Mei Baojiu's wife Lin Liyuan died of illness, and Mei Pai's artistic heritage "behind-the-scenes hero" came to an end

In middle age, Mei Baojiu and his wife Lin Liyuan.

More than 5 years after the death of Mr. Mei Baojiu, the "Mrs. Mei" who has been with him for decades has also followed her husband. The Beijing Opera House issued an obituary in the early morning of yesterday, saying that Ms. Lin Liyuan, the wife of Mr. Mei Baojiu, a famous Peking Opera performance artist and consultant of the Beijing Mei Lanfang Art Foundation, died in Beijing at the age of 86 due to illness at 16:52 on September 11.

　　Lin Li was well educated in the family since childhood, spoke elegantly, was good at English, and worked in a publishing house. In the 1960s, she and Mei Baojiu met and fell in love and married each other, and for decades they shared weal and woe, not only as a virtuous helper in Mr. Mei Baojiu's artistic life and life, but also fully supported meipai's artistic heritage, and was respected by everyone as "Mrs. Mei", and was considered to be the "behind-the-scenes hero" of Meipai's artistic heritage.

　　Zhou Tielin, former vice president of the Beijing Opera House, and Mei Baojiu are family friends and have worked together for decades, watching how Mrs. Mei supports and assists Mr. Mei in life and art. He said that Mrs. Mei has an open-minded and bold personality, a maverick and assertive personality, and is a highly educated, tasteful and artistically appreciative woman, "She aims to fully assist Mr. Mei Baojiu's career and life, and has been doing what she can do in obscurity behind Mei Baojiu for a long time." ”

　　In 1995, she assisted Mr. Mei Baojiu in establishing the Mei Lanfang Peking Opera Troupe and the Mei Lanfang Art Foundation, and then launched the beautiful Mei Pai classic "Mei Hua Xiang Yun", which has been performed for a long time and has become the housekeeper drama of the Mei Opera Troupe. When planning "Mei Hua Xiang Yun", Mei Baojiu wanted to make more attempts on the stage, close to the times, "We often use the evening time to discuss planning at Mr. Mei's house, their home is not big, Mrs. Mei not only vacated the largest room for us to use, but also prepared for us to supper, so the innovative part of the performance has her share of the credit." ”

　　Mrs. Mei is also known as the "non-staff" staff of the Mei Tuan, and there is also a share of her painstaking efforts behind the applause and flowers received by Mr. Mei Baojiu. She accompanied Mr. Mei Baojiu to lead the troupe to visit Japan, the United States, Canada, Spain, Germany, As well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and other regions, and undertook the translation of the troupe's performance itinerary. When difficulties were encountered in work or comrades, Mrs. Mei negotiated with each other in English, solved many difficult problems with her wisdom, and promoted the successful completion of the task of performing abroad again and again, becoming an indispensable "non-editorial" employee of the Mei Opera Troupe. Once the Mei Opera Troupe went to Spain to perform, there was a theft of the actor's room, Mrs. Mei learned that she and Mr. Mei Baojiu took out 10,000 yuan to solve the urgent needs of the two actors' lives, which made the cast and crew in a foreign country very moved.

　　Mrs. Mei knows the book and is warm and generous, creating a good atmosphere for Mr. Mei Baojiu's artistic life, treating the Meipai disciples as if they were their own, caring for them in life, advising them artistically, and sparing no effort to help and support them. Although she was old, as long as Mei sent her disciples to perform, she was very concerned, and asked the nanny to push a wheelchair to the theater to watch the performance and make suggestions.

　　In 2016, Mr. Mei Baojiu's illness was sudden, and she did not abandon her in her old age, insisting on guarding the door of the ward for 27 days. What is even more rare is that after Mr. Mei's death, Mrs. Mei turned grief into strength and continued to care for and support Mei Pai art in her own way. Mr. Mei Baojiu's only male Dan disciple, Hu Wenge, recalled that he had a performance the day before the farewell ceremony of the master's body, and he originally did not have the heart to perform, but the master told him, "The drama is greater than the sky!" You have to act this play, and you have to act well to be worthy of Master. ”

　　When the Mei Lanfang Art Foundation encountered difficulties, she generously donated 2 million yuan to the Mei Lanfang Art Foundation. It was with her full support that Mr. Mei Baojiu's symphonic Peking Opera "Tang Guifei" planned by Mr. Mei Baojiu before his death was able to complete the rehearsal. In the later stage, many activities such as "Large-scale Concert to Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Death of Mr. Mei Baojiu", "Contribution of Mei Baojiu", recording "Mei Pai Classic Repertoire Singing Highlights", commemorating the 125th anniversary of Mei Lanfang's birth, and the concert for the 85th anniversary of Mei Baojiu's birth were also supported by her. At the 2017 "Mei Baojiu's Contribution" high-end forum, she also publicly announced that she would donate the entire set of imported audio equipment that Mr. Mei Baojiu loved during his lifetime to the Beijing Opera House, which established the Mei Baojiu Audiovisual Studio to provide a place for young actors in the theater to learn art.

　　In the eyes of those around her, although Mrs. Mei is not from a professional background, she has become an "insider" in the layman for decades, dedicating all her enthusiasm, sincerity and wisdom to the Art of Peking Opera Meipai, and adding a strong stroke to the artistic construction of the Mei Lanfang Peking Opera Troupe of the Beijing Opera House.

Source Beijing Daily

Reporter Niu Chunmei

Process Editor Wu Yue