Preface
Senior Brother Li Jing, who has been in the industry for many years, finally chose to leave Deyun Club. Everything is not what we imagined, and the reason is not that the money is uneven, but...
The dream of three young people drifting north
In August 2010, a blockbuster news in the cross talk industry smashed to the outside world - Li Jing and He Yunwei, two veterans who have participated in Deyun Club since its inception, suddenly announced their withdrawal from Deyun Club collectively. At that time, all kinds of speculations flocked in, some people said that it was an uneven distribution of spoils, some people said that it was inconsistent with Guo Degang's ideas, and some people suspected that Guo Du was in power. As soon as the show came out, the entire cross talk world boiled.
Eight years later, in 2018, Guo Degang responded positively to this incident for the first time at an event. He confessed that he was indeed too young and reckless at that time, and he lacked tactfulness in doing things, which caused some unnecessary contradictions. But what's going on? Why did the party Li Jing leave? To understand this problem, we can't help but trace back to the source, starting from the moment Deyun Club was founded.
In 2003, when Deyun Club was founded, it was just a small cross talk hall with no name. And the founders Guo Degang, Li Jing and Zhang Wenshun are just ordinary young people in Beipiao. Guo Degang was born in a rural area and came from a poor family, and he was determined to break free from poverty with cross talk since he was a child. And Li Jing was born in a scholarly family, and his family has money and status, which can provide him with a stable study.
Putting aside the thousands of family wealth accumulated by her ancestors and not enjoying it, Li Jing was obsessed with the art of cross talk, and learned art at the age of 13. Later, after graduating from university, he followed Guo Degang to Beijing, and he gambled on the entire future. They added another post-90s guy, Zhang Wenshun, and the three of them got together like this, rented a cottage in their early 20s, and founded Deyun Club.
At first, it was just a snubbed singer in a tavern, and he made a living by making a living from making a scene. Li Jing alone almost covered a large amount of expenses in the early stage, which is the key to the survival of Deyun Club.
I met a noble person by chance
At this juncture, Guo Degang was appreciated by a leader of the TV station by a coincidence. The leader appreciated Guo Degang's talent and took the initiative to extend an olive branch. Since this year, Deyun Club has begun to enter the field of vision, and various commercial performance activities and TV station recordings have been held one after another. After the "Beijing Cross Talk Conference" just decentralized, the cross talk works of Guo Degang and others were also popular, and their fame gradually opened.
Relying on this shareholder wind, in 2010, Deyun Club changed its name to "Deyun Club Cross Talk Performing Arts Co., Ltd." But then a storm ensued. The well-known cross talk actor Bian Jing once said: "Cross talk is a market culture, it never hurts morals, once the market atmosphere changes, cross talk will also change."
Deyun Club became popular for a while, and the cross talk industry set off an "anti-three vulgar" movement. Too many people feel that it has an impact on traditional cross talk and caused all kinds of criticism. Guo Degang, as the central figure, is also under fire from all sides. Some people criticized him for damaging the purity of art and distorting the original face of cross talk.
In this context, as soon as the "enclosure turmoil" came out, Deyun Club fell into a predicament. Some TV stations directly removed their works from the shelves, and public opinion was dealt with ruthlessly for a while. Under internal and external troubles, Guo Degang was anxious for a while, and Li Jing, one of the founders, obviously couldn't stand it. Zhang Wenshun died of cancer, and the troika fell apart.
Until now, Li Jing has avoided talking about this matter. He has never criticized Guo Degang in public, and seems to maintain polite respect. Now, more than 20 years after leaving, Li Jing's personal contribution in the cross talk industry is obvious to all.
The truth is often bland
In the past two years, there have been some more authoritative explanations for the reasons why Li Jing left Deyun Club. According to some people familiar with the matter, the real reason is not actually the saber-rattling reasons speculated by the outside world, but a much more prosaic reason. To put it simply, Li Jing has encountered a bottleneck in her own development within Deyun Club.
First, as Deyun Club became increasingly popular in commercial packaging, the traditional line advocated by Li Jing was neglected, and there were differences in concept with Guo Degang. Second, the opportunity for the choreography of cross talk actors on the stage at that time was basically firmly occupied by Guo Degang and Yu Qian, and others had no room to show their talents at all.
This is the main reason for Li Jing's departure, not the battle of monetary interests as imagined by the outside world. Interestingly, Guo Degang also repeatedly emphasized in his 2022 autobiography that there has never been a disagreement between him and Li Jing because of financial interests. Li Jing has publicly defended Guo Degang many times, praising him as the hero backbone of Deyun Club.
This may be the last decency between a pair of "old brothers". Each has a ghost and intrigue? Maybe we're overthinking. What is plain is the truth, and leaving is just a career choice.
The new stage is still chasing dreams
After leaving Deyun Club, Li Jing's development path is actually difficult. At the beginning, he continued to partner with He Yunwei for a period of time, and the cooperation won the third prize in the 2011 Spring Festival Gala. But then the two sides parted ways and went their separate ways.
In the following years, Li Jing still made guest appearances as judges in industry activities, such as in 2018, when he served as the preliminary judge of the CCTV cross talk sketch competition. Until 2020, Li Jing won the "Quyi Artist Honor Award" at the 11th China Quyi Peony Awards. This is undoubtedly an affirmation of his contributions in the field of cross talk and quyi over the years.
Soon after, he was also hired as a director of the China Quyi Artists Association and vice chairman of the Beijing Quyi Artists Association. Holding a position of responsibility is both an honor and a responsibility. In March 2024, with the establishment of the Beijing Economic Development Zone Quyi Artists Association, Li Jing was officially elected as the first chairman. For him, an old actor, it is undoubtedly a new beginning.
Li Jing said in an interview: "My current vision is to strive to promote traditional opera to go global, so that it is no longer a niche culture, but a household name. Keep the roots in the ground, and at the same time let the branches and leaves stretch out more and grow more luxuriantly. "
At the age of 54, he has gray hair and a calm expression, but his face often shows the vigor and enthusiasm of a young man. Perhaps it is this dedication to art that has supported him all the way. Looking back on the old incident of Li Jing's departure from Deyun Club, I also saw the true face of some facts.
epilogue
It turned out that the original troika finally went their separate ways, Guo Degang became popular, and Li Jing worked silently behind the scenes. However, even when they parted ways, they did not have a grudge against each other.
Li Jing's reason for leaving Deyun Club is actually very simple. It's just a choice of career development, and there is no struggle for money and power. It can be seen that human nature yearns for freedom and yearns for the persistence of pursuing dreams, which is a very pure thing.
Once upon a time, this young man who was born in a wealthy family rushed to the road of cross talk without hesitation for the sake of his heart. Now in his 50s, although his head is a lot whiter, his enthusiasm for cross talk is still the same.
If you want to praise him with a cross talk line, it probably is: "I have lived the whole period of my life into a period of work." Let's bless this old actor on his new journey, and look forward to a new way out and breakthrough in traditional opera under his leadership. After all, it was a lifelong dream!