Zhang Yunxi: I practiced on the same stage as Li Shaochun
Zhang Yunxi (1919—1999)
Comrade Shaochun and I are the same age as the same age, and we are childhood classmates of the apprentices of the First Division. Our first meeting was not at the teacher's house, but at the same stage. When I was twelve years old, I studied with Teacher Chen Xiuhua in Tianjin, and huang Chubao was trained before me, and Li Shaochun was a little later than me. Our three childhood classmates have emerged on the stage and each has some fame. Huang Chubao's special performance of the old student has long been officially in the class, he was twelve years old in the Zhongyuan Company's sixth floor theater once performed on the same stage with Tan Fuying for many days, there is quite a momentum of confrontation, so many insider audiences regard him as a "prodigy". Shaochun and I both play laosheng and wusheng, and although we started a little late, we are also very popular with the jinmen audience, and our peers also have expectations. Since there were three promising childhood students under Teacher Chen's door at the same time, and it happened that we all belonged to the sheep, so when the seniors congratulated Teacher Chen, they often said that his disciples were "three sheep Kaitai". Teacher Chen was very willing to listen to this congratulatory remark, and was also willing to tell people, as soon as he mentioned this "Three Sheep Kaitai", he smiled and squinted with great pride, especially when he said that his youngest student at that time, Li Shaochun, had excellent qualifications, hard work and excellent grades, and he was even more appreciative, especially high hopes.
Peking Opera "Wu Song Fights The Tiger" Li Shaochun as Wu Song
I have been practicing rehearsals at tianjin Chunhe Theater (now renamed Workers' Theatre) for a long time. One morning, suddenly there were about a dozen people I didn't know, and I was practicing on the same stage, including a child with a tall head who resembled me. His martial arts are exceptionally good: his body movements are standardized, sharp; The martial arts handle is fast but not chaotic, and the tricks arrive home; The big heel fight is fluttering and handsome, and the basic skills of martial arts such as "flying feet", "sweeping legs", "stranding columns" and various "turning over" and waist and legs have all reached quite amazing heights. That "spinner" with more than fifty graceful postures and fast speeds in one breath is really rare - such a handsome martial art! Who is this extraordinary child? It turned out that he was Li Shaochun, a classmate whom Teacher Chen had praised many times, had excellent literary and martial arts skills, and whom we did not know yet. According to common sense, I should be admired when I see Shaochun's martial arts so superb, and the students who meet for the first time should be more intimate and laugh with each other. But in the old society where "peers are wrongdoers," even thirteen-year-old children are psychopathic. His martial arts shocked me and gave me pressure, and I felt a great sense of indignation in my heart, "He ShengYu He Shengliang", although I wanted to show affection, but it hindered my self-esteem and could not get intimate. Since studying art, whenever I practiced with children of similar age, I have not yet met an opponent who can catch up with me when it comes to the basic skills and general skills of martial arts students. And this time, Li Shaochun, who was the same age as me, some of his martial arts caught up with me, some even surpassed me, and some even made me hopeless. For example, I could only twist fifty "spinners" in one go, but he surpassed me by five or six; I didn't dare to practice at all because of the big heel fight, he was close to the level of being able to turn over, how could I not be shocked to see. Although Huang Chubao's reputation on the stage at that time was slightly louder than mine, because he could not block my way and rob me of my job, I did not regard him as a fierce enemy. But me and the childhood Li Shaochun is another matter, we both play both Lao Sheng and Wu Sheng, and at the same time both rise in Tianjin, sooner or later will "crash", I face such a "fierce enemy" for the job bowl, how can I easily admit defeat? So I secretly held my breath, and I wanted to compete with him in the exercise.
Zhang Yunxi performed "Three Forks"
I paid attention to the Shaochun at that time, only to see that he could not see a smile on a childish face, and there seemed to be no change in feelings, and he did not look away, nor did he say much, but only grasped the time to bury his head in hard training. It seems that he also regarded me as an opponent, and he gave me a "dismount" at the beginning of the exercise. Most of the children practicing martial arts are "fighting qi worms", and he may have estimated that I was not willing to show weakness, and was quietly waiting for me at the moment. The first meeting between our pair of students who fought against each other in a strong and victorious manner replaced the cordial handshake and conversation with the "confrontation" in the form of practicing exercises, and it was still undeclared! Two classmates silently practiced their own martial arts on the same stage, but they all competed to practice, today I surpassed him in these skills, tomorrow he overpowered me in other skills, every day you chased me to the ground to practice, a whole week of hard work. Our gains are not small, and our respective skills have improved significantly by a big step. On the surface, it seems that we have fought a draw, but I know very well that I have done my best to give him the first place in the overall score. After that, Shaochun and his party changed their practice places, and soon followed his father Li Guichun's predecessors to the south, and we also parted ways and took the artistic road of suitable development. Looking back on this past is ridiculous and pitiful. Shaochun and I are not only classmates, my father's generation is still an old friend for many years, but this time we practiced on the same stage, and since he came to him, the two of us have not talked a word. It can be seen how cruel the reality of life in the old society is. If we talk in two parts, it is precisely because we have earlier understood the principle of striving for survival by struggle, dared to strive for strength, and unremittingly studied and practiced diligently, that it is possible to break out of our own way in the midst of thorns and thorns that are full of strong hands, and each of us has achieved artistic achievements of different heights.
After liberation, we worked together at the Peking Opera House in China, respecting each other in both our work and personal relations, and we got along very well. His unfathomable artistic achievements are praised by people, and I am even more impressed. I think he is a rare all-rounder in the Peking Opera industry for many years, a first-class master whose literary and martial arts skills have reached the peak of the contemporary era, and I regard him as proud of the pride of new Chinese Peking Opera! There are also artistic competitions between us - friendly and promotive competitions, such as my performance of the new "Three Forks", and he also performs the new "Three Forks"; In the plays I performed, such as "Catch the Water with High Brightness", "Double Shooting Geese" and "Wusong Fighting Tigers", he gave me good ideas, and some of them also helped to improve and improve. One day we talked about our childhood memories, talked about the scene of Tianjin practicing with each other, laughed at each other, and also sighed a lot. He said: The old and new societies are very different, and people's concepts are also very different from the past and the present. The historical legacy of "peers are wrongdoers" is a clichéd concept, and I hope that in the future, the actors will always clear it from their minds! It has been more than thirty years since he said the above passage, "His self-created Li Pai art is widely spread throughout the country today, has a great influence, and will always remain in people's hearts. I greatly hope that while conscientiously studying and inheriting Comrade Shaochun's spirit of hard work and excellence, and climbing the peak of art in a down-to-earth manner, I also want to remember his words that are very important: The present and the past are very different... May the actors and actresses erase the old ideas left over from history from their minds forever!