The heroine of "Sha Jiabang" is extremely popular, but her husband is little known - "Ah Qing Sister-in-law" family affairs

Hu Chuankui: Ah Qing?

Sister-in-law Ah Qing: Still mentioning it, I mixed two words with me and left.

Hu Chuankui: This Ah Qing, is a little bit of foot wild, and I can't stay idle at home. Where's it going?

Sister-in-law Ah Qing: Some people saw it and said it was running a single gang in Shanghai. Having said that, don't mix up with a person, don't come back to see me.

The most wonderful scene of the modern Peking Opera "Sha Jiabang" - Zhidou, from the left is Diao Deyi, Ah Qingyi, Hu Chuankui

The classic dialogue of modern Peking Opera "Shajiabang" believes that the post-40s and post-50s should still be remembered. That's a line that everyone would have said back then. Interestingly, when this "model play" was put on the screen, the most private discussion people talked about was not how the "tall image" in the play was how, but who ah Qing's husband was, and then cared about the family of Hong Xuefei, the heroine of the play. It is said that there were many people who wrote to her at that time: there were those who proposed marriage on their own initiative, those who were enthusiastic about being popular brides to build the Queqiao Bridge, and those who were willing to be sons...

In 1974, when I was serving in the army, I heard such a true story: the company commander of an infantry company wanted to adjust the atmosphere when the whole company roll called in the evening, and joked: The model play is good, that is, the main characters are single, and Ah Qing's sister-in-law in "Sha Jiabang" has a husband, and he also went to run a single help, and he did not even show his face. As a result, the matter was learned by his superiors, and the company commander was severely punished for "attacking the model play".

Since the new period, with the arrival of the literary and artistic spring, the drama stage has blossomed, and although the eight model plays have faded out of the audience's field of vision, those vivid and vivid artistic images have deeply remained in the hearts of the audience.

In the summer of 1988, I learned that Hong Xuefei had come to the city I knew and immediately went to visit. Time flies, this former gorgeous actress is 47 years old at this time, but the spirit is still attached, the artistic youth is still there, it still seems that there is still a "teahouse" style, treating people "not humble and not profane". Our conversation started with her family affairs.

"My lover Liu Bihan is now the deputy director of the performance management office of the Beijing Opera House. We have a daughter who is 14 years old. With such a simple introduction, Hong Xuefei emotionally recalled her personal life and artistic journey... Her childhood and adolescence were spent in Hangzhou, known as "paradise on earth". Unlike many accomplished theatrical actors who came from the Liyuan family, her parents were not related to the stage, but she was fascinated by drama. After graduating from high school in 1958, she was admitted to the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater and studied for three years, teaching Kunqu opera performing artists Han Shichang, Bai Yunfei and Ma Xianglin. Through the careful training of Shen Pansheng, Ye Zhongxi and other teachers, and the guidance of Nankun Shen Chuanzhi, Zhu Chuanming and other predecessors, her performance skills have greatly improved, and she has learned forty or fifty Kunqu Danjiao operas, and has become a budding rookie in the Kunqu opera circle. Just when she was about to make a great contribution to the ancient art field of Kunqu, the unprecedented "Cultural Revolution" began, Kunqu was also "swept", the theater was forcibly disbanded, and Hong Xuefei was transferred to the Beijing Peking Opera Troupe to study Peking Opera qingyi instead. Due to the compulsion of the situation, the traditional dramas are all dismounted, and only modern "model plays" are allowed, and the actress "Hua Dan learns Li Tiemei, and Qingyi all sings Ah Qing's sister-in-law", Hong Xuefei naturally cannot get rid of the fate of the arrangement. She is a person who does a line of love. Due to the solid basic skills, coupled with the humility and eagerness to learn and practice hard, she was able to sing the B corner of the big drama a year later. Later, the old actor was criticized for pulling aside, and when he went to "Sha Jiabin" to shoot a movie, Hong Xuefei became the natural "Ah Qing Sister-in-law". Her performance is delicate and expressive, the singing voice is fresh and beautiful, the emotion is sincere and moving, and it is a sensation in the country.

Hong Xuefei became a celebrity! Although her artistic success has brought her great joy, at the same time, the troubles of life are also tormenting her. At that time, Hong Xuefei had already established a relationship with an erhu player in the troupe band. This lover was her later husband, Liu Bihan. They have built up feelings in a common cause, understood each other, had a heart-to-heart, and loved each other. Unfortunately, Liu Bihan was charged with "counter-revolution" and sent to the "cowshed" to undergo reform because he participated in the organization of rebellion against the "model group," which was approved by Jiang Qing. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Hong Xuefei! At the time of the "political commander-in-chief", according to the logic of some people, the two of them could only break up. One is the object of transformation, the other is the star who is becoming popular, even if you do not use the "stick to beat", it will be "two scattered ducks and ducks"! However, Hong Xuefei made a surprising choice: get married!

Marriage, for ordinary actors, is really a simple thing, but when it comes to a famous character like Hong Xuefei, it becomes complicated, especially if she chooses such an object, it has become a serious problem. For a time, she became the center of public opinion. Some people say that the "model play" starring in a "counter-revolutionary" is not clear; some people advise, relying on your fame to find what kind of thing? I want to be implicated in such a person, what is the picture? Others threaten that if you marry such a person, you will have to consider your future... No one could have imagined that Hong Xuefei, who usually treats people with ease, was like Ah Qing's sister-in-law, "bold and careful, not panicked when things happened", and finally formed a good relationship with Liu Bihan under the pressure of public opinion. After they got married, some people were still not dead hearted and tried their best to provoke Hong Xuefei to divorce. She ignored it, and over time those people knew that she was an iron-hearted, an "unusual" woman.

Love can overcome public opinion, but it cannot change the status quo. The groom also had to go to a cadre school in the suburbs, and could only return to the city once a month to reunite with the bride. This is no different from Ah Qing of the "running single gang". "If the two loves are long, are they in the twilight of the dynasty?" The pain of separation Hong Xuefei can endure, but the concern for her relatives makes it difficult for her to sleep and eat. The husband has lung disease and needs more nutrition. But in the "cowshed", you can only drink cabbage soup every day, and you are not allowed to bring vegetables from home. Doing heavy farm work, eating so poorly, the body will collapse! In those years, Hong Xuefei spent it in fear.

Most infuriatingly, their right to have children has been restricted. Jiang Qing has a fallacy: actors don't have children, let the people give birth! A "holy will" caused Hong Xuefei to have a daughter at the age of 33.

Fortunately, the "troubled couple" finally saw the collapse of the "Gang of Four", and Liu Bihan's false charges were also canceled and he was publicly rehabilitated. People admired Hong Xuefei's noble qualities when the "four pests" ran rampant, and gave her a fair evaluation, believing that although she starred in the model drama that Jiang Qing intervened in, she did not lose her personality and sell herself to rely on her like some people.

Speaking of this, I asked Hong Xuefei: "Why did you have to combine with Liu Bihan, who was charged with counter-revolution?" She replied without hesitation: "I was very young and could not see the political situation. But I intuitively sensed that he had been wronged. He was a demobilized soldier who loved the Party and socialism, how could he be a counter-revolutionary? In our contacts, I think he's very brainy and very organized. Later practice proved this.

For a long time, Hong Xuefei was busy performing, and Liu Bihan had nothing to do after returning from the cadre school, so he acted as a "logistics minister", taking the children, washing clothes, and cooking all inclusive. His support laid the foundation for Hong Xuefei to spread his wings and soar in the art world. Hong Xuefei performed frequently and won awards one after another. In 1984, she won the National Drama Plum Blossom Award, the highest award in the opera industry, for successfully playing Yang Guifei in the traditional Kunqu opera "Hall of Eternal Life". A few years later, the TV series "The Relics of the Southern Tang Dynasty", which she participated in the filming of the China Television Drama Production Center and the Kunqu Opera Theater in the North, won the second prize of the "Feitian Award" for opera art films and the first prize for the National Opera Film Competition.

Hong Xuefei told me that the reform of the theater industry has brought vitality to the troupe, and her lover's organizational talent has also been given the opportunity to show. After Liu Bihan became the director of the department, his work was also busy. But she understands and wants him to achieve something in his career. Finally, Hong Xuefei said: "Housework husband and wife share more, support and understand each other, and there will be no contradictions in the family." We never had a fight over a family matter. After saying that, she smiled, and smiled so sweetly that you deeply felt her happiness.

Saying goodbye to Hong Xuefei, I wrote an interview and published it in Today magazine. In the fall of 1994, I learned from the media that she had died in a car accident. At that time, the Karamay Oil Refinery in Xinjiang was celebrating the 35th anniversary of its establishment, and invited Hong Xuefei and another cross-talk actor to perform. Hong Xuefei had planned to perform at the People's Theater in the capital from 12 to 16. In order to go to Xinjiang, she took sick leave, flew from Beijing to Urumqi City, and then took a van to the Karamay Oil Factory 300 kilometers away. On the way, because the driver did not rest well and fatigued driving, the car flipped over into a 3-meter-deep ditch, and Hong Xuefei died, only 53 years old at the time. Her body was returned to Beijing by plane on Sept. 27. For its aftermath, some people at the time believed: "It is not a tolerance, there is no need for a memorial service." However, a central leader insisted: "This is an artist, who has contributed to Peking Opera, should hold a memorial service, and should also pay a pension..." On October 9, the first farewell room of Babaoshan in Beijing held a two-hour mourning event with more than 500 people participating. Hong Xuefei's life came to an end. Hong Xuefei's husband donated all of his compensation pension of 100,000 yuan and set up the "Beijing Young Beijing-Kunming Actor Hong Xuefei Encouragement Award" (later renamed "Beijing Young Opera Actor Hong Xuefei Encouragement Award").