<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > author | Ning Jingcheng</h1>
On National Day in 1974, in the Beijing Hall of the Great Hall of the People, Zhou Enlai looked at everyone with a pale face and his eyes were full of reluctance.
This was Zhou Enlai's first public appearance after months of recuperation.
After the national anthem was played, Premier Zhou made a toast amid warm applause: "We express our heartfelt thanks to the people of the world and friends of all countries for your support. ”
Perhaps it had been a long time since he had spoken publicly, and Zhou Enlai's voice was trembling a little. Finally, he raised a glass and said: "Please toast to the great unity of the people of all ethnic groups in China and to the great unity of the people of all countries in the world!" ”
Even though Zhou Enlai's voice was as loud as ever, there was still one person in the crowd, staring intently at the emaciated Premier Zhou, her eyes full of concern.
She is the Cantonese opera actress Kuàng (stage name Red Line Woman) who has been received by Premier Zhou many times.
At that time, Zhou Enlai was seriously ill, and Kwong Knew that there were very few opportunities to see Premier Zhou in the future. So as soon as Zhou Enlai's speech was over, she pulled Yang Chunxia, a Peking Opera actress beside her, and said, "Go, Chunxia, let's toast Premier Zhou!"
Yang Chunxia listened, and at first she was a little timid, after all, sitting next to Premier Zhou was Prince Sihanouk, and she was worried that she was not qualified. But I thought about it again, since there were seniors taking the lead, I was still afraid of something.
After making up their minds, Yang Chunxia and the Red Line Woman walked toward Premier Zhou's banquet table.
At the other end of the picture, Zhou Enlai, dressed in a dark Zhongshan suit, is much thinner than before. His face is a little pale, but his speech and demeanor are still gentle and elegant, which makes people feel very kind.
Premier Zhou saw that Yang Chunxia and the two were walking toward him, so he slowly got up and raised a glass to greet them.
The red line woman walked up to Premier Zhou and said with concern, "Premier Zhou, we miss your body very much. ”
Premier Zhou nodded and said to her, "I also miss you." ”
Yang Chunxia, who was beside her, had a lot of things to say to Premier Zhou at this time, but at that time, her head was confused and she only said one sentence: "Premier Zhou, we miss you too much!"
Before the words fell, Yang Chunxia's tears burst out.
Because Yang Chunxia was too excited, so what Premier Zhou said to them later, Yang Chunxia did not remember a word, which made her feel very sorry.
After the brief conversation, Zhou Enlai and the two men touched a glass, and the two sides drank it all.
Du Xiuxian, a photographer on the side, saw this scene and pressed the shutter in his hand to record this touching picture.
Let's first press the red line female table, just say Yang Chunxia. In fact, Yang Chunxia and Premier Zhou are also old acquaintances, and the two have known each other long before they met in the Great Hall of the People.
It can be said that Premier Zhou changed Yang Chunxia's life, so the latter had great respect for Zhou Enlai. Throughout Yang Chunxia's life, it is quite legendary.
In 1943, Yang Chunxia was born in Shanghai to a family of ordinary workers.
11 years later, Yang Chunxia was admitted to the Kunqu Opera Actor Training Class of the East China Opera Research Institute, which later became the Shanghai Opera School, majoring in Danjiao.
If she had been learning Kunqu opera all along, Presumably her future life would have been a different look. But fate in 1959, but chose Yang Chunxia.
In that year, the Xiqu school began to focus on cultivating Peking Opera reserve talents, and Yang Chunxia, who had just turned 16 years old, was selected to change to Peking Opera because of her outstanding image and temperament and strong opera skills, and studied under Yan Huizhu and Yang Yunong.
Two years later, Yang Chunxia successfully graduated. After that, she was assigned to the Shanghai Youth Peking Opera Troupe as an actress. At the end of that year, she flew to Hong Kong with Yan Huizhu and others to perform, starring in "The Legend of the White Snake" and "The Lady of Yangmen".
Because Yang Chunxia sang well at a young age, coupled with her handsome appearance, the audience was very popular, so once she appeared, it caused a huge sensation.
It is worth mentioning that Yang Chunxia rehearsed many times before rushing to Hong Kong to perform. During this period, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi watched her performance, and Yang Chunxia's excellent artistic accomplishment and singing skills left a very deep impression on Zhou Enlai, which also laid the groundwork for Premier Zhou to personally cast her as the role of Ke Xiang in "Cuckoo Mountain".
In 1964, at the age of 21, Yang Chunxia visited Italy, France and other countries with the Chinese Art Troupe, starring in "Picking Jade Bracelet". Through many performances abroad, Yang Chunxia has accumulated a lot of stage experience, which has also made her performance no longer green, and her transformation has become more and more mature.
After returning to China, Yang Chunxia's troupe began to rehearse the modern Peking Opera play "Sashuang Yingzi". As the protagonist, Yang Chunxia not only studied a lot of books reflecting the life of the frontline of coastal defense in order to better portray the characters, but also went deep into the coastline to live with local female soldiers and work together, just to better experience the inner world of the protagonist.
Kung Fu pays off. After the performance of the play, it was immediately sought after by audiences in Beijing and Shanghai. Many newspapers and periodicals have commented on it and rated it highly.
In 1971, Yang Chunxia, who was rehearsing for the crew of "Harbor", suddenly received an urgent notice to fly to Beijing.
It was not until after getting off the plane that Yang Chunxia learned that she had been selected by Premier Zhou to play the role of Ke Xiang in the revolutionary modern Peking Opera "Cuckoo Mountain".
The guerrilla party representative Ke Xiang is the soul of "Cuckoo Mountain", and when casting, the central government repeatedly deliberated, and finally Premier Zhou proposed that Yang Chunxia play Ke Xiang. Many years ago, Premier Zhou had seen Yang Chunxia's performance, and he thought that the latter had an outstanding temperament and singing skills, and was undoubtedly the best candidate to play Ke Xiang.
Only to see the transfer order read: Tune Yang Chunxia into the newly prepared "Cuckoo Mountain" crew, and starring in the female No. 1 "Party Representative Ke Xiang".
Looking at every word in the order, Yang Chunxia was both excited and moved. She understood that this was Premier Zhou's trust in herself and the motherland's expectation of herself.
After making up her mind, Yang Chunxia secretly resolved in her heart that she must perform this play well.
It's hard at first. As soon as Yang Chunxia entered the crew, she encountered trouble.
The first is that her Mandarin is not good. Because Yang Chunxia is a Shanghainese, and her work unit is also in Shanghai, she is used to speaking Shanghainese, which leads to her Mandarin is not very standard;
Secondly, there is some gap between the image and "Ke Xiang". Yang Chunxia usually plays most of the ancient beauties, but this time she wants to play a Communist Party member who can write and fight, which requires her to reshape her image;
Finally, there are too many lines, and the play is mixed with a lot of martial arts actions, which is also a big challenge for her.
Despite the difficulties, Yang Chunxia had enough energy in her heart and overcame the difficulties one by one:
Mandarin speaking is not standard, just learn more with the announcer, observe their pronunciation and speaking skills, correct their accent over and over again; there is a gap with Ke Xiang's image, then carefully study the origin and revolutionary experience of the characters in the play, let yourself and the character's thoughts merge as soon as possible; too many lines, then practice your lines every day, memorize your own parts well...
Years later, when Yang Chunxia recalled this experience, she couldn't help but sigh: "365 days a year, in addition to eating and sleeping, most of the time is in the rehearsal field. ”
Mei Lanfang
It is worth mentioning that many years ago, Yang Chunxia also studied with Master Mei Lanfang for a period of time, which made her more refined professionally. For Mei Lanfang's performance, Yang Chunxia praised: "His movements are the same as ours, but they are different. The movements we do are all taught by the teacher, and every move is done at home. And he is playing a character is not walking the action, I think Mr. Mei acting like a painting, like a freehand, is completely walking inward like a god. ”
Time flies to two years. In the past two years, Yang Chunxia has soaked in the rehearsal field every day, and almost all her energy has been put into polishing this play.
Before the official performance, Zhou Enlai and others had watched it many times, and they repeatedly consulted the opinions of literary and art workers and fed back the feelings of the crowd to the crew. After many revisions, "Rhododendron Mountain" was finally successfully rehearsed.
On May 23, 1973, in the auditorium of the Jingxi Hotel, the first performance of "Rhododendron Mountain" caused a sensation.
Because of the high enthusiasm of the audience, the following year, the play was filmed and toured the country. Not only do ordinary people love to watch, Premier Zhou also and the cultural department have designated "Cuckoo Mountain" as a reserved play for entertaining foreign VIPs.
After the broadcast of "Rhododendron Mountain", "Ke Xiangtou" became a trendy hairstyle in the country for a while. Many people are not addicted to watching it once, so they have watched it many times...
As Yang Chunxia's famous work, "Rhododendron Mountain" not only helped her achieve career success, but also had a great impact on her artistic career. Whenever she recalls that experience, she can't help but sigh: "Without that stage, there would be no today of your own." ”
People who work hard in unknown corners, the sun will eventually shine into their lives.
Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying
On June 25, 1974, after Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying watched the movie version of "Cuckoo Mountain", they appreciated Yang Chunxia's performance. Zhou En: "There are great changes from drama to actors. This play is very good, it is worth watching. Yang Chunxia has changed a lot, it is not easy. ”
Ye Jianying nodded and said, "The appearance has changed greatly." Everyone says that this is a good play, from the content to the art. ”
That year's National Day, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the founding of New China, whether Premier Zhou would attend the National Day reception became the focus of people's attention.
It is reasonable to say that since 1949, almost every year's National Day reception has been presided over by Zhou Enlai, which has also become a common practice.
But at that time, Zhou Enlai, who was seriously ill, had just completed his second operation, and his body had not yet recovered, and it was difficult to even walk normally. Therefore, everyone always remembers Premier Zhou.
From the perspective of medical staff, zhou Enlai's attendance at the reception was certainly not approved, because this was obviously not conducive to premier Zhou's physical recovery. However, after the doctor expressed his opinion to Zhou Enlai, he was immediately rejected by the latter.
At that time, Zhou Enlai understood that it was not so much a reception as it was the final farewell of himself and his old friends.
The medical team saw that Premier Zhou had made up his mind and had to give 3 suggestions:
First, Premier Zhou attended the reception, showed his face slightly, talked as little as possible, and left after a while;
Second, if you have to speak, then only talk about the first few sentences, and let others look at the manuscript and read it;
Third, whether you speak on your own behalf or on behalf of others, you must ensure that you leave the table early.
After formulating the recommendations, the medical team reported to Zhou Enlai.
After reading the suggestion, Zhou Enlai nodded and said, "Thank you for your kind care." ”
On the night of the National Day reception, Zhou Enlai came to the Beijing Hall of the Great Hall of the People in advance, as in previous years.
The attentive masses had long discovered that Premier Zhou's face was pale and much more haggard than before.
After a while, the staff rushed to inform Premier Zhou that the reception had begun. At about the same time, familiar music came to mind in the ballroom.
Zhou Enlai stood up, accompanied by Deng Xiaoping and others, and approached the banquet hall.
The Chinese and foreign guests sitting in the front row saw Premier Zhou coming, and they all rushed to Zhou Enlai's near and excitedly shook hands with him. Many spectators sitting in the back row were blocked by the crowd, and their hearts were anxious, so they simply stood on their chairs, crying out while crying: "Premier Zhou! Premier Zhou! ”
At that moment, whether it was the Chinese people or the diplomatic corps, everyone wanted to see Premier Zhou's demeanor. After a long time, Zhou Enlai repeatedly signaled, and the scene gradually calmed down.
After singing the national anthem, Premier Zhou delivered a toast. The short 10-minute speech was interrupted by applause more than a dozen times, which shows the high prestige of Zhou Enlai.
The people present were very excited to hear Premier Zhou's kind voice, except for the medical staff and the guards who followed Zhou Enlai. As we all know, Premier Zhou is holding on to the sick body to say goodbye to everyone.
In this way, Zhou Enlai spoke from the beginning to the end in one breath, and once again pushed the atmosphere of the scene to a climax.
Later, there was a picture of Yang Chunxia and the red line woman toasting to Premier Zhou. Photographer Du Xiuxian used a camera to freeze this scene forever on that day.
What is less well known is that Yang Chunxia did not know about this photo of herself and Zhou Enlai at that time. It wasn't until 1993 that she accidentally saw this group photo while flipping through the magazine "Sons and Daughters of China". That night, she was so excited that she didn't sleep all night.
After several twists and turns, she finally found Du Xiuxian, enlarged and rinsed the photo again, and hung it in her bedroom.
For Yang Chunxia, it was not only her own "highlight moment", but also a windfall that fate had given her.
The camera returns to the scene of the 1974 National Day Reception. After the toast, Zhou Enlai followed the doctor's advice, did not sit down, but apologetically shook hands with everyone to say goodbye, and prepared to leave the scene early.
When everyone saw that Premier Zhou was leaving, they all flocked to shake his hand. The people in front of Zhou Enlai gathered more and more, gradually blocking his way.
When Premier Zhou's staff saw this situation, they had to whisper: "I'm sorry, the doctor has repeatedly told me that I can't let Premier Zhou overwork." Originally, he was not allowed to speak, but he not only spoke, but also spoke from beginning to end, so that Premier Zhou's body could not be eaten! I hope you understand... Let Premier Zhou leave first..."
After listening to it, the crowd was stunned at first, and then they stopped one after another, gave way to a road, and watched with reluctance as Premier Zhou gradually drifted away...
After Zhou Enlai returned from the banquet hall to the Beijing hall, he was already very tired. Seeing this, the doctor painfully advised: "Premier Zhou, let's go back to the hospital quickly!" ”
Zhou Enlai nodded and stood up to prepare to leave.
He took a few steps, as if remembering something important again, and immediately came from the Beijing Hall to the East Hall. This is where he often comes to preside over his work, and he is reluctant to be here.
When the staff of the hall saw Premier Zhou coming, they excitedly gathered around and greeted Zhou Enlai one after another.
Zhou Enlai looked at everyone, his eyes paused for a few seconds on everyone's faces, and suddenly asked with concern: "Why didn't Xiao Jin come?" Haven't seen her in a long time. ”
It turned out that Xiao Jin was a waiter in the hall and had been working here since he was a teenager. It can be said that Zhou Enlai grew up watching her. Therefore, Zhou Enlai did not see her, so he inquired about her news.
When everyone saw Premier Zhou and asked about Xiao Jin, they quickly called her: "Xiao Jin, you are coming soon, Premier Zhou is coming, he has inquired about you, he wants to see you." ”
After a while, Xiao Jin rushed over. Premier Zhou saw that she had a big belly and was going to be a mother, so he happily greeted her and said, "I haven't seen you for a long time, you have to pay attention to your body!" ”
Xiao Jin looked at the emaciated Zhou Enlai in front of him, his heart ached, and tears instantly burst out of his eyes.
"Don't cry!" Zhou Enlai took her hand and comforted, "Don't cry, crying is not good for the baby's development." ”
As the premier of a country, Zhou Enlai can always remember the staff around him, and his heart always has the people, and the people's hearts will always have Premier Zhou.
In this way, Zhou Enlai ended the activities of the National Day reception and left the Great Hall of the People.
Soon after, Yang Chunxia visited Algeria again with the team, and her performance was enthusiastically received in the local area. After returning to China, according to her own ideas, she wrote an article entitled "Yi Yi Deep", which was published in the Guangming Daily on December 15, 1974.
After Deng Yingchao saw Yang Chunxia's article, he read it to Zhou Enlai. After Zhou Enlai listened, he praised Yang Chunxia's article for writing well and making progress.
In 1975, at the National People's Congress, Yang Chunxia learned from Deng Yingchao that Premier Zhou's evaluation of "Yi Yi Deep" was once choked up and difficult to say.
Premier Zhou, who was seriously ill, was still concerned about her at this time, how could this not move Yang Chunxia?
On January 8, 1976, Zhou Enlai died at the age of 78.
When the bad news came, Yang Chunxia was in great pain. In addition to grief, she organized the crew of "Cuckoo Mountain" to hold a memorial service for Premier Zhou to send condolences.
Since then, Yang Chunxia has been active on the stage, and has starred in traditional plays such as "The Legend of the White Snake", "Phoenix Returns to the Nest", "Champion Media", "Overlord Farewell" and so on. It is worth mentioning that whenever she performs, Yang Chunxia will sing a classic singing segment of "Cuckoo Mountain".
This is not only a reminder of not forgetting one's original intention, but also a kind of nostalgia for Premier Zhou.
What is less well known is that Yang Chunxia later starred in the role of "White Bone Essence" in the 1986 version of "Journey to the West", if it were not for writing this article, the author would not have associated the negative image of the TV series that made people grit their teeth with Yang Chunxia.
It can be seen that the older generation of artists have a deep control over the role, and have reached the realm of divination.
In fact, at the beginning, when director Yang Jie invited Yang Chunxia to play bai bone essence, the latter was not willing, because she preferred the role of "king of the daughter country" in the play, but Yang Jie's idea was already decided, and Yang Chunxia had to give up.
Many years later, director Yang Jie commented on Yang Chunxia in the special program of "Journey to the West Twenty Years Reunion": "Yang Chunxia's performance in the episodes of "Three Dozen White Bone Essences" was very well-organized, and she was not angry. Although she only carried a fox spirit monster behind her, her solo performance aura made the entire White Bone Cave seem to have thousands of troops and horses. ”
Yang Chunxia's superb acting skills can be seen.
In 1988, Yang Chunxia won the 6th Drama Plum Blossom Award. After that, she was rated as a national first-class actor and enjoyed the special government allowance of the State Council.
After entering her old age, Yang Chunxia put all her energy on the great event of opera inheritance.
In 2019, she was already 76 years old and was interviewed by CCTV, although she was full of silver hair, her temperament was outstanding, and she was elegant and calm. At the end of the show, she sighed: "I think that when we reach this age, the final task is to pass on what we have learned and the experience we have gained to the students without reservation, and to teach these artistic treasures." Only in this way can the cause of Peking Opera be carried forward more and more. ”
I think this is also what Premier Zhou wants to see.
End one by one