Master storyteller Yuan Kuocheng
Author Zhou Shuang
September 16, 2016 is the 87th anniversary of the birth of the master storyteller Mr. Yuan Kuocheng, who, together with Liu Lanfang, Shan Tianfang and Tian Lianyuan, is collectively known as the "Four Great Storytelling Performance Artists". From the 1950s to the 1980s, Mr. Yuan Kuocheng lived in Yingkou, where he spent 30 precious years of his artistic career and forged a deep love affair with Yingkou.
Step on the snow and listen to a book
Yuan Kuocheng was born in Beijing in 1929, his ancestral home is Tianjin, his uncles Yuan Jieting, Yuan Jieying and father Yuan Jiewu are known as the "Three Masters of the Yuan Family". Yuan Kuocheng learned art from his father since childhood, appeared in storytelling from the age of 14, and has long been in Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Harbin, Yingkou and other places to perform books, because of his profound skills, he soon became famous in Beijing, Tianjin and Tang.
In 1956, yuan Kuocheng, who was in full bloom, brought his family to Yingkou to perform. At that time, Yingkou had two famous theaters, one was the Little Red Chamber, and the other was the XiaJia Tea House (commonly known as the "Old Xia Tea House").
Yuan Kuocheng chose the Xia Family Tea House as a performance venue, and the backstage of the performance was full. What moved Yuan Kuocheng the most was that one day in the deep winter, it snowed knee-deep, and the audience who lived near the paper mill still braved the cold wind to "step on the snow and listen to books". The enthusiasm of the audience made Yuan Kuo emotional, and he decided to stay in Yingkou. Since then, he has spent 30 years of his acting career in this land.
Leader of the reform of the art of storytelling
After 1949, Yuan Kuocheng took the lead in saying new books (the "new books" after the founding of New China, that is, revolutionary theme books), and performed a series of new books such as "Red Rock", "Red Courage and Loyalty", "Storm", "Lin Hai Snow Field" and so on. In 1958, Yuan Kuocheng joined the Yingkou Qu Art Troupe. On the basis of inheriting the traditional storytelling expression methods, he has continuously explored and dared to innovate, breaking the stylization of storytelling performances, and extracting new performance methods and artistic techniques from real life, absorbing the essence of drama, film, cross-talk, opera, song and other arts, integrating them, constantly enriching and forming his own performance style. His speeches pay equal attention to the table, static and dynamic, both gods and shapes, paint sound shapes, and convey gods with shapes; the performances are delicate and touching, the language is vivid and humorous, and the characters are distinct, with the characteristics of "drifting, pretty, fast, and brittle". Mr. Yuan Kuocheng's modern commentaries can be said to be new in content, new in style, and new in language, which left a very deep impression on the audience.
Yuan Kuocheng was the leader of the reform of the art of storytelling. He bravely jumped into the thunder pool, first removed the desk, and changed the commentary from the half-body art of gaotai education to the whole body art of paying attention to qi, sound, character, knots, hands, eyes, body, law, and steps, so that the traditional performing arts of storytelling have a new brilliance and charm. In 1958, the book critic "Tongue Battle Small Furnace Maker" won the National Qu Art Association Excellence Award; in 1959, "Xiao Fei Buys Medicine" won the Excellence Award at the National Qu Art Festival; in 1979, during the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the commentary "Peach Blossom Village" he broadcast was commended by the Ministry of Culture and won the second prize for creation and the first prize for performance; in 1983, the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" won the Outstanding Literary and Artistic Creation Award of the Liaoning Provincial People's Government; in 1984, he participated in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and performed the book "Giving Lupine Fan". In addition, he has also won the honorary titles of National Artist with Special Contribution, Liaoning Provincial Model Worker, Yingkou City Special Labor Model and other honorary titles.
Crowds of people listening to the "Three Kingdoms"
In 1980, the Central People's Radio was preparing to adapt the classic masterpiece "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" into a commentary, and they retrieved the recording of the commentaries on the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" on some radio stations across the country. After hearing Yuan Kuocheng's two passages in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" recorded by Yingkou Radio Station, "Heroes of the Crowd" and "Three Qi Zhou Yu", he decided to cooperate with Yingkou People's Radio station and askEd Yuan Kuocheng to complete the broadcast task of this book.
In the days that followed, Yuan Kuocheng began a painstaking recording job. He said that he integrated modern vocabulary into traditional books, making them have distinct characteristics of the times. With his profound artistic foundation and rich literary and historical skills, he broadcast this "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which is called the world's first talent book by the book critics, vividly and smoothly. In 1985, after the central people's radio station was broadcast, the praise was overwhelming, from the elderly to the childish children were attracted to the radio, and whenever it was broadcast, there were tens of thousands of empty alleys and listening to the scene of the "Three Kingdoms".
Received by the central leadership
In the Spring Festival of 1984, Chen Yun, then the first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, invited Yuan Kuocheng and several other artists to Spend the Spring Festival in Zhongnanhai, and encouraged the music and art circles to come out of the world, publish books, and take the right path. On February 18, 1984, Wang Zhen, then a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission, wrote a letter in his own handwriting after listening to Yuan Kuocheng's commentary, in which he said: "My grandson is a junior high school student, and he likes to listen to your "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" very much, and he always turns on the radio when you broadcast. I'm also your loyal listener. For an old and sick person, it is extremely enjoyable and instructive to listen to the lecture. The old man is fascinated, and the grandson is also fascinated! I told the child, Uncle Yuan said, you listen, there will be a good teacher who learns Chinese. Indeed, they respect you and love you. Comrade Kuo Cheng, as a member of an audience of thousands, I would like to sincerely suggest to you that it may be better to selectively say a few more words about the dialogues of the main characters in the "Three Kingdoms" from the original. In my spare time, after listening to your lecture, I read it through and read it, and I have some feelings. On January 4, 1985, Wang Zhen received Yuan Kuocheng at home and cordially said to the comrades of the crew, "You have done a very good job, I thank you, the people thank you, Yuan Kuocheng's commentary is well-spoken, many people listen to your commentary..." He also encouraged Yuan Kuocheng to have better works dedicated to the people.
In 1985, Yuan Kuocheng was transferred to the Literature and Art Department of the Central People's Radio. Since 1988, he has successively recorded "Changsaka Xiongfeng" and "Western Chu Bawang" for CCTV and Central People's Radio; "Red Rock" for Beijing Television; and "Twelve Golden Darts" for the Audio-visual Publishing House of The Central People's Radio. His work "Water Margin" was selected into the "Top Ten Traditional Chinese Commentaries Classics" series. In 2003, Yuan Kuocheng won the 4th China Golden Disc Awards for Performing Arts. In 2006, in the 4th China Quyi Peony Awards, Yuan Kuocheng won the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mr. Yuan Kuocheng advocated the new book, worked hard for the art of storytelling, brought the traditional art of storytelling on the small stage to the big stage, made storytelling truly become a popular art form, and made outstanding contributions to the promotion of national culture. He is an outstanding contemporary artist and the pride of our Yingkou people!
(Author Affilications:Yingkou Municipal Archives and History Management Center)
This article is selected from Yingkou Spring and Autumn, No. 1, 2017