Sixty years of retirement will not leave the play, write and act in the play to teach the apprentice. Seventy practice words to learn English, and then learn to type in the diary. Eighty tribulations are unbearable, and the video performance is heartthrob. Ninety has a lot of social activities, writes and writes books as an editor. The 100-year-old has prepared a thank-you gift, and he also sang flower drum opera on stage. Wonderful life walks with a smile, and people can be expected to be 100 and 2 times.
This limerick poem is a portrayal of the 95-year-old teacher Zhong Yichun, a master of Hunan Flower Drum Opera---- in his later years. She is the first generation of literary and artistic warriors in New China, and her artistic age is the same age as New China. Flower drum opera has a fate with her in this life, love at first sight, and never separated. She loves life, has a cheerful personality, is low-key, treats people sincerely, is full of love for the world, and is full of confidence in her career. She is versatile and does not stop learning. Strong memory and tireless learning spirit are her standard. She has the mentality and passion of a young man, as well as the hard work and diligence of being a family. She is always in good spirits, energetic, funny, and laughing. No one who dealt with her for the first time could tell that she was in her old age. Her impression is:
Wise and quick-witted, quick to respond, extraordinary memory, few in the world, deaf ears, bright eyes, strong waist and legs, erudite and talented, and wonderful speech. Poetry, books, dramas and texts have been accompanied, meals and housework are done by themselves, there are few leisure days in life, and Shaohua is easy to pass away and never grows old.
Zhong Yichun, female, from Shaoyang City, Hunan, was born in 1929. He is a member of the Communist Party of China, a national first-class actor, and a famous flower drum opera performance artist. He used to be the actor captain, choreographer team leader, troupe leader, and member of the art committee of Hunan Flower Drum Theater. Director and member of the presidium of the Chinese Dramatists Association. Visiting professor at Hunan Vocational Art College.
Hunan Flower Drum Opera Taidou Zhong Yichun
Zhong Yichun was born in a famous family. His grandfather, Wei Guangtao, was a minister of the Qing Dynasty, the governor of eight provinces, and a famous anti-Japanese general. Zhong Yichun's mother, Wei Jingyu, was the daughter (also known as Wei Yunfang) born to Wei Guangtao's 8th wife, Dong. Wei Guangtao had 11 sons and 7 daughters. Wei Jingyu is the youngest, and she is actually known as the seventh daughter.
Zhong Yichun's grandfather, Zhong Chuntai, was a wealthy man who owned a lot of land. The Zhong family and the Wei family are a good match. The Zhong family, located in Nanzheng Street, Shaoyang City, and the Wei family (known as "Yiwulu") on Kaopeng Street are only one road apart. But before Zhong Yichun was born, both families were in decline. When Zhong Yichun was one year old, his father Zhong Shaowen died of illness, and the family situation became increasingly difficult. Fortunately, Wei Jingyu, a knowledgeable, hardworking and kind mother, worked hard to raise and protect her three children with her hard work and life. The perverse Zhong Yichun can be like a grass in the cracks of the stone, facing the sun and thriving.
In the big family of the Wei family, there are her three uncles and uncles who studied in Japan. All three uncles were pioneers of the Xinhai Revolution. The third uncle, Wei Zhaowen, was the first librarian of Hunan Province and a well-known calligrapher in Beijing and Shanghai. Uncle Zhu Jianfan was an educator who destroyed his family and founded Zhounan Girls' School. There are also two cousins Zhu Zhongzhi and Zhu Zhongli who joined the revolution very early, and cousin-in-law Xiao Jinguang is the naval commander of New China; Cousin-in-law Wang Jiaxiang is foreign minister and ambassador to the Soviet Union. His cousin, Wei Rongjue, is an internationally renowned acoustician who has returned from studying in the United States.
Although the two large families are on the verge of collapse, they are still full of culture. The young Zhong Yichun often jumped back and forth between the two houses, often watching Peking Opera, Qi Opera and Gui Opera with his elders, and often accompanied his mother to play the organ and sing small songs. Growing up in these two scholarly families and a large family full of artistic atmosphere, she was well educated by her family and art since she was a child.
In 1949, Zhong Yichun graduated from Changsha Zhounan Girls' High School and returned to Shaoyang. In the sound of gongs and drums to welcome the liberation, she participated in the Shaoyang Zijiang Art Troupe and was the first generation of literary and artistic soldiers in New China. During the three years of the art troupe, they played waist drums, twisted Yangge, and performed operas such as "The White-Haired Girl" and "Blood and Tears". After stage practice and in-depth life experience and training, Zhong Yichun's ideological consciousness and acting skills have been greatly improved.
In 1950, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out. Zhong Yichun went to watch Shaoyang's flower drum opera "Persuading Wives to Aid the Dynasty", and was attracted by the easy-to-understand language and simple and vivid performance. Under the guidance of the old folk artist Wang Yousheng, she fell in love with the flower drum opera at first sight. In the autumn of 1951, the provincial art troupe performed, and her flower drum opera "Zhang Qian Joins the Army" won the gold medal and became famous. Winning the championship this time strengthened her love for flower drum opera.
In the autumn of 1952, all the art troupes in the province will be disbanded, where to go? Everyone was anxiously waiting for the assignment, Zhong Yichun applied for the School of Mining and Metallurgy (now changed to Central South University) at that time, and he was overjoyed to fall from the sky, and he was even named on the gold list. Unexpectedly, she gave up going to college and filled in the volunteer form with "willing to fight for the cause of flower drum opera for life". The opportunity paid off, and only the only Hunan Provincial Art Troupe in the province was left, which threw an olive branch to her, and she was admitted through the exam. Since then, a new milestone in her artistic life has begun.
The joining of the troupe coincided with the catastrophic flood in South Dongting, and the Provincial Art Troupe was divided into four teams to go to the construction site of Zhihu to give a condolence performance for more than 200,000 migrant workers. The sky-high enthusiasm of migrant workers and the feelings of family and country in full swing aroused the rolling creative passion in Zhong Yichun's heart. Having never written a screenplay, she wrote her debut novel "My Sister-in-law is Busy" overnight, and then wrote "Four Sisters Quart", and served as the director and actor in two plays. This pair of sisters performed all over the 800-mile Dongting and was warmly welcomed by the migrant workers. Later, in the provincial opera performance, "My Sister-in-law is Busy" won the Script Award, Director Award, Music Award, Performance Award and Actor Award. and published by Hunan Provincial People's Publishing House.
In 1953, Zhong Yichun returned from a condolence performance in North Korea, and the Provincial Art Troupe was divided into four performance units: the Drama Troupe, the Song and Dance Troupe, the Flower Drum Troupe, and the Orchestra. Zhong Yichun was assigned to the Flower Drum Theater Troupe. There were only 18 people in the troupe, known as the 18 Arhats, who were the founders and pioneers of the Hunan Flower Drum Theater.
In 1958, the Hunan Flower Drum Theater Troupe went to Hongshan, Wuhan to perform for the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee, and Chairman Mao watched their performance. Chairman Mao had a deep hometown feeling for Hunan opera and flower drum opera. In those years, he often returned to Hunan to inspect, and Zhong Yichun was fortunate to sing flower drum operas for Chairman Mao many times. The chairman was amiable and easy-going, applauded them, beckoned them to his side, talked freely about the plot, lines and characters in the play, and gave very pertinent advice.
When Zhong Yichun told Chairman Mao that Wang Jiaxiang's wife Zhu Zhongli was her cousin, Chairman Mao asked: "Is it my aunt or my uncle?" ”
"It's my aunt."
"Oh! You're still from Shaoyang! ”
Because Chairman Mao had a deep revolutionary friendship with Zhong Yichun's uncle Zhu Jianfan and aunt Wei Xiangruo, they were friends in distress during the White Fear Period, and the chairman knew them very well. Chairman Mao then asked: "Then there is a huge age difference between you and Zhu Zhongli's cousin?" What do you do?
"I'm a flower drum singer."
"What kind of drum show are you playing?"
"Acting in "Bangs Chopping Wood", as well as "Eight Hundred Miles of Dongting"
"Ahh Eight hundred miles of Dongting is that Liu Yi passed the book! Is it popular? ”
"Very popular."
"It would be more popular if it was performed in the countryside."
Whenever Zhong Yichun recalls the scene of dialogue with the chairman, his heart is filled with infinite sweetness and happiness. She was fortunate to see Chairman Mao many times in her life, which was the happiest highlight of her life, but Zhong Yichun never made a show, she was modest and cautious, and she was a low-key person.
In 1956, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Chairman Mao met with all the representatives who participated in the Central and South China Literary and Art Performances to perform in Beijing
The second row between Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou is Zhong Yichun.
In July 1965, the Central and Southern Region Art Show, by Zhong Yichun, Li Guyi, Peng Fuguang jointly performed the Hunan Flower Drum Opera "Mending the Pot", as well as Ling Guokang, Li Xiaojia performed "Playing the Gong", which was a great success and was rated as "Excellent Repertoire for Touring to the Mountains and Countryside". and made into a color film. On October 1, Zhong Yichun and Li Guyi were specially invited to the Tiananmen Square viewing platform. On October 10, all the delegates participating in the National Day performance were cordially received by Chairman Mao and the head of the Central Committee, and took a group photo in the Great Hall of the People. Later, he reported on the performance in the small hall and Zhongnanhai Huairen Hall, and was cordially received by Premier Zhou again. At that time, he also performed in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan and other big cities. Troupes from all over the world came to learn to perform these two plays, which was really a sensation and blossomed everywhere.
Zhong Yichun has been in the arts for 75 years and has played more than 100 roles with different personalities. The characters she plays are vivid and vivid; Her timbre is bright and crisp, her singing voice is delicate and tactful, and she is full of charm, which is deeply loved by the audience. Not only did they perform on the theater stage, but they also sent the flower drum opera to factories and villages, army mines, Korean battlefields, the front lines of Vietnam's self-defense and counterattack, and foreign lands.
Stills from "Mending the Pot". Left: Li Guyi, middle: Peng Fuguang, right: Zhong Yichun
Zhong Yichun is an all-rounder who combines editing, directing and acting. In addition to acting, she has also created dozens of large and small scripts on various themes, such as "My Sister-in-law is Busy", "Returning the Cow", "Peach Blossoms Bloom in the Spring Breeze" and so on. The scripts he co-wrote include "Two Party Members", "Save Her", "The Young Generation", "Garland Under the Mountain" and so on. The theater later appointed her as the head of the choreography and directing team, and she led the creative team to go to the grassroots level, traveled to 7 counties and 17 agricultural machinery stations, and created "Wild Duck Island", which was very popular with the audience. The play was made into a movie by Zhujiang Film Studio. The above are all excellent works in the new era of Acura.
Behind the sparkling halo there is hardship, and behind the bright laughter there is sadness. In front of the stage, he gave a wonderful performance to the audience, with applause and laughter; Behind the scenes, there are grievances and pains. In the disaster of the Cultural Revolution, intellectuals were regarded as "stinky old nine", and those with bad family backgrounds stood aside, Zhong Yichun once helped the kitchen wash dishes and shabu-shabu, and also sent the countryside to dig soil and plant seedlings. Her old mother, Wei Jingyu, was also sent back to her hometown in Shaoyang by the Red Guards from Beijing.
From the day she joined the work, she insisted on keeping a diary every day. recorded the ups and downs of life, and recorded the tidbits in front of and behind the scenes. Her diary is an encyclopedia of the Flower Drum Theater and a kaleidoscope of the artistic stage. However, these extremely precious diaries could not escape the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution, and all the diaries of the seventeen years were reduced to ashes. In 1974, she "criticized Lin and Kong", and her excellent script "Returning the Cow" was branded as a poisonous weed for "overturning the case for Liu Shaoqi's counterrevolutionary revisionist line and restoring Lin Biao's anti-party clique".
Left: Nie Nanxi (Zhong Yichun's husband), middle: Wei Rongjue, right: Zhong Yichun
After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", she picked up the pen that had been shaken off again, and began to write her spring, summer, autumn and winter again. In the golden autumn of 1979, she went to Beijing to attend the Fourth National Cultural Congress. The spring breeze of reform made her burst out with greater passion, and she was willing to add splendor, and create brilliance to write the spring and autumn.
In order to inherit and spread the flower drum opera, Zhong Yichun cooperated with an audio-visual company. She wrote, directed, and acted in 37 cassette tapes of traditional plays and new plays. Such as "Mending the Pot", "Begging for Money", "Sending My Cousin", "Little Guxian", "Playing Tofu", "Xiangzi and Lin Ying", "Zhang Er's Sister-in-law Returns to Her Mother's Home" and so on. She said that this is the most precious treasure of the flower drum opera. I am happiest to be able to leave a precious intangible cultural heritage for the country and its people.
In 1990, Zhong Yichun retired, but in fact she did not stop. Because there is no one to take over the several roles she starred in, she is still active on stage. She has been invited to serve as a special consultant and judge for many times in activities such as "Juyitang", "Nineteenth Chord Opera Concert" and "Drama Carnival" held by Hunan TV, and she has always actively participated in these social activities. In 2006, a 5-year-old girl named Luo Linshu came to the public stage of the public channel, singing and playing freely. Zhong Yichun, who served as a judge, said that she was a rare good seedling of flower drum play, and accepted him as a little apprentice. In order to have a successor to the flower drum opera, Zhong Yichun arranged the program for her regardless of remuneration, Luo Linshu won the National Little Plum Blossom Award under her guidance, and then won the National Super Children's Award, Zhong Yichun also won the Feeding New Plum Award, and the two gold medals were reflected on the chest of an old and a young.
Zhong Yichun in the flower drum drama "Sister-in-law is busy".
Zhong Yichun devoted her life to the Flower Drum Opera, retired, she learned English, calligraphy, Chinese painting, she can now write a beautiful thin gold body, draw lifelike grapes, plum blossoms, and can also use English to talk to international friends. Summer 2000. She also learned to use a computer, where she sent emails, QQ chats, and watched the news. Since New Year's Day in 2002, she has been typing her diary on the computer for 22 years, and what is commendable is that she has persevered and never stopped.
Life is happy and fulfilling, and life flies. Unknowingly, Zhong Yichun also entered his old age. As the old saying goes: there is a hurdle when people reach eighty. This is true to her. In 2008, Zhong Yichun was 80 years old. That year, the snow was severe and cold, and the ground was frozen for 10 days. His wife, Nie Nanxi, was hospitalized for lung cancer. How can Zhong Yichun, who is with each other day and night, feel at ease? She has to go to the hospital every day to take care of her wife. An unfortunate slipped on the way inside the hospital, resulting in a lumbar fracture. Then, shingles came back to her, and she was in great pain. She had never been hospitalized, and she was hospitalized for the first time in her life. After lying motionless in the hospital bed for 1 month, he went home and continued to lie down, and he lay back and forth for 3 months before he got rid of the pain and illness. It was from this year that 7 of her close relatives died one after another, one every year. And participated in the Zijiang Art Troupe at the same time as her, the only man she loved in her life, his lover Nie Nanxi, although he was completely cured of lung cancer, he died in 2011 due to an incurable disease.
This series of blows, falling on someone else's head, will be devastating. But Zhong Yichun has the tenacious will and indomitable spirit left by the heroic ancestors in her bones, and it is impossible for her to be depressed by injuries and grief, she quickly adjusted her mentality to face life, and there was no trace of sadness on her face. She wants to give joy, laughter and happiness to all beings again, and only in this way is the best memory of the deceased loved ones.
In 2007, Zhong Yichun typed out a memoir on his computer, "Walking All the Way with a Smile - My Artistic Career" published by Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House. This 320,000-word book writes down her life experience and mental journey in detail, and records the valuable information of Flower Drum Opera. It has caused a great sensation in the literary and artistic circles and the appreciation of readers.
In 2009, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles awarded Zhong Yichun a commemorative medal and a certificate of merit for 60 years of engaging in New China's literary and artistic work. Her artistic achievements have been included in the "Dictionary of Chinese Artists", "Dictionary of Chinese Women", and "Collection of Biographies of Chinese Writers and Artists". Dictionary of Chinese Opera and Opera. In 2014, he was named the provincial representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage flower drum opera, and in 2018, he won the first prize of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up. Zhong Yichun has also been rated as the Sunshine Old Man, the most beautiful old cadre, and the advanced party member of the old cadre many times.
During the epidemic, Zhong Yichun flipped through hundreds of limerick poems accumulated in his computer diary, selected more than 200 of them, and compiled them into a book with photos, calligraphy and paintings. The title of the book is "Songs for Life", which will be published in the golden autumn of 2023. At the time, she was 94 years old.
For a long time, Zhong Yichun has been working hard to carry forward the great patriotism and national spirit of the ancestor Wei Guangtao to expand the territory and protect the territory, resist Russia and resist Japan. She gathered her family and friends to help restore the house.
In 2024, Mr. Zhong Yichun will be 95 years old, still in good spirits, physically strong, quick in thinking, and funny in conversation. She lives by herself and cooks her own tea and dinner. Pick up customers and friends every day, and the activities are continuous. When she has free time, she writes poems, types diaries, and practices calligraphy and painting...... Indeed, she is continuing to build her artistic life with diligence.
Ms. Zhong Yichun is undoubtedly a healthy and long-lived elderly person who has lived a wonderful and miraculous life in today's society, and she is a role model for all the elderly. Her family already has longevity genes. Her grandfather Wei Guangtao lived to be 79 years old, which in that troubled era when materials were poor, science and technology were backward, and the average life expectancy of the people was less than 40 years old. Most of her dozen cousins survived the age of 90, and five of them lived between the ages of 100 and 102!
Many people want to know that in addition to the inherited longevity genes, does Mr. Zhong Yichun have the secret of health and longevity? Here are four limerick poems to answer for her: If you want to live a long life, you have to be busy, open-minded and comfortable, have a good relationship and pursuit, and love to sing flower drums and live longer.
May Zhong Yichun, the flower drum opera performance artist loved by the people, smile often! Live a long and healthy life! Live past 120 years old!
About author:Li Ziqiang is a native of Shaoyang City, Hunan Province. Born in September 1947, he went to the countryside on November 27, 1964 to go to the Xiazhai Brigade of Xihe Commune, Zhai City, Suining County, Shaoyang City, and entered the Shaoyang Department Store in 1979, and studied at the Law Self-study University in 1983. He took early retirement due to illness in 1991. Later, he went to the sea to do business and set up a joint venture. Since 1996, he has set up catering companies in Nanjing, Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing and other places. In 2016, he returned to Hunan to participate in the construction and later organization and operation management of Li Zijian Art Museum in Changsha. She loves literature and writing.