On October 17, 2006, the final moment of his life quietly struck in a small but warm room in Yangpu District, Shanghai. The 86-year-old Mr. Shu leaned on the beige bed, and his wife, Li Bo, clasped his hands and gazed at him affectionately.
Although his breath had become insignificant, he still tried to say a final goodbye to the world, as if he had a word to tell her, but before the words fell, his breathing had stopped.
Li Boqiang held back tears and tried to squeeze out a smile of comfort. She knew that this old man in his twilight years was hovering between life and death, and perhaps saying goodbye to her this time would be the eternal secret.
She had mixed feelings in her heart, both deeply grateful to her old wife, who had been her idol, and extremely sorry for his long-cherished wish that could not be fulfilled during his lifetime.
Indeed, Mr. Shu's greatest wish before his death was to record his rich and colorful life course and deep inner feelings and compile them into a book, so that these precious memories can leave an eternal mark on the world.
However, the disease is relentless, and now that he has changed his life, I am afraid that he will not be able to witness the realization of this wish in person.
Mr. Shu's gaze gradually blurred, and his consciousness seemed to travel back in time and space, back to those bygone years. A fragmented thought flashed through his mind: I can finally leave this noisy world, and let my last wish ...... Just let me ...... However, before the idea could take shape, Mr. Statement had left us forever, the stage and the screen that he loved all his life.
When Li Bo realized that Mr. Shu's life had passed, she finally couldn't help but cry bitterly. However, she knew that she had to shoulder this important responsibility in order to fulfill the elder's last wishes, to carry on his persistent pursuit of art and firm belief in life.
So, she began to collect materials, including all the news reports and precious photos of Mr. Shu's life, and many of them were records of her daily life, which eventually became a picture album called "The Statement of Statements".
Back in 1920, Mr. Shu was born in a scholarly family in Shanghai. Since the day he began to babble, his mother often recited beautiful classical Chinese poems for him, such as "Guan Guan Ju Dove, in the River Island", "Chirp and Chirp, Mulan as a Household Weaving" and other masterpieces.
When night fell, Shushu's father would always explain to him the influential classics such as "Hamlet" and "Oedipus the King" before going to bed.
In the subtle influence of his parents, he said that he had a deep foundation in both Chinese and Western cultures, his mother nourished his immature heart with the wisdom contained in Eastern culture, and his father inspired him to move forward bravely through the concept of freedom conveyed by foreign masterpieces.
Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, the statement has stepped into the golden age of study. Due to his family's privileged background, he was able to enter Wanzhu Primary School, which was well-known in Shanghai at that time.
During the school period, the statement is like a sponge thirsty for knowledge, tirelessly absorbing all kinds of nutrients, learning and vision are rapidly improving, and at the same time, it has also laid a solid foundation for himself in foreign languages.
However, the good times are always short-lived, and no one expected that the outbreak of the "918" incident would bring a heavy blow to the family of the statement.
The family is in the middle of the road, all of this is stated in his eyes, the pain is in his heart, he is tormented in the depths of his heart, and he is full of anxiety and anxiety about his future life.
Faced with the family's dilemma, the 15-year-old statement decisively made an important decision in life. "Father, I'm an adult, it's time to share the burden of the family!" said the statement firmly to his father.
Despite his father's reluctance, he knew that his child had entered a new stage of life and needed to learn to take responsibility independently.
So, under the careful planning of his father, he resolutely gave up his studies, devoted himself to the melting pot of society, joined the Shanghai Commercial Press, and began to write a new chapter in his life.
During his time at the Press, he came across a variety of wonderful plays. These vivid stories opened a whole new door to storytelling, and he became interested in the profession of actor for the first time.
He often stopped to ponder and repeatedly asked his father, "How do the actors bring the plot of the script to life?" Seeing his son's passion for the performing arts, the father began to pay attention to information related to the theater, hoping to support and help him one day.
In 1939, our protagonist finally got the opportunity he had always dreamed of – joining the Shanghai Postal Administration!
With the full encouragement and selfless support of his father, he bravely used all his spare time and devoted himself to the performance activities of various cultural groups in Shanghai.
For example, the Shanghai YMCA Youth Theater Troupe is the place where the statement first stepped on the stage. Although in those days, he played only some insignificant roles, but every time he stood on that dazzling stage, his heart was filled with endless excitement and excitement.
It was through frequent contact with the stage that his love for the profession of actor became stronger.
In those days, both in the Press and in the Postal Service was already quite a decent and enviable job. However, the statement made it abundantly clear that this was not the path of life he really desired.
Therefore, since 1942, he resolutely decided to work as a part-time actor in many troupes such as the Weiming Troupe, the China Travel Troupe, and the Guohua Drama Society, thus officially embarking on the journey of pursuing his dream.
With exceptional talent and unwavering hard work, Statement quickly made its mark on the stage. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he participated in widely acclaimed drama works such as "Promotion Map" and "Foggy Chongqing", and gradually grew from a small role to a pillar-like existence.
In the face of a major opportunity in his career, he did not hesitate at all, decisively resigned from his original job, and devoted himself to the career of stage performance.
In 1948, he joined Wenhua Film Company as a special actor and officially stepped into the film and television industry.
The following year, he switched to Datong Pictures and made his first film, "Window of America," at the age of 31. The film laid a solid foundation for his future career.
In 1952, he was transferred to the Shanghai Film Studio and became a professional film actor.
From the original youth theater troupe, to the drama stage, and then to the film and television industry, the statement has realized his dream step by step.
The year 1954 was undoubtedly an important turning point in his life. He was fortunate to participate in the filming of the classic film "Crossing the River Reconnaissance" produced by Shanghai Film Studio.
In this captivating film, the statement plays a crucial antagonist role with his superb acting skills - the enemy's "intelligence chief".
For the interpretation of this role, the statement has done his best from beginning to end, and he knows that it is not easy to bring this insidious, cunning, fierce and vicious "intelligence director" to life, and it takes more effort and sweat than ordinary people.
In order to achieve the best results, the statement was carefully prepared before the crew started filming. He pondered every minute detail and every action of the role of "Director of Intelligence" repeatedly, leaving a lot of thoughts and insights on the script.
Even Sun Daolin, the star of the film, couldn't help but admire his script after reading it: "The script of Comrade Shu can be called a hand-annotated book, and his annotations with red and blue pencils can be seen everywhere."
In addition, in order to better integrate into the role, a year before the filming of the film, the statement deliberately went to Nanjing to visit some senior Kuomintang generals of the year, and had an in-depth understanding of the internal operation mechanism of the national army.
This persistent pursuit of the role made the statement easy to play during the filming process, and successfully presented the negative image of the "intelligence director" in front of the audience.
The audience not only saw a sinister, vicious, cunning and treacherous enemy "intelligence chief", but also deeply remembered his classic line "According to intelligence, dumplings are still the best in Lao Li's family", which later became a popular buzzword of the year.
With his outstanding performance, the statement finally won the high honor of the first prize of the Outstanding Film Award from 1949 to 1955.
Since then, what the audience has seen on the screen are all those classic villains that people love and hate created by statements.
Whenever he appears on the screen, he can always portray every demeanor, action, tone and tone of the character vividly, presenting a vivid artistic image for the audience, and he firmly believes that the primary task of creating a character is to deeply understand the character, accurately grasp his character traits, and naturally reveal these qualities in the performance, so as to make the character image lifelike.
It is with the spirit of tireless and persistent dedication to art that Chen Xu has created countless amazing villain classic images in his colorful acting career.
Although the characters he played made the audience angry and hated, he ignored them and reveled in the joy of acting.
For this outstanding actor, there is no substantial difference between the positive and negative angles, and it is his greatest sense of accomplishment to be remembered and loved by the audience.