Niu Decao has taught many apprentices in his lifetime, and the inheritors of the Yu opera Niupai art who have persevered and achieved achievements mainly include "four grasses and one gold", namely Ge Cao Wang, Xiaoniu Decao, Niu Xiaocao, Zhang Xiancao and Jin Buchang, all of whom have inherited and developed niupai art, making Niupai art a famous cultural brand in Henan.
Kudzu Wang
His real name is Ge Guizhang, born in 1942. At the age of 9, he learned art, specializing in ugly behavior, and was given the stage name Ge Caowang by the teacher because he worshiped the Yu opera clown horn Niu Decao and Gao Xingwang as a teacher. The performance works include "Fifteen Consecutive", "Making Articles", "Li Shuangshuang", "People Cheering horses" and so on. Since 1983, he has been a full-time opera director and has won many awards. He has successively served as the deputy head of the first and second yu opera troupes in Henan Province, and was a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association and the Chinese Opera Directors Association.
Calves get grass
Born in 1955, he is the eldest son of Mr. Niu Decao, and his teacher is his father. In 1979, he participated in "Seven Pin Sesame Officers", and in 1994, he was selected as one of the "Top Ten Famous Uglies of National Yu Opera". He was the honorary leader of the Yu Opera Troupe in Hebi City and a member of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Cow grass
Wang Yihong, whose real name is Wang Yihong, was born in Yanshi, Henan in 1956. At the age of 11, he became an artist, and in 1987, he was given the stage name Niu Xiaocao. The starring plays include "Seven Pin Sesame Officer", "Four Pin mung Bean Official", "Begging For Rice Uncle", "False Son-in-law Riding the Dragon", etc., and has won national and provincial awards for many times. In 1994, he was selected as one of the "Top Ten Famous Uglies of National Yu Opera", and in 2001, he was named a national first-class actor. He was a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, deputy director of the Yanshi Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, and head of the Yanshi Yu Opera Troupe. In addition, Niu Xiaocao received 20 apprentices twice in 2011 and 2016.
Zhang Xiancao
Born in 1962 in Daming, Hebei Province, his real name is Zhang Ximin, and he is a 15-year-old artist who specializes in clowns. In 1986, he worshiped Niu Decao as his teacher and was given the stage name Zhang Xiancao. He has participated in the repertoire of "Seven Pin Sesame Officials", "Eighteen Pulls", "Three Wishes", etc., and participated in the opera movies "Double Happiness Linmen" and "Seven Pin Sesame Officials Enter the Taoist Temple". Zhang Xiancao is mainly based on cattle pie, eclectic and versatile, and his performances are magical and witty, and he has repeatedly won awards in national, provincial and municipal opera competitions at all levels. In 1994, he was selected as one of the "Top Ten Famous Uglies of National Yu Opera". Zhang Xiancao paid attention to cultivating the next generation of opera actors, and established the Zhengzhou Xiancao Opera Training Center to teach what he had learned throughout his life, so that the art of the Niu School could be carried forward. He was a national first-class actor and a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association.
Gold does not change
His real name is Jin Zhenxiu, born in 1968 in Fengqiu, Henan. At the age of 9, he learned art, and at the age of 18, he entered the Hebi Yu Opera Troupe, where he studied under the leader of the troupe, Niu Decao, and was given the stage name Jin. In 2000, Jin Bu was elected as the head of the troupe, taking Niupai art as the soul of the group, taking mechanism innovation as the basis for leading the troupe, grasping management, producing fine products, producing talents, and breaking into the market, bringing the troupe alive, so that Niupai art has moved towards a broader world in innovative development. On the basis of the classic niupai dramas "Tangzhi County Trial Commandment", "Three Wishes", "Picking Up Son-in-Law", etc., a number of new niupai dramas such as "Tangzhi County Trial Commandment" and "Gangfu County Governor", "Shi Wu Ju Farewell Biography", "Grassroots Xiucai", "Xu Jiujing Homecoming" and other new dramas of the Niu Sect were discharged, which won the Chinese Film Huabiao Award, the Henan Wenhua Award, the "Five One Project" Award, and the "Yellow River Cup" Gold Award of Henan Province. In addition, he also filmed many opera films such as "Fahai Zen Master" and "Seven PinZhi County Into the Taoist Temple". Jin Buchang pays special attention to the inheritance of niupai art, and has received 12 apprentices so far.
Stage stills of the Yu opera "Tang Zhi County Trial Commandment"
Jin Buchang has also won the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, the first prize of Henan Provincial Opera Performance, the Xiangyu Cup Award, and the 2018 Shanghai Magnolia Drama Performing Arts Award. He is currently the head of hebi Yu opera niupai art research institute, a national first-class actor, a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, the vice chairman of the Henan Dramatists Association, a member of the Standing Committee of the Standing Committee of the Hebi Municipal People's Congress, a deputy to the 10th, 11th and 12th National People's Congress of Henan Province, and a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress.
Master of cattle grass
Niupai art is the crystallization of the clown art of Yu opera performance artist Niu Decao, condensing the blood and sweat of Niu Decao's life. "Seven Pin Sesame Officer" has become a symbol of the times, it is rooted in the hot land of Hebi, and has had a wide impact throughout the country. It lets people know that clowns can also act, star, and support big dramas; it lets people know that the Qing officials on the opera stage, in addition to the Qingtian grand masters such as Bao Zheng and Hai Rui, there are sesame officials like Tang Cheng; it lets people know that the Yu opera born on the bank of the Yellow River is like other dramas in the motherland's drama family.
Stills from the movie "Seven Pins of Sesame Officer"
Today, China has entered a new era, socialist literature and art with Chinese characteristics have flourished and developed, and a hundred flowers have become the new normal. With the efforts of the niupai disciples, the Niupai art with a good foundation will surely keep up with the pace of realizing the Chinese dream and usher in a new situation of inheritance and development and continuous glory.