Fang Rongxiang: Depending on the audience and art above all else

In June 1988, the famous Peking Opera performance artist Fang Rongxiang was invited to perform in Hong Kong, and the performance was full and unprecedented.

On the 4th day of the performance, Fang Rongxiang had a heart attack and fell backstage. He said to his colleagues: "Don't go back to the play, keep performing!" And made a pledge: "If there is misfortune and there is a problem, the responsibility is completely borne by yourself." ”

Fang Rongxiang was treated in the hospital during the day and insisted on performing at night, until the end of the 40-day Hong Kong performance activities, and then he was hospitalized for the second heart bypass surgery. This artist's attitude of putting the viewer and art above all else has shaken Hong Kong, and the audience has called him "the bao long figure that does not fall".

Fang Rongxiang was born in Beijing in 1925. Since the age of 8, he has successively studied drama with Shang Xiaoyun, Luo Lianxiang, Zhang Xinkui and other famous artists, and at the age of 16, he has worshiped Qiu Shengrong as a teacher and specialized in Qiu Paihua face. In 1948, Fang Rongxiang joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and during the Period of The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he went to Korea with the Peking Opera Team of the Volunteer Army for 7 years, was awarded the "Liberation Medal", and joined the Communist Party of China in Korea.

In 1958, Fang Rongxiang transferred to the Shandong Peking Opera Troupe as the deputy head of the troupe. He studied hard, inherited and developed the art of the Qiu School. His singing voice is charming and soothing, ethereal and transparent, and he is praised by the audience as "Fang's Qiu Yun" and praised by foreign friends as "the treasure of oriental art".

Fang Rongxiang is a people's artist who grew up under the education of the party, and he selflessly dedicated everything to the people's artistic cause. As long as the audience likes, he can perform for the audience anytime, anywhere, on the train, in the field, in the workshop, and deliver the play wherever he goes.

Due to his non-stop performances throughout the country and abroad, Fang Rongxiang became ill with overwork. In December 1984, he had a heart attack. After the first heart bypass surgery, the first thing he said when he woke up was to ask the doctor, "Can I still sing?" ”

In the hospital, he endured the pain of the knife edge and secretly practiced singing and walking. On the 7th day after the operation, the doctor finally agreed to his plea to sing. On this day, he cried. When he was discharged from the hospital, Fang Rongxiang said: "As long as you live, you will go to the performance!" ”

Half a year later, Fang Rongxiang returned to the stage, and the audience expressed their deep respect for him with endless applause. Soon, Fang Rongxiang threw himself into the filming of the TV drama "Snowflakes", and he quietly said to his wife: "My knife edge really hurts!" But then he endured the pain of volunteering to perform for the disabled, and the performance was 3 days.

In May 1987, Shandong Huimin was hit by hail disasters, and Fang Rongxiang led the team to condolence, and performed 11 performances in 13 days. In June, in order to ensure the smooth recording of the documentary "Fang Rongxiang Stage Art", he braved the scorching heat, wore a python robe weighing dozens of pounds, did not drink water, did not rest, and raced against the clock to perform.

After the death of his mentor Qiu Shengrong, Fang Rongxiang insisted on sending money every month to take care of his mother's family, which has not stopped for more than 20 years. He bought and sent tapes to the audience at his own expense, drew faces, and he cut down on his own clothes and clothes. In order to save money for the country, after the operation in Hong Kong in 1988, the knife wound had not yet healed and left Hong Kong.

In order to succeed him in the theater career, Fang Rongxiang attaches great importance to receiving apprentices and passing on the art. Even lying on the hospital bed, he also has to watch the students walk the theater, carefully point out, and never sloppy.

In November 1988, Fang Rongxiang had another heart attack. In the hospital, he taught skills to students during the day, and at night, he sorted out the script from the doctor, wrote down the stage scheduling and performance actions one by one, and recorded the singing and recording the sound and left it to the disciples.

On April 22, 1989, Fang Rongxiang died at the age of 63.

When his relatives sorted out his belongings, they found that the pieces of paper under his pillows, drawers, and pockets were full of jokes!

Fang Rongxiang has been practicing art for more than 50 years, in order to inherit and promote the art of the Qiu School, to revitalize the cause of Peking Opera, dedicated his life's energy, known as a model of "exquisite art, noble morality". (Reported by Zhao Lin, client reporter of Dazhong Daily)