Yu Shangyuan, drama educator, theorist and playwright, one of the pioneers of modern Chinese drama and one of the founders of the National Academy of Drama, the first theater institution of higher learning in China. April 30 marks the 50th anniversary of the drama educator's death.
Tonight at 22:22, the documentary humanities channel "Tonight We Watch The Drama", asked Mr. Yu Shangyuan's son, Yu Andong, a consultant professor of Tongji University, to tell us about Yu Shangyuan's outstanding contributions to Chinese drama.
Guests: Yu Andong, son of Yu Shangyuan, advisory professor of Tongji University
People who make school their home
In November 2019, the series of activities for the 80th anniversary of the "National Drama College in Jiang'an" was held in Jiang'an, Sichuan Province, and seniors and experts from the theater industry came from all over the country, which used to be the place where Cao Yu, Yu Shangyuan, Jiao Juyin, Huang Zuolin, Hong Shen, Xie Jin, Zhang Junxiang, Wu Zuguang and other theater and film people taught and studied.
"National Drama Specialty in Jiang'an" series of commemorative activities for the 80th anniversary
In the early years, Yu Shangyuan, Zhao Taiyou, Wen Yiduo, Xiong Foxi, and Zhang Jiazhu launched the National Drama Movement, and in 1935, Yu Shangyuan founded China's first theater institution of higher learning, the National Drama College. Later, due to the war, it was moved to Jiang'an.
National Drama School Song
Yu Shangyuan, one of the pioneers of modern Chinese theater, served as president for 14 years and cultivated a large number of backbones of theater and film art.
At the commemoration event, Yu Shangyuan's sons Yu Andong and Yu Tongxi donated a manuscript of Yu Shangyuan's translation of "Dramatic Skills". During yu Shangyuan's low point in life, he spent part of his energy on translation, including this famous book by American theater expert George Baker, "Dramatic Techniques". Unfortunately, the book was only published in 1985, after Yu Shangyuan's death.
Yu Shangyuan translated the manuscript of "Dramatic Skills"
In Yu Andong's eyes, the father is a person who takes the school as his home, the school is more important than the family, the student is more important than the son, and he always spends more time with the students than with the family.
Yu Shangyuan family photo
In 1939, at the Jiang'an Confucian Temple, a campus totaling 8,000 square meters was rebuilt. Hundreds of teachers and students of the National Drama College lived here for six years, and the lyrics in the song of the National Drama College, "Abandon the Little Self and Fight the Blood Sincerity", can be seen as the inner portrayal of Yu Shangyuan, who was the principal at the time.
Liang Shiqiu described Yu Shangyuan in this way: He was straight all his life and had strict self-discipline. He devoted his life to the theatrical movement. According to Wu Zuguang's recollection, his mind was almost inseparable from this stormy and suffering school.
Yu Shangyuan's life
Yu Shangyuan, born on October 4, 1897 in Shashi, Hubei Province, liked to read books and plays since childhood, and was appreciated and encouraged by private school teachers. His childhood obsession with theater led to some extent his later embarkation on the path of theater.
Yu Shangyuan
At the age of 12, due to the compulsion of life, Yu Shangyuan dropped out of school to work as an apprentice in a cloth shop. But he was bent on studying, left home to be admitted to Wuchang Wenhua Academy, and in 1919, around the Time of the May Fourth Movement, he was influenced by the new cultural trend, especially Yun Daiying and other revolutionary predecessors, and actively participated in progressive activities.
In 1920, Yu Shangyuan entered the English Department of Peking University, during which time he began to translate and study drama. In 1923, when he was working at Tsinghua University, he was given the opportunity to study in the United States at half-official expenses.
Gengzi compensation international students who went to study in the United States
During his stay in the United States, Yu Shangyuan, Zhao Taiyou, Wen Yiduo, Xiong Foxi, Liang Shiqiu, Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin and other like-minded young people organized theatrical activities together. In order to serve the motherland and other reasons, Yu Shangyuan, Wen Yiduo, and Zhao Taiyuan returned to China in advance in 1925.
Yu Shangyuan and Chen Hengchu
At the end of 1926, Yu Shangyuan married Chen Hengchu, who was born into a famous family. In 1927, in Shanghai, Yu Shangyuan, Hu Shi, Shao Xunmei, Xu Zhimo, Liang Shiqiu and others opened the Crescent Bookstore, and served as the manager of the bookstore.
Small theater movement
After Yu Shangyuan returned to China, he successively served as a professor at Southeast University and Peking University, and during his time in Beijing, together with Zhao Yuanren, Chen Hengzhe, Xiong Fuxi and others, he founded the "Beiping Small Theater", which was aimed at the inferior performances that filled the market at that time and pursued box office value.
Lin Haiyin in the early years (Part 2)
Lin Haiyin recorded the scene of rehearsing a play in Yu Shangyuan's home in this way: "The vast mansion on Baimi Xie Street at the back gate of Beijing... When I was in junior high school, I had to go to the rehearsal place three times a week after class... Everyone was very happy to rehearse the play, and Mrs. Yu's wife, Ms. Chen Hengchu, prepared a snack coffee for everyone. ”
Yu Shangyuan and Mei Lanfang
Yu Shangyuan's influence grew through the Small Theatre Movement, and he was praised by Mei Lanfang as a "peking opera connoisseur" and accepted Mei Lanfang's invitation to serve as a director and consultant for european performances. Yu Shangyuan met Stanislavsky, Danchenko, Brecht and other theater figures in Moscow.
Ill-fated National Drama College
As a drama educator, Yu Shangyuan's tenure as principal of the National Drama Academy was the peak of his career. In 1935, the National Drama College was established, initially as the National Drama School. Although the historical significance of the national drama is extremely important, it has always been in a difficult state.
Former site of the National Drama College in Nanjing
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was relocated several times until 1946, when the drama troupe returned to Nanjing and was established in Xuejia Lane (Shuanglong Lane) in Nanjing. He was officially appointed in July, enrolled in September, and started in October.
The main entrance of the Jiang'an Campus of the National Drama College
During the war, the national drama specialty moved from Xuejia Lane in Nanjing to rice barn in Changsha, from Changsha to Wuchang, then to Shangqing Temple in Chongqing, to the Temple of Literature in Jiang'an, beibei, and then to Nanjing.
Yu Shangyuan work photo
In the dilemma of turbulence and displacement, Yu Shangyuan did not forget the principle of combining teaching and practice. Especially during the Jiang'an period, Yu Shangyuan implemented the principle of "eclecticism" and rehearsed more than 210 plays, of which Hamlet, Beijinger and Metamorphosis were the premieres in China.
Stills from Hamlet
At that time, Cao Yu was the director of academic affairs hired by Yu Shangyuan, and the two had a very close relationship. Wu Zuguang was the secretary of Yu Shangyuan, who trained him from a young man who did not graduate from college to a very good artist.
Cao Yu
Cao Yu created one of his masterpieces in Jiang'an, "Peking Man", Wu Zuguang also wrote "Zhengqi Song", and the national drama became a veritable cradle of exiled dramatists.
Sincere drama people
As early as the 1920s, Yu Shangyuan created many plays, including "Mutiny", which was performed in a small theater in Beijing.
Yu Shangyuan's play "From Military Music"
At the same time, he strongly recommended and disseminated Western classic dramas. Beginning in 1922, Yu Shangyuan published a series of 22 articles in the Morning Post in Beijing at the time. From Greek tragedies and comedies to Ibsen, western drama was systematically introduced to the Chinese people.
Regarding the Chinese opera movement, Yu Shangyuan wrote in his article "The Way of Chinese Drama" published in 1929: "There are no two absolutely identical between ancient and modern China and foreign countries, and the differences between the East and the West should be strong." This idea influenced many young theater artists.
"Shangyuan Script A Collection"
After liberation, Yu Shangyuan successively served as a professor at Hujiang University and Fudan University, teaching the history of modern Chinese literature. In 1959, Yu Shangyuan was transferred to the Shanghai Theater Academy as a teacher.
Mr. Yu Shangyuan's character, his education, his persistent pursuit of theater art and his love for the motherland have always been respected by future generations. Although Yu Shangyuan did not fully exert his remaining strength in the later stages of his life, as one of the founders of modern Chinese drama, his contributions will be more and more recognized by more and more people.