- 01 -
There is a precious video on the Internet of the late famous performance artist Zhao Lirong speaking at a symposium in Dachang, Hebei Province, in 1993.
In the video, Ms. Zhao Lirong and a group of veteran artists sit in a conference room, and she is invited to make an impromptu speech about her visit to Taiwan to attend the Golden Horse Awards ceremony.
In 1991, Ms. Zhao's film "New Year" won the Special Jury Prize of the 4th Tokyo International Film Festival, so she was invited to Taiwan. Sitting next to her were Teacher Tian Hua, who was full of white hair, and Teacher Liu Jiang, who was constantly spewing clouds and mist.
As soon as Teacher Zhao opened his mouth, he said that he had no level, could not speak, was blind chatting, and as a result, he spoke for 7 minutes in one breath, clear and reasonable, and a tangshan accent with humor contained a lot of life philosophies.
She first laughed at herself: "I am a dirt old man in the north, and I have not won an award in a lifetime of acting." The retired director asked me to act in movies, and I didn't expect to win an award in Japan! In China, the people up and down, especially the people in the countryside, are all good for my popularity, but no one has ever given me an award."
This made the artists around them laugh.
Teacher Zhao was born in Hebei Opera, and later performed sketches at the Spring Festival Gala, which was deeply loved by the majority of the people. She is a people's artist who is rooted in the masses and very grounded.
- 02 -
In the early 1990s, the mainland was not yet developed, and many places were very earthy and poor.
At that time, the popular culture of Hong Kong and Taiwan in the "golden" era had swept the mainland, and the young people in the streets and alleys were all enthusiastically chasing songs, film and television dramas from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and frantically worshiping the stars of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
However, Teacher Zhao, who had been to Taiwan, was not accustomed to the atmosphere there and made many criticisms:
1. She said: "We call literary and art workers soul engineers on our side, they call them 'artists' on that side, and how big the stars call themselves artists";
2, there are many stars in the literary and art circle there, many of the life styles are incomprehensible, Teacher Zhao said: "There is a home that does not live, you have to pack a room outside." 40 years old is not married, playing celibacy, but as soon as you enter the house, everyone is in pairs";
3. Regarding the social atmosphere there, Teacher Zhao said: "Not real, not affordable, talk about wearing, talk about wearing, that young man, middle school students will suck D, do you think his next generation can be good?" Not good! Their so-called civilization, I think, is to destroy people! ”
Teacher Zhao also pointed out sharply: "That is rich and troublesome!" It will not contribute its wealth to the people well, and in turn, the country will be strong and developed."
This is said at a very high level, a normal society, should not be the richer the richer, the poorer the poor.
If the wealth of society is concentrated in the hands of only a few people and is not used to develop science and technology and people's livelihood, the country will not be able to progress. And those who hold wealth will also quickly become corrupt and degenerate because of wealth, and stand against the people.
4. Teacher Zhao also said: "The whole board (whole) over there is an old society, and the rich areas and slums are very obvious, and you can see it at a glance." And after so many years of liberation, the status of the masses of the people has been greatly enhanced."
- 03 -
Although the mainland was still slightly backward compared with Hong Kong and Taiwan at that time, Teacher Zhao was very confident in himself and the country.
She said: "Don't look at us who have suffered, you know how hardships have survived, and so is art." I grew up in a drama class, now called a theater troupe, so I watched many, many generations. 65 years old, how much salt have you eaten? When you taste bitterness and sweetness, you feel something in your heart. We must also build our own culture and let the masses of the people have spiritual food."
Teacher Zhao has been dead for 20 years, but the people have never forgotten such a great artist with superb acting skills, dedication, approachability, and countless joys.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon that Teacher Zhao criticized the other side of the strait in the past is constantly being staged in our showbiz circle and society today.
1. Our literary and art workers not only learn to call themselves "entertainers" on the other side, but also keep up with them in terms of chaos in their private lives.
Li Yundi, a famous pianist who recently had an accident, is a typical example of Teacher Zhao's criticism: he is almost 40 years old and still single, but he is outside.
There are also some well-known entertainers who have been imprisoned for smoking D. Chen Daoming once "shelled" these people: who is not under pressure in modern people? Is it only you who are stressed? Are you under pressure from ordinary people? Actors, who earn more than ordinary people and have a high degree of social attention, are not only pressured, but also the pressure to be famous and want to be beautiful in Vanity Fair. Using pressure to explain sucking D is pure excuse!
2, now many young artists, acting skills are not good, can not talk about professionalism, but the film remuneration is frighteningly high. So much so that netizens call them "traffic stars".
Many artists of Zhao's contemporaries, they did not have sky-high appearance fees, but they also contributed excellent literary and artistic works to the people.
Teacher Xu Jingqing, the composer of the 86th edition of "Journey to the West", with a salary of tens of yuan a month, single-handedly created all the theme songs, ending songs and various interludes of "Journey to the West". In addition to the well-known "Cloud Palace Audio" and "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", other "Daughter Love", "Clear Sky Moon Erming", "Eight Commandments to Marry a Daughter-in-Law", including some unknown background soundtracks, the first capital is a classic, which is still sung on the Internet to this day.
Why was it that in that era, there were no high film remuneration and big investments, but countless masterpieces could be born? Whether literary and artistic creators are willing to create is the key to determining the quality of their works!
- 04 -
Teacher Zhao is a simple people's artist, no matter how popular she is, she has not changed her simple nature, a lifetime of excellence in art, a lifetime of rooted life, rooted in the masses, performed countless roles that ordinary people like to hear.
Fortunately, in today's materialistic world, there are still many artists who adhere to the persistent pursuit of art and the simple original intention of dedicating literature and art to the people. These powerful actors have created one classic role after another, but they have zero scandals and scandals in their lives.
If you want to wear a crown, you must first bear its weight, and star artists, as idols of the public, should assume their social responsibilities. What society needs is an artist who is not only artistically superb, but also of high moral character who can bring positive energy to the audience.