Shi Xi, Walk slowly Guan Lingfeng dictated, Hollin records collated, originally published: "Bieliang Evening News", April 29, 1994
Guan Lingfeng: Shi Xi, walk slowly

Chen Suzhen
Mr. Chen Suzhen smiling back in heaven
No matter what words are used, it is difficult to describe the sadness brought to my juniors by the death of Teacher Chen Suzhen. When I was 13 years old (1945), I studied art at the Xi'an Lion Roar Troupe, under the guidance of Mr. Fan Puting, and I studied under Teacher Chen. When I knelt on the ground and prostrated my head to look up at the teacher who was still unfamiliar at that time, I never thought that it was this graceful and dignified ancestor sitting on it who would control my artistic career for the rest of my life. Since then, I have always felt like a big leafy tree covering me. In the following decades, we mastered and apprenticed in the south and north of the mountains, but every time we met, the teacher's earnest teachings often stayed up all night, I was blind at the age of 19, only very weak eyesight remained, the teacher always taught me by hand, my clumsy actions once tripped the elderly Teacher Chen, and it has become a joke in the theater world.
Guan Lingfeng stills
There is also a reason why I kiss my teacher, Teacher Chen Suzhen has many sons under his knees, but no daughters. When she saw me as a child, she was very persistent in learning art, so she thought that she was a righteous daughter, and the relationship between master and disciple was naturally closer. Teacher Chen has a strong personality and often loves to lose her temper, and I am very afraid of her. But for my retarded apprentice, she was very patient, one line, one figure, three times and four times demonstrated. The heaviest punishment for me was a few slaps on the palms of my hands with a paper fan, the lightest punishment that was prevalent at the time.
As a Kaifeng person and a Yu opera actor in Kaifeng, I would like to talk about the position that our ancient city occupies in Teacher Chen's life. The teacher was enlightened in Kaifeng (with Mr. Chen Yuting to learn art), frustrated in Kaifeng (cheered on stage), and then made a comeback in Kaifeng and became famous. It was also our Kaifeng audience who first gave her a very high honor and put on the laurels of "Empress of Yu Opera" and "Mei Lanfang of Henan". Although the teacher later stopped in Xi'an, Lanzhou, Handan, and Tianjin, his homeland was difficult to leave, and he always had to come back every one or two years. When our teachers and apprentices met in other places, the teacher always asked about the bits and pieces of Kaifeng, homesickness, overflowing with words.
Chen Suzhen and his disciple Guan Lingfeng
More importantly, in art, we have an indissoluble relationship with Teacher Chen Suzhen in Kaifeng. "Xiang Fu Tone" is a singing genre that was formed in Kaifeng, circulated in Kaifeng, and gave great influence to the art of Yu opera. It can be said that Kaifeng's "auspicious tone" laid the foundation for the art of Chen Pai singing; and Chen Pai singing was rich and carried forward the "auspicious tone". After I became blind, I could hardly distinguish my five fingers, and I knew the limitations in my performance style, but I immersed myself in the discussion of Chen Pai's "auspicious tone" singing voice.
I remember that in the early 1980s, the costume drama that was shackled by the "Gang of Four" for more than ten years was banned. I also began to think about what repertoire to restore first. Once my family and I walked to the front street of the county, and suddenly heard someone humming on our head: "Come, come, come and cry your son alive, if you cry your son alive, see which junior dares to marry me... ”
I was shocked, this is The lyrics of Cui Jinding in Teacher Chen's representative play "Three Shangshang Caravan". Although the words are vulgar, they are authentic to our teacher's singing voice. The family looked up and saw that on the high scaffolding, there was a master migrant worker, holding a tile knife in his hand, singing and working happily. Because of my teacher's bumpy encounters, she had not appeared on stage for more than twenty years, but her singing voice was so popular in the folk, and the appeal of art was so huge! So I decided to first resume the performance of my famous drama "Three ShangShang". Due to the reproduction of our division's beautiful singing voice and performance art in the performance, this play was performed 47 times in the Public Film Theater with more than 1,600 seats in Kaifeng, and the scene was full. Later, he went to Beijing to perform, and premiered at the Chang'an Grand Theater. The audience who bought tickets in front of the door lined up all the way to West Chang'an Avenue. At that time, I was happy in my heart, and it was so cool under the big tree! At this time, Teacher Chen also came from Tianjin, and we met at the Beijing Municipal Government Guest House outside the front door. Who knows, not only did I not get praise, but I was also splashed with a few scoops of cold water first. Comrade Shi Lei of the Henan Provincial Drama Research Institute, who was originally immersed in Teacher Chen's art research, "informed" the teacher.
The teacher said: "I heard that you played "Three On the Car" with bangs on your head! Who did you play Cui Jinding into? The person in this play is an elegant, innocent, and conformist woman in feudal society. After I listened, I was dumbfounded, and Teacher Chen said: "You play the car monster LiSuo, and you enter the car at once, but people are looking for someone to come, then run without lifting!" Isn't the three palanquins a palanquin? I was shocked but ashamed to hear that Teacher Chen's requirements for art were so strict.
After Teacher Chen Suzhen was in middle age, each of her plays from singing to performance, the arrangement of the scenes, and the scheduling of the characters were painstakingly designed by herself. There are many reasons why the teacher has such a high artistic attainment, but mainly due to her diligent and tireless curiosity. During the Cultural Revolution, Both I and Teacher Chen were shocked and tortured, and later the situation eased up slightly, and I asked my husband to visit her in Tianjin. At that time, Teacher Chen lived in a small station called Junliang City in the outskirts of Tianjin. Three private houses, low and simple. But at the head of her bed were books such as the Book of Poetry and the Chu Ci.
In my nearly 50 years of interaction with Teacher Chen Suzhen, she warned me the most to pay attention to the measure of performance. She said: "I have seen reports praising you in many newspapers and periodicals, what a 'ringing in the clouds'! 'Sound Crack Golden Stone'! I don't like these languages. What resounded through the clouds was the aircraft cannon, and the cracking stone was the hacksaw steel file. You're singing a play, playing a character in a play. Don't shout at your throat just because you have a good voice. We must pay attention to the subtlety and moderation of art. ”
Teacher Chen Suzhen once tirelessly advised me: Thousand
Don't pursue false theatrical effects, that is harmful, and while you revel in some of the applause, you also reduce your taste in performance. Teacher Chen's golden words, I can not accept at the beginning, an actor is often difficult to resist the temptation of live effects. However, with the growth of age and artistic age, I gradually realized the true meaning of art. Of course, I was impressed by the teacher's unparalleled artistic practice. Try to watch The performance of teacher Chen Suzhen, in addition to winning the applause of the audience such as throwing big braids in "Luoyang Bridge", more often, it is the audience quietly and quietly appreciating and tasting. Compared with some of us, there was much less applause and applause for the performance, but she won the highest praise from the audience - "Queen of Yu Opera".
While remembering the ancestors, I would like to relay the sincere teachings of this generation of masters here and encourage them with those who come after