Three hundred and sixty lines, lines out of the yuan. Talking about China's Peking Opera genre and its founders and inheritors, everyone will always think of Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Yu Shuyan, Tan Xinpei and other Peking Opera masters, and in the pear garden industry, there is another master who can compete with Mei Lanfang, he is Zhou Xinfang, the master of the Peking Opera "Lin Sect" of Deyi Xinfang.
Although Zhou Xinfang has made countless reputations in the theater industry throughout his life, he does not want his children to inherit his mantle. However, the desire to learn opera and perform has led Zhou Xinfang's eldest son, Zhou Shaolin, to gradually embark on the road of Peking Opera art. Master Zhou Shaolin is not only the inheritor of the Art of the Lin School of Peking Opera, but also a good son who is close to filial piety.
After ten years of turbulent torture, Zhou Shaolin witnessed the last tears before the unjust death of his father Zhou Xinfang. When his father was rehabilitated, he did not take the past to heart, but was determined to carry forward the artistic performance of Peking Opera, and after decades of diligent pursuit, he finally became a generation of famous Peking Opera performing artists.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Zhou Xinfang, a representative of the Lin sect of Peking Opera</h1>
In 1895, Zhou Xinfang was born in a pear garden family in Cixi City, Zhejiang Province, and his father was a lifelong lover of drama, but regretted that he had never been able to sing a famous song, so he pinned his expectations on his son Zhou Xinfang.
At the age of 7, Zhou Xinfang began to formally learn art and sang in Hangzhou under the stage name of "Seven-year-old Child". In 1907, zhou Xinfang, a "seven-year-old child", came to Shanghai Dangui Tea Garden to star, and invited the old gentleman who came to write a propaganda poster for him to mistakenly understand the "seven-year-old child" as a "Qilin child".
Who ever thought, Zhou Xinfang's Shanghai appearance became a hit, since then, people only recognize the performance of "Qilin Boy", Zhou Xinfang also feels that this name is full of auspicious meaning, so he officially went around with the stage name of "Qilin Boy".
Obsessed with the art of Peking Opera, Zhou Xinfang, with her unique singing voice and profound performance skills that integrate the strengths of all the families, eventually became a generation of masters in Jiangnan and laid the foundation for the art of the "Lin School" of Peking Opera.
When Zhou Xinfang was 17 years old, she married Liu Fengjiao, the daughter of the famous Wudan Liu Xiangyun, and gave birth to 1 son and 2 daughters after marriage, Liu Fengjiao lived in her hometown with 3 children, while Zhou Xinfang mainly performed in Suzhou, Shanghai and Hangzhou.
On New Year's Day 1923, Qiu Lilin, a famous beautiful and rich lady in Shanghai, accompanied her mother to watch a play, but was firmly attracted by Zhou Xinfang, who was playing the role of Zhang Liang in "Hongmen Banquet" on the stage, and Zhou Xinfang, a 28-year-old on stage, was graceful, and Qiu Lilin, an 18-year-old Shanghai celebrity, fell in love with her at first sight.
Qiu Lilin fell in love with Zhou Xinfang, who was a "dramatist", and her enthusiasm for daring to love and dare to hate ignited the desire for love in Zhou Xinfang's heart. Although Qiu Lilin did not mind that Zhou Xinfang already had a marriage and wife and children at that time, their improper love affair was still resisted by the Qiu family, and the Qiu family even used all the forces to break up the lovers.
After Zhou Xinfang and Qiu Lilin fell in love for 5 years, this daring rich lady still took advantage of the night to elope with Zhou Xinfang.
In the face of Qiu Lilin's fiery love that she did not care about, Zhou Xinfang finally decided to dissolve the marriage relationship with Liu Fengjiao, and in 1935, Zhou Xinfang gave Qiu Lilin a grand wedding in the New Asia Restaurant on the Bund.
After marriage, Qiu Lilin gave birth to 2 men and 4 girls for Zhou Xinfang, and among these 6 children, the only one who really inherited her father's mantle and shone on the drama stage was the eldest son, Zhou Shaolin.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > although his father opposed it, Zhou Shaolin still silently insisted on taking the road of Peking Opera art</h1>
After Zhou Xinfang and Qiu Lilin got married, they changed their previous situation of mediocre income and began to live a more than prosperous life. Because Qiu Lilin is good at dancing and good at communication, she has almost become Zhou Xinfang's all-round "spokesperson" and "agent", helping her husband Zhou Xinfang win more performance opportunities and revenue sharing, so both of them are full of confidence and expectations for the future.
Later generations of people will always call the Zhou Xinfang family a "low-key and prominent family", because Zhou Xinfang and Qiu Lilin hope that the children can go to a broader world, so the husband and wife have planned the future of their children early - studying abroad.
Although Zhou Xinfang had become a well-known Peking Opera master at that time, as an opera actor, he knew that the hardships and efforts to enter this industry were not something that ordinary people could bear, and even if he became a famous character, he was still called "drama" and "lower nine streams", often despised by people, and his social status was low.
Zhou Xinfang believes in the power of knowledge and talent, and he hopes that children can receive advanced Western education, embark on the road of learning engineering, medicine and law, and become high-class figures in society in the future.
Therefore, Mr. and Mrs. Zhou Xinfang sent their children to english school very early, planning to send them to study abroad after they graduated.
The eldest daughter, Zhou Caizao, has been living in the United States, and the second daughter, Zhou Caiyun, is a beautiful writer and a famous businessman. Zhou Caiqin is a famous Chinese-American actress and the first Chinese-American bang girl in Hollywood. Zhou Caitz has studied in the United Kingdom and the United States, and when he became an adult, he was not only a well-known film and television drama producer, but also a popular movie star Jacky Cheung and Zhang Guorong.
The second son, Zhou Yinghua, is a well-known "Chinese food god" in Europe and the United States, while the eldest son, Zhou Shaolin, has a modest and introverted personality, although he was sent by his parents to Aurora University to learn foreign languages earlier, but because of his interest, he has always been obsessed with the art of Peking Opera.
Zhou Shaolin knew that his father, Zhou Xinfang, was very disgusted with his children's study of opera, but the enthusiasm and interest in his heart prompted him to resolve to make some great progress on the road of Peking Opera art.
At first, he regained the dream that had been sleeping in his heart because his mother-in-law's family loved Peking Opera, and later, he gradually tried to participate in the dragon set performance in the troupe, not only to get addicted to drama, but also to hone his acting skills and skills.
Zhou Shaolin, who worked spontaneously, did not dare to disobey his father, but his changes and progress were seen by his father. Zhou Xinfang said: If you want to become a Peking Opera actor, then you have to work hard yourself, and you must not think of using my name to achieve things.
After Zhou Shaolin impressed his father Zhou Xinfang, his beloved father not only invited his peers and friends in the industry to help Zhou Shaolin practice the basic skills, but also invited Famous Peking Opera teachers such as Yu Pai and Tan Pai to speak opera and guide singing for Zhou Shaolin.
After years of hard work, Zhou Shaolin, who was already extremely talented, grew up rapidly, not only joined the Shanghai Peking Opera House with strength, but also successfully performed several times and won the love of Peking Opera tickets.
Talking about the future, Zhou Xinfang once again sought Zhou Shaolin's opinion, and Zhou Shaolin firmly said that he was willing to sing in China for life and did not want to study abroad.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > decade of turmoil, Zhou Shaolin has always stood by his parents' side and witnessed his father's last tears</h1>
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a decade of turmoil swept through the cultural and artistic circles, and Zhou Xinfang, a master of Peking Opera, suffered humiliation and scolding.
Zhou Shaolin was afraid of his father's mistakes, so he insisted on following his father, and the father and son endured inhuman insults together. Zhou Xinfang was very puzzled and asked his son why he wanted to be humiliated together, and Zhou Shaolin said: They hit me a few times, and the number of times they hit you is less. It can be seen how much Zhou Shaolin, as the eldest son, cares about his family.
Later, Zhou Shaolin was also implicated and spent nearly 5 years in prison. Zhou Shaolin first sent away his mother, who had become weak and sick due to the blows, and then hid and comforted his tortured father in every way, hoping that his father Zhou Xinfang could survive the disaster.
Seven years after the death of her mother Qiu Lilin, her father Zhou Xinfang also died of a long illness and died. After his father was convicted, Zhou Shaolin was the only child who accompanied his father, and he witnessed the last tears before his father's death, and he was pained but helpless.
Shortly after his father's death, Zhou Shaolin was determined to carry forward his father's artistic achievements, he began to learn the performance skills of the Lin school, inherited his father's mantle, and eventually became the heir of the Lin school and a famous Peking Opera performance artist.
From the perspective of human affection, Zhou Shaolin has always accompanied his parents, even after experiencing the miserable storms and rains at the time of turmoil, he has also done a good job of not abandoning and filial piety to his parents. From the perspective of pursuing careers and ideals, Zhou Shaolin also successfully entered the palace of art with his decades of hard work, and passed on the skills of the Peking Opera "Lin School" pioneered by his father.
Zhou Shaolin, a generation of Peking Opera performance artists, loyal to his inner voice, lived out his wonderful life, and he seemed to be telling the world: striving to be a person who is loyal and filial to both is the best attitude towards life.