"Those who say that a generation is not as good as a generation, should look at you..."
On May Fourth Youth Day, a short film "After the Wave" triggered a lot of discussions about "front wave" and "back wave", with mixed praise and criticism.
It was the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the interview program "Thirteen Invitations" hosted by Xu Zhiyuan, and the protagonist of this issue was a descendant of Tan Pai, the "Peking Opera Family".
From this issue of "Thirteen Invitations", we can see the speculation on "one generation is not as good as a generation" and the views on "Houlang" in this Peking Opera family that has been passed down for nearly two hundred years.
1. Peking Opera RoyalTy: The "Former Wave" That Has Been Passed Down for Nearly 200 Years
The Tan family of Peking Opera is known as the "royal family" of Peking Opera.
A seven-generation Tan Zhidao, Tan Xinpei, Tan Xiaopei, Tan Fuying, Tan Yuanshou, Tan Xiaozeng, Tan Zhengyan. Generations are engaged in the same kind of drama, the same industry (old students).
The first protagonist of the interview is Tan Xiaozeng, the sixth generation of the Tan family, an old man of the same age as the Republic who cherishes the glorious history of the family.
The first generation of Tan Zhidao was originally the owner of a rice shop, and then took refuge and moved to Beijing with his wife and children to sing Peking Opera for his livelihood, and his voice was high-pitched and loud, known as "Tan Called Heaven".
Tan Zhidao's work created a good learning environment for Tan Xinpei, who performed with Cheng Changgeng, the "father of Peking Opera", at the age of 17, and was ordered to perform in the palace in 1890, which was deeply loved by Empress Dowager Cixi.
He raised the old art of Peking Opera to a new stage of all-round development, and founded the first school in Peking Opera, the "Tan School", known as the "King of the Lingjie".
Tan Xiao once said that Gaozu Tan Xinpei was vaguely proud, at that time, Tan Xinpei's words and deeds were the fashion of the times, people rushed to follow suit, and even some princes and ministers knelt down for him to listen to the play.
In those days, the Tan family had cars in 1928 and television in the 1950s.
Tan Xiaozeng's toys when he was a child were strung together as a wrench finger that was hung on the ground as a car, and when he grew up a little, he was personally received by Chairman Mao, and later encountered the special period of the 60s and 70s, and the calligraphy and paintings in the home were burned for two days and two nights.
Among the achievements of the seven generations, the second generation of Tan Xinpei is the most, followed by the fourth generation of Tan Fuying.
At that time, there was an interesting story, there was a tabloid newspaper published a cartoon with three people: Tan Fuying on the left, Tan Xinpei on the right, and Tan Xiaopei in the middle. In the painting, Tan Xiaopei said to Tan Xinpei: "Your son is not as good as my son." Then he said to Tan Fuying, "Your father is not as good as my father." ”
2. The family style is severe: "front wave" a sentence, "back wave" a lifetime of struggle.
Although he began to perform for the leader at the age of 12, until the age of 55, Tan Xiao ran the dragon set for nearly 40 years.
He knows that he will never surpass his father, so he regards himself as a great-grandfather Tan Xiaopei, and regards the cultivation of his son as a "strategic goal".
The severity of the Tan family style can still be traced back to the third generation of Tan Xiaopei, when the fourth generation of Tan Fuying was known as one of the four major students, and he played a play with a salary of 1650 yuan, while Chairman Mao's salary at that time was only about 400 yuan.
But it is such a high-paid Tan Fuying, after each performance, still handed over all the money to his father Tan Xiaopei to manage, and even when he had no money to spend, he had to shake his son Tan Yuanshou to find Tan Xiaopei to ask for some "pocket money".
Mr. Wang Zengqi once mentioned in an article that Tan Fuying once ran to Tan Xiaopei and fell in front of Tan Xiaopei when practicing, which means: If you don't give me pocket money, I will drop your son! Tan Xiaopei will understand, busy said: Son, you get up, there is something to say!
After the restoration of traditional drama in 1984, Tan Yuanshou served as the deputy head of the Beijing Opera House, saying that "filial piety once started from the grassroots", and Tan Xiaozeng, who was 35 years old at the time, ran a dragon set again, and all the work of "pitting it" was repeated.
So hard for twenty years.
In these twenty years, in the eyes of others, he was Tan Fuying's grandson, Tan Yuanshou's son, and Yan Guixiang's husband, but he was not Tan Xiaozeng.
In 17 years, three generations of the Tan family sang "Dingjun Mountain" on the same stage, and after singing back home, Tan Yuanshou had some feelings:
"I didn't expect that you Tan Xiao had been able to do this today, I am so happy, there are places like your grandfather."
Tan Xiao, who was 68 years old at the time, "clicked" and knelt down to his father, and the yearning and depression that had been accumulated for decades broke out at this moment.
The sentence "There is your grandfather's shadow" in the front wave is already the highest praise for the "back wave" in his life.
"Bricks and tiles also have times to turn over, and there are ass that don't worry about being beaten." Tan Xiao once mentioned this "admonition" of his grandfather Tan Fuying in an interview, and he dedicated his life to this illusory goal.
03. Deep-rooted sense of mission: Being born in the Tan family indicates that you must engage in Peking Opera
"Being born in the Tan family indicates that you must engage in Peking Opera," Tan Xiao once said. The "front wave" has brought an unshakable status to the "back wave", but also brought a sense of mission imprinted in the blood.
Tan Zhengyan, the seventh generation of the Tan family, began to be brainwashed by his kindergarten aunt and neighbors at the age of two or three, "Oh you are after the Tan family, after the Peking Opera points at you, you have to carry the big flag", everyone said so.
When it came time to actually step into the theater, in the first class, Tan Zhengyan changed into his costume and went to that station, and the tears of the teachers of the Xiqu Academy fell.
Growing up, everyone took it for granted that he should wear these clothes and pinch those singing voices.
But it's always been that way, right?
There is never a shortage of keyboard heroes in this world, and after Tan Zhengyan performed on stage, the criticism of "one generation is not as good as a generation" and "what is this thing to sing" poured out to him.
He thought about escaping, wrote a letter of resignation, and planned to go to the monastery to become a monk. Perhaps only the monastery was pure enough, without the accusatory voices and without the worldly fetters that the surname "Tan" brought to him.
But those senses of mission in the Tan family's blood still drove him to persevere.
He also wrote a poem to tease himself:
He is 1.8 meters tall and grew up in the Tan family. Learning Peking Opera since childhood is purely impossible.
4. The Swallowed Wave: If Peking Opera is cut off in my generation, I am a sinner.
In most of the episodes of "Thirteen Invitations", Xu Zhiyuan always frowns and looks at the world with his prejudice and worry.
In this issue, he plays a more guiding and listening role, occasionally losing a few echoing laughs.
For Tan Zhengyan, a "younger brother" who was a few years younger than him, Xu Zhiyuan seemed to be a little distressed, and he stretched out his hand and tried to pull him and do some small "countermeasures".
Tan Zhengyan did not take Xu Zhiyuan's hand, he just swallowed everything into his stomach, moaning and slowly struggling to stand up.
"To have the opportunity to travel through time and space, to see Tan Xinpei, do you want to say anything to him", this question appeared three times in the interview, corresponding to three generations of Descendants of the Tan family.
Tan Xiao once replied that he wanted to ask him how hundreds of plays were arranged, and Tan Zhengyan said that he would first kowtow to the old ancestor for a year.
The third respondent was Tan Shouchang, the younger brother of Tan Yuanshou, the fifth generation of the Tan family, who did not properly protect his throat as a child, and he did not inherit the mantle of the "Tan family", saying: "Something else should be left for the younger generations."
For the upcoming eighth generation, Tan Xiao once said that he still had to let him learn, and emotionally could not accept the interruption of inheritance, but showed respect for choice.
And Tan Zhengyan's answer is that if it is a child, go to cultivate him, but if the child cries when he hears it, and vomits when he hears it, it is not necessary.
Although it talks about rationality and respect, the meaning of the words is still tacit.
It is worth mentioning that on May 1, Tan Zhengyan posted a dynamic on his personal social platform, showing him hugging his wife, whose stomach bulged and had a new life to come.
Netizens have sent blessings, Tan fans are overjoyed, as if there are people after the "Tan Sect", sending "hope is a son" and "the eighth generation" has come to the message.
The baby has not yet been born, and the fate of his life seems to have been determined by voices.
But there are also some other voices, hoping not to put too much pressure on the child, so that the child has his own way.
The world is front wave and back wave, but in the final analysis it is front wave.
In this Peking Opera family, the back wave is wrapped in the front wave and surges forward, and gradually the back wave is assimilated into a part of the front wave, with higher power, and pounces on the next cluster of newborn back waves.
What is the future of this new descendant of the Tan family, we have no reason to beak, nor do we know.
But I think the real back wave should not be wrapped up in the outside world, nor do it need to prove anything to the front wave.
Where the heart goes, gladly follows. Perhaps this is the core embodiment of the youth spirit.
Bluestone Film Editorial Office | v7
This article is the original content of Bluestone Movie, please do not reprint it in any form without authorization!