In 1949, dozens of "famous actors" came to Taiwan, and Peking Opera took root on the island. After more than 70 years of vicissitudes, the stage has witnessed joys and sorrows.
The name of Taiwan's veteran variety show "Guoguang Help" comes from the fact that the three hosts all graduated from Guoguang Art School, which is today's Taiwan Academy of Drama, and its alumni almost support half of today's Taiwanese entertainment industry, Wang Zuxian, Xu Ruyun, and Liu Genghong all graduated from here. What many people don't know is that it evolved from a troupe founded by a group of Peking Opera performers who came to Taiwan in 1949.
Taiwan Academy of Musical Songs
Ha Yiping's father, Ha Yuanzhang, is one of them. Ha Yuanzhang was born in 1924 and was born in the "Yuan" character department of the Fulian Cheng class. Ha Yiping said: "The aunt of the famous Peking Opera artist Ma Lianliang is my father's grandmother. My father used to watch Mr. Ma perform when he was a child, so he liked this industry since he was a child, so he entered the Fulian Cheng class. ”
Peking Opera actor Ha Yuanzhang (third from left)
Founded in 1904, the Fulian Cheng Class is the most far-reaching class in the history of Peking Opera education, it generally takes 7 years from admission to discharge, and the Fulian Cheng Class has cultivated a total of 7 students such as Xi, Lian, Fu, Sheng, Shi, Yuan, and Yun, about 700 people, and Ha Yuanzhang is the representative of the "Yuan" generation.
"When my father was in the class, he had a nickname called 'Corey Red', which means that he can play some leading roles before he leaves the department, and he is the only one who has not run the trick. Ha Yiping said that when his father Ha Yuanzhang was a teenager, he once played a role like a doll, he knelt on the ground and cried and sang, and the performance was very moving. At that time, Mr. Qi Rushan (a famous opera theorist) happened to be sitting in the box upstairs, and out of appreciation, he threw a silver dollar to Ha Yuanzhang on the stage, for which Ha Yuanzhang was also very encouraged.
Ha Yuanzhang took a photo of learning drama when he was a child
In 1944, Ha Yuanzhang graduated from school and served as the top veteran of the drama school. At the time of the Japanese invasion of China, in order to serve the country, Ha Yuanzhang joined the Air Force paratrooper "Flying Tiger Troupe" to participate in the Anti-Japanese War to save the dead. In 1949, Ha Yuanzhang and his brothers Sun Yuanpo and Ma Yuanliang came to Taiwan, and he arrived with 14 classmates from Fulian and dozens of famous Peking Opera actors in the mainland.
Ha Yuanzhang took a photo with his brothers
In 1949, Ha Yuanzhang was favored by Taiwan's then Air Force Commander Wang Shuming in a performance and was appointed as the first captain of the Dapeng National Opera Team. Subsequently, the Kuomintang Navy established the "Haiguang National Opera Team", the Army established the "Lu Guangguo Opera Team", and the Joint Logistics established the "Ming Camel National Opera Team". In the 1950s, in order to win the support of overseas Chinese, the two sides of the strait vied with each other to send Peking Opera troupes overseas to give condolence performances.
In 1959, Ha Yuanzhang's youngest daughter was born in Taipei, and out of longing for his hometown, he gave his daughter a special name - Ha Yiping, which means remembering Beiping. As the youngest daughter in the family, Ha Yiping has been pampered since she was a child, and she followed her father to rehearse and sing in the troupe since she was a child. However, Ha Yuanzhang, the father of the four great students of Taiwanese Peking Opera, resolutely opposed his daughter's study of opera. Ha Yiping said: "My mother also likes drama and supports me very much, but my father will not let me live or die, and later said, 'If you really like it, there is a Chinese drama team in the university department', which means that if you like it, you will take the exam." ”
Ha Yuanzhang's family
Ha Yiping was admitted to the Chinese Opera major of the Taiwan Academy of Drama as she wished, becoming the first batch of drama graduates in Taiwan with a university diploma, and her efforts were gradually recognized by her father. Finally one day, his father took the initiative to propose to Ha Yiping that they could co-act, and then the father and daughter collaborated on two plays, "Fishing and Killing Home" and "Nantianmen". "Usually I am used to being spoiled with my father, I haven't seen his majestic appearance, when I lined up "Fishing and Killing Home", there was a plot that the father did not let his daughter dress as a fisherman, and when she poured tea for her father to drink, she found that she was still dressed as a fisherman, and felt very angry. When I was rehearsing with my father, I was really shocked. Because when he performs on stage, he is completely in the play, and his eyes, emotions, and interactions will be expressed very vividly, and he will really be shocked. Ha Yiping recalled.
Ha Yuanzhang (right) and Ha Yiping (left) father and daughter perform the Peking Opera "Fishing and Killing Home"
As the two sides of the strait are separated for longer and longer, people from other provinces who cannot return to their hometowns can only watch Peking Opera to express their thoughts on their relatives on the mainland. "Shilang Visits His Mother" became the most popular Peking Opera performance in Taiwan at that time. According to Liu Huifen, a professor at Taiwan's Chinese Culture University, "The play "Shiro Visits His Mother" is about a son who has not seen his mother for many years and cries bitterly when he sees his mother. Back then, many veterans just went out to buy a soy sauce and disappeared, separated from their mothers and families, came to Taiwan, and then couldn't go back for many years. So when we were young, "Shiro Visits His Mother" was an old drama with the highest frequency of performances. The old people at the bottom are excited every time they see Shiro seeing his mother, many people shed tears, and many people sing along. ”
In the seventies and eighties of the last century, Chinese mainland reform and opening up. After a lapse of 30 years, Ha Yuanzhang got in touch with his family in Beijing through American friends, only to learn that his father had died shortly after he went to Taiwan, and that his mother had been waiting for news of him at the mouth of the hutong. Ha Yiping always remembers: "One day, my mother went out to play mahjong. When my father received the letter, he opened it and wept as he stood there holding it. I hurriedly called my mother, and I didn't know what was going on at that time, but my mother rushed back immediately, only to find out that it was my grandmother who was gone. ”
In mid-1987, Chiang Ching-kuo promulgated the lifting of martial law, which had been imposed in Taiwan for 38 years, and since then the martial law has entered history, and cross-strait relations have gradually eased. Ha Yuanzhang, who performed in Hong Kong, learned that the Beijing Peking Opera Company was also visiting Hong Kong, and immediately went backstage to look for his long-lost brothers. After seeing Ye Shaolan, Xu Jiabao, Tan Yuanshou and others, the brothers and sisters reunited again after more than 40 years, and couldn't help but cry.
Ha Yuanzhang (left) with his brother
In the 1990s, the two sides of the strait gradually liberalized the policy of visiting relatives. After more than 40 years, Ha Yuanzhang finally took his daughter Ha Yiping on the road back to his hometown. "When I went back for the first time, Beijing Airport seemed to be still under construction, and the plane had been delayed for a long time, and I was a little impatient, but my dad said, 'This is our Beijing, you still think it's your little Taiwan', and his homesickness was overflowing at that moment. Ha Yiping recalled, "When I arrived at the airport, everyone gathered around and hugged and cried, and then my father began to recognize people, and my sister and two younger brothers recognized it, and said that the three girls were looking for his sister." When he went out, his sister was still a little girl, but now she has become an old lady, how can she recognize it. ”
During his days in Beijing, his father asked his relatives to take Ha Yiping to re-follow the path his father had taken in Beijing. Ha Yiping recalled: "My father told me that I must go to these places: Jingshan Park, Beihai, Summer Palace, and Jiulong Wall. They used to practice against that wall, and it was said that they all had spit marks. These stories of my father's generation made me feel like I was stepping into history. ”
After that, the first generation of Peking Opera celebrities who came to Taiwan withdrew from the stage one after another, and various literary and artistic forms continued to emerge in Taiwan, and Peking Opera became more and more niche from a national drama sought after by the whole people. In 1995, under the promotion of Hao Bocun, then President of Taiwan's Executive Yuan, and Wang Zhenzu, the principal of Fuxing Drama School, Peking Opera teams such as Dapeng, Haiguang and Lu Guang, which belonged to the Taiwan military, were merged into Guoguang Art School, and Peking Opera continued to retain its flame in Taiwan.
Ha Yiping (second from right) teaches Peking Opera to Taiwanese students
In the same year, Ha Yuanzhang died. Ha Yiping decided to follow in his father's footsteps, and together with his partner, he founded the Yunqing Opera Troupe in Taipei, which regularly holds performances of Huangmei Harmony Peking Opera and teaches traditional theater courses to opera lovers on the island and abroad. Ha Yiping said that she will try her best to cultivate those who like drama and are interested in drama, and also said that she will try her best to inherit drama. Among Ha Yiping's students, there are not only Peking Opera lovers who have recently retired, but also a new generation of young people who want to learn opera. "Whether it is the descendants of Fu Liancheng, or the talents cultivated in Taiwan, everyone is on the road of inheritance. ”
As Liu Huifen, a professor at Taiwan's Chinese Culture University, said, "Culture is deeply rooted. It's not that if you're happy to let it stay, it stays, if you're not happy you let it go, that's impossible. Some things are in the bones, and it won't fall off. If you are a nation, your cultural roots will be there. ”
Ha Yuanzhang video data
Ha Yiping donated all the precious scripts and audio-visual materials left by her father Ha Yuanzhang to Beijing Fu Liancheng, and she hoped to give back to his alma mater all the contributions he made to Peking Opera in Taiwan on behalf of her father.
Source: "Cold and Warm Life"
Editors: Jiang Hanqi, Qin Lancuoga, Shan Shuo