Liu Lanfang: Storytellers are people who understand

Liu Lanfang: Storytellers are people who understand

Reporter/Huang Wei Bao Anqi

Published in China News Weekly, Issue 1030 on January 24, 2022

"I think they haven't reached a certain level like this, and if you really reach a certain level, there won't be any 'idol baggage'." Actors don't take themselves too seriously. The audience holds you, you are a good actor; without holding you, you are nothing. The list goes on and on. Liu Lanfang said.

In an interview with China News Weekly, 78-year-old Liu Lanfang and his wife Wang Yinquan came arm in arm and dragging a trolley box. Although she only needed to record a short interview, she habitually prepared two coats to choose according to the color of the background board, and the box also contained several treasures of storytellers such as fans and handkerchiefs.

She was once "so red that it was a landslide" and also held a high position as vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and chairman of the China Qu Artists Association, but she said, the more this is the case, the more you can't hold it, because you are holding the least valuable.

"A storyteller is a man who understands. Because I'm talking about history, I can see too clearly throughout history, how high you fall. Some people just don't understand this. She said.

"Little Old Entertainer"

People familiar with Liu Lanfang know that she stays up late every day and is revising or memorizing words every night. This habit of hers was developed when she studied art in the Anshan Qu Art Troupe.

In 1959, at the age of 15, Liu Lanfang was admitted to the Anshan Qu Art Troupe and became a student.

At that time, Anshan was the famous "steel capital" in the country, and 1/4 of China's steel output was in Angang Steel, and every night the lights and sparks of steel were reflected, and the economy was prosperous. 40 miles of steel city, 400,000 steel troops, three shifts a day, and single workers mostly, every day there are always people listening to books, so Anshan has risen to tell the book fever. There are 21 tea houses in the city, storytellers have come from Hebei, Tianjin and other places, and the Anshan Quyi Troupe, a self-financing folk performance group, has gathered. Liu Lanfang and Shan Tianfang, who joined the regiment in 1956, are both young students in the regiment.

(In November 2019, Liu Lanfang celebrated her 60th anniversary as an artist, broadcasting a clip of "Yue Fei's Biography" in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.) Photo/Courtesy of respondents)

Zhao Yufeng, known as "Master", is the founder of the "Zhao Pai" Xihe Big Drum and a master of music and art. Every morning at 6 o'clock, like an alarm clock, he knocked on the window of the student dormitory with a large cigarette bag on time, led them to practice, and after breakfast, he read to them "Shu Liangzi" (referring to the story synopsis of the commentary book), and the enlightened book was "Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses". Liu Lanfang remembered quickly, the words were written flying, and she could write down 10,000 words a day.

Before Liu Lanfang entered the regiment, she studied the Northeast Drum, so she officially worshiped Sun Huiwen, who sang the Northeast Drum in the group, as a teacher. But she also has a mentor who has not formally visited the door, that is, the blind string master Yan Chuntian. Yan Chuntian found that she worked hard, had a good voice, and sang emotionally, so he proposed that she come to his house when she had time to help her "reset".

After that, after eating breakfast every day, she went to Yan Chuntian's house to "walk her throat." The strings should be low at the beginning, and after the singing, the pitch will rise up little by little, so as to nourish the throat. There is a large mirror on the cabinet of his home, and Liu Lanfang practices in front of the big mirror every day. Afraid that the sound of drumming would disturb her neighbors, Yan Chuntian asked her to take the cabinet as a drum, and she shook the cabinet every day. Finally one day, Yan Chuntian said, "Okay, your drum can be played, and the chords can be closed." By then the cabinet had been punched out of a deep pit by her. Yan Chuntian laughed and said that when she became a horn, she would have to pay him a new cabinet.

In 1962, Liu Lanfang became a teacher and became a full-fledged actor. She toured with the troupe to other places, and the first stop was Jinzhou, Liaoning. Storytelling is generally a continuous "one turn", from the fifteenth day of the first month to the Dragon Boat Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival to the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival to the fifteenth day of the first month, which is one turn, three turns a year. The troupe said a turn in Jinzhou, and then went north to Hegang, Heilongjiang, and she listed "Jingzhong Says Yue".

Books are taught by the teacher, but the teacher teaches about 40 minutes of books, but there are two and a half hours in one session, and the rest of the time is all made up by himself. At the beginning, she said too quickly, and Yan Chuntian, who gave her accompaniment, reminded her that she had just run away from the beams, and there was too little "meat", so she asked her not to be nervous, to calm down, and then save a little "small concern" (referring to small plots, small stories), and she only stopped on the cliff.

Every night she had to think hard about the words she was going to say the next day, and there were not enough words, so she went to yan Chuntian, who always told her not to worry, and then searched her stomach to help her make up a paragraph. But sometimes there are not enough words on stage, and then you have to make it up, which is improvisation, which is something that the audience loves to hear the most.

Yan Chuntian is also her "stage supervisor". If she had been talking for half a day and not singing, Yan Chuntian would have taken care of herself and started pulling strings, and she would have hurriedly played the board to sing a piece of northeast drum; if she felt that her book was not lively, his string would also sound "bang dang dang dang" to warn her. "He's always like this, it's actually taboo, and the audience can see it, but it helps me too much." Liu Lanfang said.

The more she talked, the better, and the field was full. She said, "three points to sing, seven points to play", the strings are good, the passion of the string master infects you, and if the book has divine help, it comes out, blurts out, and rhymes.

Yan Chuntian was not only her mentor, but also her matchmaker, introducing her to Wang Yinquan, who was the captain of the folk song rap team in the Anshan Qu Art Troupe at that time. In 1965, the two got married, and after marriage, they engaged in book reviews together, one performing and one creation, and the woman sang with her husband, and they have been with them to this day.

After the "Cultural Revolution" began, Wang Yinquan secretly burned the books she had painstakingly accumulated over the past seven years, such as "Jingzhong Shuyue", "Yang Jiajian", and "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness", to ashes. Among them, her most distressed is "Jingzhong Say Yue", which was handed down by Yang Chengtian, a famous storyteller in the troupe. It was Yang Chengtian who discovered her and brought her into the Anshan Qu Art Troupe. He read this book to these students every day, taught it for a month, and she recorded 80,000 words, which she regarded as a treasure among treasures.

She cried and said, "You just burned me, and you can't burn these books!" Wang Yinquan said darkly, "Don't you burn it?" You have been called 'little old artist' by them, how do you live by copying out these books? ”

(In 1987, Liu Lanfang held a book club at The Huimin Hu In Shandong Province.) Photography / Wang Yinquan)

"That's how I got this model worker."

After the end of the Cultural Revolution, the once disbanded Anshan Quyi Troupe was rebuilt. In 1979, Li Xiyuan, deputy director of the Literature and Art Department of Anshan People's Radio, found Liu Lanfang.

At that time, there was no radio station in the country to broadcast traditional commentaries, Li Xiyuan wanted to break through this forbidden area, and decided that Liu Lanfang would take the lead and record which one to consider, it was best to borrow the past to discuss the present, which had practical significance. After consulting with Wang Yinquan, she proposed to record the "Biography of Yue Fei", and Li Xiyuan simply agreed.

At this time, 17 years have passed since she last said this book, Yang Chengtian has been persecuted and died during the "Cultural Revolution", and the books she recorded have also been reduced to ashes, fortunately, she has a good memory, and she can still remember some of the books. Shi Zhifu, the head of the Anshan Qu Art Troupe, traveled all over Anshan City and finally found a Qing Dynasty Qian Cai's "Complete Biography of Yue Yue" and a set of "Compilation of Two Song Dynasty History Materials" in the city library.

Recording on the radio cannot be added as a temporary "small concern" as in the tea house, and there must be a script. At that time, the performance task in the troupe was very heavy, she performed twice a day in the tea house, said "Ming Yinglie" in the afternoon, said "Great Sui Tang" in the evening, and only had time to write scripts after 9 p.m. She wrote first, and then Wang Yinquan continued to write in the middle of the night. Every time I finish writing, I take advantage of the fact that there is no performance in the morning to record on the radio. The daily remuneration for recording is 3 yuan, and one piece of the group is handed in.

On September 1, 1979, "Yue Fei Biography" was premiered by Anshan People's Radio. In less than a year, it was broadcast on 66 radio stations across the country.

At that time, at 12:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m., as long as someone shouts "It's time!" "Yue Fei Biography" is coming! "The children who rolled the hoops and played marbles outdoors ran clean. Every family stood by the radio and listened intently. Semiconductor radios in many places are sold out.

Liu Lanfang received more than 30,000 letters from the audience. Some people say that the tragic deaths of Yue Fei's father and son, especially Yue Fei's monologue in the snow and wind before his death, made him very painful for many days, and he could not stop his tears when he remembered those who died unjustly during the "Cultural Revolution".

Liu Lanfang became a hit, various honors followed, won awards and won soft hands, and also joined the party and became a model worker.

In the spring of 1983, in the tide of reform and opening up, Liu Lanfang organized a performance team of more than a dozen people, called "Liu Lanfang Performance Team", which performed outside for many years. Her name is the golden signboard, and the performance team generates more than 100,000 yuan in income for the troupe every year. At the end of the year, everyone was given a 200 yuan bonus, and Su Xingwu, secretary of the party branch of the Quyi Troupe, said that Liu Lanfang had made a big contribution this year, and it was okay to give her 400 yuan. Everybody said, OK! "I'll just add 200 bucks." That's how I got this model worker. ”

In 1984, Liu Lanfang became the head of the Anshan Qu Art Troupe. There were more than 100 people in the regiment, and at most 160 people, the finance was only responsible for the salaries of 44 retirees, and the insufficient part was self-financed by the regiment. The financial officer said, "Captain, there is no money," and she took people out to perform, and it was enough to come back. Every performance was accompanied by a finance officer, and she never handled the money.

In 1985, she was elected vice chairman of the Chinese Qu Artists Association, and in 1993, she was appointed deputy director of the Anshan Municipal Bureau of Culture. She said that seniors said that book artists may be in better business than hers, but they are not catching up with the good times. "Teachers just know business, and I know to talk about politics and keep up with the times."

She came in return. She hired Yan Chuntian as a teacher in the regiment, so that he could play a skill and rely on him. Later, she also took Yan Chuntian to Beijing and took him around, to the Great Wall to touch the bricks of the Great Wall, to the Forbidden City to touch the 9981 baotou nails on the gate.

Presided over the Music Association

In 1996, Liu Lanfang was transferred to Beijing from the deputy director of the Anshan Municipal Bureau of Culture, serving as the secretary of the party group, executive vice chairman and secretary general of the China Ququ Association. "I am 52 years old, my youth has been dedicated here, it is too tired to perform again, don't retire here, or go!" This turned the relationship to the China Ququ Association. ”

In December 2001, she was elected vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and in 2002, she was elected as the president of the China Ququ Association. She presided over the qu association for 16 years, until 2012 when she was succeeded by Jiang Kun.

There are not many literary and art circles, she was transferred from the local level, and at the beginning she was not familiar with life, and the difficulties she faced could be imagined.

Shao Qiushi, who later served as her business assistant, heard that she had assembled a "think tank" to brainstorm ideas. When she was in Anshan, she contracted the Quyi Troupe, and also ran a bakery and a printing factory, and built the "Lanfang Tea House" with quyi performances, which was transferred as a typical transfer of the literary and art circles to carry out reform and opening up. At that time, income generation was allowed, and she used this experience to rent out the excess office space of the Qu Association to raise funds for activities and improve the treatment of staff. Gradually, she was recognized by everyone.

As a female leader, she pays special attention to avoiding suspicion, never mixes circles, and especially hates the liquor bureau.

During this time, her youngest son, Wang Peng, died suddenly at the age of 25 at her home in Anshan in 1998. She was devastated and said that if she could get her son back, she would rather not have today. Shao Qiushi said that since then, Anshan has become an eternal pain in her heart. Sometimes Shao Qiushi made dumplings and wanted to drink some wine, she always asked Shao Qiushi not to drink, saying that she hated to death when it came to drinking.

Despite the complexity of administrative affairs, she has always adhered to one thing: do not relax the business, always study the business. She was the same as when she was the head of the Qu Art Troupe in Anshan, or she didn't care about the money, and she was managed by the chief of the office.

"Why? Because history is a lesson. During the Cultural Revolution, I was scared to death when I saw people being criticized and fighting. As an actor, you have to always be careful not to cause trouble. We are the least daring. She said.

Apprentices

Liu Lanfang had two disciples, one was the Northeast Drum and the other was storytelling. There were 30 disciples in the Commentary Gate.

Wang Shuangfeng, the first apprentice Liu Lanfang received when she went on a tour to Heilongjiang in 1980, was only 16 years old at the time, and was a northeast drum performer of the Qiqihar Qu Art Troupe, and now she is the heiress of the anshan city.'

Wang Shuangfeng remembered that from the time she knew Liu Lanfang, Liu Lanfang seemed to be memorizing words every night, one back until two or three o'clock in the night. She went to see Liu Lanfang, and Liu Lanfang often said, "I have a new paragraph, and I will tell you about it." "This can be said all the way from home to the restaurant. At the age of 76, Liu Lanfang can still memorize the new commentary book "Zhong Nanshan - The Mountain in My Heart". The mouth is not for thought, and it must be memorized before it can be blurted out. "What about the easy way to say it?" I was daunted. All the people admired my Master's hard work. Wang Shuangfeng said.

Liu Chao was a female disciple accepted by Liu Lanfang in the Kunming Military Region's Cultural and Labor Troupe during his 1982 tour (officially worshiped in 1994), because of his early entry and deep qualifications, he was called "Master Sister" in Liu Lanfang's door. Liu Chao was originally an all-rounder, able to sing and dance, and after learning from Liu Lanfang, he began to turn to the field of book review. She said that there is a special "tone of mouth" in the appraisal of books, and some people can only tell stories, saying that the appraisal cannot be said, because there is no rhyme, and the tone of the appraisal is rhymed.

Liu Chao said that quyi is different from opera, opera is to some extent drama, there is a set of stylized things, and quyi is one or two people singing monologues, one person is a small workshop, many people regard their own little things as particularly strict, there is a feeling of secret, lest others pay too much. Because the previous teahouse literature and art is like this, half of a cup of tea is book money, you can listen to it every day, you can steal it, and when you see your peers coming, you change the word. But Liu Lanfang is not like this, she is "over the truth".

She remembered that Liu Lanfang once taught her a famous passage from "Yue Fei's Biography", "Throwing Colors and Inviting Relatives". This is a very wonderful single paragraph, with its own unique character sounds, as well as a strong sense of scene description, at the beginning of the people have a sense of substitution, in the language of drama called "prescribed situation", the commentary is called "the end of the pose". Liu Lanfang gave her an analysis of how to make the shape, how to make the fan, and the voice of the commentary should make a middle tone, that is, it is emitted from the middle chest cavity.

She found that Liu Lanfang observed the characters and actions particularly carefully, when going to the terracotta warriors, she would pay attention to which side the door was opened, carefully count how many terracotta warriors there were in a row and column, and also noticed that there were many single eyelids in these terracotta warriors.

Almost every year, Liu Lanfang would take turns to summon his disciples to attend the Majie Book Club. The Majie Book Club in Baofeng County, Henan Province, can be described as an industry exhibition in the field of qu art, which has not faded for 600 years. On the thirteenth day of the first month, hundreds of folk music artists from all over the country gather in Majie with drums and pianos. The audience reached 100,000 people, crowded and crowded.

The venue of the book club was in a large wheat field. Liu Chao recalled that the Majie Book Club was the coldest place she had ever been, there was no shelter in the empty wheat field, the north wind was blowing unscrupulously, a mouth full of sand, and blowing a nose seemed to be frozen immediately. They were all tightly covered and shivering, but Liu Lanfang, who was more than 70 years old, wore a thin performance costume on the stage, saying that if she wore too much, she would be "strangled". The time of her performance was not short, and the fierce wind rolled up her white sleeves, so that the disciples could say anything more, only to take off their coats and shake their spirits.

Wang Fengchen started late, and only met Liu Lanfang in 2005, but ranked 18th overall in Liu Men.

He said that after people in this industry do administrative work, their business is generally greatly affected, but Liu Lanfang is a special case. She set herself a rule: every year she had to record a new long-form commentary.

Since 2005, Liu Lanfang has participated in the creation of many newly edited short paragraphs and long books. She set up a creative team consisting of Wang Yinquan, Yang Qingjiang and Wang Fengchen. After they write the first draft, they are processed by Liu Lanfang.

He recalled that when he had been cooperating with Liu Lanfang for less than three months, one day at a dinner party, Liu Lanfang smiled and said, "Feng Chen, you worship me as a teacher!" Suddenly, he was a little stunned. Liu Lanfang reacted quickly and said busily: "Of course, our practice is 'three years for the master to visit the apprentice, three years to visit the apprentice', I think you can, you still have to see if I am suitable." After the meal was over, his friend pulled him aside and said, "Are you stupid? Ordinary people will fall to their knees as soon as they hear this! Three months later, during the Spring Festival, when he went to Liu Lanfang's house to pay homage to the New Year, he made a request to worship the master, and in 2009, he officially performed the worship ceremony.

Before he started, Liu Lanfang asked him to help change the Xuanyuan Emperor into a commentary. After he finished writing a part, he received a call from Liu Lanfang, and she said: "Feng Chen, you have thought through our storytellers!" He secretly rejoiced, saying "No no no" in his mouth, but he heard Liu Lanfang continue to say: "You have learned all these messes of our storytellers!" ”

She said, these mmm-hmms and uh-huhs that you wrote are all "words of pretense", these should not appear on your blueprint, and there are a lot of life-saving words in it, what is a life-saving word, do you understand? Wang Fengchen said, I don't understand. She said that when everyone goes on stage to talk about books, there will be a short circuit in their heads, such as Zhang Sanda coming from afar, and Li Si looked up, "Oops! This gives you three seconds to think, which is the "life-saving word." You can't add that word to me, I naturally use it when I need to.

She also said, why did I ask you to help me create? If you write this kind of thing, I don't know better than you? What I want is the thinking of your young people, I want fresh blood, and I have to learn from you in this regard, and you don't give me old things.

Wang Fengchen is a night owl, Liu Lanfang sleeps late every day, often calls him at 12 o'clock at night, and turns over the manuscript and says: "I am reading your manuscript, there is a point I can't understand in this piece, I will discuss with you." "If you go to her house during this time, you will find manuscripts piled up everywhere on the table and on the sofa, as well as pens, scissors, glue, and she is haggard because of lack of sleep. Often Wang Yinquan and Wang Fengchen felt that it was okay, she felt that it was not enough, and one of the words she often said was "afraid of smashing the brand".

Wang Fengchen said that Liu Lanfang never loses disciples, and many people in this industry feel that disciples should obey them, but she is not like this. She asked Wang Fengchen to help write things, and in two days she would send him a red envelope and tell him how much money people gave, how much she took, and how much she gave him. He said no, and Liu Lanfang would say, "Then go on!" The teacher earns money, and when he earns money, you have it. ”

Sometimes he sent a circle of friends, saying that a newly created book was broadcast on the central station, and Liu Lanfang would call him and ask him to change it, add parentheses, and indicate who he was working with.

He felt that everyone in the book review had their own characteristics. Shan Tianfang's voice is hoarse, but the book he said is "strong and bone", easy to bring in, and three or two sentences can catch people; Yuan Kuocheng is "handsome", the work is well framed, and the space conversion is smooth; Tian Lianyuan is known for small details, often has small humor, and is lively; Liu Lanfang is good at using sound to shape characters, and can clearly distinguish the role sounds of different characters.

Liu Lanfang often suggested that Wang Fengchen go in the direction of scholars, dress younger and more foreign, and not make those big coats. "You're dressed up old-fashioned, who are you pretending to be with?" Although these words sometimes made people hang on, Wang Fengchen still felt that he was one of Liu Men's disciples who had gained a lot, because when he carefully cut a book word by word, he also mastered the art of judging books.

He felt that Liu Lanfang's popularity was timely, geographical, and human factors. Her generation coincided with the era of alternating old and new art. They practiced hard from an early age, went to power for their livelihood, and spent half an hour talking about two and a half hours, which laid an extremely solid artistic foundation for them. At the height of their artistic life, they caught up with the "Golden Age" of book reviews in the 1980s and 1990s. "Now many people say that the book review has declined, but it is not true. Storytelling has always been like this throughout history, never becoming a mainstream art except in that 'golden age', but its vitality has always been continuous. ”

He said that the emergence of new media has just given storytelling an opportunity to grow, but now, he can use storytelling to support himself. In 2015, he quit his 15-year brand planning job and started full-time book review.

Shao Qiushi did not become Liu Lanfang's apprentice, but became her assistant after retirement.

During the Cultural Revolution, she and Liu Lanfang both worked in the "Mao Zedong Thought Literature and Art Propaganda Team" in Anshan City, Liu Lanfang was an actress, and she was a newspaper announcer. Later, Liu Lanfang returned to the Anshan Qu Art Troupe, and she went to the Anshan Repertory Theatre, at which time Liu Lanfang often said that she would be accepted as an apprentice in the future. Later, she was transferred to the Anshan Municipal Federation of Literary and Literary Associations as the director of the Joint Department, and Liu Lanfang, who served as the vice chairman of the Anshan Municipal Federation of Literary and Literary Associations, became her leader.

In 2016, Shao Qiushi retired to Beijing with her son and became Liu Lanfang's assistant, when she was 67 years old. Many people are strange that Liu Lanfang found someone so old as an assistant, but she saw that Shao Qiu really knew the roots and was responsible.

Shao Qiushi said that Liu Lanfang received continuous invitations to perform, because first of all, she was in a high position, second, she was famous, and third, she had less expenses, in fact, sometimes she only gave a few thousand yuan, but she did not care. There are also many people looking for her to advertise, some give one or two million, she does not answer, looking for her to open a video number on platforms such as Douyin, she also refuses. She said, what should I do if there is a problem with advertising and short videos, make money, and when is the money earned?

"So the network is so big, there's no negative press about her. She cherishes her feathers. Shao Qiushi told China News Weekly.

Liu Lanfang does not like to talk about things in the circle, especially does not want to comment on the popular stars in the music industry, worried about causing public opinion on the Internet, "We can't beat the water army."

She loves to read online novels, and has spent thousands of dollars and watched thousands of episodes. At first, she recharged every day, and then found that it was cost-effective to run a membership in the package, so she did the year. She regarded reading online novels as an opportunity to learn a new language, and after reading them, she found that online novels, like the art of storytelling, are to create suspense and make people addicted.

In mid-December 2021, the Himalayas and other platforms launched her newly edited commentary " New Douluo Continent " . This is based on the classic traversal fantasy novel, and Wang Fengchen also participated in the adaptation.

He said that his first contact with his master was to adapt the fantasy crossing novel into a commentary, which was an attempt to win over a new generation of young listeners. It is very difficult to broadcast this commentary for the master, because she needs to completely memorize it, and the plot is a little better, especially the difficulty is that those strange and strange things such as soul skills, moves, weapon names, etc., a string of them, the challenge is very large, but the 78-year-old's state is not reduced that year, and the program is liked after it was broadcast.

She believes that no matter when it comes, Quyi will always have its vitality, because it comes from the grassroots and is liked by the people. She said that many of the reviews in the Himalayas added up to billions of hits, and she was shocked to see them. Shao Qiushi was upset with her, thinking that she did not make a lot of money like other critics, but she said that she had "earned fame".

She said that storytellers have a history of thousands of years, and storytellers have been eating and drinking in the red since ancient times, hugging before and after, but the evening scenery is desolate, and some of them freeze to death in the gutter, using a roll of reed mats, or artists pooling money to get a thin-skinned coffin. In today's society, artists are called literary and artistic workers, artists (of course, now called "artists", she said), political treatment is not low, and there are pensions, very content.