Wang Rugang
"This is the first time I've been to Pudong Library.
Very happy to see such a good facility,
Such a good audience.
At the request of the organizer,
Let me choose the language of the lecture,
Then I'll ask you:
"Do you want to hear me speak Shanghainese?"
The guests on the stage paused,
It is still the authentic Shanghainese language,
"Or is it Shanghainese?"
The audience laughed,
Meaning agreed.
WangRugang
Following Shanghainese opera performance artist Mao Shanyu, on October 17, Pudong Library's "Reading the Orient" brand event ushered in the second all-Shanghainese famous lectures. The heavyweight guest invited this time is Wang Rugang, secretary and director of the Shanghai One-Legged Opera Art Heritage Center (Shanghai People's Burlesque Troupe) and a famous burlesque actor.
Wang Rugang often brings lectures or performances on different occasions, and for the theme of Putu's lecture "Life and Laughter", he said: "Because it is in the library, I must tell the story of me and reading, how to find fun and laughter in books. Many of my antics come from books. ”
When it comes to his association with books, Wang Rugang leads the audience back to his childhood. He described himself as having been born into a "good family" and lived in a Shikumen house. There was a pavilion in the house, which was my father's study. Usually, his father would not let Wang Rugang enter the study. One day, he sneaked in while his father wasn't paying attention. "I felt like Ali Baba had entered the treasure trove!" Although the words are still unrecognizable, many of the books are decorated beautifully, and there are illustrations in etched versions: "In this way, I read four famous works such as "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". "As the times passed, these books could not be retained after all, and they sold waste products." I will never forget that human knowledge is 7 cents a pound. Wang Rugang was very sorry.
Later, as an intellectual youth, Wang Rugang came to the mountains of Jiangxi to join the team and settle down. Life in the mountains was very boring, and cultural life was even poorer, and Wang Rugang had to read the newspaper for a week as news. Sometimes, he would borrow books from an old Chinese medicine doctor nearby. At the same time, many local young people have gone out of the mountains to become soldiers, and they will write letters to their families, and the intellectual youth will have a place to play - to help local villagers read letters.
"Other people read letters, I speak letters." When Wang Rugang read the letter that "a large-scale military training is underway," he would explain what a "large-scale military training" was, and tell his fellow villagers everything he saw in the newspaper, "A thin piece of letter paper, others have read it in one breath, I can talk about it for a quarter of an hour." "The mother of the child is worried, and the fellow villagers will thank Wang Rugang, sometimes please eat, sometimes send a vegetable."
Another time, a "five-guarantee household" in the production team died, and Wang Rugang was called to eat "tofu rice". "I am a Zhiqing 'want face', I can't just buy a knife of paper money like others, go to the grave and forget it." Wang Rugang remembered the scene of the "prison memorial service" in "Red Rock" he had read, and the prisoners made their own wreaths for the martyrs. So, he went to the mountain and cut a bamboo as a frame, tore open the newspaper and pasted it, dyed it with red ink and blue ink, and made it into a paper flower, and the wreath was tied and sent to the spiritual hall.
The fellow did not see the wreath, so he asked: "This is quite beautiful, next month my daughter gets married, do you want to send a pair over..." Wang Rugang said hurriedly, and the wreath will be used when the memorial service is held. "After that, when someone in the production team died, I was responsible for tying the wreath and counting 6 work points." Wang Rugang smiled, "This is the benefit I get from reading books!" ”
After returning to Shanghai, Wang Rugang came to prominence with the role of "little cobbler" in the burlesque play "Seventy-Two Tenants", but did not relax in studying. "I like two places the most, one is Xinhua Bookstore and the other is a small vegetable market. Small vegetable farms learn dialects, and Xinhua Bookstore is the source of knowledge. This is very important for acting in burlesque. He said.
"Today's Shanghai children, not speaking Shanghainese, is indeed a problem." Like Mao Shanyu, Wang Rugang was also hired as a Qunwen mentor during the 2021 Pudong Culture and Art Festival to create a "one-street town, one mentor and one boutique team". Wang Rugang corresponded to Hangtou Town and taught a youth qu art training class. In a short period of time, 73 children signed up, and the learning quickly became effective, which greatly surprised him. Wang Rugang also found that in fact, the current children can speak Shanghainese and local dialects, they can understand it, but they are reluctant to open their mouths, the key is that parents are more willing to speak Mandarin with their children.
"Language is essentially an environmental issue, and when parents say it to their children, the children will be brought up." Wang Rugang believes that to love the motherland, we must start from loving our hometown, and it is still very important to inherit the Shanghainese dialect. He also added: "Mandarin, local dialect, foreign dialect, learn three kinds of languages, walk all over the world is not afraid!" ”
Source: Pudong Release