Author | Xu Chao twilight
Anchor | Fan Deng Reading · Children
Interpret the trailer
Meet · Meet your unknown self in the book.
Good evening to all book lovers, welcome to the reading column "Encounter" produced by Fan Deng Reading.
Today, I will interpret Mr. Lao She's classic work - "Tea House".
A line and a character, interpreting the tragic and joyful life that can be felt and lamented.
A teahouse and a society reflect the vicissitudes of the hot and cool world.
Cao Yu, a titan in the theater industry, once said:
"The achievements of 'The Tea House' are unprecedented and unparalleled in the world."
"Tea House" is Mr. Lao She's representative work and a treasure in the history of Chinese drama.
Since its release in 1958, the play has been staged more than 700 times and is still in the spotlight.
With Yutai Tea House as the background, Lao She uses more than 70 characters to vividly show the strange faces of sentient beings in the changes of china's old society.
From the last years of the Qing Dynasty, warlords to the War of Resistance Against Japan, the fate of individuals floated and sank in the torrent of the times.
Some people are insensitive, some people are desperately fighting, and some people are willing to be charitable and cross their own people.
In the scenes of life and the tragedies and joys of the world, there are many truths about human nature.
When you read Mr. Lao She's "Tea House", you will understand that life has a threefold realm:
The fool sinks, the wise cross themselves, and the saint crosses the man.
Even more terrible than poverty is the cannibalism of the weak
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, internal and external troubles, the city of Beijing was full of crises, and the people did not have a good life.
The Yutai Tea House in the city is still full of people and bustling.
The red eunuch Pang, who was beside the empress, came to this tea house to drink tea without any trouble.
But he found that the rich man who used to be respectful to him now dared to play tricks with him.
In order to fill his face, he paid for his wife and son.
The wife is intelligent and beautiful, and the son is well-behaved and sensible, but the pang eunuch never treats them well.
He vented all the anger he received outside the palace on the mother and son, and scolded them either.
After the change of dynasty, the eunuch Pang lost his power, and his nephews joined forces to bully him.
He doubled all his torment to the mother and son, pinched and twisted his wife, and pierced the young son with a cigarette stick.
The people at the bottom, who have been devastated by life, are even more numb and cruel in their hearts.
Xiao Erdezi, a thug who often went to the tea house to cause trouble, every time he saw foreigners and officers and soldiers, he was frightened and avoided far away, and did not dare to provoke.
With social unrest and students becoming the target of oppression, he often went to school to play with prestige and beat students.
He knew that he could not beat the strongest, so he singled out honest students, even female students.
The students were beaten so badly that they cried out for forgiveness, but he ignored them.
Others accused him of being vulgar and bullying the weak, and he did not feel ashamed.
Sociologist Sun Liping also proposed a concept: the fall of the bottom.
If you are at the bottom, it is easy to fall into a mutual harm mode, everyone you step on me and I step on you.
Since we put a lot of energy into hurting each other, there is no energy to improve, there is no way to escape.
Being at the bottom is not terrible, what is terrible is the thinking of the weak who are embarrassed by each other.
Life is already difficult, why bother?
Greed for money and unscrupulousness will eventually perish
In the book, there is a villain that everyone hates, named Liu Mazi.
In order to make money, he did not hesitate to dump foreign goods all day long and sell them to dignitaries at high prices.
He pimped and sold the daughters of poor families to others as tools or playthings for generations.
Kang Shunzi, the daughter-in-law of the eunuch Pang, came to the countryside to find someone.
At that time, he asked the eunuch Pang for two hundred taels of silver, but he deceived Kang Shunzi's father that the other party only had ten taels.
By earning huge differences, he has amassed countless sums of money in just a few years.
Entering the Republic of China, his boldness is even greater, no matter what the identity of the other party is, as long as the money is enough, he is willing to trade.
Once, when he was negotiating with two deserters, he was just in time for the troops to interrogate the deserters.
In order to survive, the two deserters bribed the officers of the army with the money they had originally used to buy their daughters-in-law.
The officers both wanted to make money and had to meet the targets of their superiors.
Therefore, they involuntarily tied up Liu Mazi and handed him over.
He cried out loudly that he had been wronged, but no one wanted to stand up and speak for him.
Liu Mazi was dragged to the middle of the road by the officers and killed him on the spot.
The Tao Te Ching says:
"There is no greater evil than inadequacy, and no greater blame than desire."
If you are not greedy for money, where will you take your own life?
Money is a double-edged sword, and if you have a way to get it, you can live a life, and if you don't have a way to get it, you will only go deep into the difficult road.
Only by putting down one's face can we carry the day
The regular customers of Yutai Tea House, Song Er Ye and Chang Si Ye, are a pair of good friends who are very friendly.
Both of them were disciples of the Eight Banners, and during the Qing Dynasty, they could receive money and rice every month and live a carefree life.
However, the changes of the times have left them with nothing.
Second Master Song can write and calculate, and he can find a job to support himself.
But he has always been pampered, and he can't put down the shelf and wipe his face.
Even if he is hungry and poorly dressed, he still has to carry the bird cage around every day and pretend to be decent in front of outsiders.
In the end, penniless, he starved himself to death.
In contrast, Fourth Master Chang was able to flex and stretch, did not care at all about the eyes of others, and buried his head in physical work.
He got up in the dark every day, carried a burden to sell vegetables along the street, and asked Wang Lifa to take care of his business.
As he grew older and his physical strength gradually became exhausted, he changed to carrying a basket to sell peanuts and rice.
Eating steadily and relying on strength allowed Fourth Master Chang to survive the difficult years safely.
There is a cloud in the "History of Guan YanLie":
Cangmiao is honest and knows etiquette, and has enough food and clothing to know honor and disgrace.
In the face of survival, face is worthless.
Face is for others to see, but it is dispensable; whether the day is good or not, only you know.
Overdrawing yourself in order to be looked up to will only make reality worse.
In order to shoulder the burden of life and learn to bow your head, you can make your life better and better.
You work hard to feed yourself and take care of your family, which is the greatest decency.
People who are trapped in old thinking are abandoned by the times
In the past few decades, the world has changed, and the city of Beijing has been in decay.
The streets of yesteryear are lined with shops and pedestrians, bustling from morning to night.
Today, businessmen are bankrupt one after another, and those century-old shops are closing their doors.
There are very few idle people playing with birds and parrots, patrol officers also take advantage of the fire to loot and loot money, and most of the new shops are also followed.
The Yutai Tea House that Wang Lifa took over from his father stood firm in the depression and ruin.
Wang Lifa's business approach lies in timely "improvement".
At first, he only sold tea, snacks and meals for guests to eat, drink and chat.
During the Republic of China period, he renovated the tea house and freed up half of the area for short-term rental apartments, which were specially rented to students with abundant resources.
Later, in order to attract soldiers and officials to come in for recreation, he added book review performances.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Kuomintang agents and American soldiers ran rampant, and he also pondered adding a waitress and standing at the door to solicit guests.
In this way, relying on flexible flexibility again and again, Yutai Tea House survived the wind and rain.
Wang Lifa's landlord, Qin Zhongyi, also understands the importance of judging the hour and sizing up the situation.
He was originally a well-known rich man who made money by renting out the property accumulated by his ancestors.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, he sensed the chaos of the situation, sold many family properties, and changed to industry early.
He introduced advanced machines, opened factories, provided a large number of jobs for the people, and earned a lot of money himself.
I often see such a sentence: "When the times abandon you, they don't even say hello." ”
Sticking to stereotypes and sticking to rules and regulations will sooner or later be left behind by the ever-changing changes.
Only by daring to break free from the cage of thinking can we broaden our horizons and live in the right situation.
As Zhu Xi said:
"If you don't have any restraints, you can't do anything."
The mind is flexible and the time is changeable, so that in the turbulent times, it will find an ark for itself.
Write at the end:
Altruism is the highest realm of self-interest.
The hearts of the people are always mutual, and the kindness you give to others will eventually return to yourself.
Wang Lifa is shrewd and sleek, but has a very kind heart.
There are often shabby-clad fortune tellers and vendors who go to the tea house to shout and harass the guests.
Wang Lifa never rudely chased them away, but brought a bowl of tea and let them moisten their throats.
During the Republic of China, the tea house was once cold in business, there were not enough people, and the old guy complained that he was too tired and wanted to resign.
At this time, Kang Shunzi took his son to the tea house for help.
It turned out that the eunuch Pang had been abused to death by his nephews, and their mother and son had also been swept out of the house.
Wang Lifa did not have much money, but he could not bear to let them live on the streets and took them in.
For this reason, Kang Shunzi was grateful and decided to work for the tea house with all her heart.
For many years, Kang Shunzi did not care about wages, did not shout bitterness and tiredness, and loved the tea house as if it were his own home.
After his son grew up vigorously and went to Xishan to participate in the revolution, Kang Shunzi was reluctant to leave.
Until the eve of the Liberation War, a Kuomintang cadre took a fancy to the teahouse, and wanted to convert it into a high-level clubhouse, and also drove Wang Lifa and his family away.
Insisting on staying may be a dead end; without staying, the family has nowhere to go.
When Wang Lifa was at a loss, Kang Shunzi decided to defect to Dali and risk taking Wang Lifa's family with him.
Wang Lifa, who once reached out to Kang Shunzi to help, now has a way to make a living for his family with the help of the other party.
Altruism is the highest realm of self-interest.
All this life, people are struggling to find happiness, and they don't know that happiness depends on their own practice.
With an altruistic heart, doing altruistic things, the ultimate benefit is actually yourself.
There is an impressive quote in The Teahouse:
"The times are the times of heroes, and life is the life of the people."
The times are rolling like a stream, the world is ever-changing, and no one can live a life like a cloud.
The hardships of others, the harshness of the situation and the pressure of survival can always easily drown the little people struggling in the wind and waves.
However, there are no nights that do not dawn, and there is no endless suffering.
As the poet Misuzu Kaneko put it:
"Toward the bright side, even if it is only a measure of spaciousness, it must be in the direction of the sun."
Click "Watching", have hope, straighten your spine, step through all kinds of difficulties, and live to become your biggest backer.
Column Director | Come slowly
Typography | Zheng to the north
Image | This article is derived from the stills of "The Tea House", invaded and deleted
Music | Zhao Jiping,"Shijia", "Yingchun", "Sigui"