Niu Decao, a Yu opera performance artist, was born in 1933 in Kaifeng, Henan Province. When he was a child, he studied under the yu opera name ugly Li Xiaoyao, specializing in ugly behavior, but at that time he did not even have a name. Everyone called him "Maverick." Later, an old artist in the troupe named him "Junguo" and said: "It depends on your generation to revitalize the country!" ”
In the early days of liberation, Niu Junguo's clown art was already quite distinctive. In 1950, he won the role creation award at the Henan Provincial Show, and some of the old opera fans in Kaifeng loved to watch his plays. One of them was an old man named Li Chunfang, who often went backstage to chat with Niu Junguo after watching the play, and the two became friends for a long time. One day, Li Chunfang said to Niu Junguo: "You play a good clown, but unfortunately the name is not funny, and it is not easy to remember." All famous actors have good stage names, such as Mei Lanfang, Gai Mingtian and so on. Niu Junguo also felt the same way, he said: "Niu Junguo's name is not very good, especially when others call me, if the pronunciation is not accurate or the bite is not true, or the hearing is not clear, it will become 'cow into the pot', if the ugly cow enters the pot, will it not become a cooked five-spice sauce beef?" It always feels very unlucky. Moreover, the name Junguo is not in line with Mr. Niu's acting career and his "little flower face" industry. The elderly Li Chunfang said that he wanted to change the stage name for Niu Junguo. He was a late Qing Dynasty showman with a full belly, and when he returned home, the old man flipped through a stack of ancient books and dictionaries and finally came up with a good name. The next day, he found Niu Junguo and talked about it: the name should be based on the surname. Some people with the surname Hou are called Hou Deshan, and when monkeys get the mountain, they can climb and jump and play freely. There is also a name called Hou Baolin, if the Monkey King gets the fruit forest, it is like getting the treasure land of feng shui, he can have delicious fresh fruit to eat. Those with the surname Yu are called Yu Deshui, and if the fish get the water, they can swim freely. The surname Zhu is called Zhu Dekang, and if the pig gets chaff, it can be fattened. If the horse can get a nutritious and good feed to eat, it can be strong and strong, traveling thousands of miles a day and eight hundred at night. Your surname is cow, if the cow can get the grass that you like to eat the most, you can eat more and more fat, the strength is incomparable, the weight is strong, the hard work, everything is good, the tenacity is endless, and the career has been completed. I think you should call the cow grass.
Niu Junguo was very happy to hear this, he said: "The name that Lao Li gave me is both humorous and auspicious, and it also has the profound meaning of the funny and funny personality characteristics of the 'clown' actor. Now liberated. I went from a poor entertainer who asked for food and was seen as a 'dramatist' to an actor of the people, and it was the Party that liberated me from hell, saw the light of day, ate and wore, and wasn't it the calf who got the grass? That's great! ”
Since then, Niu Junguo's stage name has been changed to Niu Decao, the word "Qingquan", the number "material foot", and the nickname "drinking water". There is also a small name for The Cow Grass is Xiaolin, and after the cattle have eaten and drunk enough, they can also lie down in the dense woods and rest beautifully. The cattle got the grass, the grass, the material, the water, the forest, just waited for the hooves to be cultivated. He wrote eight big words in his diary: "Determined to be an ox, art for the people."
The stage name of Niu Decao is both witty and philosophical, and easy to remember, which is very in line with his clown identity. Since then, niu decao has worked hard, and in the movie "Seven Pin Sesame Officials", he played the role of "when the official is not the master of the people, it is better to go home and sell sweet potatoes" The little sesame official became famous in one fell swoop, and became a household name, and his name was red in the Central Plains.
(Excerpt from: Guangming Network)