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Text ▏ Kanazawa on entertainment
Editor ▏ Kanazawa on entertainment
One day in September a few years ago, a plane carrying numerous medical facilities departed Houston and flew all the way in the direction of China.
At that time, people would not have imagined that this small plane carried the last wish of a dancer.
It was not until a few days later, when the bad news came, that people realized that Zhou Jie, who was known as the "most beautiful Yang Guifei", had died.
As a teenager, he became a pillar of the troupe, endured the pain to complete the stage, and even risked leaving a huge sequelae to perform 14 performances in a row.
Once became a dancer with Yang Liping.
At the peak of his career, he chose to put aside all his fame and fortune to study abroad, and dedicated the best time of his life to the dance career he loved.
The last wish of this well-known dancer at home and abroad is only four big words, and the soul returns to his hometown.
What happened to this "Oriental God of Beauty" Zhou Jie?
▶01
In 1961, in Fengxian District, Shanghai, a little girl named Zhou Jie was born.
The identity of his parents as a rural teacher gave Zhou Jie a very favorable material and cultural life in childhood.
When other friends can only be with the loess all day, Zhou Jie has been able to listen to the music played by the record player and dance casually.
Zhou Jie's dancing figure can be seen next to the ridge of the field.
It was at this time that her dancing talent first emerged.
At the age of 7, after watching a dance performance accompanied by her parents, she made it her lifelong dream to become a dancer.
At that time, Zhou Jie would never have imagined that the family that had brought her many conveniences would become the first obstacle she encountered on the road to realizing her dream.
Because of family reasons, Zhou Jie was rejected by her favorite dance troupe many times, and no matter how talented she was, she could not hand her a dream stepping stone.
In desperation, his parents had to find a way to inherit Zhou Jie to his aunt's name, but this optimal solution they could think of failed to bring Zhou Jie a little bit of good luck.
Her situation is still the same as before, without the slightest change.
Until the age of ten, the dance class of the Shanghai Opera House came to Zhou Jie's area to recruit students, and the immortal Zhou Jie brought a dance to learn from the primary school teacher and ran to the scene again.
At the end of the song, the eyes of several teachers in the audience were full of amazing colors, and they couldn't help but praise loudly.
I can't immediately recruit this rare good seedling into the dance troupe.
The eyes of several teachers glanced, but suddenly saw the family column on Zhou Jie's information, as if choked, several people looked at each other, and finally shook their heads slightly, drawing a cross behind Zhou Jie's name.
Perhaps the little girl's eyes were too bright, and no one present would first open their mouths to crush this girl's dance dream.
Just tell her, go back and wait, come back for an interview when there is news.
The naïve Zhou Jie thought that her dancing talent had played a role at this moment, and happily ran home to share this great "good news" with her parents.
Leaving in a hurry, she failed to see the regretful looks of several teachers behind her.
Sure enough, in less than a week, Zhou Jie received an invitation for an interview.
Full of anticipation, she simply packed her bags and set off on her way to the dance troupe.
She could never have imagined that there, what awaited her was not a warm welcome, but a thunderbolt on a sunny day.
A sentence of only three words of "unqualified" completely broke Zhou Jie's last hope.
Seeing such a bright girl suddenly become like a frosted eggplant, the teacher who recruited her also couldn't bear it.
He walked up to her and rubbed her delicate and soft hair, and said to her: "Obedient, you are fine, it is not your fault, it is the adults who are wrong." ”
Even though Zhou Jie's dancing talent is obvious to all, in that special period, no one dares to risk setting this precedent and admitting a girl with a bad family composition.
This sentence had little comfort effect on Zhou Jie, but she also understood that crying and making a fuss would not help.
The dream opportunity was just around the corner, but he was rejected again for such a simple reason, Zhou Jie raised his little hand to wipe away his tears, and bowed to several teachers first.
Then choked and said: "I learned another dance, it doesn't matter if I don't admit it, there is a stage, can I dance to you again?"
Although it was a questioning tone, Zhou Jie did not give them a chance to think at all, and stood on the stage with his own care, showing them his newly learned dance.
She knew that this might be the last time she would stand on a formal stage and dance for everyone to see.
The schedule of the interview was very tight, but no one in the audience spoke up to stop this little girl who was determined to go her own way, and they saw the simplest and purest love in her.
Zhou Jieming on the stage was obviously smiling, and even completed every action without error.
But they clearly felt a thick, inseparable sadness in this right little girl.
After the dance, Zhou Jie understood that it was time to leave, politely said goodbye to the teachers and quickly left the scene, as if his emotions would collapse if he stayed one more second.
At this time, a person chased her out, Zhou Jie fixed her eyes and found that this was the teacher who had just comforted herself in the room, and she carefully asked "Is it wrong teacher?"
The teacher nodded, "I'll think of another way, if it really doesn't work, you come to me in a year, I'll teach you to dance, oh yes, my name is Wang Lianfen, don't forget." ”
Wang Lianfen's words were tantamount to the last floating board grabbed by a drowning person for Zhou Jie, who hit a wall everywhere.
Not only did she remember the name firmly, but even from this moment, little Zhou Jie had already regarded the other party as her mentor.
A year later, Zhou Jie took the student report sent by the Shanghai Opera House and came to the opera house she wanted again, and the moment she saw Wang Lianfen, she burst into tears.
She knows how much effort the teacher has put in recruiting herself, and how much risk she has taken.
Even Wang Lianfen was later transferred from the opera house, and Zhou Jie blamed herself for thinking that the teacher was affected by herself.
Even though the teacher didn't teach her for long, she still regarded her in her heart as someone who needed a lifetime of gratitude and respect.
Before Wang Lianfen left, she told Zhou Jie that she must jump well, not to live up to her own efforts, and also to jump out of the unique confidence of Chinese culture.
This sentence became a creed firmly rooted in Zhou Jie's mind, and he has since regarded it as a guideline.
When she came to the opera house, she was like a fish in water, and with her extraordinary talent and hard work, Zhou Jie only took half a year to fulfill her wish that other people could not achieve in just half a year.
After practicing for half a year, she starred in her first dance drama, and her first appearance on stage was the heroine, and she firmly held the position of leading dance with her strength.
People only saw her graceful on the stage, but there was no way of knowing how much she paid for it, how many pairs of dancing shoes she broke, only the scars on her body, silently recording the girl's efforts.
At the age of 15, he began to serve as the main dancer of a series of large-scale national dance dramas, and deservedly became the pillar of the Shanghai Opera House.
For any actor who loves dance, dance is their precious treasure, and for Zhou Jie, dance is like a mission, but also like her life.
In her words, it was: "I hope that in the end, the dance gave up on me." ”
During the performance of "Banping Mountain", a stage accident almost occurred, and Zhou Jie, who was only 17 years old at the time, played the Shiping girl in the play.
The stage is only halfway through, but Zhou Jie on the stage suddenly began to cry, crying while continuing the dance moves, the audience under the stage only thought it was the stage design, and kept clapping.
Experienced colleagues could see at a glance that Zhou Jie at that time could hardly even lift his arms.
But the stage has the rules of the stage, just like the saying that has been circulated in the opera world: "Once the play is sung, there is no reason to stop." ”
The stage does not allow for the slightest error, under the worry of colleagues, Zhou Jie not only danced the entire performance with super high professionalism, but even covered up the "mistake" that had to be done perfectly.
Even the difficult maneuvers of spinning, jumping and lifting, even the aerial maneuvers, are completed without falling.
When the curtain fell, Zhou Jie's whole person was like a bone had been pulled off, and he smashed heavily on the stage.
Frightened colleagues, she was quickly sent to the hospital, but was scolded by the doctor: "What do you think, this little girl has broken two ribs, and you still let her perform on stage?" ”
At this time, everyone reacted to what Zhou Jie, who had never made a mistake, experienced on the stage.
In the face of the doctor's suggestion that she give up dancing, otherwise she might not even be able to do normal life, Zhou Jie, who had just cried loudly and shouted that she would never dance again, hesitated.
After a long silence, he refused the doctor's proposal solemnly, and while treating, he toured with the troupe for a full 14 performances of "Banping Mountain".
The dance drama was a great success, with more than a dozen performances and Zhou Jie becoming a well-known dancer.
But the continuous performance with injuries still brought irreversible damage to Zhou Jie's body, and she was not yet twenty years old, often tormented by the stuffy pain in her chest, and the rainy day became Zhou Jie's most feared nightmare.
▶02
In the early 80s, Hong Kong director Li Hanxiang came to the mainland with scripts such as "Listening to Politics", and Zhou Jie's outstanding appearance and excellent dance skills certainly did not escape his fiery eyes.
Facts have proved that his casting vision is indeed vicious, and Zhou Jie, who has never had acting experience, perfectly brought the charming "Concubine" in the story to the audience.
Compared with Liu Xiaoqing, who has rich acting experience, it is no less impressive, but the chess collision like an opponent has a different spark, and those who watch it feel wonderful and heart-wrenching.
In addition to her dancing talent, Zhou Jie has made a breakthrough in her acting career.
Since then, she has taken into account dancing and acting, and both careers have not fallen.
In 1992, director Chen Jialin was preparing to make the movie "Yang Guifei", and he immediately thought of letting Zhou Jie, who has become a national first-class dancer, play the role of Yang Guifei in the film.
But Zhou Jie only listened to the name and refused, and didn't even open the script.
Prevaricated with the sentence "My figure like this has nothing to do with Yang Guifei's round and jade appearance, it's not that I don't act, but it's really inappropriate".
Although he was rejected by himself, Chen Jialin refused to give up, and in his eyes, only Zhou Jie was qualified for this role.
If she didn't act, then he would rather not make this movie.
The director released such "ruthless words", and Zhou Jie also had to take on the role, but the figure she maintained by practicing dance for many years was really different from Yang Guifei in the story.
If you don't act, as long as you take this role, you must interpret her seriously and responsibly, so Zhou Jie began the "crazy" road to gain weight.
In less than two weeks, she gained about thirty pounds, and finally had a slight resemblance to Yang Guifei's image.
As soon as the movie was released, it won unanimous praise from the audience, and Zhou Jie also won the title of "the most beautiful Yang Guifei". Completely on the pinnacle of life.
She had a smooth career, but she failed to harvest a complete love like any of the characters in the story.
At the age of 24, Zhou Jie and her first love fell in love at first sight, and soon after they met, they made the decision to spend the rest of their lives together.
The marriage was not as happy and perfect as they thought, and huge differences soon arose between the two.
Soon after getting married, her husband changed his former appearance and began to stand on the united front with his mother-in-law, hoping that she could stop chasing her career and have a child early while she was young.
From a well-known dancer to a "live-in nanny" who is at home with her husband and children, such a transformation is unacceptable to Zhou Jie in any way.
So she begged her husband and mother-in-law more than once to give herself more time, she wanted to slow down the process.
However, her idea was repeatedly strongly opposed by the two, who insisted that she give up her fledgling career.
Faced with the increasingly tough attitude of her husband's family, Zhou Jie fell into a deep entanglement, she loved her husband deeply, but she was unwilling to give up her hard-won opportunity.
After waking up, she also sensitively realized that she must make a choice in her career and relationship.
Seeing dance more than anything else, she finally chose what she needed most in life and happiness, so she made a decision that seemed "crazy" to outsiders and divorced.
The marriage of the two began with love, but it ended in this way in a hurry, how can it not be embarrassing.
Zhou Jie's choice also shocked her husband, he thought that in his wife's place, he was always the first, he looked at Zhou Jie in front of him, at that moment, he only felt extremely strange.
As time passed, looking at Zhou Jie, who shined in the field he was passionate about, he finally understood her original choice.
▶03
When her career was in full swing, Zhou Jie once again made a move that surprised everyone and chose to study in Houston.
It is also to see the hometown of Duncan, a dancer she has "remembered" since she was a child.
When she first arrived here, Zhou Jie completely hid herself as a transparent person, no matter how famous she was in China, here, she gave up all of them, and just wanted to be an ordinary "tourist".
Soon, however, this peace of mind was shattered.
The return of Hong Kong and the whole country celebrated together, and the Chinese in a foreign country were naturally no exception, and at this time she received an invitation to a song and dance party.
The song "Peacock Dance" surprised the four seats and completely broke Zhou Jie's peaceful life.
She is no longer as "invisible" as before, and she will be recognized when walking on the street, which makes her feel a little troubled.
The arrival of a group of Chinese descendants made her realize a problem, in their eyes, the impression of Chinese dance is still only in traditional forms such as lion dance and twisting song.
The children's confused eyes often woke Zhou Jie from the night, and then the teacher's phrase "jump out of Chinese dance and your own confidence" appeared in Zhou Jie's mind again.
She immediately decided to open a dance school that taught only Chinese dance, so she also specially found Xu Li, a friend who graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy.
In November 1997, the dance school was established, and Zhou Jie devoted all her energy to how to better spread the traditional Chinese dance culture.
Let Chinese dance "go out".
A few years later, he returned to his home country to open a branch school, this time, in order to "bring in" excellent foreign dances.
Under the vigorous development of Zhou Jie, her school in Houston has not only become the largest Chinese dance school in North America.
The mayor of Houston also specially designated November 20 as the school's commemoration day.
More people are beginning to recognize Chinese dance, recognize Chinese culture, and even return from exchange and learning, and will take the initiative to learn Chinese.
All this made Zhou Jie feel that no matter how much effort she put in, it was worth it.
She thought that she could continue to shine in the career she loved, but in 2016, she ushered in a huge bad news.
During a routine physical examination, she was diagnosed with lung cancer.
The torment of illness forced her to stop and say goodbye to the cause she loved for a while.
At that time, she didn't realize that she couldn't pick it up again when she put it down.
For many years thereafter, Zhou Jie has been resting and treating in the United States, living in the process of constantly fighting the disease all day long.
But she is still optimistic and strong, and when her old friend invited her to be a guest on the show, she only replied with a sentence of "physical illness, see you after recovery".
It's just that Zhou Jie, who has always kept his promises, missed the appointment forever this time.
In 2021, Zhou Jie finally failed to withstand the torment of illness, and her repeated illness even made the doctor give her a "verdict" that only took one week.
At this time, all she was thinking about were four words, and Ye fell back to her roots.
She thought that if she left Houston like this, it would probably become a regret for the rest of her life.
However, at that time, my hometown was also "tormented" by illness, and it was not easy to return to China.
Several friends were reluctant to face this unfortunate news.
In the end, it was decided to fly home on a chartered plane for a full $270,000.
Her body was no longer suitable for such a long flight, but under the persuasion of her family and friends, she still refused to close her eyes at ease.
It seems that as long as you don't see the land of your hometown, you won't be at ease.
Finally, the plane landed smoothly in the homeland of the motherland, and just five days later, Zhou Jie closed his eyes forever.
A generation of beauties became erect under the torment of illness, and even left only more than sixty pounds when they left.
Even so, she insisted on handing over all the school matters to her friends to settle down, and she couldn't let go of her lifelong dance career before leaving.
● The ideal of life is for the ideal life
Zhou Jie, a passionate and talented dancer, has been busy with her favorite dance career all her life, overcoming difficulties and never giving up her efforts.
She used her whole life to interpret a sentence: talent can only determine whether a person can go on this road, and hard work can determine how far a person can go on this road.
On her stages, we have witnessed her beautiful dance moves and exquisite professional skills, and the confidence brought by Chinese traditional culture has given her unique charm and emotion.
Her dance flows like a soul, immersing the audience in it and feeling the beauty and meaning of life.
Although her life was short, it was brilliant and colorful, leaving a strong mark on her dream career.
Success did not make Zhou Jie lose her way, she has always adhered to her persistence and dedication to her career, never lost herself in fame and fortune, but always insisted on her beliefs and dreams.
At the last moment of his life, he never forgot where he came from, and firmly chose to return to his roots.
She deserves the admiration and remembrance of all of us.
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