On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender. Kuomintang officials hastily took over Beijing municipal government. The citizens of Beijing, who had been slaves to the state for eight years, thought they could live a peaceful life. Who would have thought that the Kuomintang military and political leaders would levy more wanton taxes and levies, and that the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes would be as much as cattle feathers. Wounded Kuomintang soldiers ate and robbed in the streets. Watching a play without buying a ticket, whoever is slightly dissatisfied with it will be beaten. The market is depressed, prices are rising three times a day, and the people are not happy. In this situation, the theater business is more light. In order to make ends meet, pear gardeners and theaters have to change their tricks and choose special programs to attract audiences. A brother troupe headed by Chang Baokun (stage name Xiao Shi Mushroom) performed several times at the Huale Theater.
Chang Baokun (5 May 1922 – 23 April 1951), stage name "Little Mushroom", was a native of Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. Chang Baokun studied cross-talk with Zhang Shouchen in 1931, and later cooperated with Zhao Peiru to perform in the Beijing-Tianjin area. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chang Baokun served as the leader of the "Brother Theater Troupe" in Tianjin with Chen Yanan and other organizations. He was persecuted by the Japanese puppet government for his choreography of "Tooth Powder Bag" and "Bridge Ticket". After the founding of New China, he choreographed and performed new cross-talk such as "New Lantern Riddle" and "Ideological Problems", and was good at performing repertoire such as "Five Red Figures" and "Batch of Three Kingdoms". In 1951, he participated in the first Chinese Volunteer Army's condolence mission to Korea, and died honorably in Korea on April 23.
In the second half of 1945, Beiping (Jishi Bao) launched a campaign to select Xu Hanying, Wan Xiaofu (father, scientific name; Wan Baoshu, former name; Wan Xiaofu), Chen Yongling, Mao Shilai, and Zhang Junqiu. On October 13, the award ceremony and celebration performance were held at the [Huale Theater]. The repertoire includes (Blessed by Heavenly Officials), (Search for Orphans and Rescue Orphans) and all (Leifeng Pagoda) set the famous characters in Beijing in one, each showing their talents. However, during the kuomintang rule, it was difficult to organize similar performances. Usually, the attendance rate is low, and the performance stops, so I have to survive and spend time. In addition, there are more headache-inducing official performances.
Xu Hanying (1922-1971) was a famous Chinese Actor in Peking Opera danjiao and one of the four famous dans in peking opera. He was also elected as a deputy to the Sixth People's Congress of Xuzhou City. He was elected as a director of the Jiangsu Branch of the China Drama Association. His original name was Xu Jinglie, and he used the name Xu Yanheng. A native of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, his ancestral home is Pingdu County, Shandong (now Pingdu City, Qingdao).
Mao Shilai (January 9, 1921 – December 19, 1994) was a Peking Opera performing artist. Originally from Ye County, Shandong Province, he has lived in Beijing for a long time. At the age of 7, he entered the rich year to learn art in the class, and was trained by Xiao Changhua, Yu Lianquan and Wang Lianping. At the age of 9, he entered Fulian cheng's class, Gong Hua Dan, and also played Wu Dan. He studied with Mei Lanfang. During his studies in the class, he became famous and was selected as one of the "Four Great Children's Dan".
In the second half of 1947, the Pear Garden Guild was re-elected and renamed the Peking Opera Guild. The new president is Ye Shengzhang, the vice president is Shen Yubin, and the executive directors are Li Hongchun, Xiao Shengxuan, Ye Shengchang, Bai Yunsheng, Shen Yucai and others. Shortly after the establishment of the new guild, the Beijing municipal government asked the Liyuan Association to organize a charity performance to welcome the npc delegate Zhang Daofan. The Guild called for a full council for this purpose. Some directors believe that we artists do not act without giving money to eat by singing. Some directors believe that it is unreasonable to force us to perform voluntary plays. However, if you refuse to perform in the future, the pear garden line will not have a good life. In the end, although it was decided to perform, a small number of people still couldn't figure it out, such as Shen Yucai, the person in charge of the scene line, said; if you don't give money, you won't wait. This lays a hidden danger for the performance.
Ye Shengzhang (1912.12.7~ 1966.8.31) was a famous performing artist in Peking Opera. Peking Opera art is the first person in the history of ugly picking. He is also the only clown artist who has so far enjoyed the reputation of the originator of the "genre". Zi Yaoru, a native of Taihu Lake, Anhui Province, was born in Beijing. The third son of Ye Chunshan, president of Fu Lian Cheng Society. At the age of 7, he entered Zhu Youfen's Fuqing Society to study jingjiao, and three years later the society was dissolved, transferred to Fulian Chengshe Xiaoxike, and first learned martial arts, and later changed to wen and martial ugly. He has successively studied under Xiao Changhua, Guo Chunshan, Shen Jinge, Wang Lianping, Shen Wencheng, Cao Xinquan and other famous artists.
The audience of the [Huale Theater] was mixed with the Kuomintang Air Force, the Army, the 19th Gendarmerie Regiment, the Military Command, and the Central Command, as well as many wounded soldiers. The police station sent personnel to maintain order. Zhang Daofan sat in the special class box on the second floor, accompanied by politicians and civilians. The first play is Xiao Cuihua and Xun Huisheng (Fan Jiangguan) the time for the performance has arrived, and the scene leader Li Guihe and some of the literary and martial scenes have not yet arrived, because they cannot start the performance, so they have to open up more and more. At this time, the soldiers in the audience began to clamor. The backstage principal was busy on the stage to persuade to stabilize the order. At that time, Ma Hongpei, a theater employee, was on a ladder at the gate to hang a horizontal sign welcoming Zhang Daofan, and Wang Nianzuo, director of the Nancheng Inspection Institute, dragged Ma Hongpei off the ladder and ordered Ma Hongpei to take him to the boss, and Ma Hongpei took him to find his grandfather. Grandpa immediately went to the Rongchun Society, which was performing at the Sanqing Theater, to borrow the scene, and no one wanted to come. When he came back to Qianmen Street, he was slapped by the police and was persuaded to stop. At that time, some people on the scene hid in a small courtyard diagonally opposite the theater, just waiting for the person in charge to speak and then entered the backstage. Because Li Gui did not show his face, he did not dare to enter the background when he saw the soldiers making trouble. Later, the Kuomintang soldiers found out that the organizer of this volunteer play was Ye Longzhang, so they tied him up in the background to show the public, and the teapot and bowl under the stage were smashed on the stage. A group of wounded soldiers simply rushed to the stage and beat them with crutches. At this time, Chu Danian and Gao Tingxuan of the criminal police team in the outer first district rushed to the stage, publicly announced the arrest of Ye Longzhang, and then took him out of the theater from the backstage, when a soldier who walked out of the theater raised a water bottle and smashed it at Mr. Ye's head, fortunately Gao Ting chose to block it with his hand.
The next day, Grandpa and others came forward to vouch for Mr. Ye's release. The person in charge of the scene, Li Gui, abandoned the pear garden line from then on. The loss of [Huale Theater] had to be considered moldy.
[Huale Theater] Since 1926, it has been operating in the form of fund-raising, experiencing warlord chaos, eight years of fall, and the Kuomintang rule, especially a fire in 1942. It's been so hard. In the past 20 years, due to the lack of guarantees in the operation of shareholders, shareholders are reluctant to take risks, and they have gradually withdrawn their shares.
On January 31, 1949, Beijing was peacefully liberated. On February 3, the Municipal Military Control Commission announced that it would take over the Kuomintang regime. Vice Chairman Zhou was appointed by Ma Yanxiang to be responsible for the renovation of the old theater. In September 1949, Ma Yanxiang negotiated with his grandfather in the name of the Military Control Commission on the takeover. The takeover went well.
With the approval of the superiors, [Huale Theater] was renamed [Popular Theater] Ma Yanxiang and manager, grandfather as deputy business manager, Wu Wenfang as deputy manager of general affairs. It became the first state-run theater in Beijing. It was officially opened on January 23, 1950.
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