From January 12 to 16, 1984, the Chinese Dramatists Association and seven other units held the "85th Anniversary Of Mr. Shang Xiaoyun's Birth Commemorative Performance" in Beijing. Dozens of famous Peking opera actors who had been trained by Shangmen and who had been sitting in Ke Rongchundu, such as Wu Suqiu, Yang Ronghuan, Sun Ronghui, Fang Rongxiang, Tong Baoling, Ma Changli, Liu Xiurong, and Xie Ruiqing, as well as Shang's sons Changchun and Changrong (Chang Lin died not long ago), and Sun Junqing, the predecessor of Tan Paisusheng, voluntarily invited Miao to participate, and staged plays such as Shangpai's masterpieces "Han Mingfei," "Qiankun Fushou Mirror," and "Drum Fighting Jinshan." The People's Theater in Beijing was full of people and flourished for a while. This famous artist, Mr. Shang, who suffered the most from the catastrophe of the decade, had a tragic ending, and has gradually been forgotten, is obviously valued again. Shangpai art can be reproduced on the stage, as an old friend, an old audience, I feel infinitely happy about this.
As far as the "four famous Dans" of Peking Opera are concerned, Mei (LanFang), Shang (Xiaoyun), Cheng (Yanqiu), and Xun (Huisheng) each have a school of art, and the artistic style is completely different, and the singing voice of the Shang school is mainly rigid, similar to the old tune, and the lumpy cavity is difficult to do without a high-pitched voice. Therefore, it has not been loved by the world, so that the most people who learn mei and xuecheng are the most, there are fewer people who learn Xun, and there are very few people who learn shang, but in terms of facts, Shang Xiaoyun's art and his personality have another unique and negotiable place in the "four famous Dans".
Shang Xiaoyun after leaving the department
Shang Xiaoyun in his youth
Shang Xiaoyun (1899-1976), a Manchu flag, was a descendant of Shang Kexi, the king of Southern Qingping. His real name was Dequan, later changed to his current name, the character Qixia, born in Nanguan County, Hebei Province. At the age of nine, he entered the Sanle Social Science Class, originally learned martial arts from Zhao Chunrui, his stage name was Shang Sanxi, and later he learned Hua Mian, and only changed to Qingyi because of his frailty, and successively learned art from Zhang Zhiquan (the father of the ugly Zhang Wenbin), Dai Yunfang, Tang Zhuting, Sun Yiyun, and learned Wudan from Xu Tianyuan, Kun lu from Fang Bingzhong, and The famous Dan Hu Suxian was also his teacher. I once heard Wang Yaoqing say that Shang Xiaoyun's steps were different from ordinary people, referring to the fact that when he walked, he swayed, that is, Hu Suxian who learned.
In 1914, the Three Music Society was renamed zhengle society, and performed in Beijing Folk Paradise, and with Wang Sanhei, eight-year-old Hong (Wusheng), Bai Peony (Xun Huisheng), Furong Grass (Zhao Tongshan), etc., who were also on the same stage as the "Three Musics", he and Bai Peony and Hibiscus Grass were also known as the "Three Masters of Zhengle". At that time, Bai Peony performed Hua Dan opera, and Furong Cao performed Qingyi opera, although he had already worshiped Under Chen Delin's door to specialize in Qingyi, he also often performed Wudan opera. Because he has a background in martial arts, the martial arts are the most outstanding among the "four famous dans". In 1915, after he left the school, he asked for help from Mingdan Lu Sanbao, Tian Guifeng, Li Baoqin, Zhang Cailin, and Li Shoushan and Qiao Huilan, who were good at Kunqu opera, thus becoming a Danjiao with a complete range of literary and martial arts, when he was known as the "King of Tong Ling", which was the difference between his artistic experience and Mei, Cheng and Xun.
When Shang Xiaoyun was seventeen years old (1917), he took Tan Xinpei's "Chunhe Society" and also played with Sun Juxian, and he was only inferior to Mei Lanfang in terms of capital. In 1918, Yang Xiaolou organized the "Tong Xin Society", asked him to participate, he and Yang matched for a long time, he often told people that he was influenced a lot by this master in art. The play "Farewell to the Overlord" was the first collaboration he cooperated with Yang Xiaolou during the "Tong Xin Society" period (at that time, the name of the play was "Chu Han Controversy", which was divided into four books and performed in two days). Yang Xiaolou first went to Shanghai to perform this play (september 20, 1919, on the Tiantou Stage), and it was also he who played Yu Ji (the actors who went to Shanghai that time, as well as Bai Peony, Tan Xiaopei and others).
Shang Xiaoyun took a photo in the background
Contact the Southern School to rehearse new plays
In the seven years from 1916 to 1922, Shang Xiaoyun applied for six applications to go south and perform in Shanghai. At that time, the competition in various theaters (stages) in Shanghai was fierce, and the horns without a call were uninvited, and the popularity of Shang was strong, which was evident from this. It is precisely because he came to the south one after another, so in terms of artistic development, he was deeply influenced by the South (Hai) School, which was the period when new dramas were popular in the south, and the Danjiao operas of Ouyang Yuqian, Feng Zihe, Mao Yunke, Zhao Junyu, and Jia Biyun were all popular, and they were all experts at acting new plays. Shang Xiaoyun has performed on the same stage with them, and he greatly appreciates the performing arts of these famous southern sects.
In 1922, he came to Shanghai with Wang Yaoqing and Ma Lianliang, and after returning to Beijing after the performance, he organized his own class "Shuangqing Society" and began to choreograph new plays. His first new play was "Red Silk", which was first staged in Guangde Lou in 1923, followed by rehearsals of "Qin Liangyu", "Leifeng Pagoda", "Lin Siniang" and "Wulong Zuo", creating some strong, bold, upright and enthusiastic women's color images. The author has watched his plays since then, and remembers that at that time, the old students had Wang Youchen and Yang Baozhong, the wusheng was Ru Fulan, the small student Zhu Suyun, and the younger brother Fuxia was still playing Erdan (only later changed to Xiaosheng), and the lineup was quite neat. Especially the later rehearsal of the dress drama "Modern Ganu", I was most impressed, these plays are from Jin Juyin's handwriting, Jin is the Prince of Qing room Zhuang Puxu, pen name Qing Yi resident, good sex, good at playing martial arts. After the Xinhai Revolution, he closed his home, but he and Shang Xiaoyun had a past, which was written for his own amusement.
The "Modern Lady" drama is dressed in all fashions and wears Western-style costumes, which is narrated that "Lady Moderna of the Qidala tribe, who is good at taking the soul of a person, met His Holiness Ananda when she drew water, and gave birth to a heart of admiration, and it was the mother who cast a spell to take Ananda to marry the woman at home, and Anan's Daoli held herself up, and Bowl Ji chased her to the West, as the saying goes, Bowl Ji took refuge." At that time, after watching such a unique Peking Opera, I felt very novel, that is, the so-called "layman to see the liveliness". In particular, Shang Xiaoyun wore Western-style clothing and high-heeled leather shoes, which inevitably felt different. Looking back now, it cannot be said that he was not influenced by Shanghai's performance of "Napoleon" and "La Traviata". At that time, Yang Baozhong was an old student in the "Shuangqing Society", for the end of this play Shang Xiaoyun danced, to use Western music accompaniment, Yang Baozhong was good at playing the violin, he asked him to play the violin on stage, this was yang Baozhong's first appearance on the stage as a violinist, that day he wore a suit on the stage, and it was Western music that was pulled, and some conservatives ridiculed him as a "foreigner", do you know that Yang Baozhong's nickname, later became famous, but became a "love name" for him.
Shang Xiaoyun's "Modern Girl"
Promote backwards and cultivate talents
Shang Xiaoyun's lifelong contribution to promoting backwards and cultivating talents is indelible. When Yu Zhenting first ran the "Bin Qing Society" class, economic difficulties often occurred, and Shang Xiaoyun responded to his needs and gave him great help. In 1935, ye Chunshan, the host of "Fu liancheng", died of illness, and more than thirty people, including Li Shengzao, Chen Shengsun, Liu Shenglian, Yang Shengchun, and Guan Shengxi, who were out of the "Sheng" generation, organized their own classes to perform in Shanghai, engaged in internal divisions, and the class was in turmoil. Yan Shishan, Yuan Shihai and other students of the "Shi" generation in the department choreographed and staged new plays such as "JuanJuan", "The Legend of Kunlun Swordsman", "The Golden Bottle Girl", and "The Wine Boy", so that the society could save the crisis. In 1937, when his eldest son Changchun was eight years old, Yanwusheng Shen Fugui studied drama at home as a teacher, and he recruited eighteen poor children from poor families to go to his home to practice and learn drama with Changchun, including Zhang Junqiu.
He always spared manpower, assistance and material resources to cultivate Peking opera talents, and later he consulted with Zhao Yankui (originally his violinist and later the head of the Shang Opera Troupe), and in order to make more children have the opportunity to learn opera, he decided to set up a class, so soon he invested in the "Rongchun Society". Veteran artists Shang Heyu, Wang Fengqing, Cheng Jixian, Guo Chunshan, Cai Ronggui, Yu Lianxian, etc. were hired as teachers, and the students were all ranked in the word "Rong", divided into two classes, A and B, and recruited nearly 100 students.
Shang Xiaoyun and Rongchun Society students
At that time, these tonglings of the "Rongchun Society" were staged every day in the Theater outside the front gate, but during the period of the enemy's occupation of North China, the market was very sluggish, and it was necessary to maintain it for a long time, and the economic burden was quite heavy, Shang Xiaoyun was considered a solid and rich household in the pear garden industry in Beijing at that time, but in order to run this class, he successively sold the Xuanwu Gate Outside the Incense Burner Camp Toutiao Hutong, and the real estate in the Cotton Ertiao Hutong was as many as three, and the Rongchun Society later became a burden that he could not shake off, and what he lost was not only money. This was probably something he hadn't thought of at the time.
Zhang Junqiu and his origins
Mentioned earlier Zhang Junqiu, he and the monk Xiaoyun have a relationship.
Zhang Junqiu first appeared in Beijing to accompany Meng Xiaodong to sing operas, and later to play for Wang Youchen, about 1936. Shang Xiaoyun heard others say that Zhang Junqiu was a good piece of material. One day Zhang Junqiu and Wang Youchen performed "Erjin Palace" at the Xianyukou Huale Theater (now known as the Popular Theater), Shang Xiaoyun made a special trip to see the play, after the play, someone in the background informed him and told him to go to the front desk cabinet room (that is, the place where the theater office was located), saying, "Shang Boss wants to find him, Zhang is very surprised, of course, very happy, when they meet, they didn't say anything, Shang told him to go to his house tomorrow, only to give him a play." It was this sentence that made Zhang Junqiu very happy, but the problem came, at that time Zhang Junqiu had already worshiped Li Lingfeng as a teacher, and also made a teacher-student contract, Li Lingfeng was intimidated by Shang's reputation, verbally of course did not dare to say anything, but his heart was inevitably awkward, he told his teacher Wang Yaoqing about this matter, and later it was Elder Wang who called to tell Shang about the situation, Shang Xiaoyun said quickly, he said, "I don't accept him as an apprentice, it doesn't matter if I accept him as a son."
Since then, Zhang Junqiu has recognized this dry father, not only going to the Shang family every day to practice with monk Changchun, But Also Shang Xiaoyun personally taught him a lot of plays. In the early years when Zhang Junqiu was introduced, the advertisements published in the newspapers were titled with the words "Shang Xiaoyun personally taught", which was derived from this.
For the sake of love, Shang Xiaoyun can be said to be very protective of Zhang Junqiu. In 1938, Ma Lianliang was invited to the Shanghai Golden Theater and prepared to go south, but there was no second-card Danjiao, and he originally thought of using Lin Qiuwen, because Lin was brought to Beijing by Ma Lianliang from Shanghai, and the Qiuwen lion opened his mouth widely, and the asking price was very high, and Lian Liang changed his contract to Zhang Junqiu in one breath. However, at that time, Zhang Junqiu was just out of the woods, and there was almost nothing in the clothes line, and Shang Xiaoyun not only borrowed some clothes for him, but also asked someone to go to the overpass to buy him a coat with a leather collar to show his strong color. It can be seen that Shang Xiaoyun is so warm to the ancient road and sincere in his pursuit of the latter.
Shang Xiaoyun with Zhang Junqiu, Mao Shilai and Li Shifang
"Red Mane Horse" Shang Xiaoyun as Dai Zhan Zhang Junqiu as Wang Baojun
In fact, it was Not only Zhang Junqiu who became famous through Shang Xiaoyun's promotion, such as Li Baokui, who was originally a team member in the "Shuangqing Society", and should be a third- and fourth-way old student. By chance, he found that Bao Kui had the specialty of "drilling the pot" (that is, temporarily being able to appear on stage to play a role he had never played before), so he gave him a silver package. Another day, Shang acted in "Deyi Yuan", playing Di Mu's old Dan Luo Fushan, suddenly sick and unable to take the stage, the backstage manager was anxious like an ant on a hot pot, Shang Xiaoyun heard the news, he found Li Baokui and asked him: "Is it possible to drill an old Dan now?" Li said "can do", and as a result, he really sang the role of Di Mu without mistakes, and Shang Xiaoyun was greatly praised. Since then, not only has Li Baokui leapt to become a second-way veteran of the "Shuangqing Society", but also made an exception and sang Lao Dan. Yu Ruwusheng Zhang Yunxi and flower-faced Yuan Shihai were also taken by his "Chongqing Society" (Shuangqingshe later renamed Chongqing Society) as a teenager, and thrived under his cultivation.
Memories of Yoshinori's past
Shang Xiaoyun's family originally lived in Beijing Xuanwai cotton six, later moved to two under the Tsubaki tree, and his living room has a plaque called "Fangxin Zhai". He has a bold temperament, fights righteousness and looses wealth, takes pleasure in helping others, and is admired by the pear garden community. In the past, at the end of the cruel winter, the beggars at his doorstep always lined up in rows, waiting for the money. He sometimes has a poor turnover, preferring to pledge money to the silver trumpet and help these bitter colleagues who come to the door to ask for help.
However, he also has a disadvantage that he has a bad temper. On stage, there is a habit of "flipping over" (that is, other actors make mistakes on the stage, and he stares at the scene and loses his temper). He acted very seriously, no matter the actor, if there was a mistake on the stage, he showed no mercy, the clown Gao Fuyuan, was his old partner who had cooperated for decades, once Gao read the wrong words on the stage, there was a cheek-slapping performance action in the play, and because of a moment of anger, he really gave him a loud slap, and he was willing to apologize to him after finishing the play.
This gentleman has many ironic wonderful things: for example, the man is incompetent on the stage, although it is a good friendship, he can ignore him for a few days, and even hang a sign at the door of the reception room that reads "So-and-so is not allowed". His steward Zhao Yankui once did not do a good job, ran to his house and was about to enter the house, looked up and saw the words "Zhao Yankui mo entered", and had to turn backwards in a deterrent manner. But the next day he took the initiative to call Zhao Lai's home, and when he entered the door, he said, "Why didn't you come yesterday?" Zhao Yankui didn't say anything in his mouth, but in his heart he was thinking: "You told me mo to enter, how can I see you when I don't enter the house?" ”
Shang Xiaoyun house living room "Fang Xin Zhai"
Shang Xiaoyun has a rich collection, Fangxin Zhai antique calligraphy and paintings, dazzling, and quite a lot of fine products, after liberation he went to Xi'an to serve as the director of the Shaanxi Peking Theater, specially bought two more train sleeper tickets, put several art treasures on the sleeper, and transported them to Xi'an. He himself can also write and draw, copy Wang Yangming, and paint orchid lingzhi. I remember that on his fortieth birthday, Wang Yaoqing, Mei Lanfang, Xun Huisheng, Jiang Miaoxiang, Huang Guiqiu and several other famous characters who were good at Danqing painted, and Wang Fengqing, Yu Shuyan, Cheng Yanqiu, Yan Jupeng, Shi Huibao, and other calligraphy writers were cooperated into twelve screens to congratulate him, which was called a good story in the art world.
Ten years of catastrophe can not escape doom
At that time, Shang Xiaoyun founded the class in order to cultivate a group of Peking Opera talents, not for profit, nor for the sake of fame, and everyone knows it. However, in the objective environment at that time, it invisibly brought him endless disasters. At that time, during the Japanese and puppet rule in North China, the traitor Yin Tong presided over a meeting to serve the Japanese and the puppets. Forcing some well-known people in the society to join the association, Shang Xiaoyun is the president of the Rongchun Society, the president of the Pear Garden Association, and the famous actor, of course, they have become the object of their absorption. In order to avoid the trouble of the Japanese and puppet authorities, he enabled the cobain to run smoothly, and finally became a member of the association and held a title, which caused him adverse consequences. In the ten years of catastrophe, he became his crime, was put on a "hat", and was brutally persecuted. It was around 1975 and 1976 that he took off his hat and left Xi'an to return to Beijing.
Shang Xiaoyun in his later years
At that time, he had no place to live in Beijing, and he lived in the home of his son-in-law Ren Zhiqiu, who was originally a heroic man, and after many years of mental destruction, it was inevitable that psychological perversion would occur, so that Weng and his son-in-law would occasionally rub each other and could not get along harmoniously. Fortunately, his disciple Wu Suqiu did not forget his master's kindness, took the old man to her house to live, and took good care of his life. On April 19, 1976, this generation of famous Shang Xiaoyun died in the Wu family due to sudden heart attack. Wu Suqiu was really unambiguous, and Phi Ma Dai Xiao took care of the aftermath for the master. Writing this, I can't help but think that one year Wu Suqiu had a birthday, and a large group of us went to her house to wish her a happy birthday, when she was still living in Daji Lane, adjacent to Li Wanchun. She was cheerful and cheerful, and at first glance she knew that she was a warm-hearted person.
In addition to Wu Suqiu, what I know is that Zhao Xiaolan, Li Yanxiu (Mrs. Li Wanchun), Tong Baoling, and a Tianjin female ticket friend, Shen Liying, can get their salaries.
("Sixty Years of Peking Opera")