A hundred years ago, the Beijing Book And Tea House was popular, and there were hundreds of well-known storytellers

Today, vibrato and kuaishou are popular; a hundred years ago, book reviews and big drum books were popular.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, the larger book and tea houses included "Deyixuan" in the Tianqiao area, "Xinfulai" in xi'an market, "Sanyouxuan" outside ChongwenMen, and "Yihexuan" outside ChaoyangMen... Today I want to talk about the "Yihexuan" outside the Chaoyang Gate.

Sheng Xishan's "Old Beijing Well Style Painting"

In 1922, that is, in the 11th year of the Republic of China, a treasurer surnamed Zhang was optimistic about the Chaowaitankou Market Street, known as the "Ertianqiao", and opened a book and tea house, with an area of about 200 square meters, which could accommodate more than 200 people.

Each line has its own rules, if you want to open a book teahouse, you must first ask 12 storytellers a year, 6 people to "say noon", 6 people to "say the evening", arrange the order of storytelling, similar to code out a year's program list. Zhang Came according to the rules, and after the preliminary invitation operation, a group of storytellers, under the leadership of Yuan Jieying, came to the "Yihexuan" to be opened to hold a ceremony to break the stage and open the door. It is often said that the ancestor of the commentary is the king of Zhou Zhuang, but the industry generally believes that the founder of the real sense of the book is Liu Jingting, an artist in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. After the ceremony of breaking the stage, the book tea house was accepted by the industry, and the storyteller dared to speak the book.

In the 1920s, there were more than 70 book and teahouses in Beijing, and there were more than 100 well-known and unknown storytellers. Each storyteller speaks for two months at a time in a book teahouse, and after saying a large book review called "a turn". The first-way role can stay for a turn, the second-way role often can't do a turn, and the three- or four-way role is afraid to go. The storyteller goes to a certain bookstore to say books, if he does not take the seat, the storyteller resigns from the library to find another place, and the fellow workers will ridicule him for "stumbling out" in a certain bookstore, and "stumbling out" is the most faceless thing in the book critics.

"Yihexuan" opens at 2 p.m. and ends at 4 p.m. every day, and opens at 7 p.m. and disperses at 10 p.m. Speaking in the teahouse is divided into "talking about the morning", "talking about the afternoon" and "talking about the evening". Generally speaking, the famous horns are "talking about the afternoon" or "talking about the evening of the lamp", while those who are apprentices, newly teachers, and those who are not very famous can only "say early". As soon as "Yihexuan" came up, it only arranged those who "said noon" and those who "said that the lights were late", indicating that all the people invited were the famous horns who called for seats.

Among the "book holders" (listeners) are the old and the young; there are the poor and the rich; there are those who are illiterate in big characters, and there are those who are full of poetry. Three teachings, nine streams, five elements and eight works, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, everyone has it. As soon as the book was opened, the storyteller patted the startled wood, stared at jiong, and looked around: "The steel knife splits the water and the water does not open, the blunt axe splits the ice and ice; the candied yellow is bitter in the center, and the melon and fruit cannot be sweetened." After the final poem (also called the opening word), the storyteller will "snap" the shock wood again.

Every day when I talk about books, there is such a paragraph in front of me, some say aphorisms, some say aphorisms, some say ancient poems, and some say new words. Some people don't repeat the same thing every day, and some people always turn around and say those four sentences. Just a few words, let you think and understand. After the opening speech is finished, enter the official narrative, where yesterday said, today where to pick up.

At that time, Liu Jiye said "Ji Gong Biography" in "Yihe Xuan", and the hall was full every day. He said that the language of the book is witty and funny, and the "baggage" made is endless. Yuan Jieying was tall and handsome, with a pair of large hands like a fan. He has two nicknames that sound contradictory, one is "Yuan Jieying who does not work hard", and the other is "Yuan Jieying who is tired and immortal". He said that the characteristics of the book are that Wu Shuwen said that he did not make trouble or be impatient, that the table contained human feelings and reasoning, that he spoke eloquently, sat and talked about fighting, and that one move and one style were clearly organized. When you say "The Case of Shi Gong", in the first three paragraphs, you can't hear what he says, but in the last three paragraphs, your ears can't catch up with people's mouths. Listen to that called an addiction! The most characteristic thing is that when he is almost finished, he tells a small joke, not only amusing you on the spot, but also in hindsight, everyone can be happy.

Pin Zhengsan has been adhering to his family learning since childhood, based on the family tradition "Sui Tang", referring to Shuang Houping's "Sui Tang", compiling and performing a "Sui Tang" that combines a long gun book and a short book, many commentators say "Sui Tang", only to "Li Yuanba hammered the Siping Mountain", and Pin Zhengsan's "Sui Tang" has always been said to the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the most complete. Pin Zhengsan also has a major feature of the book, he is particularly active on the stage, jumping around, idle, coupled with the speed and speed of speech, so nicknamed "dog beans".

Storytellers generally stand, except that Even Kuo Ru loves to sit and speak, so the "book seat" gave a nickname called "big clock". He has a loud voice, a voice like a bell, full of confidence. "Cen Peng, Ma Wu, the flower knife, in the five branches field..." Lian Kuoru is good at imitating the horse hissing, a horse hissing, or riding a dust, or ten thousand horses galloping, making people feel immersed in the scene.

When most of the storytellers were still talking in the book teahouse, Mr. Lian took the lead in telling books on the private radio station, and later Wang Jiekui also told books on the private radio for many years. When it was time for Wang Jiekui to speak, the radios of various business names played, the pedestrians stopped, the merchants stopped, the pickers unloaded, the streets were empty, and the alleys were quiet, so it was called the "King of the Pure Street".

Fast forward a few decades. Zhang is honest and trustworthy, and he is kind to people, whether it is a storyteller or a "book holder", he gives him a thumbs up. As a result, later in the old Capital, there was a saying that "there is Yihexuan in the east and Zhao Yixuan in the west". After the founding of New China, several bookstores appeared on Chaowai Street. In 1959, the public-private partnership, Yihexuan, Qianhexuan, Fengjia Bookstore, Yangjia Bookstore, Jinjia Bookstore, Ruyixuan Chess Pavilion, the six were merged and renamed Chaoyang District United Book and Tea Society. In 1966, the Book and Tea Club ceased operations.

Source Beijing Daily Supplement | Author Li Xueyan

Edited by Liu Yang and Zhang Peng

Process Editor Liu Weili