My love of traditional Chinese culture stemmed from living in a family with an artistic atmosphere, and my love of literature and art and Chinese Peking Opera art was initially influenced by my father.
When I was a child, there was a theater near our home, and after school, I often sneaked to the backstage, hid in the side curtain of the stage to watch the play, and gradually became fascinated by Peking Opera, which often saw the performances of some famous characters, which had a great impact on me later. When I grew up, my real love for Peking Opera was influenced by my aunt Binzhu.
Her aunt, whose full name is Yang Binzhu, was admitted to the China Drama School (the predecessor of the China Academy of Drama) at the age of 12, and she was the last to graduate before the "Cultural Revolution", and she was also a generation of Peking Opera actors who had been taught by many Peking Opera predecessors in more detail. Eight years of hard work, but fruitful.
Born in 1946, at the age of 12 in 1958, her aunt stood out from thousands of candidates and was admitted to the China Opera School (Beijing 58th Class), the highest school in the country, to study the performing arts of Peking Opera for eight years.
Aunt took a group photo with the 58th class
My aunt took a group photo with her friend Li Weikang
Aunt and uncle took a group photo with classmates Li Weikang and Geng Qichang
In 1998, my aunt and the teachers and students of the Beijing 58th class reunited
In 1998, the aunt took a group photo with her mentor Yu Yu and her classmate Bai Yuling
In 1998, my aunt took a group photo with her classmate Sheng Huating
Aunt and uncle took a group photo with classmate Liu Dagang
In the long process of study, my aunt was fortunate to receive careful teachings from many famous masters of Peking Opera art. Yu Yuyu (Wang Yaoqing's disciple) was her enlightened teacher, and taught her plays such as "Erjin Gong", "Mulberry Garden Society", "Three Highspeaks", "Cosmic Front", and "Spring and Autumn Match", which laid a solid foundation for her aunt's literary and opera performances. At the same time, she also received excellent traditional dramas such as "Qipan Mountain", "Broken Hongzhou", "Mu Guiying", "Fan Jiangguan", "Thirteen Sisters", "Hongluan Xi", "Hua Mulan" and other famous artists such as Zhao Tongshan (Furong Cao), Cheng Yujing (Wang Yaoqing's eldest disciple), Xun Lingxiang (Son of Xun Huisheng), Ma Zonghui (Bai Peony), Li Xiangjun and other famous artists. He also received fang lianyuan, Fan Fuxi, Qiu Futang and other wudan masters to personally teach "Hujiazhuang", "Saw Vat", "Dajiao Zan", "Take Jinling" and other martial arts drama repertoire.
As the saying goes: "One minute on stage, ten years off stage." "In addition to learning traditional repertoire, my aunt is studying and training in basic skills, which has been carried out for eight years. My aunt's personal experience tells us that mastering the performing arts of Peking Opera must be a long-term and unremitting effort to achieve something, and if you want to succeed in anything, you should be persistent.
In the eight years of study, my aunt has received the words and deeds of many famous seniors and laid a more comprehensive foundation for peking opera art. This is not only due to the privilege of meeting a good teacher (in that era when the art of Peking Opera was booming, and many famous artists of the predecessors were still alive), but also because of her own diligence and hard work.
Perhaps because of the ill-fated fate, my aunt, like many people, encountered that special era when she was in full bloom, and was inexplicably sent to the farm. In 1966, after graduating from the Chinese Drama School, her aunt was full of ambition and full of spirit, and she was preparing to show her artistic talent on the opera stage, and the Cultural Revolution began. In 1968, due to Jiang Qing's approval document, graduates of the twelve colleges and universities directly under the central government were uniformly assigned to farms for distribution, and my aunt was also assigned to the farm of the 4701st Unit in Gegu, Tianjin, along with the graduates of the art academies directly under the central government, to receive re-education from the People's Liberation Army and engage in farm labor for five years.
The aunt took a group photo with her classmates when she was on the farm, and the back row started from right: Ma Xiaoman, Wang Xiaojun, Chen Mingming, Ma Shaobo's daughter Ma Wenlai, and the second from the right in the front row was the aunt
The aunt took a group photo with classmates Li Shiying (daughter of Li Duokui) and Ding Shihuang
In the difficult years, my aunt did not give up her love and pursuit of Peking Opera art, and always adhered to her belief. Finally, in 1973, he was assigned to work in the Peking Opera Troupe in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, although he left his hometown, he finally realized his wish for many years and became a major actor in the troupe.
"Cuckoo Mountain" is her aunt's debut on the Peking Opera stage in Lianyungang City, which is a big challenge for her, because she has been away from the stage for a long time during the farm, and the role of "Ke Xiang" requires both culture and martial arts, and must require the actor to have a solid foundation in singing, reading, doing and playing, which is a big test for her, but she is not discouraged, but with the foundation laid in school, she conquered this role within one month, obtained the success of the performance, and received praise. The fact that such a heavy-tasting role aunt can perform for hundreds of consecutive performances shows the depth of her eight years of study in the Chinese opera school, which is really admirable and admirable.
Sister-in-law Ah Qing in the battle of wits
The Iron Mirror Princess in the traditional Peking Opera "Shilang Visits The Mother"
In the traditional Peking Opera "Hujiazhuang", the third lady of Hu
"Forced to Liangshan" Lin Niangzi
Yang Bajie in "Blocking horses"
Yang Yuhuan in "Noble Concubine Drunk"
The factory sang "Crossing" for the masses
Since then, in her long-term stage performance career, her aunt has starred in excellent plays such as "Yaoshan Spring", "Peacock Ridge", "Ferry", "All Mu Guiying", "Forced to Go to Liangshan", "Phoenix Returns to the Nest", "Shilang Visits Mother" and other excellent plays, shaping many glorious stage art images. The aunt herself was also included in the book "Contemporary Jiangsu Dramatists".
Two thousand years later, due to the gradual decline of Peking Opera in China, my aunt was transferred to the Lianyungang Workers' Cultural Palace, serving as the deputy director of the Municipal Workers' Federation, the Sports Association, and the office, and concurrently served as the vice chairman of the Lianyungang Dramatists Association, and was also in charge of the amateur Peking Opera activities of the Cultural Palace.
In order to adapt to the new work, the aunt threw herself wholeheartedly into the "old man team" of more than a dozen people in the Cultural Palace, and gradually developed into a Peking Opera Troupe of more than seventy people who were born, dan, clean, and ugly, and had a complete range of industries.
The aunt often personally gave the members of the troupe a play, rehearsed the play, made costumes and props, and with the joint efforts of the troupe, performed dozens of large and small traditional excellent plays such as "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang", "Shilang Visiting Mother", "Phoenix Returning Nest", "Mu Guiying", "Wu Jia Po", "Empty City Plan", "Dragon Play Phoenix" and so on.
My aunt has organized large-scale Peking Opera friendship activities across provinces and cities for many times, especially the "Xu, Huai, Yan, Lian" Four Cities Peking Opera Singing Friendship Association, the "Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Emblem Class Entering Beijing" Peking Opera Singing Friendship Association, and the "Commemoration of the Tenth Anniversary of the Establishment of the Lianyungang Municipal Staff Peking Opera Troupe" Peking Opera Singing Association is the most sensational. At that time, it produced a wide range of good social effects inside and outside the province, and the group won the national excellent ticket club at the second China Voters Festival. My aunt also won the first prize of the organizer of the Peking Opera Ticket Club, and was respected and loved by the amateurs of Peking Opera, so that the Lianyungang Workers Peking Opera Troupe gained a high reputation inside and outside the province, and greatly enriched the amateur cultural life of the workers in Lianyungang City.
As a professional performance artist, the aunt is excellent, engaged in group literature work, and the aunt is even more outstanding. My aunt is full of righteousness, taking "doing things diligently and being loyal" as a motto of life, and always encourages herself. Wang Shantong, a famous calligrapher in Lianyungang City, telepromped her: "Elegant Rhyme And Yifeng". Cross-talk master Ma Ji sent her: "Falling red is not a merciless thing, turning into spring mud is more protective of flowers" calligraphy ink treasure, inspiring her to continue to dedicate despite retiring from the stage. Yes, although the aunt left the stage, she was still willing to turn into spring mud to maintain this strange flower of Peking Opera art.
Crosstalk Master Ma Ji inscription
Aunt and cross-talk master Ma Ji took a group photo
The so-called "professional standard, the merit is outside the poem". In life, my aunt usually likes to read, paint, and collect. She often said that if she had not been admitted to the Chinese Opera School, she would most likely have pursued an art major.
For art and work, my aunt is meticulous in her pursuit of excellence. In life, she is more dignified and elegant, but also funny and humorous. She said that as a literary and art worker, you should absorb multi-faceted cultural nutrition to enrich yourself. Although she is over seventy years old, her aunt's thinking is up to date, and she will use smart phones and computers to understand society and the world. She is willing to humbly ask young people for knowledge of new things, her thinking is very progressive, her mentality is very young, which makes the young people who interact with her feel very kind and relaxed, without the slightest generation gap.
My aunt loves all the good things, especially tea drinking and traveling, and her life is rich and colorful. As long as it is a leisure day, he will always brew a cup of favorite Pu'er tea in his "small tea house" to savor, purify his soul, and know that he "cultivates his nature in the bucket room and cultivates his heart in inches".
During the blossom season, my aunt would invite three relatives and friends to see the flowers, and often recorded them with a camera and shared them with the friends in her circle of friends. Her later life was calm and full of fun, but also elegant.
Although today's aunt is already a famous Peking Opera artist, she does not have the slightest shelf, and treats people with humility and kindness and approachability. My aunt has always been very grateful to the party and the school for her years of training, grateful for the importance and support of the leaders and comrades and peers at all levels in Lianyungang City, and the care of her family, so that she can be handy on the road of work and study, and even life, all the way.
The aunt is helpful, always doing her best to help and care, is a very affinity person, she always has an elegant smile on her face, and her hands and feet can make people feel her deep artistic attainment.
There is a kind of success called perseverance; There is a belief called attachment; There is a kind of mind called tolerance; There is a kind of beauty: called Aunt Binzhu.
I wish Aunt Binzhu, eternal youth! Art Evergreen! I also wish that the art of Peking Opera in China will be passed on from generation to generation! Carry forward the light!
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