I once listened to the | listened to Tang Gengliang talk about Suzhou commentary

□ Li Jianliang

One rainy night, I listened to a pingtan artist give a lecture on the artistic charm of Suzhou Pingtan, which was another lecture I listened to at Hangzhou University in the early summer of 1984.

The keynote speaker was Mr. Tang Gengliang from the Shanghai Bomb Critics Troupe. The lecture was presided over by Mr. Ping Huishan of the Department of Chinese. At that time, Mr. Ping was assisting Mr. Jiang Liangfu in preparing for the establishment of the Institute of Ancient Books. The lecture was arranged in a small classroom on the first floor of the West Teaching Building (which was also the administrative building of the school at that time). Perhaps because of ad hoc arrangements, there were no advertisements in advance. Teacher Ping informed us by the way when he gave us lessons during the day, so the main people who came to listen to the lectures that night were teachers and students from the Chinese Department, and the number of them was not large.

I remember that night when I braved the drizzle to go to the lecture classroom, I met Song from the day class. At my instigation, Mr. Song went with me. Walking into the classroom, I found that the preparations for the lecture were not yet ready. At that time, the classroom was not equipped with multimedia and other equipment, only a blackboard and a lectern. I quietly recommended to Teacher Ping that Song write a theme sentence related to this lecture on the blackboard. Teacher Ping happily agreed. Song learned calligraphy since childhood, and after entering Hangzhou University, he became famous among his classmates. At this time, it can be said that he has a place to play. I saw him skillfully write on the blackboard the words "Sincerely thank Mr. Tang Gengliang for coming to Hangzhou University to lecture and perform". Among them, "Sincerely Thank Mr. Tang Gengliang" is a line, using a line of letters, and "coming to Hangzhou University to lecture and perform" is another line, using a subordinate body. Mr. Tang stood aside, watching Song write one stroke at a time, and before he could speak, he was already smiling.

Unlike other lectures, this lecture adopts a combination of lectures (knowledge explanations) and speeches (commentaries) and is mainly acted, as described in the keyword "lecture and performance" in the theme sentence on the blackboard.

Mr. Tang first popularized some basic knowledge of Suzhou bomb evaluation for us. Let us understand that Suzhou Pingtan was originally a general term for Suzhou Commentary and Suzhou Bullet Words. Commentary, commonly known as the Big Book, is a form of music art that uses the Suzhou dialect as the mainstay, only speaking but not singing, and integrating narrative and pronouns. The lyrics are generally raped by two people, holding three strings on the top, holding the lute under the hands, and singing by themselves.

Mr. Tang specialized in commentary, and at that time, while working in the Shanghai Bomb Critics Troupe, he also served as a tutor at the Suzhou Bomb Critics School. Since 1980, he has been recording 100 audio programs of the traditional long-form Suzhou commentary "Three Kingdoms" on the Shanghai People's Radio. This long commentary, "Three Kingdoms", which has devoted countless efforts to his efforts, has made him famous inside and outside the industry. His speeches are sweet and elegant, his speeches are concise and clear, his lectures and analysis are thoughtful, his theories are clear, his language is clear and clear, and he is full of the atmosphere of the times. Character shaping pays attention to personality logic, and the description and analysis have new meanings; the rhythm of discourse is slow and fast, which makes people feel refreshed. These characteristics are very clearly reflected in the representative "Folding Book" of "Grass Boat Borrowing Arrows" that Mr. Tang gave us that time.

On the one hand, Mr. Tang vividly and diversely performs the actions and expressions of Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Cao Cao and other characters in the story in the language of the characters in the story, including voice and intonation. For example, when speaking Cao Cao's dialogues, mandarin with round characters is interspersed, unlike the use of Suzhou dialect when speaking zhuge liang and other characters. On the other hand, Mr. Tang also uses the actions and expressions of storytellers to express his mood, sorrow and love and hatred attitude. The Suzhou dialect used by Mr. Tang is similar to the Pinghu dialect of my hometown, which belongs to the Wu dialect. Therefore, for me, listening to such a story of "Three Kingdoms" while speaking at the same time is even more refreshing and interesting. Zhuge Liang's wisdom, Zhou Yu's narrow-mindedness, Lu Su's steadfastness, Cao Cao's suspiciousness, there is another interpretation in front of the eyes.

Mr. Tang Gengliang and Master Hang students took a group photo (mr. Liu Caonan, second from the left, Mr. Tang Gengliang, third from the left, and Huishan from the left).

After the lecture, Mr. Ping invited Mr. Tang Gengliang to take a group photo with some of the teachers and students who listened to the lecture. Mr. Tang is in the center, still smiling. He was flanked by Mr. Liu Caonan and Teacher Ping Huishan. Mr. Liu Caonan came to listen to the lecture, or was related to Mr. Tang being from Jiangsu (Mr. Liu Wuxi, Mr. Tang from Suzhou); or related to his own love of playing words, Mr. Liu had created and published the "Opening Collection of Bullet Words of the Dream of the Red Chamber". Teacher Zhu Hongda, then deputy director of the Department of Chinese, stood humbly behind Mr. Tang. Teacher Zhu should come to attend as the person in charge of the organizer of this lecture.

More than thirty years later, I still keep this photograph of that year. That lecture also sowed the seeds of listening to Suzhou's comments for me. The audio materials of Mr. Tang's 100 suzhou commentaries "Three Kingdoms" recorded that year can now be listened to at any time by clients on multiple network platforms. Whenever I listen to these tracks, I naturally think of the wonderful lecture that Mr. Tang gave for us at Hangzhou University that integrated lectures and speeches.

About author:Li Jianliang, Doctor of Literature. Graduated from the Department of Chinese and the Institute of Ancient Books (Bachelor's, Master's, Doctoral Degree) of Hangzhou University. Professor of the Department of Chinese, Zhejiang University of Technology.

This article is the original work of Qianjiang Evening News, without permission, it is forbidden to reprint, copy, excerpt, rewrite and carry out network dissemination of all works of copyright use, otherwise this newspaper will follow judicial channels to pursue the legal responsibility of the infringer.