Rich families like to listen to drama, which is not uncommon in the late Qing Dynasty and early Minchu. In some literature and even film and television works, such behaviors of rich children are often characterized as "stupid". Because they often change from a love for opera itself to a love for people. In essence, this is not much different from the current "star chasing". But at that time, the status of the people was really low, so the children of rich families often did something out of the ordinary in the context of power.
Zheng Zhengqiu's difference lies in this. He has a true love for opera itself. Although he had many contacts with various opera celebrities in Shanghai at that time, he never did anything to bully people. The most discussed with the "horns" is about the evolution of the plot and the changes in the way of performance.
From the current data, it is difficult to determine the true origin of Zheng Zhengqiu's cross-class "equality" consciousness. If we speculate from his previous experience, first, it may be that his "adopted son" identity has always made him feel "insecure", and second, from the perspective of his education, his enlightenment teacher Zhuang Chenghuang should also have a certain anti-class egalitarian ideology (Zheng Zhengqiu later invited Zhuang Chenghuang to write a drama script), and Western-style education also has this instilling of equality consciousness.
In addition, before and after the Xinhai Revolution, China's intellectual class generally began to think about how to save China, and Zheng Zhengqiu, a young man with certain knowledge and relatively convenient access to information in Shanghai, was inevitably affected by this aspect.
Zheng Zhengqiu's preference for new dramas should also be able to find a certain source from his student days: since 1899, when students of St. John's College in Shanghai performed new plays, the practice of rehearsing new plays in Shanghai schools had become a common practice before the Xinhai Revolution. For example, "Zhang Wenxiang's Thorn Horse", "The British Soldiers Abducted Ye Mingchen", "Arrest and Arrest of Andehai" and so on all emerged at that time. Since 1906, when Japanese students Zeng Xiaogu and Li Shutong founded the Spring Willow Society and rehearsed "La Traviata Girl" and "Black Slave Calling Heavenly Record" to achieve a sensation, "civilization drama" is even more popular. The purpose of the Chunliu Society is to "improve opera and help to transfer the atmosphere". This point is very similar to the propositions put forward by Zheng Zhengqiu later, so it can be basically concluded that some of Zheng Zhengqiu's ideas and ideas at that time would be influenced by the chunliu society's ideas.
On November 26, 1910, Zheng Zhengqiu published a long drama review in the "Minli Bao" sponsored by You Ren and established the Sect for anti-Qing and anti-foreign insults: "Li Liso's Joke". This is his first appearance under the pseudonym "Zhengqiu". At that time, on the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, various ideological trends in China emerged, and the debate between them was already very fierce. This drama review can be regarded as a holistic exposition of Zheng Zhengqiu's drama theory. In the drama review, Zheng Zhengqiu opened his own point of view: "Drama can transfer human feelings and have good manners." And proposed that the cultural literacy and ideological character of the actors can directly affect the level of performance, that is, the artistic quality is related to the character. In addition, there are corresponding theoretical analysis of the basic elements of opera performance - tone, singing, speaking white, etc., so as soon as the drama review went out on the street, it caused great repercussions in the opera industry.
In February 1911, the Minli Bao officially launched a drama supplement. With the encouragement of Youren, Zheng Fangze officially began to write drama reviews under the name "Zheng Zhengqiu". It was also at this stage that Zheng Zhengqiu's interest in Peking Opera gradually turned to "new drama", that is, "civilized drama". In his view, "theater people, experimental fields of social education, excellent people, and good teachers of social education." Therefore, in order to practice his idea of "improving society through drama", Zheng Zhengqiu wrote a long-form new current affairs drama "Iron-Blooded Mandarin Duck" praising the Xinhai Revolution, hoping to publicize new ideas. Since then, his series of new drama creations have also revolved around improving society and educating the people. By 1913, Zheng Zhengqiu's views remained unchanged. Therefore, when invited by Zhang Ishikawa, based on the starting point of "indoctrination", it is easy to explain the scope of his creative ideas and the choice of themes.
According to the current historical data, the subject that Zheng Zhengqiu most wanted to shoot at that time was the new drama "Black Book" that had won the praise of the audience. The story is derived from Peng Yangou's improved Zhang Hui novel, which tells the story of a rich young master who was in debt due to opium smoking and eventually ruined his family and was eventually beaten into hell. As mentioned above, because Zheng Zhengqiu himself has also suffered from opium, he has a very deep feeling for this subject. However, the investment boss Isher was extremely disgusted with this subject and was unwilling to invest, so in desperation, Zheng Zhengqiu thought of the bad habits of marriage in the Chaoshan area, and for the same purpose of "indoctrination", wrote the script of "Cave House Flower Candle", which was written according to the structural form of the new civilized drama that was popular at that time, a total of five plays. The content tells the story of a pair of men and women who have never met, under the mediation of various exaggerated and fraudulent sweet words of the matchmaker, and finally come together through various red tape. But after worshiping heaven and earth and becoming a parent, the bride found that the groom had not lived long.
In the autumn of 1913, in a vacant lot opposite asia company at No. 1 Hong Kong Road (now Yuanmingyuan Road) in Shanghai, "Cave House Flower Candle" was filmed.
From today's point of view, this work, which later became China's first feature film, was filmed and produced in a rudimentary manner. The so-called shooting location is nothing more than a bamboo fence in a circle in the open space on the side of the road. Inside, according to the stage layout of the civilized drama, the curtain is hung on three sides, just like the three walls. According to Qian Huafo, an actor of the Minming Society Theater Troupe who participated in the filming at that time, the scenes at that time were all painted on the cloth wall: "The clothes on the wall are grinning, and the self-chiming bell grin is all painted." There are even some new chairs, the rental price is too large, and they are tied up in the paper tie shop. ”
According to Zhang Ishikawa's article "Since I Directed", "The work I took on with Zheng qiu, after consultation, was that he directed the actor's expression and action, and I directed the change of camera position - this work, now the most common sense people also know that it is called a director, but at that time it did not matter the name of 'director'. Judging by the director's job responsibilities, Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu are listed as the first directors in the history of Chinese cinema, which should be established.
But in fact, the placement of the camera position and the like, for the film is not too much work. The cinematographer for the film was Isher, one of the bosses of the Asia Company at the time. Moreover, there is only one fixed lens from beginning to end, and there is no such trick as pushing and pulling and panning. According to Zhang Ishikawa, "The position of the camera was set, and the actors were instructed to make a scene in front of the camera, and various expressions and movements continued to be performed until the two-hundred-foot-a-box film was shot (at that time, the four-hundred-foot and one-thousand-foot film cassettes were not invented." The lens is never changing, it is always a vista... If the film is finished and the action expression has not yet ended, then when the shooting is continued, it will continue to shoot according to this action. If categorized less rigorously, this practice may be described as a fixed camera position, a long shot to the end of the lens — this kind of technique, which later became an aesthetic technique worth exploring in the hands of masters such as Yasujiro Ozu and Hou Xiaoxian.
Of course, as the first feature film in the history of Chinese cinema, "Cave House Flower Candle" is also in the exploratory stage in many aspects, accumulating valuable experience for later films. For example, makeup, at that time, the crew did not think of the problem of black and white images, many actors painted red rouge on their faces, and the result was that two lumps of gray and black colors were presented in the shot, and the original exaggerated shape looked more like a ghost.
When "Cave House Flower Candle" was filmed in the last shot, Zheng Zhengqiu changed the original joyful title and changed it to the tragic "Difficult Husband and Wife" that everyone sees now. According to Zheng Zhengqiu's recollection, this is because he feels that many ordinary people in China "do not know to uphold their due rights, and marriage cannot be autonomous", so he hopes to change his name to warn the world.
In mid-September 1913, a poster for China's first feature film, "Difficult Husbands and Wives," appeared in front of the gates of the New New Stage in Shanghai. This is also the first local film poster in the history of Chinese cinema. From the perspective of today's publicity, this poster is also very simple, although there is no sense of design to speak of, but the basic information required for the film's publicity has been fully equipped: "Difficult Husbands and Wives" four extra-large fonts, the following row of small characters: "September 29, 30, October 1, night show, open at 8 o'clock, open at 9 o'clock, test screening of China's own social satire drama movie "Difficult Husbands and Wives", must not be a feast of the eyes." ”
The advertisement written by Zheng Zhengqiu himself on September 27 and September 28, 1913 on the "Declaration" should also be regarded as the first local film media advertisement in the history of Chinese cinema: "Asia Film and Drama Company has hired Zhu Junjun of xinmin Society to play the new Chinese family drama "Difficult Husbands and Wives", all of which are wonderful and perfect, and witnessing the play must be clapped, and this film produced by Chinese drama is the first time that the sea has broken the sky. ”
The release of "Difficult Husbands and Wives" has caused an unprecedented sensation in China. Although there were various problems in the production process, the film itself has far-reaching significance. According to film critic Curling, in terms of depicting arranged marriages, the film predates Hu Shi's one-act play "Lifelong Events" published in New Youth magazine in 1919, and its content is also more in-depth than the latter. Xia Yan said that it "laid the first cornerstone for the Chinese film industry."
China's true cinema, the feature film, was born.
【Written by】 Square Gun Gun Kim Chul-hwa
【Author】
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client
Source: South+ - Create more value
![Zheng Zhengqiu and the new certificate of "Difficult Husbands and Difficult Wives"[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)