The "Cultural Revolution" was a major setback in China's historical development, and many unique new things were produced during this period, including "model plays".
Almost every Chinese people know the phrase "eight plays of eight hundred million people", and since the "eight model plays" have become "model plays", the ups and downs of their fate are closely related to politics, and politics is also the background color that "model plays" can never erase.
The "Eight Model Plays" include Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain", "Red Lantern", "Sha Jiabang", "Surprise Attack white tiger troupe", "Harbor", ballet "Red Detachment of Women", "White Haired Girl" and symphonic music "Sha Jiabang".
From the perspective of historical development, among this batch of plays, especially the Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain", "Red Lantern", "Sha Jiabang", and "White Haired Girl" have the greatest influence, and the character images in several plays are also well known to hundreds of millions of people and have become the memories of generations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > Tong Xiangling criticized the Shanghai Peking Opera House</h1>
Among the yang zirong actors in many versions of "Wise Tiger Mountain", Mr. Tong Xiangling is undoubtedly the most influential one. Tong Xiangling loves this drama very much, so she is also very concerned about the specific situation of the newly rehearsed versions of "Wise Tiger Mountain".
When the Peking Opera House in Shanghai rearranged the Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain", in the fourth scene of the play, a line that Shao Jianbo said to Yang Zirong was changed to "that is the bold loyalty to the party and Chairman Mao" to "that is the bold loyalty to the party", and the three words "Chairman Mao" were removed.
It can be said that this is a small modification of the line, but after Mr. Tong Xiangling learned of this matter, he clearly stated in Weibo that as one of the original actors of the Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain", he felt very uncomfortable with this practice of the Shanghai Peking Opera House, and added three "crying" expressions at the end of the Weibo article he posted.
This matter has aroused a lot of discussion on the Internet, such as Kong Qingdong and many other celebrities who have expressed support for Mr. Tong Xiangling's views.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" Who is Tong Xiangling >? </h1>
In 2021, Tong Xiangling and Zhang Nanyun, who were born in the same month of the same year, are 84 years old, and both husband and wife are Peking Opera actors and have sung dramas for a lifetime. Why is Tong Xiangling so sensitive to the removal of the word "Chairman Mao" from the Shanghai Peking Opera?
Tong Xiangling and his wife Zhang Nanyun
People who know Tong Xiangling know Yang Zirong, and in the hearts of the elderly fans of "Wise Tiger Mountain", Tong Xiangling is with Yang Zirong, and Yang Zirong is Tong Xiangling. In the 1970s, a Peking Opera movie "Wise Tiger Mountain" swept the country, and the two names of Yang Zirong and Tong Xiangling were closely linked.
Tong Xiangling was born in 1935, her second brother Tong Shouling, older sister Tong Zhiling, Tong Baoling are all famous Peking opera artists, of which the older sister Tong Zhiling is once popular in Shanghai Kundan. The second brother Tong Shouling is now more than 100 years old, and there is still a video of him visiting the second brother in Mr. Tong Xiangling's Weibo.
Tong Xiangling was born in such a family, naturally also very interested in Peking Opera, she began to learn drama at the age of 8, her sister invited famous teachers for him, the effect is also very obvious, Tong Xiangling began to become popular in her teens. Later, Tong Xiangling and his older brothers and sisters entered the Shanghai Peking Opera House and became colleagues, and Tong Xiangling, who was in her early 20s, has become a famous artist in the Peking Opera circle.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > Tong Xiangling and Yang Zirong</h1>
Every peking opera master has a masterpiece that can represent his own performance characteristics, and if you say that a play represents Tong Xiangling's performance achievements, it is undoubtedly the Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain".
As early as 1958, when the Shanghai Peking Opera House began to rehearse "Wise Tiger Mountain", Tong Xiangling and her sister were the protagonists in the play, but after the "Cultural Revolution" began, the two were immediately affected, and naturally they had no connection with the rehearsal.
In 1968, when the relevant departments were preparing to make "Wise Tiger Mountain" into a movie, they encountered difficulties: the actors who played Yang Zirong changed one after another, and they could not meet the requirements. The crew eventually had to use Tong Xiangling, who had been "hidden in the snow" for ten years, and Tong Xiangling went from Shanghai to Beijing to participate in the filming of the film. It can be said that the role of "Yang Zirong" saved Tong Xiangling to a certain extent.
Stills from "Outsmarting Tiger Mountain"
On the stage, Tong Xiangling plays the hero of Gao Daquan; offstage, Tong Xiangling also has to accept the so-called "labor reform" and clean the dishes and chopsticks of the whole crew. This is how Tong Xiangling finished filming "Wise Tiger Mountain".
"Wise Tiger Mountain" seems to make Tong Xiangling's career flourish twice, but after that, he was really shelved without any performance. In their later years, Mr. and Mrs. Tong Xiangling were even poor and sick, but in recent years, they have made great improvements.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > follow-up and reflection on criticism</h1>
After reading Tong Xiangling's story, you should understand why he attaches so much importance to "Wise Tiger Mountain" and why he is so attentive to the subtle changes in lines.
In his reply to netizens, Mr. Tong Xiangling once said: I am an ordinary actor, and there is still an unriggable distance from the requirements of being a Communist Party member! But that doesn't stop me from loving Chairman Mao! Do you think that removing the three words "Chairman Mao" is a slap in the face? Can you tell me what procedure shangjing went through to remove the three words "Chairman Mao"?
Mr. Tong Xiangling is more than 80 years old this year, and there are not many old artists of this age who have opened Weibo, Mr. Tong lao opened Weibo in June 2017, and as of February 22, 2021, a total of 123 Microblogs have been posted, with 13678 fans.
At present, mr. Tong Xiangling's Weibo has deleted the original post that first commented on the changes in the lines of the Shanghai Peking Opera House, but we can still see the seriousness of the older generation of artists for art.