Director Guo Baochang's "The Gate of the Big House" has been one of the classics that cannot be surpassed in the past twenty years since its launch.
Many people compare "The Great Mansion Gate" and "Dream of the Red Chamber", in addition to the fact that the stories of both are related to the rise and fall of the family, and the protagonist of "The Great Mansion Gate", Bai Qiye, is very similar to Jia Baoyu, but also because the author and director of the work, Guo Baochang, is extremely similar to the original author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Cao Xueqin.
"Dream of the Red Chamber" was written by Cao Xueqin based on her own experience, and "The Gate of the Great Mansion" was also written by Guo Baochang based on his own experience in Tongrentang Lejia.
Like Cao Xueqin, Guo Baochang has endured a lot of unbearable weights because of his works.
For political reasons, the author of the story of the bourgeois family has been criticized countless times for "The Gate of the Great House", and his manuscript has been destroyed many times.
Guo Baochang
Among the countless times the manuscript was burned, the most difficult manuscript for Guo Baochang to accept was "destroyed" from his adoptive mother Guo Rong. And to talk about his story with his adoptive mother, we have to start from Guo Baochang being sold to the Le family.
Guo Baochang was born in a poor family, his father was frozen to death when he was only two years old, after which he was sold by his mother to the Wu family of the station manager of Shacheng Railway Station in Hebei Province for 80 yuan and changed his surname to Wu.
Soon, he was picked up by the third aunt again, and the third aunt did not sympathize with him when he took it back, but felt that such a clever child only sold 80 oceans, which was too much of a loss. So, in 1942, 2-year-old Guo Baochang was sold for 300 oceans to Tonglejia, the richest man in Beijing.
Guo Baochang's fate was completely changed.
Guo Baochang's adoptive mother, Guo Rong, is the prototype of Li Xiangxiu, the wife of the Seventh Lord, in "The Gate of the Great Mansion". The real Guo Rong, whose life is almost completely consistent with Li Xiangxiu in the film and television drama.
Like Guo Baochang, Guo Rong was born into a poor family. When she was a young girl, she was sold to Lejia for 500 oceans. Although Guo Rong is a handmaiden, because she is deeply loved by the old lady, she not only dresses better than the average maid on weekdays, but also can not do what ordinary girls do.
So the question is, what does Guo Rong, who does not have to do ordinary things, do in Lejia? The answer may seem strange to many people: the only thing she needs to do at Lejia is to hold the dog for the old lady.
The dog is the old lady's beloved thing, and it is not something that anyone can hold. Therefore, by holding the dog, Guo Rong actually became a first-class handmaiden of the Lejia family. Also because of the grace of the old lady, Guo Rong's personality is extremely arrogant, and she is even higher than the ordinary noble lady.
It is also because Guo Rong's heart is high, after the seventh master Bai Jingqi prototype four old master Le Jingyu fell in love with her in "The Gate of the Great Mansion", she "hung" him alive and dead, and after hanging his appetite enough, Guo Rong said to the hungry fourth master slowly while closing the line: "Marry me, I will not be a concubine, I will do the main room." ”
Li Xiangxiu and Bai Jingqi in "The Gate of the Great Mansion" (Guo Rong and Le Jingyu prototype)
Guo Rong said such a thing as a handmaiden, naturally because she already knew Le Jingyu's personality very well. Sure enough, the daring Le Jingyu really married Guo Rong and made the main room.
When she married Le Jingyu, Guo Rong was only 26 years old, but at this time, Le Jingyu was already 70, so she naturally had no heirs. In a large family, no heirs is almost equivalent to no inheritance rights. In order not to let the family property fall into the hands of others, Guo Rong decided to adopt a child.
It is based on this that the later Guo Baochang was sold into the Lejia family.
Initially, after Guo Baochang was sold into the Le family, he was not sent directly to the Le family, and he was initially raised in the Guo family. After Guo Rong's mother died, he was taken to the Le family.
Guo Rong is a brave woman, in order to let Guo Baochang stay by her side at ease, she told everyone to let them help deceive Guo Baochang, so that he thought that he was born of his adoptive mother Guo Rong.
Li Tianyi in "The Gate of the Great Mansion" (Guo Baochang prototype)
After Guo Baochang was brought back to the Le family, Guo Rong realized that Guo Baochang, who came from a poor family, had to spend a lot of effort to cultivate if he wanted to become a grandfather. After all, he did not have the temperament of "grandpa" in his bones.
And to gain a foothold in a big family like the Lejia family, it is absolutely impossible to have the temperament and courage of the "grandfather".
So, when Guo Baochang was 14 years old, Guo Rong taught him to drink, and at the age of 16, she let him smoke "Great China" every day after school. Undoubtedly, Guo Rong's parenting style is completely opposite to that of ordinary people.
When Guo Baochang was soaking in the "Luzhou Daqu", Guo Rong repeatedly told him: You are going to do great things in the future. Guo Rong undoubtedly wants to use this alternative way to quickly cultivate Guo Baochang into a "grandfather" in the door of the mansion.
Guo Baochang did not disappoint Guo Rong, and he quickly learned all the sets that Fourth Master Le had when he was a teenager. Not only did he often fight with people, but he also made a little name with a momentum of not accepting defeat. He also fell in love with watching dramas, and he also had a bit of a sense of watching doorways.
It is also because Guo Baochang's behavior and personality are too much like the fourth master of Le, and the fourth master likes this adopted son very much.
On weekdays, the fourth master, who has always eaten alone in the room, often pulls Guo Baochang a piece of nagging. It was also in the process of eating and chatting between the grandfathers that Guo Baochang knew the story of the fourth grandfather's youth and youth. It can be said that the first forty stories in "The Gate of the Great Mansion" later are almost all the fourth master and his "chat history".
Siye Le Jingyu (Bai Jingqi prototype)
The fourth master and Guo Baochang have a good relationship, and the happiest is naturally the adoptive mother Guo Rong. Watching her grandfather and grandfather often talk about wine, she knew that the future Lejia family property would not fall into the hands of others.
But to take charge of the family property, it is not enough to have grace, but also to have the ability. At this point, Guo Baochang at that time obviously could not convince the public.
Just when Guo Rong was thinking about how to cultivate Guo Baochang's ability, Guo Baochang was thinking about skipping school.
As Guo Baochang became more and more fascinated by singing, he boldly came up with the trick of "skipping school to watch the play". Later, he dared to think and dare to do it, so he stole his mother's seal and stamped a large stack of blank paper, and each time, as long as he was addicted, he would write a leave of absence on the blank paper and give it to the teacher.
Fast forward a year, and Guo Baochang, who has been truant for a long time, has failed many subjects in his grades. Guo Rong was actually informed by the school that because she could not catch up with the progress of learning, her son had to be relegated to the grade.
Ordinary parents encountering this situation will definitely rush to the fire or even beat their children up. But Guo Rong was not an ordinary woman after all, and the woman who climbed from a maid to a high position in the courtyard of this deep house saw this situation and thought that the good opportunity to educate her son had finally come.
Therefore, when Guo Baochang thought that he was about to be in great trouble, he found that his mother actually comforted him when he was lying on the table and crying: "It doesn't matter, you are still young, read one more year to read, I believe you!" ”
His mother's reaction made Guo Baochang instantly dumbfounded, and he did not expect that when it came to this, his mother did not rebuke him, but comforted him.
Since then, Guo Baochang has begun to work hard, and his homework is excellent. Because of his hard work, his foundation in traditional Chinese studies was well beaten, which also provided conditions for him to write scripts and so on in the future.
I have to say that Guo Rong's education of his son is still very successful. During this period, the feelings of mother and son were also very harmonious.
But the good times did not last long, and what happened later became a gap between mother and child.
It turned out that after watching too many dramas and listening to too many stories of his adoptive father, he began to write "Big Waves and Sands" (later renamed "The Gate of the Great Mansion") on the basis of The Lejia. On weekdays, as long as he is free, he will lie on the table to create.
One day, when Guo Baochang returned, he found his mother Tie Qing waiting for him in his room. It turned out that when he went out, his mother found his manuscript.
At the moment, Guo Baochang realized that things were not good. After all, what he wrote in his novel was all about the Lejia family, and the part of the novel about his mother was also written according to the truth.
"Burn it yourself!" Guo Rong said to Guo Baochang in an irrevocable tone, no matter how he begged, Guo Rong did not spare, and in the end, he could only watch his hard-earned "Big Waves and Sands" burned.
This is the beginning and end of the story of Guo Baochang's work being burned by his adoptive mother, when Guo Baochang's work was destroyed, he was in adolescence, and his mother's behavior undoubtedly hurt him deeply. Because he did not understand the reason why his mother insisted on destroying his works, for a long time, he had a deep complaint against his mother.
Later, Guo Baochang learned that the reason why his mother had to burn the novel was because he was extremely dissatisfied with himself and the fourth master Le Jingyu described in his son's article.
First of all, Guo Rong cannot accept that his son writes her husband Le Jingyu as a brutal hooligan, a "bastard", a villain who plays with women, and a capitalist who should be overthrown.
Guo Baochang obviously underestimated his mother's love for his adoptive father, and he thought that as a maid who was sold to the Le family as a teenager, as a woman who married an old man at a wonderful age, she had enough reason to hate Le Jingyu and hate the Le family.
Unfortunately, his "thought" was wrong. Guo Rong loves her husband Le Jingyu very much, and she is even willing to do anything for him. Therefore, she must not allow her son to describe him as a "capitalist of all evils."
Le Jingyu and Guo Baochang in the film and television drama (Bai Jingqi and Li Tianyi)
Secondly, she can't accept her son writing about his early experience of being sold and holding a dog, which is "ugly" to her. Therefore, Guo Rong, who adheres to the concept of "family ugliness must not be publicized", cannot accept his son to write all these things out.
Soon after this incident, Guo Baochang learned of his origins, and his relationship with his mother began to become more awkward. Guo Baochang always had resentment in his heart. At the same time, Guo Rong is also very sympathetic to his son, and he cannot accept his son's description of himself and her husband in the novel. In Guo Rong's heart, they were all people who were kind to him, and he shouldn't do this to them.
Fast forward to 1959, Guo Baochang was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy under the strong recommendation of Tian Feng, director of the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy. Shortly after that, with the encouragement of his mentor, he began to write "The Great Waves and Sands" again.
Guo Baochang and Tian Feng both felt that such a good theme and a good story should be seen by future generations, after all, this is living history! Unfortunately, when the novel was written by two-thirds of the time, he was beaten as a reactionary student for "erecting a biography for the capitalist tree monument", and the manuscript was immediately destroyed, and Guo Baochang was also assigned to the Nankou Farm in Beijing for labor reform.
Compared with the destruction of the manuscript this time, what makes Guo Baochang even more uncomfortable is that his mother knows his secret again. This time, the mother was completely angry, and the relationship between mother and son during the period reached the point of tension.
But although Guo Rong complained about his son, he was also very worried about his safety, after all, from a proud son of heaven to suddenly becoming a "labor reform personnel", this kind of thing is a huge blow to anyone.
At the most difficult time, Guo Baochang had thought about committing suicide, but fortunately, he did not die after all.
Guo Baochang was a stubborn temper, after so many tribulations, he thought about his "Big Mansion Gate" even more, he held his breath, dead or alive to finish it. Those characters and stories related to the door of the Lejia mansion kept coming to his mind, and he seemed to have reached the point where he was "uncomfortable if he didn't write".
During the renovation of the cadre school, Guo Baochang, who had suffered countless hardships, began to create "The Gate of the Great Mansion".
Guo Baochang and Bai Jingqi play Chen Baoguo
It was also here that Guo Baochang received a special letter. The letter was discovered by Guo Baochang more than a month after he had been sent to the farm. The envelope reads "Li Bao Chang Received", which is exactly the name he gave before he was sold, and the back of the letter reads "If no one signs and sends it back to Lotus Village."
After seeing this line, Guo Baochang "giggled" in his heart, and he found that the address on the back of the letter was the address of his third aunt.
At this time, Guo Baochang had already determined that the recipient of this letter was himself, so he opened the inexplicable letter. After opening the letter, he learned that the letter was written by his own brother, in which his eldest brother wrote: "I finally got your address, if it is really you, you will reply with a letter." ”
Seeing this, Guo Baochang's tears fell, and for him who was suffering at that time, this letter was nothing more than a huge comfort. He wrote a reply in which he said:
"The person you're looking for is me, so if you're free, come and visit!"
A month later, Guo Baochang's eldest brother came to his Zhangjiakou Cadre School as promised, and after seeing the eldest brother who looked similar to himself, Guo Baochang felt an indescribable kindness.
The eldest brother told Guo Baochang that their parents had been selling their children and daughters, and even their 13-year-old sister had been sold to the Qinglou by them. After hearing this, Guo Baochang's heart did not mention how uncomfortable it was.
After the eldest brother left, Guo Baochang kept thinking about the eldest brother and his birth mother, he wanted to see them, and he also wanted to know what kind of environment he would live in if he was not sold.
After another month, Guo Baochang, who could no longer hold back, decided to go to his real hometown to visit his birth mother and eldest brother. Therefore, he took pains to ask the management cadres for leave. Before leaving, he returned to his home in Beijing to visit his adoptive mother, Guo Rong, and he also told her about his decision to see his birth mother.
Guo Rong heard this and said, "She is your birth mother, and you should go back to see her." When Guo Baochang heard this, he thought that his mother understood his feelings. In fact, the implication of Guo Rong's words is: "You should go to see her, but emotionally, you should not go to see her!" ”
Guo Rong and Guo Baochang in "The Gate of the Great Mansion" (Xiangxiu and Li Tianyi)
Unfortunately, at that time, Guo Baochang could not understand his mother's unspoken meaning, and he did not even notice the strange look on her mother's face when she said that.
Guo Baochang went to see his birth mother for a few days, Guo Rong was alone in the house every day, she was very sad, she only had this one son, her life's energy was also focused on him, she regarded him as her own, but he still worried about his birth mother.
"Whether there is a blood relationship between being born or not being born" is always a difference.
In those days, All Guo Rong thought about was the bad things of the past, how she was sold, how she was punished and insulted in the palace, how she was exhausted because of Guo Baochang's rebellion...
In those days, Guo Rong slept in a ball every night, and only in this way could she barely fall asleep. Guo Rong decided in his heart that his son had betrayed him.
When Guo Baochang returned again, he didn't seem to feel anything out of the ordinary. But the next morning, as soon as he got up and walked into the yard, he heard his mother yelling in the house: "Wolf, raise a wolf, wolf, feed the unfamiliar wolf!" ”
When Guo Baochang heard this, he only felt that his brain was blank, and he understood: his mother could not accept him to visit his birth mother, and she hated him.
How hard a person speaks, how bitter and painful his heart is! Guo Baochang knew that he had hurt his mother. He wanted to explain something, but when the words came to his mouth, he didn't know how to open his mouth.
In fact, Guo Baochang went to his hometown to see his birth mother, he and his birth mother were not very intimate, he just went to see them. After hearing his mother's curse, he wanted to tell his mother that he had no feelings for his birth mother, that he even hated his birth mother, that he loved her, the adoptive mother who had worked hard to raise him.
Guo Baochang is not a person who is good at expressing himself, so he did not tell his adoptive mother these words.
There were already too many differences between mother and son, and they had already quarreled over the inheritance of property before. Guo Rong wanted his son to inherit the property, but Guo Baochang felt that the property was exploited and he did not want to inherit it.
After all kinds of contradictions broke out together, the mother and son have been in agreement with each other, and this feeling makes them feel extremely uncomfortable with each other. But in the face of this discomfort, they could not do anything.
Guo Rong and Guo Baochang in "The Gate of the Great Mansion" (Xiangxiu and Li Tianyi)
In 1973, Guo Baochang was assigned to work at the Guangxi Film Studio. But at that time, he could only make documentaries. The more he couldn't make movies, the more Guo Baochang thought about making movies, and during this period, he had the idea of making "The Gate of the Big Mansion" into a film and television drama.
After having this idea, Guo Baochang felt even more sorry for his mother in his heart. The mother wants to "make the family ugly", but she will eventually go against her wishes.
In 1978, Guo Baochang was 38 years old. On New Year's Day of this year, Guo Baochang in Guangxi received an urgent telegram from a friend: "My mother is critically ill and will return quickly!"! He immediately borrowed money to buy a train ticket and went all the way north. But on his way back to Beijing, his mother died, and he never had time to see her for the last time.
As a result, he lost the last opportunity to communicate with his mother.
When Guo Rong died, it was not her only son who died on the bed, but Guo Baochang's third aunt. Before dying, she said the last three words of his life to her third aunt: no worries.
When the third aunt said these three words to Guo Baochang, he could not cry, he knew: when his mother left, he had hatred in his heart, and her "no worries" were to anger him.
In his old age, in an interview about this past, he said with tears:
"She (mother) knows that sooner or later this sentence will be known to me, she wants to be angry with me, she hates me, but it is also from this sentence 'no concern' that I hear his concern for me, she loves me!" 」
At the end of 1994, 16 years after his mother's death, Guo Baochang put aside all affairs and began to devote himself to the creation of "The Gate of the Big House". In 2001, after nearly 40 years of creation, "The Gate of the Great Mansion" was made into a TV series.
The "family ugliness" that his mother did not let him "exude" was finally seen by countless people. In the year of its premiere, the TV series won the 2001 CCTV annual rating championship with a rating of 17.74 points.
This year, Guo Baochangnian was 61 years old.
The great success of "The Gate of the Great Mansion" also made Guo Baochang feel guilty about his mother day by day. Later, he went to his mother's grave and knelt down to confess: "I am sorry for you, I promised you, I did not do it!" ”
When he was in his 70s, in an interview about "The Gate of the Great Mansion", he was silent for half a moment and then said:
"There is a scene at the beginning of the mansion door, where a person kneels in front of the mansion door, and that person is myself, who is confessing to my mother and family!"
When Guo Baochang said this, there were tears in his eyes, and he raised his head to try to make the tears flow back into his stomach, but the tears finally flowed down without controversy.
People say, if you love deeply, you must be ashamed! Looking at it this way, Guo Baochang must have a deep love for his adoptive mother Guo Rong. It's just that there are never two things in the world. He is worthy of all the audience, but he is also doomed to lose his birth mother. This is probably why the Buddha asked that:
"The world has a double and complete law, and it is not as good as coming?"
Behind all the greatness in the world is sacrifice. Behind Guo Baochang's great work "The Gate of the Big House", it is also his countless self-sacrifices!