Beijing News (reporter Liu Zhen) According to the host Cao Kefan's article confirming, Chen Zhengwei, a famous Peking Opera performance artist and a disciple of Mr. Mei Lanfang, died in Nanjing on March 26 at the age of 89. Cao Kefan said in the text: "Teacher Zhengwei was an outstanding actor of the 'Zheng' generation of the Shanghai Opera School at that time, who was well versed in the true meaning of the 'Mei Pai' art, and worked hard to spread the art of 'Mei Pai', and the peach and plum were all over the world. His father, Mr. Chan Tai Wai, is also a theater master. Both father and daughter have devoted their lives to the cause of theater. Infinite remembrance of Teacher Chen Zhengwei! ”
Chen Zhengwei
Chen Zhengwei, originally from Shanghai, born in 1933 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, is an actor in Danjiao, Peking Opera. His father, Chen Dabei, was a pioneer and leader of early drama in mainland China, and he wrote the first introductory book of modern Chinese drama, "The Drama of Loving Beauty", and founded the first school in China to cultivate modern drama talents, the Beijing Renyi Opera College.
Since the age of 9, Chen Zhengwei entered the Shanghai Theater School Zhengzi Class to study Peking Opera, although only one period of students was trained, but the students of the Zhengzi Class later became the pillars of the Peking Opera circle, and Wang Zhenghua, Sun Zhengyang, Wang Zhengping, Cheng Zhengtai, Zhang Zhengfen, Gu Zhengqiu and other artists were from this class. In the 2017 "Ke Fan Listen" program, Chen Zhengwei recalled her journey from acting on stage for the first time to worshiping under Mei Lanfang's door. In 1944, Chen Dabei died of illness, and the 11-year-old Chen Zhengwei followed her mother back to Beiping's home, and began to act on stage a few years later. Due to the turbulent situation in Beiping at that time, Mr. Mei Lanfang recalled Chen Zhengwei to Shanghai with a letter and took her as an apprentice. On the fifth day of the first lunar month in 1948, Chen Zhengwei took Mei Lanfang as her teacher, and in the following years, Chen Zhengwei almost became a member of the Mei family.
Mei Lanfang and Chen Zhengwei.
In 1959, at the age of 26, Chen Zhengwei left Shanghai for Yangzhou and joined the newly established Yangzhou Regional Peking Opera Troupe. In 1977, the Yangzhou Peking Opera Troupe set up a Peking Opera training class, and Chen Zhengwei began her Peking Opera teaching career. Since 1981, Chen Zhengwei has been teaching at the Jiangsu Provincial Drama School, devoting herself to the cause of Peking Opera education, and has trained a large number of Meipai art successors for decades. In March 2014, Chen Zhengwei's book "Chen Zhengwei Meipai Classic Repertoire Inheritance Teaching Selection - Tiannu Scattered Flowers" was published by Shanghai Culture Publishing House.
Beijing News reporter Liu Zhen
Edited by Xu Meilin Proofreader Zhao Lin