Chang Xiangyu is a master of Yu opera, who has many works in his life, and is a people's artist with both virtue and art.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chang Xiangyu performed in various places to support the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and collect donations for the poor people, and had a high national integrity. During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, after performing in the whole country for half a year, he finally raised enough money to donate a fighter jet to the volunteer army, which was named "Changxiangyu".
After that, he entered the DPRK to offer condolences and gave one wonderful performance after another to the volunteer soldiers in the Artillery-filled Korean Battlefield, which greatly encouraged the frontline fighters.
However, such an excellent artist has never been able to join the party. She submitted many applications to join the party, but she failed to get her wish, why?
Until 1959, when Deng Xiaoping inspected the work in Henan and learned that the Yu opera master Chang Xiangyu had not yet joined the party, he said to the leaders of the Henan Provincial Party Committee on the spot: "If you do not develop her, I will develop!" ”
Figure | Deng Xiaoping
As an artist with such a great contribution, why did Chang Xiangyu not join the party? Why did it attract the attention of Deng Xiaoping, then vice premier of the State Council?
All this had to be answered from Master Chang Xiangyu.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > (1) was forced to embark on the road of opera</h1>
Chang Xiangyu was born on September 15, 1923, to a poor family in Gong County (now Gongyi City), Henan Province. The family lived in a dilapidated cave dwelling, and his father, Zhang Fuxian, sang Yu opera, looked at the born baby girl, and gave her a nice name - Zhang Miaoling.
Since her father's surname was Zhang, and he named her Zhang Miaoling, how did he later call her Chang Xiangyu? There is also a sad story.
Zhang Fuxian is a drama singer who sings Yu opera, influenced by her father, Chang Xiangyu also likes to sing a few words from time to time when she was a child, and her father saw her love for Yu opera one by one.
When Chang Xiangyu was nine years old, according to the customs of their side, the child should be sent as a child bride. In our current view, this is a strange thing. But at that time, no one thought there was anything wrong with it.
Figure | Child brides-in-law of the old society (left)
Chang Xiangyu heard that he wanted to send himself to be a child bridesmaid, but he didn't want to go. Several of her relatives used to work as child bridesmaids for others, and the results were very bad. He was either treated coldly at his in-laws' house, beaten, or even lost his life.
Xiao Xiangyu felt terrible when she thought of that scene, and she begged her family not to send her to be a child bride. In the end, it was her father Zhang Fuxian who patted the board: Xiangyu will follow me to learn drama in the future, as long as she learns it, she will not starve to death.
The family wanted to give her to others as a child bride, in addition to the custom in the past, but also because they did not have enough to eat. Send Chang Xiangyu out, at least in someone else's house can still eat a full meal.
Because at that time, there were often famines, and the population of Henan was relatively large, and once there was a famine, there was not enough food to eat. Moreover, in 1930, Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan and others fought another Central Plains War in Henan, and the people faced a series of hardships.
Figure | Chiang Kai-shek
Under such circumstances, Chang Xiangyu's parents once took her to beg for food everywhere in order to fill her stomach. Therefore, it is indeed forced to let her become a child bridesmaid.
But fortunately, her father was sensible and did not force her, so that she began to learn drama. Since 1932, Chang Xiangyu has followed his father to learn some Yu opera singing.
In the past, singers were regarded as "inferior" and looked down upon by many, even though they fed on their own labor. In Chang Xiangyu's hometown, people in the village heard that Zhang Fuxian let his daughter follow him to learn drama and pointed out to their family, and many people said cool things behind their backs.
Zhang Fuxian could not stand this anger, and took his family to sell the family's cave and came to Mixian County to join a Yu opera class run by a friend. During the day, Zhang Fuxian helped to do something in the drama class, and when he had time, he taught Chang Xiangyu to learn drama.
Chang Xiangyu was in this drama class, eating and sleeping... Everything is related to the play, and she can often hear others singing, which provides her with a very good environment for learning the play.
Although the family left Gong County, they are still studying drama, and they are inevitably the Zhang family. The Zhang family people feel that their family has made a drama and think that it is very humiliating. He repeatedly advised them not to learn drama, but Zhang Fuxian still insisted on teaching his daughter to learn drama.
Figure | Chang Xiangyu
The patriarch of the Zhang family sent them a letter and told Zhang Fuxian that his daughter who studied drama was not allowed to be surnamed Zhang, and he could not enter the ancestral grave of the Zhang family in the future.
Zhang Fuxian saw that the clan was so uncomfortable with his daughter, and since he did not have the surname Zhang, he did not have the surname Zhang. It just so happened that at that time, he married a hanzi surnamed Chang, and Zhang Fuxian asked his daughter to recognize him as a righteous father, so he changed his surname to Chang.
This man with the surname Chang worshipped Xiang Yu all his life and named her "Chang Xiang Yu". This name did not sound like a female doll, not good, so it took a harmonic sound and changed its name to Chang Xiangyu.
The Surname Chang hanzi is very kind to Chang Xiangyu and regards her as his own daughter. Although he didn't have much money, he also saved up to buy some noodles and meat for Chang Xiangyu to supplement nutrition.
Zhang Fuxian and others did not expect that in desperation, they let their daughter learn the play and change her name, and later Chang Xiangyu's name would spread to most of China.
But the road to fame is definitely not so easy, and learning to play is to pay a hundred times, a thousand times the effort. Many of us have seen a movie "Overlord Farewell", which plays the process of learning drama, and is often beaten and scolded by the master in the middle.
Figure | Stills from "Farewell to the Overlord"
As Chang Xiangyu's first master, Zhang Fuxian, although he was a father, endured pain and harshly taught her. Once Chang Xiangyu did not do well there, Zhang Fuxian would beat her with his hands.
While fighting, he would also say to her: "In order to learn drama, the whole family left their hometown, you also changed your name, you still can't study well?" You know, learning to play is for yourself! ”
Chang Xiangyu knew in her heart that there was nothing wrong with her father beating herself, everything was for herself, and she knew: if you don't study well, you will have no food to eat, and there will be no way to live.
In the cruel scolding, under the pressure of survival pressure, Chang Xiangyu learned to play very hard, and the requirements for herself were very strict, so the progress was also very fast, and some of her father's skills let her learn.
In order to let her learn drama better, Zhang Fuxian also asked her to worship Zhai Yansheng and Zhou Haihai, who were more famous in the Yu opera industry at that time, and immersed herself in learning more drama skills.
Figure | Stills from Chang Xiangyu's performance
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="109" > (ii) is a school of its own</h1>
Chang Xiangyu trained hard since she was a child, so she was able to perform on stage at the age of ten, and all kinds of roles were very good. With the improvement of age and technology, it has become a little famous.
In 1935, Chang Xiangyu came to Kaifeng with his master Zhou Haihai's drama class. Because of her superb performance, the finale in the drama class is often performed by her. She was also often able to win the applause of the audience and gradually became the top player in the drama class.
What amazed the audience the most was her on-stage kung fu, which was a real kung fu. According to Chang Xiangyu's later recollections: "At that time, others would not turn their heads, I could turn over on the table, and I could still spin, and a dozen or so." ”
Chang Xiangyu had studied three masters, his father, Zhai Yansheng, and Zhou Haihai, all three of whom were Yuxi tuners. In the process of learning drama, Chang Xiangyu also loves to use his brain, have new ideas, and new ideas.
A big reason for this is that because her father, Zhang Fuxian, likes to try new singing methods when singing Yu opera, and will also encourage her daughter to make new creations.
In that era, the concept of Yu opera was very heavy. You are a disciple of this teacher, and you can only learn his singing. If you learn other people's singing methods, you will be rejected or even expelled from the division. So at that time, many people did not dare to take a step towards this line.
However, Chang Xiangyu was not such a person. If she also follows the rules, it is estimated that she will not become a master-like figure.
Chang Xiangyu's teachers are very enlightened people and encourage her to make new creations. Therefore, chang Xiangyu has been exploring new singing methods after slowly becoming famous. And this, in turn, made her more popular and famous.
On the basis of the original Yuxi opera, Chang Xiangyu absorbed the singing methods of Yudong, Qin, Peking opera, etc., and integrated them into the tunes of Yuxi, and gradually developed into a genre with its own unique singing method, forming its own style. She also put the results of her innovation on the stage and slowly became a famous genre in Yu opera.
Later, this genre of hers became known as the Changpai. Chang Xiangyu is naturally the founder of Changpai, and she is also known as the "Empress of Yu Opera".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="110" > (3) A heart for the country and the people</h1>
Although Chang Xiangyu is only a Yu opera actress, whether she is famous before or after she became famous, she has always had a heart for the country and the people.
Chang Xiangyu often said a sentence: "The difficulty of the country is the difficulty of oneself." ”
Chang Xiangyu was born in an era of war and chaos, saw the country broken, the invasion of the great powers; saw the Japanese devils killing and plundering arbitrarily on the land of China, doing no evil; saw countless people displaced, could not return home, could not fill their stomachs...
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, although she could not go to the front line to kill the enemy, as a theatrical actor, she also made her own contribution. Out of hatred for Japanese devils and love for the country, she performed an anti-Japanese drama called "Hit the Land".
She has performed this play in many places, and the people like to watch it, and they naturally love to watch it for her famous theater actress. With her performance, the idea of anti-Japanese resistance slowly spread to the minds of ordinary people.
In 1938, the Japanese army launched a large-scale attack on north and central China, and in order to slow down the speed of the Japanese army's attack, Chiang Kai-shek did something that would last for thousands of years. Disregarding the lives of the people near the Yellow River, he ordered the plane to blow up the Huayuankou levee, causing flooding and affecting tens of millions of people in Henan.
Figure | The people affected
Some of the affected people did not have time to escape, and they were swept away by the ruthless water of the Yellow River. The people who had regained a life had to flee elsewhere, and Henan was a disaster victim for a while. They could not return home, they lost their homes and land, and the people's lives were very difficult.
After Chang Xiangyu saw this situation, his heart was like dripping blood, and his heart was very painful. She wants to help the victims of her hometown, although her ability is limited, but she also has to do her best, and it is a person who can save one person.
Chang Xiangyu held charity performances in various places to raise funds for the people in the disaster area, and the funds obtained were used to help the children of the disaster victims go to school, and also helped the people in the disaster areas to raise some food.
Knowing that Chang Xiangyu was raising funds for the disaster-stricken people in Henan, the audience responded positively. Many people threw money on the stage, and some people didn't have money, so they took some clothes and food, and the scene was very touching. Chang Xiangyu still remembered that picture many years later.
After Chang Xiangyu's performances in various places, she raised a lot of donations and materials, even exceeding the total amount of funds raised by the chairmen of Henan Province and Anhui Province. Therefore, there is a local saying in Henan: two provincial chairmen are not as good as one Chang Xiangyu.
It was Liu Maoen, a native of Henan, and Liu Zhenhua, the eldest brother, who were the provincial chairmen of Henan and Anhui of the Kuomintang at that time.
Chang Xiangyu did more than that, as Gong County was flooded at the time, causing large areas of farmland to be flooded. The people of Gong County found her and hoped that she could think of a way, and Chang Xiangyu immediately agreed.
She then gave a number of charity performances, raising funds to build a dam for her hometown. Chang Xiangyu's heart was not only filled with the people of his hometown, but also with many more people.
In 1941, the people of Henan were once again affected by the disaster and fled to various places. Many people fled to Xi'an, and Chang Xiangyu, who was in Xi'an at the time, learned of this situation and built a "Xiangyu Yu Opera School" to provide a place for the affected children to eat and sleep, and also taught them to sing opera and let them have a means of making a living.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="111" > (4) Chang Xiangyu</h1>
What Chang Xiangyu did was not only for the people affected, but also for the sake of the affected people, but also in her heart, and for the country!
When New China was first founded, the country was in ruins and the economy was not very good. According to Chang Xiangyu's situation at that time, she could take 800 yuan a month, and the central leaders did not have as much as her in a month. In order to reduce the burden on the country, she offered to reduce her own wages. And once there is excess money in hand, it will be used to buy state bonds and support the country's construction.
One of the more famous and touching things that Chang Xiangyu did was to use the money he had earned from his charity performances in various places to donate to the country and buy a fighter jet.
What can an ordinary person do when war comes? The answer given by Chang Xiangyu was to donate a fighter jet.
After the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out, Chang Xiangyu saw in the newspaper that the volunteer army was indiscriminately bombed by US military planes, and many soldiers were sacrificed. Newspapers called on everyone to donate money for the volunteers and buy aircraft cannons.
Figure | Volunteers entered Korea
After Chang Xiangyu saw the news, he then decided to carry out a charity drill and donate a fighter jet to the volunteer army. You know, at that time, the price of an airplane was 1.5 billion yuan, which was not a small amount for Chang Xiangyu.
When all was said and done, she immediately drafted a performance plan. At the mobilization meeting, Chang Xiangyu sold a truck and took out his jewelry and savings for many years as funds for the charity performance. At the same time, he also sent several of his children to a nursery.
For the idea of donating aircraft, Chang Xiangyu is very firm, she once said: "Half a year is not enough, a year is not two years, I do not believe that it can not be completed, I must donate an airplane to the volunteer army." ”
After that, Chang Xiangyu and the staff of the Xiangyu Opera Club set off from Xi'an and went all the way to Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Wuhan and other places, traveling throughout most of China, and were welcomed by the masses everywhere, and the audience reached hundreds of thousands.
Figure | Report on the end of Chang Xiangyu's performance (bottom right corner)
In the process of the performance, Chang Xiangyu as the protagonist, each time she had to play in person. Not only that, she and the crew share the same happiness and suffering, and she eats what everyone eats. Although they ate very poor dishes, they were always performing and never stopped.
Many people saw Chang Xiangyu and others coming to the charity performance, or donated planes for the country, and donated money and materials. Some people donated their money and donated their jewelry, watches and other things.
After touring for half a year, Chang Xiangyu raised more than 1.5 billion yuan in old coins, and it was enough to buy a plane. Chang Xiangyu donated all this money to the China Association for Resisting US Aggression and Aiding Korea, bought a Soviet-made MiG-15 fighter jet, and realized her wish to donate an aircraft for the volunteer army.
Later, the plane was named "Chang xiangyu" and soon handed over to the Volunteer Air Force to fight the enemy in Korea. (Regarding the Changxiangyu number, there is also the name Xiangyu Opera Society, which is correct, and this article is based on the Changxiangyu number exhibited at the China Aviation Museum.) ）
Figure | Chang Xiangyu visits the donated plane
In addition to donating the plane, Chang Xiangyu also personally went to North Korea for a condolence performance.
At that time, North Korea was still very dangerous, and you didn't know when you would run into an enemy plane, so you might just drop a few bombs.
During the time chang xiangyu performed in North Korea, she encountered many dangers, and several times bombs exploded not far from her. One of her disciples died in North Korea for the performance, and she survived.
Chang Xiangyu's donation of aircraft and her deeds of going to North Korea to offer condolences have aroused the love of the vast number of soldiers and the masses, and leaders and masses at all levels have called her a "patriotic artist."
Figure | Chang Xiangyu performs in North Korea
But why is it that such a "patriotic artist" and an artist praised by the masses and leaders has repeatedly applied to join the party, but has not been approved?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="112" > (5) Deng Xiaoping helped him join the party</h1>
Regarding Chang Xiangyu's unsuccessful joining the party, we must also talk about her husband. Her husband's name was Chen Charter, and they married in 1944.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chang Xiangyu applied to the organization to join the party many times and submitted a number of applications to join the party. At that time, she deeply felt the change in their identity as "inferior nine-stream" dramatists after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Before, they were looked down upon and disrespected. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he became a literary and art worker, the party and the state attached great importance to it, and Chang Xiangyu was a famous Yu opera actor, and the honor given was even higher.
Chang Xiangyu has a deep love for the Communist Party and the country from the bottom of his heart, and has devoted his blood to his work. Donating planes, going to North Korea to offer condolences... All of this requires a high degree of ideological awareness, and by virtue of what she has done, she can be approved to join the party.
The reason why her application for joining the party was not approved many times was because her husband, Chen Charter, served as the secretary of the Three Youth Leagues in Baoji and other places of the Kuomintang during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Figure | Chen Charter and Chang Xiangyu
But then Chen Charter quit the Three Youth League and turned to fund the underground work of our party. However, due to his past experience, Chang Xiangyu's question of joining the party has not been implemented.
Party organizations often hear some bad arguments about Chen Charter in the past, and Chang Xiangyu's question of joining the party is discussed because this matter is also shelved.
Someone advised Chang Xiangyu to draw a line with Chen Charter, but Chang Xiangyu was reluctant to do so. She understood that there was something wrong with her husband's history, but she did devote herself to the cause of serving the party.
Coupled with the fact that the two have been together for so long, they have long been inseparable from each other. Chen Charter is also his right-hand man in creation, and he helps a lot in his opera work, so in any way, Chang Xiangyu does not want to leave him.
This matter has plagued Chang Xiangyu for a long time, and she has also secretly cried many times, until an incident happens, and then there is a turnaround.
In 1959, Deng Xiaoping, then vice premier of the State Council, inspected the work in Henan, watched Chang Xiangyu's Yu opera performance, and praised her performance.
In a subsequent conversation with the leaders of the Henan Provincial CPC Committee, Deng Xiaoping learned that Chang Xiangyu had not yet joined the party, so he took the first army and said: "Comrade Chang Xiangyu is a person who has made major contributions at the most difficult time in our country, and if the problem of her joining the party cannot be solved in Henan, it will be directly solved by the central authorities!" You Henan are not willing to develop her, I develop! ”
Deng Xiaoping, the "general," could not sit still, and immediately asked the Cultural Affairs Bureau to discuss Chang Xiangyu's joining the party, saying that he would quickly come up with an opinion.
Not long after, Chang Xiangyu's question of joining the party was passed, and when she took the oath under the party flag, she held tears in her eyes, remembered the oath of joining the party, and made up her mind to become a qualified communist party member.
Chang Xiangyu, as a Yu opera actress, has performed for many people, not only Deng Xiaoping and the leaders of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, but also Chairman Mao has seen her performances.
It was in April 1959, when Chairman Mao watched Chang Xiangyu's Yu opera "Breaking Hongzhou" and was deeply moved. When I watched it, I was very attentive, and when the performance was over, I took the lead in clapping.
Chairman Mao also wrote a special letter to Premier Zhou, wanting to make "Breaking the Flood Prefecture" a program for the tenth anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China. From this, we can see how much Chairman Mao attaches importance to this play.
Figure | Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
After joining the party, Chang Xiangyu made more efforts to the party's cause, cultivated a large number of outstanding talents in the opera industry, and created many works praising the party and the country.
In addition, she is also enthusiastic about public welfare, and often donates the money she earns from her charity performances to others. When the country was in trouble, whether it was the Tangshan earthquake or SARS, she proved the responsibility of a Communist Party member with her own actions.
In December 2003, Chang Xiangyu, who had already suffered from cancer, still insisted on going to the Beijing Olympic Stadium, participated in the activities to comfort the migrant workers in Henan, met the hometown of Henan, and excitedly sang a Yu opera "Liuhewan". After singing, she felt that her body was cold, but she still smiled and said goodbye to the migrant workers.
On June 1, 2004, Chang Xiangyu passed away, and that time became her last performance. In 2009, Chang Xiangyu was named one of the 100 Chinese that have touched since the founding of New China.
Chang Xiangyu's life has set a benchmark and a model for people in the literary and art circles.