Chairman Mao Zedong liked Peking Opera, traditional opera liked to watch, and modern drama also liked to watch.
The revolutionary modern Peking Opera "Red Lantern" is a play that his old man likes to watch very much. He not only likes to watch, but also praises the actors and suggests changes to the play.
In the 1960s, Chairman Mao was very concerned about the modern Peking Opera opera being performed in Shanghai, and once asked the two professors if they had recently watched the play. He also said that "The Red Lantern" and "Sha Jiabang" were good, and pointed out that some of the small places may need to be considered in order to further improve. In the sixth scene of the "Red Lantern Chronicle", "To feast on Hatoyama", Hatoyama said to Li Yuhe: "The bitter sea is boundless, and the back is the shore." It meant that Li Yuhe would turn back early and hand over the secret code. Li Yuhe responded: "Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the ground." "The implication is that you invaders put down the butcher knife and stop killing is the way out." However, Chairman Mao did not think that such a dialogue was appropriate, especially the last two sentences, "Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the ground." Indeed, it is unrealistic and too simple to let the enemy "lay down the butcher's knife" and also be able to "become a Buddha on the ground." However, these four sentences are all from the Buddhist scriptures, and it is actually difficult to change them. Later, in the 1970s, the Peking Opera film version of "Red Lantern", this dialogue was changed. When Hatoyama said, "The bitter sea is boundless, and the back is the shore," Li Yuhe said, "The road is one foot high, and the devil is one foot high!" Such a change is indeed much better than the original, highlighting Hatoyama's cunning and insidiousness and Li Yuhe's bravery and fearlessness, and the distinct character of the person can be seen from the dialogue.
When the Peking Opera House in China rehearsed "The Red Lantern", it was not long before Chairman Mao watched the performance twice. After the second performance, Chairman Mao met with all the actors and shook the hand of Yuan Shihai, who played Hatoyama, praising him for his good performance and asking him who he learned from. Yuan Shihai replied: "One is the director's teaching, and the other is that he has read Puyi's "The First Half of My Life", which contains japanese people in The Landihara..." Chairman Mao was very happy to hear this. The main actors of the "Red Lantern" crew played very well, but the villains were not good, and Yuan Shihai portrayed the Japanese gendarmerie captain Hatoyama vividly, so he was praised by Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao also proposed a revision to a detail in the Red Lantern Chronicle. That is Li Yuhe to go out, because the day is very cold, daughter Li Tiemei said: "Dad, it is cold outside, you bring a bib!" Chairman Mao said: "The bib is too ordinary, although it is a modern drama, but the Peking Opera should still be more elegant, and the bib should be changed to a scarf." Indeed, the word "bib" is too popular to be used in theatrical lines, and the word "scarf" is much more elegant to listen to, and the audience can understand it. "Bib", is the spoken language of the northeast, although very grounded, very image, very vivid, but after all, some rustic, changed to "scarf" can be transformed into elegant, elegant and popular appreciation. Chairman Mao revised it very well, and later when it was performed, the word "bib" was replaced by "scarf", and the artistic effect was very good, and there was no rustic feeling.
Chairman Mao was very devoted to watching the play and watched it very seriously. According to Zhou Fuming, a bodyguard at Mao Zedong's side, when the Peking Opera movie "Red Lantern" was screened and Li Yuhe helped Grandma Li to the execution ground, Chairman Mao wept bitterly and murmured: "The enemy is going to kill our comrades again." This reminds us of when Chairman Mao watched the Peking opera "The Legend of the White Snake", and when he saw That Fahai pressing Bai Suzhen under the Leifeng Pagoda, Chairman Mao stood up, pointed to Fahai on the stage, and said, "I want to kill him!" This is enough to show Chairman Mao's emotional commitment to watching the play! After all, "The Legend of the White Snake" is an ancient mythological drama, and Chairman Mao has seen it so devotedly. Moreover, "The Red Lantern" is a modern theme, a story of the heroic struggle between the Communist Party of China and the Chinese and the Japanese invaders.