Shen Yuequan
Gu Chuanyue (right) with Zhang Yuanhe
Gu Duhuan rebuilt the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute
Stills of "Fifteen Consecutive Character Measurements", Wang Chuansong on the left and Zhou Chuanying on the right
The summer of 2021 marks the centenary of the establishment of the "Suzhou Kunqu Opera Institute". Kunqu opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" choreographed and directed by Gu Duhuang, an old man of Kunqu Opera, is tepidly staged at the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute, with a hundred yuan theater ticket and waiting for a confidant. Wang Fang, the winner of the Kunqu opera "Second Degree Plum" and a famous Kunqu performance artist, is lining up a traditional play. Like a hundred years ago, the people of Suzhou still maintain their gentleness, but today, they sing Kunqu opera to express their highest respect to the "Chuanzi Generation" artists born a hundred years ago.
Because of "transmission", so "transmission"
The traditional Kunqu tradition spread for 600 years, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, it suddenly "passed on" and did not move.
The last professional drama class, the Quanfu Class, died out completely in 1923. In fact, its decline has long been exposed before this, and the performance has long been intermittent.
How could a lingering "Quanfu Class" pass on the traditional Kunqu opera? Thus, in 1921, the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute was born, and for the dying traditional Kunqu opera, the fire it sowed has always illuminated today.
Initiating the establishment of the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Institute were Pei Jinmei (owner of the Lion Forest), Zhang Zidong (owner of the Humble Administrator's Garden), and Xu Jingqing, who also became the earliest board members and jointly funded the school together with local famous qu friends. All the teachers are the last professional drama class, the famous artists of the Quanfu class. Fifty students were recruited, between the ages of nine and thirteen or fourteen, all from Suzhou Kunqu opera artists and poor families in the lowest class, and some of the children were still from the Shanghai Poor Children's Hospital. All the trainees took stage names, and the stage names were inlaid with a "chuan" character, expressing the founders' determination to let the traditional Kunqu opera be passed on to these children in a lively way into the future. However, not only a "transmission" word, at the end of the name, the founder also spent painstaking efforts, singing the shengxing are "oblique jade side", taking the meaning of "Yushu Linfeng"; singing Danxing is used "grass character head", taking the meaning of "beauty vanilla"; the net line uses "golden word side", which is intended to "Yellow Bell Dalu, get the sound of the right, the iron plate copper lute, get the excitement of the sound"; the rest of the ugly and auxiliary line names use "next to the water character" to show the meaning of "mouth like a hanging river".
Gu Chuanlin, Gu Chuanyue, Zhou Chuanying, Zhao Chuanjun, Shen Chuanqiu, Shi Chuanyu, Chen Chuanqi...
Shen Chuanzhi, Shen Chuanqin, Wang Chuanruo, Zhu Chuanming, Yao Chuanqian, Hua Chuanping, Zhang Chuanfang, Liu Chuanyun, Fang Chuanyun...
Shi Chuanzhen, Zheng Chuanjian, Qu Chuanzhong, Hua Chuanquan, Ni Chuanduo, Bao Chuanduo, Shen Chuankun, Zhou Chuanzheng, Xue Chuangang...
Wang Chuansong, Gu Chuanlan, Hua Chuanhao, Yao Chuanmei, Zhou Chuancang, Lü Chuanhong, Zhang Chuanrong, Zhang Chuanxiang...
This is the famous "chuan" generation of artists in the history of Kunqu opera and even in the history of Chinese opera. Careful people will find that the last word of these names is mostly flat characters, and try to avoid using de-sounding words. At that time, they believed that the upward Yangping character was the most conducive to the artist's fame.
According to statistics, the "Chuanzi Generation" has performed about 500 folding plays, selected from a hundred kinds of dramas, legends and miscellaneous dramas, and the plays often performed by the Kun class in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty can be said to have all been inherited. All of them are good actors and good teachers, but they can be known by the national audience as Zhou Chuanying and Wang Chuansong, who starred in the movie "Fifteen Guan". The success of "Fifteen Guan" is praised as "a play saved a kind of drama", but when it comes to the roots, it should be the transmission of "Chuanzi Generation" that saved Kunqu opera.
After liberation, the "Chuanzi generation" was mainly concentrated in Shanghai, and a group of new Kunqu opera artists were trained. Today, these newcomers are all old people, they have won the Plum Blossom Award in the 1980s, and their teachers, the "Chuanzi" artists, have successively ended on the big stage of life.
But in 1921, they were all dancing teenagers.
There is no "Mr. Big", where is the "Passing On Generation"
The biggest influence on the "Chuanzi Generation" was Shen Yuequan. Zheng Chuanjian, an artist of the "Chuanzi Generation", said: There is no Shen Yuequan, and there is no "Chuanzi Generation" today.
In 1865, Shen Yuequan was born in Wuxi on the edge of Taihu Lake, and was the second son of Shen Shoulin, a young student of the late Qing Dynasty Kun opera, and had the title of "Xiaosheng All-Rounder". When the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Institute was founded in 1921, Shen Yuequan was the most ideal candidate to be a teacher. Every child who enters the institute is chosen and decided by him. The chuanzi artist recalled: "On the day of the exam, Shen Yuequan took the test, looked at the facial features and figure, asked about the age and place of origin, and then taught to sing a song or two, listen to the music and throat sounds, and finish it." "Children with physical defects, such as flared ears, collapsed noses, and cockfighting eyes, are excluded from recruitment.
In the memory of Ni Chuanyu, an artist of the "Chuanzi Generation", Mr. Yuequan is very kind, and usually strokes his head to tell him to be obedient and study hard! Mr. Shen does not live in the school, because there are many musicians outside who want to ask him to shoot music and teach plays, so the economic conditions are better than others, in the institute he takes fifty silver dollars a month, plus the music friends pay for music and teaching plays, and the income is quite considerable.
In the beginning, the children sat around the table and sang a song, so people from the Kunqu class were called "table people". The table is made up of two eight-immortal tables, the upper head is the teacher's seat, the left and right sides sit four children, and the lower head sits three children. If you want to have twelve children, add another stool. The seats of the trainees are not special, and the children choose to sit on them.
There are four tables in the Kunqu Opera Institute, the teacher of the first table is Shen Yuequan, because he is "Mr. Big", and the first table is of course seated by him; the teacher of the second table is Shen Binquan, the younger brother of "Mr. Big" Shen Yuequan, known as "Mr. Two"; the teacher of the third table is Xu Caijin, who was later replaced by Wu Yisheng; the teacher of the fourth table is Gao Buyun, who was later replaced by You Caiyun. Fifty teenage children, four gentlemen from the old opera class, everyone sat around four tables to learn to sing Kunqu opera, and sang for three years.
Unlimited scenery in the youth
Passing on the jiu, passing on the tea, just in the wonderful year, or mao mao like spring willow, or brilliant as a strange thing, clear songs and wonderful dances, a sound and audio-visual, let people think for ten days. Chuanfang is petite and exquisite, like a milk swallow, like a warbler, with a crisp singing voice and a ringing cloud. Chuanying's voice is astringent, but personable and charming. Chuan Ping, Chuan Qian, handsome face, Yuan Yuan Tingting, just like the cardamom tip, occupying the spring wind. Chuanyun is the youngest, and when he runs the dragon set, he often opens his mouth to make a smile. Chuanlin and Chuanyue are brothers and sisters, so the appearance is similar, very observant, extremely difficult to distinguish. Passing on the Mei and passing the vicissitudes, the years are similar, the speech is similar, and the workmanship is comparable, which shows the wisdom.
This is the text written by the literati after watching the performance of the "Chuanzi Generation" in that year, and it is included in the book "Kunqu Opera Performance History Draft". As soon as the "Chuanzi Generation" came out, it coincided with the age of fourteen or fifteen to eighteen or nineteen, which was the best flower season in life.
The "Chuanzi Generation" made its collective debut after only one year of studying Kunqu Opera. Zhang Qingqing, the son of Zhang Zidong, one of the founders of the Kunqu Opera Transmission Institute, is similar in age to the "Chuanzi Generation". In his later years, he recalled: "In the summer of 1922, the family celebrated the sixtieth birthday of my grandmother, when teachers and students held their first performance in the theater hall after the establishment of the training center. The performance was quite successful, and the young and beautiful actors of the chuanzi generation were young and beautiful, and the father and other people were very praised. Not only did I watch the show at the front desk, but I also watched them dress up and listened to their conversations backstage. Seeing that the young actors of the same age as me have been learning to play for less than a year, the singing and doing of Kunqu opera can perform so well, and their talent is so smart, it is very admirable, and it is particularly happy. ”
After the success of the premiere, the founders of the institute did not rush to make money from this group of dolls, but continued to let the children immerse themselves in learning the art, and only three years later began to perform while studying in Suzhou. In 1925, the famous Shanghai composer Xu Lingyun invited the "Chuanzi Generation" to perform in Shanghai, and since then the "Chuanzi Generation" has begun a century of journey in Shanghai.
Famous people also, bane also
There is one person in the "Chuanzi Generation" who can't help but say a few words, and this person is Gu Chuanjie, the "Little Student Head Card". Many people today have not seen Gu Chuanjie's plays, but he is indeed recognized as the best artist in the "Chuanzi Generation". He was red quickly and left early. Because his play was too good, it led to the tearing of the contract between the "Chuanzi" brothers and investors. But the "Passers-by" disintegrated, and he had no personal responsibility.
In 1927, the "Chuanzi Generation" formed the class society "Xinlefu". By 1931, there was a conflict between the actor and the boss over the treatment problem, and the crux of the matter was that Gu Chuanjiu's salary was too high. Zheng Chuanjian recalled: "Gu Chuanjiu's salary is one hundred yuan per month, we are thirty to forty yuan, and some are only twenty yuan. It is normal for everyone to be cultivated by a teaching, but if the difference is so great, the mentality is unbalanced. Once, in order to reward Gu Chuanyue, Zhu Chuanming, and Hua Chuanping, the boss took out three hundred yuan from the bank, one hundred yuan for each person, and made three leather coats, one for each person. ”
Ni Chuanyu is the leader of the boss's rebellion, and he calls on everyone to strike, which is not uncommon in Shanghai, where the "strike" and "strike" trend is booming. Since then, the "Chuanzi Generation" seems to have stepped onto the stage of history with an independent appearance, and its fate seems to be in its own hands, but in fact, it has lost its economic backing, and kunqu art has relied on itself to make a living in the chaotic world, which is difficult!
1930 became a watershed year for the "Passing Generation". Before, it was their development that went up, and then gradually went into decline. By the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937, they could no longer even sing. Experts say that 1926 to 1937 was the heyday of the "Chuanzi Generation", but the chaotic events of 1930 and the subsequent departure of Gu Chuanyue had a huge impact on the "Chuanzi Generation".
Gu Chuanyue was born in 1910, his father was a poor reader, because he liked Kunqu opera, he met Pei Jinmei, and with this relationship, he and his brother entered the Kunqu Opera Training Institute together. Gu Chuanjie first appeared on stage in 1922, only twelve years old.
From the beginning of learning art, Gu Chuanyue revealed his extraordinary, sitting on the first stool closest to the teacher and seriously learning drama. From the age of fifteen to seventeen, he traveled between Shanghai and Suzhou to perform, and he and his brothers could perform more than 200% off, and he became the brightest star among the children.
It is likely that Gu Chuanyue did not act as a play, but as a life, so he can understand the emotions of the characters in the script created by adults better than children of the same age. Before every performance, he muttered a monologue, and had already entered the role, and he forgot himself during the performance. Zhou Chuanying recalled that once Gu Chuanyue performed the Chongzhen Emperor in "Striking the Bell and Dividing the Palace" in Xu Yuan, he sang that "hate only hate, once the three-hundred-year imperial map is thrown away", only to see Gu Chuanyue "hurriedly get off the stage and return to the theater, to the point of hemoptysis". Gu Chuanyue is a drama, but he is definitely not willing to be a drama in his emotional world.
In November 1930, Gu Chuanyue, who was just 20 years old, was invited to co-perform the whole book "Horse Selling" with Mei Lanfang, who was already 36 years old and popular all over the country, in Shanghai, and the two masters from the north and south were interesting on stage, full of wonderful stages. When the "Chuanzi Generation" was taken over by the tobacco merchants Yan Huiyu and Tao Xiquan, Yan Hui gave the highest courtesy to take care of Gu Chuanjiu, which triggered a boycott by the brothers of the same door. On June 2, 1931, Gu Chuanyue performed the last play at the Suzhou Grand Theater, and finally gave up his career as a man, set out to study hard, taking the meaning of "those who have ambitions can achieve things", and changed his name to Gu Zhicheng.
Yan Huiyu was optimistic about Gu Zhicheng and independently funded him, Gu Zhicheng began to learn from secondary school at the age of 21, first attending the Junior High School Affiliated to Soochow University, then the Affiliated Senior High School of Guanghua University, and finally graduating from Jinling University. Gu Zhicheng became the only person among the "Chuanzi generation" artists to systematically receive higher education. Is this his luck or the misfortune of Kunqu?
Two boys from the Zhang family in Jiuru Lane, Suzhou, and Gu Zhicheng, the boys and girls of the Zhang family like Kunqu opera. Once, the Zhang family children watched the play, the eldest sister Zhang Yuanhe and his brothers went backstage to see the actors, Gu Zhicheng, who had already landed, performed "Too White Drunk Writing", the play did not open, Gu Zhi entered the role first as in the same year, murmuring: "If it were not for the Qunyu Mountain Head", Zhang Yuanhe couldn't help but pick up a sentence: "Will meet the Yaotai Moon." Since then, Gu Zhicheng became acquainted with the Zhang family, and eventually married Zhang Yuanhe, the eldest lady of the Zhang family, and became a brother-in-law with the famous linguist Zhou Youguang, the famous writer Shen Congwen, and the American sinologist Fu Hansi.
On the day of Gu Zhicheng and Zhang Yuanhe's wedding, the brothers of the "Chuanzi Generation" came to help, Fang Chuanyun performed "Sending Son" to express congratulations, and everyone made a fuss to let Gu Zhicheng perform "Kneeling Pool". This is a play of fear of his wife, the husband kneels by the pool and begs his wife for forgiveness, Gu Zhicheng refuses to act.
After marriage, Zhang Yuanhe learned "Pipa Ji Panfu" from Zhang Chuanfang, and when friends came, the young couple sang it to people. Unexpectedly, friends teased: "Zhang Yuanhe is married, and he knows 'Panfu'!" Hahaha! After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to entertain their American friend Mr. Fei Zhengqing, they performed "The Hall of Eternal Life, The Amazing Change" at home, Zhang Yuanhe played Yang Yuhuan, Gu Zhicheng played Tang Minghuang, and other brothers of the "Chuanzi Generation" came to play.
In 1949, Gu Zhicheng went to Taiwan with his wife. On January 6, 1965, he died in Taichung due to complications of cirrhosis and pneumonia at the age of 55. Zhang Yuanhe wrote an article in his later years: "Unexpectedly, after many years, in Taiwan, the 'buried jade' was buried, not Yang Yuhuan's jade, but Gu Chuanjiu, who played The Tang Ming Emperor, buried this piece of jade!" ”
玠, 大圭; Gui, jade also. Gu Chuanyue, the beautiful jade of the Kunqu opera industry, has changed its name several times in his life, leaving only the regret of Kunqu opera for posterity.
One last collective appearance
In the 1920s, when the "Chuanzi Generation" was full of teachers, there were 44 people, and after experiencing the War of Resistance and Liberation, it became 25 people, and in 1981, when the "Chuanzi Generation" was founded sixty years ago, there were still 16 people left. By 2006, when the 85th anniversary of the kunqu opera institute was commemorated, only two people were alive.
The twenty-five years from 1924 to 1949 were the formative years of the "Chuanzi generation" artists, but nineteen people passed away one after another. The country is still in turmoil, there is no quiet stage, artists, especially practitioners of the Kunqu opera art that has declined, do not have any life security, after breaking up with the boss of the capital, many people's food and clothing have become a problem. Coupled with the constraints of medical conditions and medical standards, many extremely talented artistic seedlings have died prematurely.
"In those days, the appearance was more than a peach blossom; the fate of this dynasty was a pear blossom." Wen Xiangyan's jade whiskers were transformed, how to see him in this life! These are a few words from the Hall of Eternal Life and Buried Jade. These words, "passing on the word generation" should be said to be familiar to everyone. How many of their brothers were buried in the old society! A 44-person Kunqu opera team that grew up neatly and orderly ushered in the birth of new China in the midst of war, in the cold of hunger, and under the snub and destruction of tradition.
Under the great changes in the country, the "passers-by" did not enter the main camp of the revolution. The experience of the Yue opera "Stage Sisters" has not been experienced by the "Chuanzi Generation", which is not to blame the "Chuanzi Generation", but to blame the Kunqu opera style, which can no longer play the role of "mobilizing the masses". People who like Kunqu opera are vested interests in the old era, and ordinary middle- and lower-class people have long since turned to Peking Opera and Yue Opera.
Gu Chuanyue went to Taiwan. Ni Chuanqi, Yao Chuanqian and a few others ran to Sichuan to make a living. Zhou Chuanying and five or six other "Chuanzi generation" artists followed a Su opera troupe to Hangzhou.
November 19, 1949, was an important day for the "Passers-by". More than a dozen "Chuanzi" brothers, in the name of the "Xinle Fu" they had acquired before the war, performed publicly at the Tongfu Grand Theater in Shanghai. The "chuanzi generations" who participated in the performance were: Zheng Chuanjian, Yuan Chuanpan, Wang Chuanzhao, Shen Chuanzhi, Zhang Chuanfang, Zhu Chuanming, Fang Chuanyun, Wang Chuanruo, Shen Chuanqin, Zhou Chuanzheng, Xue Chuangang, Hua Chuanhao, Zhou Chuancang, the best Danjiao actors, the best clown actors, and the best veteran actors. At this time, the "Chuanzi Generation" was only about forty years old, which was the best time for artistic level, but this performance lasted for a month and ended. Two years later, these "Chuanzi" artists in Shanghai were absorbed into the East China Opera Research Institute and became teachers in the Kunqu Opera Actors Training Class. Subsequently, the Shanghai Opera School was established, and most of them became teachers in the School's Kunqu Opera Class, thus fading out of the stage.
Today, a group of Kunqu masters in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Jiangsu, who were born in the 1940s and became famous in the 1960s, all won the plum blossom award, the highest award for national drama, in the 1980s. These people are the students of these "passers-by generations." Those who have taught in Shanghai for a long time are: Zheng Chuanjian, Shen Chuanzhi, Zhu Chuanming, Zhang Chuanfang, Hua Chuanhao, Zhou Chuancang, Ni Chuanyu, and Shao Chuanyong.
Shen Chuanzhi "passed on" Cai Zhengren's Guansheng drama, Yue Meiti's Jiansheng drama, Liang Guyin's Zhengdan drama, Zhang Jiqing's Danjiao drama, Shi Xiaomei's Xiaosheng drama, and Lin Jifan's two-sided play. Zhu Chuanming "passed on" Hua Wenyi, Zhang Xunpeng, Cai Yaoqian, Wang Yingzi, Zhang Jingxian, Zhang Jiqing, Liu Jiyan, Shen Shihua and other famous Dan. Yao Chuanqian "passed on" Wang Fengmei, Zhang Zhihong, Zhang Jiqing, Hua Wenyi, Liang Guyin, Hong Xuefei, Dong Yaoqin, and so on. Hua Chuanhao "passed on" Liu Yilong, Zhang Mingrong, Cheng Zhixiong, Cai Qinglin, Yao Jisu, Lin Jifan, and so on. Shao Chuanyong "passed" Fang Yang, Wang Qun and other large-faced and white-faced actors. Fang Chuanyun "passed on" Wang Zhiquan, Zhang Jingxian, Duan Qiuxia, Shi Jiehua, and so on. Zhang Chuanfang "passed" Liang Guyin, Shi Jiehua and so on.
After the liberation of the "Chuanzi Generation", the real fame of the performances was in Hangzhou. They joined the Guofeng Sukun Opera Troupe, which later became the Zhejiang Kun Opera Troupe. In 1956, Zhou Chuanying adapted and directed the traditional Kunqu opera "Fifteen Guan", which caused a sensation throughout the country. In this play of "one drama saved a drama", there are four "Chuanzi generation" artists, they are Zhou Chuanying, who plays Guan Zhong, Wang Chuansong, who plays Lou Ama, Zhou Chuanzheng, who plays You Hulu, and Bao Chuanduo, who plays Zhou Chen.
Although many people think that "Fifteen Guan" is not a good play in Kunqu opera at all, in the 1950s, only "Fifteen Guan" could save the Kunqu opera that was forgotten by the public, and "Fifteen Guan" also became the last and most brilliant moment of the "Chuanzi Generation"! Because of the "Fifteen Continuities", the jade of Kunqu opera was not "buried" in the end.
Text/Liu Hongqing
This version of kunqu character drawing / Gao Made