelnut is a deciduous shrub of the birch family, and the spherical nuts growing on hazel trees are called "hazelnuts", which is named in the hope that the older generation of people will continue to work hard to cultivate a new generation of people. Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Zhou Xinfang and other famous artists have left footprints here. Many trainees later became famous actors in the art world. After the liberation of Shanghai, the school board was established, and the Masters of Beijing-Kunming Art Zhou Xinfang and Yu Zhenfei also served as chairman and president successively.
The pear garden work also contributed to the implementation of the improvement of Peking Opera.
In the last years of Guangxu, Xia Yueshan, Xia Yuerun, Pan Yueqiao, Sun Juxian, Mao Yunke, and others accepted the influence of sunset drama and took the lead in compiling and performing such improved Peking operas as "New Traviata Girl", "Black Slave Calling Heavenly Record", "Black Book", "Pan Martyr Throwing Into the Sea", etc., in an effort to arouse national consciousness, attack dark rule, satirize social vices, and use materials of considerable progressive significance. It is worth mentioning that during the Xinhai Revolution, Peking Opera artists also participated in the revolutionary struggle. Led by Pan Yueqiao and others, the Lingjie Death Squad set out from nine acres of land to attack the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and attacked the Wall with the unique martial arts of Peking Opera actors, causing bullets and explosions to disrupt the Qing army's position, and made a battle achievement for the restoration of Shanghai.
The original house of Liyuan Mansion has undergone several changes due to its age. The name of Hazel Elementary School was later changed to Katahama Middle Road No. 2 Elementary School. What can now be kept as a memorial, in addition to the name of Hazel Street, there is a stone stele that was cut in half by the "Shanghai Lingjie Federation".
Reporter / Gao Lei
Edited by / Huang Qianwen
Source / Shanghai Collection Association
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