Tong Xiangling talked about why he was asked to play Yang Zirong, before he played the villain
Lexue Building
Tong Xiangling was born in a Peking Opera family, learned art at the age of 8, and became a new star on the Peking Opera stage at the age of 21. In the wave of model plays more than 30 years ago, Tong Xiangling became a well-known star because she played Yang Zirong, and Tong Xiangling's stage shape and free performance dressed in a large trunk shape shape created Yang Zirong's heroic, wise, loyal and courageous heroic image, which perfectly interpreted the aesthetics of that period and became the memory of a generation. Tong Xiangling, who created a dazzling image on the stage, did not live a star-like life in real life, but like most people at that time, floated and floated in the tide of the times, and left the Peking Opera stage in advance and opened a noodle restaurant in the sea. A few days ago, Zhang Nan, the host of the program "Night Visit to a Hundred Homes", gave an interview to Tong Xiangling.
Used to be a peking opera child star
Zhang Nan: Many people are particularly familiar with Yang Zirong, who you played, and they are also familiar with the singing section in "Wise Tiger Mountain", such as "Through the Forest Sea, Across the Snow Field", etc. Usually people also like to joke: What is blushing? Refreshed, how is it yellow again? Anti-cold coated wax! They are all classic passages in "Zhizhi WeiHu Mountain".
Tong Xiangling: Yes, when you see me, I like to make jokes like this. It's like a code.
Zhang Nan: I always thought that "Wise Tiger Mountain" was from the Shanghai Peking Opera House, and you should be a Peking Opera actor in Shanghai, but in fact, you are from Tianjin?
Tong Xiangling: Yes, because my father and mother were born in Tianjin, and our brothers were all born in Tianjin, Tianjin should be considered hometown.
Zhang Nan: Some old listeners who are familiar with Beijing opera, they all know that there was a tongjia class in Liyuan at that time, which was very famous, which means your brothers and sisters, right?
Tong Xiangling: Yes, there are 5 of our brothers, the eldest brother Tong Jialing, the second brother Tong Shouling, the eldest sister Tong Zhiling, the youngest Miss Tong Baoling, and my Tong Xiangling. 5 of us were Peking opera actors, and later added my eldest sister-in-law Li Duofen who sang Lao Dan, and my father Zhang Wenying sang Dan Jiao, so we were called Tong Jia Ban. TongJiaban is also tianjin. I learned drama at the age of 8, at that time I learned the old drama, at home to learn, at that time because I was more naughty, the head of the family said that when the enlightenment must be two strong gentlemen. At that time, I invited Mr. Lei Xifu, Mr. Lei is a famous mr. Powerful, and there is a Mr. Qian Baosen, who was beaten when he was a child learning drama, learned it the first day, and forgot it the next day, so he was going to be beaten.
Zhang Nan: Hit the hand with a bamboo board.
Tong Xiangling: Hit the hand with a bamboo board. I remember once, when I was lining up "Dingjun Mountain", before I could turn around, Mr. Lei picked up the rattan pole, took my elbow, and snapped it, and the hand could not be moved. At that time, the teacher did not tell you why he hit you, that is, he wanted to think about it yourself. I really didn't understand why I was beaten, so I kept thinking about it, even going to sleep at night. Lying in the bed and playing from head to back, back, back, oh, I understand that my arm elbow did not lift up, the arm elbow went down, so it hit me. When I rehearsed again the next day, I lifted my arm and elbow up and didn't get beaten.
Zhang Nan: Although they are all disciples and soldiers, they are not tolerant at all when they are beaten, and the harshness of the masters in the theater industry is famous. Unlike other Peking Opera actors, you grew up in a family environment, and in the process of learning opera, you also include some family affection.
Tong Xiangling: Before we learned to play, our family was not very rich and relatively poor. My mother was a teacher. My mother graduated from Tianjin Women's Normal College and was one of the first female college students in China. At that time, there were many children, and I could not afford to teach. At home, my sister watched me. When I was a child, I was very hungry, watching people eat, I would cry and make trouble, and my sister would put her finger in my mouth and come to my sister to give you candy. From life, until I was dozens of years old, my sister still took me as a little brother. At that time, when my sister was in the Shanghai Peking Opera House, it was very hard to perform a big drama at night, and when she finished herself to praise chicken soup, she called her brother to drink some chicken soup, and she cared about me very much. My life path, my sister has a great influence on me. I remember once singing "Shiro Visits His Mother", when I was 11 or 2 years old, I had a good voice, a high pitch, and i was acting with an older sister. This Dan horn, she can't sing so high, I made my voice high and sang, that Dan horn can't sing, I was still quite proud on the stage. Later, when I came back to dinner, my sister criticized me, saying why do you sing so high when singing with people, you should lower the door a little. At that time, I was young, and I said I tuned down, how do I sing. My sister said that a no two-play, a person must have drama morality, you can't let people on stage look foreign. Even if you sing this play well and others sing it, then this play is still singing badly. So my sister has a great influence on me in art, in all aspects of being a person. So I miss my sister very much.
Before playing Yang Zirong, I was a villain
Zhang Nan: When did you start to contact modern drama?
Tong Xiangling: I also started to contact modern drama with my sister, which was the time of the Great Leap Forward in 1958. My first exposure to modern drama was with my sister Tong Zhiling in the northeast row "Zhao Yiman". At that time, she played Zhao Yiman, my brother played the doctor, I played the guard, my wife played a nurse, our tong family class, and it started at that time. I rehearsed "Zhao Yiman" with my sister, and after finishing it, I rehearsed "Red Storm" with the Shanghai Peking Opera Second Troupe, and I played Shi Yang. He also acted in "Stepping through the Thousand Layers of Waves in the East China Sea", which was at that time. At that time, young people liked new things, and my sister was willing to rehearse modern dramas.
Zhang Nan: When did you start acting in "Wise Tiger Mountain"?
Tong Xiangling: I started at the end of 1964. At the beginning, in our courtyard, everyone thought that my image was playing Diao De 1, Wen Qijiu and other characters. The role of Yang Zirong did not consider me at all, because it was stipulated for me that I was playing the role of a villain.
Zhang Nan: Then how did you determine that you would play Yang Zirong?
Tong Xiangling: Yang Zirong's singing sections are very high, probably because my voice is more suitable, so I chose it again. One of my tasks in playing Yang Zirong is to strengthen Yang Zirong's vocal image, because the actor who plays Shao Jianbo has a very wide and bright voice, so Yang Zirong must be narrow. My voice was narrower, so we were both in one piece and didn't clash. Maybe that's the reason.
Zhang Nan: Is it also related to your image, thick eyebrows and big eyes, especially in line with the standards of the heroic image of that era?
Tong Xiangling: Image problems are probably also possible. Because at that time I was relatively thin, but my face was OK, my face was not thin, and my face looked relatively full.
Zhang Nan: And the eyebrows are still high, and the stage shape wearing the big hat is particularly free and heroic.
Tong Xiangling: Because this role is a bit of a literary and martial arts old student, at that time I sang Lao Sheng, when I was a child, I learned a little martial arts, and the movements were more exquisite and healthy, and the conditions in this regard may meet a little.
Zhang Nan: This will make you sure. A villain actor remakes a positive hero image and is established at once.
Tong Xiangling: After playing this role, I also turned over.
Zhang Nan: Suddenly, I became a hero.
Tong Xiangling: Yes, I didn't expect it at that time.
Zhang Nan: When was the first performance of "Wise Tiger Mountain"?
Tong Xiangling: The first performance was in Shanghai, and it has not yet been performed externally, generally only internally, and gradually matured later. Later, when I performed in Beijing, through filming, everyone's response was very strong.
Zhang Nan: After arranging the movie version of "Wise Tiger Mountain", many viewers began to be familiar with Yang Zirong. Did you also receive Chairman Mao for successfully playing Yang Zirong?
Tong Xiangling: In 1966, the chairman went to the Jingxi Hotel to watch the performance. Chairman Mao looked very carefully and specially changed the words in the play. At that time, after we finished our performance, it was conveyed above that the Chairman had made comments. The original word in "Fighting the Tiger on the Mountain" is to usher in the spring to change the world, Chairman Mao said that the word spring is not good, and it is more wonderful to usher in the spring color to change the world. Chairman Mao is a poet, and this change of mood is quite deep, and the poetry is much stronger. In addition, it is the drama of Shao Jianbo, that is, that section, the small train was bombed, Luan Ping ran, the scene of the squad rushing to attack, the Shao Jianbo had a few words of singing, 100,000 fires, every second must be raced, and the comrades were packed and rushed forward. Later, Chairman Mao said that it was improper for the army to set out in its entire line and should be dressed in uniform. At that time, we felt that Chairman Mao was very careful, looked at it so carefully, and was careful with his words.
Zhang Nan: After you performed "Wise Tiger Mountain", you suddenly became a famous star in the country. Was it a different feeling for you to be a star?
Tong Xiangling: I didn't have it myself, because at that time we felt that the success of this play should first of all be said to be the success of everyone as a whole, and it was not me alone, of course, I also did my best in it. Everyone likes this play, and I think it is the audience's love for me, my encouragement, the feeling of a big star, that feeling of pride, and should not have. At that time, I remember that when I went out, I wore a gray military uniform and a mask, so I was afraid that people would recognize me and could not show off the market.
Zhang Nan: It seems that when you went out at that time, like the big names now, you had to cover up and cover up.
Tong Xiangling: Compared with now, it is an actor, an actor that everyone likes, and he is not a big name.
Zhang Nan: But at that time, there were pictures of you all over the country, especially the stills of the tiger going up the mountain, I'm afraid you can't run away wherever you go, and people can see you out of the crowd at a glance. Although I wear a mask, I can see it when I look at my eyebrows. At that time, there were some popular singing segments in "Wise Tiger Mountain", such as drinking celebratory wine today, etc., I think many people can sing it, because these singing segments are too impressive. How were these songs designed back then?
Tong Xiangling: At the beginning, these singing sections basically adopted a three-in-one approach, composing music and adding a violinist, plus actors, because in this way, everyone would save detours. Because the composer is not fully able to understand Peking Opera, with the violinist and the actor, they will discuss a way to find a way. At that time, many groups were set up, a singing segment, everyone worked together to create, create, and then learn from each other's strengths, absorb them and then correct them, even if they were collectively created.
Life should have been sour, sweet and bitter
Zhang Nan: At that time, the character of Yang Zirong brought you unlimited scenery on the stage, but in real life, your life was not so dazzling, and there were many troubles.
Tong Xiangling: Life is always like this, there are times of joy, there are also times of sadness, sour, sweet and bitter, you have to taste. This person is more optimistic, and I always feel that optimism is always put first in life, so that problems can be solved. There is an ancient Chinese saying that the contented are always happy and calm.
Zhang Nan: Many artists are still engaged in related artistic careers after retirement, but you left Peking Opera and went to the sea to open a small noodle restaurant.
Tong Xiangling: At that time, my two sons did not have jobs, the family was in a hurry, there was really no way, what to do? Nothing will be done. We sang all our lives, and we didn't have time to care about the children or discipline the children, and the children were brought up by the aunt. Because my father could still cook à la carte food at home, he opened a small noodle restaurant, and with the help of the street, opened a small restaurant.
Zhang Nan: After opening this small noodle restaurant that year, it was suddenly hyped up in the media. Tong Xiangling, a famous Peking Opera performance artist, opened a noodle shop, and many people at that time did not understand it very well.
Tong Xiangling: I think it is very ordinary, working with both hands, not cheating, not doing bad things. So the right profession, the legitimate struggle for life, it doesn't matter. Some people think it is inappropriate for me to open a small restaurant, and I don't have so much money to open a big restaurant, so I have so much money, I can only open a small restaurant. In the past, when I was acting on stage, I was an actor that everyone liked, and when I stopped acting, I returned to the people, and returned to an ordinary person, which is not surprising. The small shop opened, because we had not done it, we did not know how to do it, so we imitated the restaurant model, invited a third-level chef, a side dish chef, two working girls, and did it. Unexpectedly, he lost a few thousand yuan in two months, and Fang knew that something was wrong. Or enthusiastic customers come up with the idea that this is equivalent to doing it for others, and this kind of small shop can only make some artificial money by itself. People say that in the idea, but do it yourself, only me and my wife can get started, can the leaders of the Peking Opera Theater understand this? What would customers think when they recognized me as part-time workers? But if you don't do it, you have to lose it day by day. Thinking again is that fame binds itself, fame is nothing after all, helping children to work with both hands is real, everything is difficult at the beginning, at first it will not be able to pull down the face, but after this it does not matter, this is the most difficult decision in my life.
When I made it clear to the chef that I was going to fire him, he asked me who he had gone to the stove, and I told him that our whole family was working on the stove, and he said that it was impossible, and I told him that if I didn't work after he left, he would slap me twice. Later, when the chef came to see us, he saw that we were indeed doing it himself, and he said it was not easy. At first, in order not to make customers recognize and cause unnecessary trouble, my wife and I dressed up specially after work, wearing overalls, wearing a small white hat, and then wearing a large mask, showing only two pairs of small eyes, which we thought was funny when we looked at it ourselves. Although we disguised ourselves, we were recognized by some old audiences.
Zhang Nan: I heard that there are also many old opera fans who deliberately run to your restaurant and go there to see you.
Tong Xiangling: Indeed. In my life of acting, the audience was very enthusiastic, applauded, and treated me warmly. But how deeply the audience really likes me and cares deeply is that I don't feel it until I open a small restaurant. For example, when we were just about to work in a small restaurant, some of the neighbors around us offered bricks and some came to help. After the opening, my place is small, can sit 12 people, some people encounter business busy, they will take the noodles away, they said Teacher Tong, we went outside to eat, people are actually making room for us, we understand. Once there was a typhoon, the plastic roof of the store was lifted, I climbed on the roof to repair, the wind was too strong to stand, there was a danger of sliding down, I used a rope to tie the ankles, let the child pull hard underneath, I lay on the roof and pressed the blown ceiling, the family nailed with wooden strips, at this time several foreign customers also stood on the ladder to help take things, some also helped to hold the roof, in the fierce wind a hard fight, and finally saved the small shop. When we came down to cook for them, they said Teacher Tong, don't worry, you are tired and rest for a while, and poured me a glass of water, let me drink the saliva first, and said that they can eat at any time, I held this cup of extremely heavy water, and I could not speak for a long time. Some 7 or 80-year-old old gentlemen, some people walked from Matsue to our place, got up at 8 o'clock in the morning, and came to my restaurant at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and the first sentence when they entered the door was that we missed you and came to see you. I feel that these things are more touched than the audience I have faced on the stage for decades, which really makes me feel the infinite care and love of the audience for us.
Zhang Nan: Although it has been a long time since I left the Peking Opera stage, the audience still remembers, remembers you, and remembers Yang Zirong, who you played.
Tong Xiangling: Yes, I was performing in Tianjin a few days ago, and I took turns clapping around a gymnasium, and everyone was enthusiastic, and I also felt very kind, especially Tianjin, Tianjin is the birthplace, and it feels different. In addition, I think that after more than 30 years, everyone is still so enthusiastic, and they can still have such a deep impression, I am really very moved, the old tears are flowing!
Tong Xiangling is a very humorous and easy-going old man, his wife is called Zhang Nanyun, is Mei Lanfang's student, but also a very talented Peking Opera actor. So when he heard that my name was only one word less than his wife's, he excitedly said it to her out loud, just like a child discovering some big news. Listening to Tong Xiangling's narration, as if telling other people's stories, I couldn't help but laugh at his humor and optimism from time to time, but after laughing, I felt a burst of bitterness in my heart, and we were all avoiding, avoiding the ups and downs of Tong Xiangling during the Cultural Revolution, and avoiding the inhuman treatment they suffered. As the topic faded, his smile was gone, his eyes were a little moist, and he said he preferred to mention the happy past. Tong Xiangling has created the image of the dazzling Yang Zirong on the stage and on the screen, but in life, like many people, she has experienced twists and turns and ups and downs. Although he left the stage very early, in his artistic career, he was able to leave an artistic image that can be remembered and some familiar singing segments, which I think is enough for Tong Xiangling to feel relieved.