As a traditional Chinese art, opera has been people's spiritual food since ancient times. In that era when there was no Internet, opera was also a good companion for everyone to spend time after tea and dinner. At that time, people's admiration for dramas and famous characters was no less than that of celebrity fans today.
In the past, opera was still on the same stage as men and women on the stage, but during the Kangxi period, it felt that it was immoral and forbade women to take the stage, which naturally made the spectators a lot less fun. So this model was restored during the Republic of China period.
There are many famous characters in the Republic of China period, and everyone is very familiar with Mei Lanfang, but who is the same name as Mei Lanfang? Her name is Liu Xikui. At that time, there was a saying that "men have Mei Lanfang, women have Liu Xikui", and Liu Xikui's life is full of drama.
Xiqu debuted
In 1894, Liu Xikui was born in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province. With the increasing demand for openness to women in society, the Chongya Women's Class was born. This is a school specializing in teaching opera and the way of the actor, located in Peiping.
Liu Xikui began studying drama in Tianjin when he was eight years old, and the roles of Peking Opera Laosheng, Wusheng and Dao Madan were all in the list. Later, she also worshiped the Hebei Wuzi actor Song Yongzhen as a teacher, and later performed on stage as a martial artist, and gradually became famous.
At this time, after the establishment of the Chongya Women's Class, she gave up the fame she had just promoted and devoted herself to the class to continue her studies. The advantage of constantly studying for her is that she can learn more character singing voices and methods, and also lay the foundation for her to become a famous character in the later stage.
In the women's class, Liu Xikui studied very hard. Subsequently, on the recommendation of the school teacher, she began to perform in "Zhonghe Garden".
She is petite in stature and sings in her voice, inheriting the high pitch and excitement of Hebei Zizi, while taking into account the thick roundness and delicate euphemisms of Peking Opera. Such a tone was unique at the time, so Liu Xikui became a hit soon after his listing.
At that time, women could not perform at the Grand Theater, and could only perform in places such as tea gardens, but they also stole it, because the Beiyang government banned actresses from taking the stage at that time.
However, with Liu Xikui's fame, she has also gathered more and more fans, and even many of them are warlords and dignitaries. Because they like Liu Xikui, they turn a blind eye to women on stage.
This also made the drama develop well in the Republic of China period, and the "Declaration" at that time also published an article evaluating the importance of the return of the maid. Until 1930, when the ban was completely lifted, drama also ushered in a period of great development, and Liu Xikui also ushered in the peak era of his life.
At that time, in the opera industry, Liu Xikui and Mei Yanfang were known as "Golden Boys and Jade Girls". They admire each other because they are like-minded, and they feel sorry for each other. Many of his peers thought that they would eventually come together, but at this moment, Liu Xikui suddenly cut off the relationship.
Scrambled by warlords
Why Liu Xikui did not come together with Mei Yanfang was not revealed until she was in her later years, when she recalled: "When I was in my early 20s, I had a small achievement in opera, and I was noticed by those warlords, and I couldn't hurt Mei Yanfang."
Indeed, since Liu Xikui became famous, she has been harassed by the warlords and warlords, and even many times she has wanted to give up her dreams. The warlords are very powerful, how can she fight as a weak woman? Her only way was to escape.
In 1913, Liu Xikui was already famous, and once the warlord Zhang Xun held a birthday banquet at the Jiangxi Guild Hall in Beiping, Liu Xikui was invited to the hot field. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xun saw Liu Xikui's beautiful appearance and graceful posture on the stage, and immediately wanted to take her as a concubine, but she was strictly rejected.
Lu Zheng, the minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of China, organized the church meeting and invited many famous actors at that time to perform at the church meeting, and Liu Xikui was also on the list, where he met Yuan Shikai.
Later, Yuan Shikai also coveted her beauty, so he invited her to the Zhongnanhai Choir under the pretext of inviting her to sing. When Liu Xikui walked in, he found that there was no one inside, at this time Yuan Shikai came out of the back door and said, "I came to you to chat with you."
Liu Xikui knew that he must have bad intentions, and coldly replied: "Nothing, I want to leave", so he turned around and left. After that, Yuan Shikai mentioned Liu Xikui and said: "This woman is not easy to mess with."
Many years later, Zhang Xun still remembered Liu Xikui, and once he led an army into the city of Beijing with the intention of supporting Puyi's restoration. Unexpectedly, he met Liu Xikui again at the welcoming meeting, which made him overjoyed and immediately said that he wanted to marry her.
Even for her, Zhang Xun also drove away all his aunts and wives, but once again he was rejected by Liu Xikui, and Zhang Xun still did not want to fight to the death. However, during this time, Qirui organized the "rebel army" to attack the city of Beijing, Zhang Xun went to fight, and Liu Xikui escaped the disaster.
However, Liu Xikui, who had just escaped from her birth, entered another "wolf den", and the warlord Cao Kun, who had long admired her for a long time, took advantage of the sixtieth birthday to invite Liu Xikui to come and sing, but when it was almost over, he dragged her into the room to prepare raw rice to cook mature rice.
Liu Xikui resisted desperately, but the strength of a weak woman was too weak. Just as Qianjun was about to strike, fortunately, his lady of the main room rushed in to stop him, and Liu Xikui was able to escape again.
Being scrambled by these warlords many times made Liu Xikui exhausted. This time I almost encountered Cao Kun's beastly behavior, what will happen next time? However, this time she was able to escape Cao Kun's clutches because someone helped her behind her back.
This man was Cao Kun's subordinate, named Cui Chengzi, and it was thanks to him that he called Cao Kun's wife to let Liu Xikui escape. After this incident, the relationship between the two also became more and more familiar. Cui Chengzi had long been in love with Liu Xikui, but he did not express his sincerity because of Cao Kun's face.
Soon after, Liu Xikui was once again taken in by the great warlord Lu Jin and asked her to be accepted as a concubine, but Liu Xikui was forced to die, and finally failed. She knew that if she didn't get married for a day, she wouldn't escape the clutches of these warlords.
With this in mind, she married Choi Seung-chi. A year after their marriage, a son was born. Liu Xikui also began to focus on his son. Soon after, Cui Chengzi died of lung disease, and Liu Xikui withdrew from the opera stage and was widowed for her husband for life.
Lived in seclusion for 33 years
Since the death of her husband, Liu Xikui made a vow not to marry for life, so he began to close the door and gave up his opera career.
The last time she appeared in the public eye was during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when a huge flood occurred in Anhui Province, and Liu Xikui donated 2,000 silver dollars to the disaster area. There has been no trace of her since.
It was not until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that Premier Zhou Enlai sent people around to search for Liu Xikui's residence, when she had lived in seclusion for 33 years, and she also changed from a green girl to a semi-centenarian.
Premier Zhou Enlai had heard Liu Xikui's performance in the theater garden and was greatly amazed. He hoped that Liu Xikui would pass on the skills of opera. So she became a hired professor at the Chinese Opera School.
At this time, she also moved away from her reclusive life, re-performed on stage, once again active in people's eyes, and taught her Hebei Zizi singing voice to many people, writing a beautiful chapter for this skill.
Liu Xikui has been praised as "the pearl of the Chinese opera world", whether it is her persistent pursuit of art or her high-spirited and bright character, she can afford this praise. In 1964, Liu Xikui completed her life and was buried in the Babaoshan Cemetery.