The Jiefang Daily Shangguan News reporter learned from the Shanghai Peking Opera House that the famous Peking Opera actress Tong Shouling died of illness at Huashan Hospital at 15:28 on March 2, at the age of 102.
Tong Shouling was born in July 1920, he was a beginner, and then changed to a small student, under the tutelage of Jiang Miaoxiang. Tong Shouling was not only the main actor in the early days of the Tong family class, but also responsible for escorting her younger siblings. Tong Shouling once said, "A play is not just about watching one person, it is necessary to make the whole play wonderful in order to make the audience satisfied." A machine, only the main parts are good, and the spare parts are unqualified, can not become genuine. The same is true of the troupe, not only the main actors must be good, but other actors must also be selected for use. The staff is neatly equipped, and the play performed should be strictly rehearsed and modified to preserve the essence and stage it after maturity. Plays whose artistic level does not meet the requirements are resolutely not staged, and the ticket price must be appropriate, so as to win the trust of the audience. ”
The "Tong Family Class", represented by tong xialing, tong shouling, tong zhiling, tong baoling and tong xiangling brothers and sisters, is a good story in the Chinese opera industry. The father of the five siblings, Tong Hanxia, graduated from Tianjin Law and Politics College, and his mother, Chen Qianying, graduated from Tianjin Women's Normal College. Tong Hanxia loves Peking Opera, and the children have been fans of peking opera since childhood. In 1932, 12-year-old Tong Shouling and 10-year-old Tong Zhiling took the lead in entering the Beiping Chinese Opera College. Tong Zhiling debuted on stage to perform "Female Solution", and her performance was a blockbuster. Soon, she collaborated with her second brother Shou Ling on "Wu Jia Po", which was also well received. The two youngest children of the Tong family, Tong Baoling and Tong Xiangling, have also studied drama and embarked on a professional path.
In 1939, Tong Hanxia officially formed a family drama class, taking the last word of his children's names and naming it "Lingshe", which is commonly known as "Tongjia Class". In the upsurge of donations to resist US aggression and aid Korea, the Tong brothers and sisters were the first to take the lead in charity performances in the private class club in Beijing, and they also agreed to perform once a month until the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
At the invitation of Zhou Xinfang, then president of the Shanghai Peking Opera Theatre, the Tongjia class went south to establish the Shanghai Peking Opera Second Troupe in Shanghai, with the Tongjia class as the team. At that time, there were media reports that the Tong brothers and sisters had made great determination to participate in the national theater troupe. Many theater gardens in other places also asked the "Tong Family Class" to act, and the Liuxiang Society led by Xun Huisheng also sent a telegram to invite Tong Shouling to Shanghai to help. They all refused one by one, determined to join the national theater troupe unconditionally and become national actors.