Master Tang Jiezhong

On the evening of June 18 this year, Mr. Tang Jiezhong, a famous cross-talk artist and "master of praise", died in Beijing due to illness. Tang Jiezhong was willing to be a green leaf in his life, and yong remembered that "teasing is a family". He studied under the cross-talk master Liu Baorui, dedicated his life to the cross-talk cause, and cooperated with the famous cross-talk masters Ma Ji and Jiang Kun for a long time, and had many disciples, including Gong Hanlin and Hou Yaohua. In the hearts of the audience, the "Tiger Mouth Reverie" he cooperated with Jiang Kun was regarded as a classic.

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Tang Jiezhong (14 September 1932 – 18 June 2017), born in Beijing, was a famous cross-talk artist. In 1964, he studied under Liu Baorui, began to partner with Ma Ji in 1974, performed "Tiger's Mouth Reverie" on the Spring Evening of CCTV in 1987, and performed "Elevator Adventure" at the Spring Festival Gala of CCTV in 1988. He has been named "Top Ten Laughing Stars", and has won the "Hou Baolin Golden Statue Award" and the "China Quyi Peony Award Lifetime Achievement Award".

On June 18, 2017, he died at the age of 85 due to ineffective medical treatment.

Teasing is "a dish"

Tang Jiezhong was born in Beijing in 1932 and studied cross-talk in Shenyang and other places in his early years. At the beginning of 1949, 17-year-old Tang Jiezhong joined the army's literary and art propaganda team and followed the People's Liberation Army south. In 1958, he was transferred to the Guangzhou Military Region Soldier Acrobatic Troupe and became a professional cross-talk actor. In 1959, Tang Jiezhong was selected to study with the Central Radio Rap Company.

Speaking of which, Tang Jiezhong, who was still a "child" at that time, had his own idol in his heart, that is, the master Gao Yuanjun. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the army to send him to Beijing to study, Tang Jiezhong found Master Gao Yuanjun and bluntly said that he wanted to worship the master, And Mr. Gao liked to like him, and did not accept him, but introduced him to the cross-talk master Liu Baorui, in this coming and going, Tang Jiezhong met two masters in his life who were very kind, and finally achieved his own artistic life.

Speaking of the teacher, Tang Jiezhong said that in addition to the teaching of art, the main thing is to learn how to treat people, how to receive things, how to deal with things, and to learn the way of preaching, teaching, and solving puzzles. Later, Tang Jiezhong himself became a master, and he also adhered to the teachings of his own mentor, and tried to do what he thought was a natural and righteous duty.

Liu Baorui not only accepted Tang Jiezhong as a disciple to pass on his words and deeds, but also took the initiative to praise him, and the two masters and apprentices performed "The Story of LiuBao" and other programs on the same stage. Tang Jiezhong was willing to be a green leaf all his life, which is also related to the master's teaching, he once said: "When Teacher Liu Baorui taught us, he said that teasing is a family, and teasing is 'a vegetable', without praise, there is no teasing, it is impossible to become a program." ”

Ma Ji's mother gave a "BMW" car

During his training at the Central Radio Rap Ensemble, Tang Jiezhong also served as a praiser in Ma Ji's famous work "Looking for An Uncle", and the cooperation between the two was quite pleasant.

Tang Jiezhong officially said to Ma Ji that cross-talk was after 1974, and some of the works during this period have also become models for future generations to learn.

According to Tang Jiezhong, he was "deeply in love" with Ma Ji! However, don't think about it, the love between them in addition to brotherly love, more is to feel sorry for each other, Tang Jiezhong said, he was deeply attracted by Ma Ji's voice and performance from the beginning, the two people have cooperated for so many years, that feeling may have long exceeded family affection, there is a self-evident recognition in the cross-talk industry, that is, choosing a good partner is far more difficult than choosing a good wife!

Tang Jiezhong and Ma Ji's combination of pearls is a match made in heaven, and Tang Jiezhong naturally takes Ma Ji's mother as his mother. As a result, this mother gave her son a "BMW" car! It's just that it's a manganese steel bike! This was also quite a luxury in that year, Tang Jiezhong clearly remembered that the car, 194 yuan, was Ma Ji's mother's salary for a year!

Years later, Tang Jiezhong still remembers the affection of that year.

Fake scholar and 20 years of fake glasses

After partnering with Ma Ji, Tang Jiezhong also cooperated with Hao Aimin for two years, and the two launched works such as "Shoemaker Enters Beijing", "Father and Son", "Hero Plan" and so on. After that, Tang Jiezhong welcomed one of the most important partners, Jiang Kun. At that time, Jiang Kun's partner Li Wenhua left the stage due to illness, which was also a challenge for Tang Jiezhong.

The cooperation between the two was not smooth sailing, at first Tang Jiezhong imitated Li Wenhua step by step, and gave Jiang Kun a word-for-word praise according to the recording, but the effect was not ideal. Later, everyone studied together and thought that Tang Jiezhong's own characteristics should be brought into play. In order to change the established impression caused by the audience in the past, Tang Jiezhong also designed a more elegant image for himself: wearing a glasses without lenses, and this prop has been used for 20 years. Compared with Li Wenhua's simplicity, this scholar's image has some breakthroughs in "grace", but it turns out that he is quite wise!

Jiang Kun once said that "Tiger Mouth Reverie" made everyone forget Li Wenhua and believe Tang Jiezhong. Together, they have collaborated on many popular works.

As he grew older, Tang Jiezhong felt that he could not keep up with Jiang Kun's rhythm. One day, he said to Jiang Kun, "I think you have to find a new partner, I can't keep up with you, you are too fast-paced, you have to run to more than a dozen places a month, one moment to Tibet, one moment to go abroad, the next to go to the 'old and young border poor' area, there are many things." If I follow you like this, I guess I will drag you back and find a young man. Tang Jiezhong also took the initiative to recommend Dai Zhicheng as Jiang Kun's new partner.

Cross-talk should go deep into life and seek elegance in customs

Zhao Lianjia, a famous composer and performance artist, has a friendship of 40 or 50 years with Ma Ji and Tang Jiezhong. Zhao Lianjia feels that Tang Jiezhong's works are deeply rooted in life, in addition to the kung fu on the mouth, he is more important in the kung fu on the leg. "In his early years, he went from the northeast to Beijing, and he followed the PLA troops to Guangzhou, and later to Hainan Island, where he went everywhere in the north of The South China Sea. I calculated for him a few years ago that except for not having been to Tibet, all of China has been running, and he is still running everywhere at the age of seventy or eighty. His works are run out on two legs, can they not go deep into life? Can it not be liked by the audience? ”

Talking about Tang Jiezhong's artistic style, Zhao Lianjia felt that the styles of the older generation of cross-talk artists were all on their bodies, and to study their styles, we must first study their personalities.

In 1988, Liu Quangang, Together with Li Jianhua and Li Jinxiang, he worshiped Tang Jiezhong as his teacher.

Liu Quangang feels that the master's cross-talk is relatively new, and there is no habit of the old artist. "His works reflect life, positive and upward, without low-level baggage and low-level fun. He came out of the army's cultural and industrial corps, and he was more concerned about this. For example, once, I cooperated with Li Jianhua in "Upstairs and Downstairs", there was a scolding sentence in it, teacher Tang listened to it and said that it could not be used resolutely, preferring not to have this effect, this burden, and not to say dirty words. ”

Tang Jiezhong himself said that what xiangsheng pursues is to appreciate the common customs. Speaking of cross-talk customs, it refers to popularity, because cross-talk is an art form that the majority of listeners are very happy to hear, the closest to the people, and can express their emotions most conveniently and directly, because people's lives are inseparable from happiness and laughter. Now with the development of the times, there are more and more audiences for cross-talk, and because of this, cross-talk is not just a simple problem of amusement, especially can not rely on some vulgar and vulgar methods to be funny, should let people gain something, from which to obtain positive and healthy lessons, which is what we call the pursuit of elegance in the customs.

I owe my wife a tearful apology

Tang Jiezhong and his wife married in 1958, his wife's first impression of him is that he loves to sweat and does not like to talk, as for saying that he will say crosstalk in the future, Tang Jiezhong's wife does not feel it.

On the stage, Tang Jiezhong has made a lifetime of green leaves, at home, is indeed the well-deserved core, many years later, wives will use "hate" to describe their memories of their husbands. "In the past few decades, housework, he rarely pays attention, I really hate him, when the child was more than one year old, they went to Hong Kong in an acrobatic troupe, one day the child was very sick, the fever was forty degrees, it was toxic dysentery, within twenty-four hours, if it was not good, the person was gone..." When the child was almost on the line, he waited for him to sign, he was not with the child, not around the lover, could not see the tears of the family, but to make others laugh.

Once Tang Jiezhong expressed his apologies to his wife with tears in his eyes, "I will definitely do a good job in the future and return it well!" Later, Tang Jiezhong easily did not go out to eat, even if he had to go to the dinner bureau, he also had a habit, as soon as he sat down, he arranged for people to fry two dishes to pack, with the purpose of bringing them back to his wife to eat.

By the time Tang Jiezhong died, he had been suffering from prostate cancer for six or seven years, and he had found stomach cancer for three years, but in recent years he had been optimistically fighting against the pain.

On the evening of June 18, the master who had brought laughter to others all his life died of illness in Beijing. On the morning of June 22, the farewell ceremony of Tang Jiezhong's body was held in the light rain. Jiang Kun, Zhu Shimao, Chen Peisi, Feng Gong, Gong Hanlin, Li Jindou and other entertainers attended the ceremony to mourn. Old partner Jiang Kun choked up that day: "Teacher Tang Jiezhong, in this life, seriously acted, acted plainly, and when green leaves were a ladder, he used his exquisite art to set an example for our cross-talk community." Those of us who will not fail to live up to the expectations of the old artists, we must say good cross-talk, to repay them, their art will always exist, laughter will always be in everyone's heart. ”

(Contributed by Yuan Yuan, originally published in the 11th edition of Yanzhao Metropolis Daily on July 9)