He is the most accomplished playwright in the history of modern Chinese drama, known as the "Shakespeare of the East", and he is also one of the pioneers of China's new cultural movement, along with Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ba Jin and Lao She. His original name was Wan Jiabao, and he later took apart the traditional character of the surname "Wan" as a pen name, becoming the Cao Yu we are familiar with.
September 24, 2021, the 111th anniversary of Cao Yu's birth, was launched by Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House. The commemorative month includes a variety of online and offline activities such as Caoyu theme online exhibition and Caoyu related precious material exhibition. On September 25th, the "111th Anniversary of Cao Yu's Birth Anniversary Month" jointly sponsored by Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House and PAGEONE Bookstore was held in Wudaokou Store of PAGEONE Bookstore, and the playwright, writer, and Daughter of Cao Yu, as well as critics Zhang Li and Li Linrong, and the Drama Team of Tsinghua University Student Art Troupe came to the scene, taking readers to unveil the mysterious veil together, walking into Cao Yu's life, and discovering a real and cute and unexpected drama master in various interesting things.
The scene of the event
On September 24, the new version of "Thunderstorm" directed by Pu Cunxin was performed in Renyi, and WanFang was also invited to watch. She confessed that it was a happy night. "After so many years, his plays, his plays are still performed on stage, and I think this is a great value for him." "Thunderstorm" was the first drama wanfang watched, when she was small, ignorant, and scared to cry. After growing up, watching "Thunderstorm" again, Wan Fang was deeply moved by the role of Fangyi. Wan Fang believes that his father Cao Yu is a person who loves women very much, perhaps because Cao Yu's mother died to give birth to him, and he has never seen his mother, so he buried this love for women forever in his heart. Wan Fang also said that although "Thunderstorm" is her father's masterpiece, her favorite is "Beijinger".
Cao Yu's daughter Wan Fang
In 2020, Wanfang published a memoir about his father and mother, "You and Me" (Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House), which tells the story of his father Cao Yu and his mother Fang Rui's experience of knowing and loving each other. Wan Fang confessed that because of her parents' special love experience, writing this book is a very heartache process, and many times, she needs to go out and gasp for breath to continue writing. She wrote a lot of pains about her parents' love, and also wrote a lot of beauty, the more she wrote, the more unwilling she was, and in the end she didn't want to end it. "I think it's the memories that give me the strength to write, which is equivalent to living again, and living for them again." If you see the real look of my parents through this book, I will not write in vain. ”
Wan Fang (left) and Zhang Li (right)
Zhang Li, who had lived in Tianjin for ten years before and often visited Cao Yu's former residence, believed that "Thunderstorm" could definitely represent the peak of Chinese drama art in the twentieth century. "His contribution to contemporary Chinese drama, a particularly important point is his contribution to avant-garde drama, when Gao Xingjian and Lin Zhaohua filmed "Station" and "Absolute Signal", many people opposed this kind of avant-garde drama, Mr. Cao Yu wrote a letter to his superiors, saying that this play is really good, this play can be performed, he actually potentially promoted another peak of Chinese drama." Regarding "You and Me", Zhang Li said that when she first read it, she was shocked and moved by Wanfang's sincerity and face of reality. Zhang Li was deeply impressed by the friendship between Cao Yu and Ba Jin, a good friend: "Many of Mr. Cao Yu's letters have been lost, but only Mr. Ba Jin and his letters have always been there. This is called love is more than jinjian, and it is very valuable in the history of literature for a hundred years. ”
Critic Li Linrong
"In a person's life, for the creation of drama, for any creative labor, what is important is the result, not the quantity. In his 20s, Cao Yu had already created the highest level of works for our Chinese drama and literature in the past century, and he had done what other people had to do at the age of 60, 70 and 80 before the age of 30, and his life was still full. Li Linrong said that after he read "You and Me", he felt that the image of Mr. Cao Yu was very cute. In the past literary world, as well as in social and cultural memory, the important female figure in Cao Yu's life is missing, and this book is a supplement. "Some people have no emotional experience after middle age, Mr. Cao Yu is happy, his whole life state has been maintained until the last moment of life, and he is still a genuine youth."
In addition to the sharing of the three guests, three students of the Drama Team of the Tsinghua University Student Art Troupe also specially rushed to the scene to perform an excerpt of the fourth act of "Sunrise" for the audience and share their performance feelings. Yang Yuchun, a junior student in the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University, is also the director and screenwriter of the drama team's autumn special "Sunrise", he frankly said: "Tsinghua's drama tradition is very long, the drama team has a history of 102 years since its establishment in 1919, and Mr. Cao Yu's drama tradition is now inherited by the Tsinghua Drama Team in the Tsinghua campus, which is also our honor." ”
It is reported that throughout the next October, Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House will hold a photo and information exhibition of "Cao Yu's 111th Birthday Anniversary Month - Cao Yu, the Drama Master You Don't Know" at the Wudaokou Store of PAGEONE Bookstore.