[Editor's note] Beijing Renyi Drama Museum is the first museum in China to display the art of drama. The collection of props, playlists, letters, and manuscripts tells the wonderful stories behind the stage and behind the scenes since the establishment of the Beijing Art Institute in 1952. Their origins, ingenuity and warmth also It reflects the development of Chinese contemporary drama art.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Beijing Institute of Humanities and Arts, Contemporary Magazine launched a series of articles on "The History of Drama in Museums". Relying on the exhibits in the museum, combined with documentary materials, historical narratives and personal oral narratives, readers can immerse themselves in the scene. Enter this art palace and relive the drama life of generations.
This article was published in the 3rd issue of "Contemporary" magazine in 2022.
Ashamed to say, as a blogger, the first exhibit I collected with my own hands was actually a copy. According to the usual classification of collections, photocopies can only be regarded as reference materials, and compared with those full of ancient objects or original manuscripts, it is really not worth mentioning. But at this moment, when I go back to the starting point of entering this industry, many pictures that I once thought were important are dimmed, and only it naturally jumps out. Following its lead, I went back to eighteen years ago. It was a winter afternoon. I set off from the Capital Theater and changed to tram No. 109 for three stops. With a mixture of curiosity and excitement, I groped to the north of Chaoyangmen. The General Office of the Ministry of Culture on the main street was the first time in his life that he stepped into the door of the country's highest cultural institution. A kind female teacher received me and introduced me to a male teacher in the editorial department, where stacks of printed volumes of "New Culture History" were stacked. Because I had already explained my purpose on the phone, I received a stack of dozens of pages of manuscript copies shortly after. The blanks of the manuscript are densely packed, with notes left by the editor. Through the imprints of revisions, the title of the article can be vaguely seen: "Ambition - Forty-Two Hours of Conversation". While quickly browsing the content, I still reluctantly asked: surely there is no original? The answer was of course expected.
At that time, I was a member of the preparatory team of the Beijing People's Art and Drama Museum, and I was looking for exhibits for the Character Hall where I was in charge of writing the exhibition outline. Among the founders of Beijing Renyi, Zhao Qiyang is the one with the fewest related exhibits, and he has passed away for many years. He has worked in Renyi for more than 20 years and has served as secretary general, vice president and party secretary. Every time he is mentioned, many seniors sincerely miss him and admire his superb level of organizational and ideological work. During the special period, he paid special attention to artists politically, and he patiently comforted the actors who had resisted during the artistic exploration, which ensured that Beijing Renyi was always on the right path of "art creation first" at the critical moment. Su Min, Vice President of Humanities and Arts, gave him a "fair and affectionate" evaluation, but it is difficult to find suitable exhibits to reproduce these shining personality traits. Probably because of the star-studded talent in Beijing, there are too many famous artists, or because Zhao Qiyang's own style of behavior developed during the Revolutionary War, he is accustomed to keeping a low profile. Even if he appears in some old photos, he often stands in an inconspicuous position. .
Therefore, the copy of Zhao Qiyang's manuscript that I got is particularly precious. On June 12, 2007, after the Beijing People's Art Theatre Museum was completed and opened, it became an official exhibit, and Chen was quietly in the corner of the theatre's founder's exhibition hall. For fifteen years, I have passed through it with various audiences and looked at it countless times - with the handwriting on it, the thoughts in it, the seventy years of this temple rushing forward.
What is a "forty-two hour conversation"? It was the four of us who talked continuously for a week around the topic of "how to do well in Beijing's arts and crafts", talking for three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. ! ——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
This long essay of several thousand words was completed in 1992, which was the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Beijing Academy of Arts and Humanities. The Work Committee for the Collection of Party History Materials of the Ministry of Culture asked the retired Zhao Qiyang to summarize his experience in literary and art work during the Revolutionary War. After several deliberation, Zhao Qiyang finally decided not to write about his early work in the border area or Yan'an, because "many people have already written about it", and he wanted to divide his twenty-plus years of work in Beijing Renyi into special topics, one by one. Write it out - "There are many interesting people and things there, which often stir in his chest, and it is the most unforgettable place in his artistic career." So he listed dozens of topics and planned to write them down one by one. . As the opening chapter, "Ambition - Forty-Two Hours of Conversation" reviews in detail the four founders of Beijing Renyi in 1952 - Cao Yu, Jiao Juyin, Ouyang Shanzun, and Zhao Qiyang - talking about the future blueprint together. After the article was completed, the editor felt it was very vivid and published it in the 2nd issue of "New Cultural Historical Materials" in 1993.
In the process of writing the exhibition outline, I have read this article many times, following the author's memories back to that spring decades ago. Time is far away, space is close at hand, and it happened in Shijia Hutong, which I can reach by walking a kilometer. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, many institutions and celebrities have been stationed in this hutong, and the people and events among them carry rich historical information. In the middle of the hutong, there is a courtyard facing the north. It is not a traditional quadrangle. There are more than 30 bungalows, large and small. This is the original courtyard of Beijing Renyi - No. 56 Shijia Hutong.
It is said that the owner of No. 56 Shijia Hutong Courtyard in the Republic of China was Zhang Ruiwu. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, medical staff from Union Hospital, Canadian missionaries and others were rented here. Like many similar mansion gates, when Peiping was liberated in 1949, it was already empty. At that time, the various units that entered the city with the People's Liberation Army were coming, and the first problem was to find a place to live and settle down first. Among them, there is the North China People's Art Troupe who traveled long distances from the liberated areas. Some members of the group lived in Shijia Hutong, and they were sent back to the "numbered house" near their home (this is the saying of the old district, every time they went to a village, they sent people to the village to find vacancies, and then marked them and arranged for everyone to stay), they saw When the No. 56 courtyard was vacant, he quickly reported to the leaders, registered it in the register, and stationed it.
When I graduated from high school, the whole of China was liberated. I also participated in the peaceful liberation of Peiping - the welcoming ceremony of the People's Liberation Army into the city. It was February 3, 1949. The People's Liberation Army entered the city from Xizhimen, and all our underground parties were dispatched to stand at the intersection of Xidan and read aloud the New Year's Day dedication "To Carry the Revolution to the End", and organized the masses to welcome our troops. At that time, I thought: It would be great if I could receive any brother or sister of mine! After the entrance ceremony, I went back to school. As soon as I walked in, a co-worker told me that there was a call for me, and he left me a phone number. I called back at school, and it turned out that it was Chen Tangming, a teaching assistant in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University, who was looking for me. He said that your brother is back, where... I can't remember how to reply, but I was blinded at the time. When I learned on the phone that my brother lived in Beichizi, I threw the phone away and rode like crazy. When you arrive, ask and find Li Delun! I remember that the yard was very lively at that time, and the sound of foreign horns and foreign drums was overwhelming. When I saw Li Delun, I wondered: How did my brother become a cook? Dirty, wearing Eighth Route Army clothes, covered in oil. My brother showed me Li Lu, his newborn daughter. The child came swaying all the way in a carriage, placed on straw and tied with a small blue cloth.
——Li Bin's oral narrative, excerpted from "Times Talking About the Past"
More than 60 years later, Li Bin, a member of the North China People's Art Troupe and an actor from Beijing, sat opposite me and told the story of "sister looking for brother with tears". At that time, she, the fifth brother of "Grease Twist", had just rushed into Peiping from Shijiazhuang with the North China People's Art Troupe. She was one of the first artists to enter the city. He was accompanied by his wife and two-month-old daughter. In the cold winter and twelfth lunar month in the north, they received orders from their superiors to rush back to Peiping for more than 500 miles to welcome the arrival of New China. After eight years of separation, the reunion of the siblings was fixed at such a historical moment, which became an unforgettable memory for Li Bin.
When the troupe entered the city, there were more than 80 people, belonging to the drama department and the music department. When Li Bin found his brother, it was the third day after the whole regiment entered the city. He temporarily lived in the No. 63 courtyard of the former Kuomintang secret agency in Beichizi. After that, young people from the city continued to join in. Soon Li Bin also became one of them. Enter the opera performance training class.
I remember that at that time, the Xinxin Grand Theater (later Capital Cinema) was performing "Akaha River", and I watched it all day. I have never seen an opera before. I often take a group of classmates and go to their school, which is at No. 1 Xitangzi Hutong. After entering the small western-style building that turns around and walks in, there is a bungalow behind it. Go there and find a group teaching section chief named Liu Zixian, because I am Li Delun's younger sister, section chief Liu will take us in. That is, the group of classmates who went to the show with me. Some of them went to the band, and some went to the training class with me. The more famous ones are Fan Buyi, the composer of the dance drama "Dream of Red Mansions", and Cong Zhaohuan, Li Manyi's younger brother Li Baicheng. There I learned Stanislavsky theory, mainly non-physical performances.
——Li Bin's oral narrative, excerpted from "Times Talking About the Past"
In the process of being ordered to transfer, the art troupe arranged and performed many excellent repertoires and plays. In Shijiazhuang, they not only performed the opera "Red Leaf River", Yang opera "Brothers and Sisters Reclaiming the Wasteland", "Couples Literacy", and solo "Turn Over Dao Qing", but also performed a foreign work - Mozart's "String Quartet" for the first time.
After entering Peiping, Tsinghua University was the first university to be taken over. In the school's auditorium, the art troupe performed for the first time for the students of the highest institution in the big city. The hall aisle was full of people, and even the windowsills were full of people. The students were very curious when they saw the polished musical instruments in the hands of the members. They did not expect that the Eighth Route Army not only had cellos and violins, but also female musicians. In addition to performing operas, the troupe also held a musical evening for the students, conducted by Li Delun, to perform their repertoire from Yan'an - "Senji Dema" and "Victory March" and other orchestral works. The performance is very infectious, completely subverting the teachers and students' imagination of "Tuba Road". Also in the audience were Lin Huiyin and his daughter Liang Zaibing. Lin Huiyin studied stage design at the Yale School of Drama, and participated in the performance and stage design of many plays as early as the 1920s. Liang Zaibing later recalled that her mother never expected the PLA Art Troupe to have such a high level of performance. The stage sets and make-up were simple and refined, and the overall artistic and ideological level of the program was admirable.
The opera "Chiye River" tells the story of the peasants in Chiyehe Village, Lingchuan, Shanxi, who have been oppressed for generations, under the leadership of the party, to carry out land reform and become the masters of the family. Because of the twists and turns of the plot and the melody, it has a touching artistic effect. After entering the city, the art troupe performed "Red Leaf River" at the Xinxin Grand Theater for a month, infecting many young people in the city. Cong Zhaohuan and Li Manyi mentioned by Li Bin also decided to apply for the art troupe after watching the play. Cong Zhaohuan was originally a high school student who came to Peiping from Qingdao to study for the Department of Civil Engineering of Tsinghua University. The festive atmosphere of Peiping attracted him strongly. There were singing, dancing, and gongs and drums everywhere. He also applied for the opera performance training class of the Art Troupe. . As a result, Tsinghua University and the Art Troupe released the rankings on the same day. Tsinghua was not listed on the list. The Art Troupe accepted him, and he happily accepted the arrangement of fate. After several turns, Cong Zhaohuan became a professional actor of the Northern Kunqu Opera Troupe. Affected by him, the second daughter Cong Shan later also embarked on the road of acting.
And Li Manyi had graduated from the Music Department of Beijing Normal University at that time. She and her classmates were very excited after watching "Red Leaf River". After hearing that the musician He Luting was one of the leaders of the art troupe, she decided to apply for the art troupe together. As music graduates, they passed the exam with ease. The art troupe asked the trainees to stay. When Li Manyi walked into No. 19, Donghuamen Street, where the drama department is located, she was greeted by a young man in a fuchsia sweater—a month earlier than her. That spring, for So, who had just sent away his mother and was homeless, was like rebirth. He later recalled in an article:
When I was in my early twenties, I lived the first spring of my life—the spring of 1949. In February of the solar calendar, it is still the season when the spring is still cold. I already felt the warmth first: I joined the North China People's Art Troupe. At that time, it was not like now, what was called "arranging work", it was called "participating in the revolution".
I wore a blue cotton robe to participate in the art troupe, and when I went, I asked an old comrade to teach me Yangko and waist drums. Cotton robes are always in the way, so it is naturally inconvenient to practice, but there is only a dark red sweater inside. In the environment where everyone wears coarse cloth uniforms, the cotton robes already look "various", and then showing the red sweater, wouldn't it be a joke? Another thought, liberation, who can manage that much, comrade, practice! After many years, the old comrades met me, and from time to time they mentioned that I wore a red sweater and twisted Yangko. You can imagine how disgusted they were at the time.
The revolutionary team really gave me a lot of warmth. At that time, the old comrades still slept on the floor with straw and gave me a bed alone. That bed was actually a large wooden box for carrying a double bass... At that time, my mother was dead, and I was alone and had no home... Today, No. 19 Donghuamen Street was my home at that time, an unforgettable memory warm home.
——So "Liberation"
A year later, at the celebration meeting after the performance of the drama "Moscow Character", Li Manyi and So Zhi became friends of Qin and Jin.
Li Bozhao, the head of the cultural and art troupe, also serves as the head of the Drama and Music Group of the Cultural Takeover Committee of the Military Control Commission of Peiping, responsible for taking over and recruiting institutions and personnel related to culture and art. Therefore, the North China People's Art Troupe can give priority to recruiting talents. For a time, in addition to young students like Li Bin, there were also members of the original anti-enemy performance team, as well as progressive artists stranded in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas, folk music groups, and even under the direct care of Premier Zhou Enlai, at that time Northern Kunqu opera artists, Peking opera actors and other opera artists who are scattered in the society and have a difficult livelihood are all included in the team of the art troupe. In a short period of time, the number of members of the troupe has grown rapidly to hundreds.
As the team grew, office locations and housing became more of a priority. In addition to the 56th courtyard of Shijia Hutong as an actor's dormitory, the cultural and art troupe also "numbered" down to No. 1 Xitangzi Hutong, which is the courtyard where Li Bin took his classmates to, the property of Song Zheyuan, the former senior general of the Kuomintang. No. 12 Xitangzi Hutong, the former residence of the mayor of Tianjin, is used as the dormitory for the orchestra and chorus of the Music Department; No. 1 Jinyu Hutong, the former garden, is used as the creative laboratory; The courtyard house was originally a restaurant, and the art troupe set up the drama department here; there is also No. 28 Wuliang Ren Hutong (later changed to Hongxing Hutong), where the training department is located; As a venue for gatherings and rehearsals. In this way, the entire art troupe was able to settle down in Dongcheng, and the housing and rehearsal problems were initially solved.
two
After entering Peiping, the North China People's Art Troupe became the most important art group in the capital of New China. Under the new situation, great changes have taken place in their service objects, performance environment, performance nature, and artistic division of labor. The art troupe and team model established during the Revolutionary War must be transformed to create a new China's modern art system and theater art.
On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established. At the same time, there are countless new plans brewing in this land, ready to come out. On January 1, 1950, a sunny Sunday, Li Bozhao wrote in her diary:
On New Year's Day, the sky is clear, the Beijing People's Art Theater was established... Another record has been left in the history of my artistic work. I have been working in theatre for more than 20 years, and now it is the toughest job. Not only do organizational work, but also create. If it is not well arranged and grasp the main point, the work is going to fail. If it fails, it will be a great loss to the work of art and the work of the Party. I can do a good job tenaciously, and give better play to the enthusiasm of the cadres. I have the conditions to do my job well. Get closer to the crowd. When he first entered the city and first entered the society, he "bowed his head and was willing to be a rude cow". Second, pay attention to the systematic training of cadres and train them with the utmost effort and patience. Without backbone, work is soft.
On this day, on the basis of the North China People's Art Troupe, a comprehensive Beijing People's Art Theater (hereinafter referred to as "Elderly Art"), including drama, music, dance, and northern Kunqu Opera, was established. As the first art theater in New China, it has pinned the ideals and high expectations of too many people. At the establishment ceremony, Zhu De, Peng Zhen, Zhou Yang, and Deng Tuo all mentioned in their speeches: I hope it will establish urban literature and art, become the core of the Beijing literature and art movement and the main force in the development of people's art. Li Bozhao was appointed as the dean, and Jin Ziguang and Ouyang Shanzun were appointed as vice deans. In the early days of the establishment, the theater had about 300 employees, which increased to 429 after half a year.
In the prelude to the triumphant progress of New China, Li Bozhao naturally felt pressured by such an important task, but with her broad experience and talent, this responsibility must be hers. Looking back at her youth, perhaps from the time she was fifteen years old, influenced by two teachers, Xiao Chunv and Zhang Wentian, and joined the Socialist Youth League, she was destined for the path of this life——
The organization sent her to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. Because of her love of literature, she formed a literature research group with several classmates, read Soviet classics, enjoyed drama and ballet, and participated in drama performances herself. The strong artistic atmosphere of Moscow has laid a solid foundation for her in literature and art.
After returning to China, she was sent to the Soviet area to organize publicity and cultural activities. Because of her natural love for literature and art and her study experience in the Soviet Union, she has performed well in every position. She used to be the editor of "Red China" newspaper, the principal of Gorky Drama School, until she participated in the establishment of the first theater company in the Soviet Union, the Bayi Theater. She introduced the dance art of the Soviet Union into the Soviet area, and was once known as the "red dancing star". She also wrote, directed, and acted in many plays, becoming one of the pioneers of the red theater movement in the Soviet area.
In the autumn of 1934, Li Bizhao set off for the north with the Central Working Group of the First Army of the Red Army. He went through hardships and dangers along the way. He arrived in northern Shaanxi in October 1936, and became the only female soldier in the Long March who had crossed the grassland three times. In the past ten years, she has made a legend with her courage and will.
In northern Shaanxi, Li Bozhao continued to work in literature and art, and successively participated in the establishment of the Chinese Literature Association and the Luxun Academy of Arts. In 1946, Yan'an established the Literature and Art Research Office of the Central Party School (hereinafter referred to as the "Art Room") and the Central Orchestra. Li Bizhao was the director of the Literature and Art Office, responsible for summarizing the work experience of literature and art in the liberated area, and concurrently serving as the deputy director of the administrative committee of the orchestra.
In 1947, when Hu Zongnan wanted to attack Yan'an, two literary and art groups were ordered to leave the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. After a long journey, the cultural studio reached the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area, and absorbed some members and progressive students of the local North China Military and Political University Art Troupe and the second group of the original anti-enemy drama evacuated from Peiping to form the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan People's Art Troupe. Soon, the orchestra that arrived at the Jin-Chahar-Hebei border area came to join, and the two groups reunited.
In June 1948, the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border areas were revoked, and the two regiments were ordered to go to the liberated Shijiazhuang, where they formed the North China People's Art Troupe, with Li Bizhao as the head again.
In 1946, 1948, and 1950, in order to adapt to the ever-changing war situation, Li Bozhao led the team to the new China at a speed of reorganization every two years. After continuously attracting talents, the original departments of "Elderly Art" have been enriched: Drama Team, Opera Team under the Drama Department; Orchestra, Chorus, Piano Accompaniment, Military Band under the Music Department; Dance Drama Team, Kunqu Opera under the Training Department The Ministry of Enterprise has an art service agency, a drama factory, an art factory, and a musical instrument factory under its jurisdiction. It also bought the True Light Cinema in Donghuamen, renamed it Beijing Theater, and even opened a kindergarten and a canteen.
three
Because of the multitude of affairs, Li Bozhao's diary is concise, with only a few lines a day, and scattered thoughts and reminders are interspersed in the records of various personnel affairs. In her diary on January 4 and 5, she recorded two meetings with Mr. Lao She.
4th: At 2:00 p.m., the literary and art circles paid homage at the Beijing Hotel to welcome Mr. Lao She. Lao She sang Taiping lyrics on the spot, while Yu Qian, Tian Han, and Cao Yu sang Beijing opera. Ouyang Yuqian's voice is like that of a 16-year-old girl.
Day 5: Go to Fengzi’s place for dinner at 5:00 p.m. and discuss creation with Lao She and Zhao Shuli.
In October 1949, Lao She, who lived in New York, USA, received a letter from his old friend, Cao Yu, saying that he was instructed by Zhou Enlai to return to China as soon as possible to participate in the construction of New China. After receiving the letter, Lao She suffered from sciatica and set off from San Francisco, passed through Japan and the Philippines by boat, and arrived in Hong Kong on November 4. Due to two typhoons on the way, the turbulence at sea caused him to suffer from recurrent sciatica, making him unable to move an inch, so he had to recuperate at a friend's house in Hong Kong for 24 days and arrived at Takukou in Tianjin on December 9.
There are many ice cubes in the Haihe River, and snow falls in the air. It has been fourteen years since I left North China, and when I suddenly saw the snow and ice, and the loess on the river bank, my tears could not help but roll in my eyes. ——Lao She "From San Francisco to Tianjin"
When I left, it was the Republic of China, and when I returned, I had changed the world. But "even though we've been apart for so long, there's not a day when I don't miss her." This should be Li Bozhao's first acquaintance with Lao She, and the writer is accumulating enthusiasm to praise the new China. Perhaps from that day on, Li Bozhao sent Lao She an invitation to write a play for Beijing Renyi.
Soon, when discussing the urban construction plan, Beijing decided to first consider the producers and laborers, and to eliminate the dirty and smelly ditch that the ruling class has always ignored - the Longxu ditch. This decision moved Lao She and aroused his creative passion. Although he is known for his novels, he is no stranger to screenwriting. During the Anti-Japanese War, he served as the deputy director of the Anti-Enemy Literary Association in the southwest, and wrote nearly ten plays including "Residual Fog", "Nation First" and "The Problem of Face", which inspired the morale of the people to resist the enemy.
But this time, Xiugou couldn't move to the stage, which was really hard for him. After thinking hard for half a month, to no avail. But there was always a small courtyard that appeared in his mind. It was a very small, low and dilapidated courtyard that he saw when he went to Longxugou. . He suddenly had an idea, and decided to use it as a stage, arrange a few families in the yard, and find something for each family to do, and the story of Longxugou slowly unfolded, "Although a novel author doesn't know much about the stage. skill, but he can draw people in three strokes and two strokes." So, Aunt Wang, Erchun, Cheng Lunzi, and Ding Si filed in and settled in Longxugou. When the small courtyard was filled with people, he added people from outside the courtyard. After thinking about the tasks of these people in the play, he wrote it quickly, writing three acts and six scenes in one breath.
At first, Li Bozhao arranged for young directors Jin Li and Ling Guanru to be the directors of "Dragon Beard Ditch", but the actors' performance methods were not unified in the newly established theater; although the script was full of vivid characters, Lao She said humbly. It was a short story made by him at risk, and some people also said that this play did not have a fascinating story, like a live report drama. The theater leaders thought it was a good show and should organize a stronger force to arrange it well. At this time, they naturally thought of Jiao Juyin, the director invited by the first drama "Moscow Character" that was successfully performed.
"Moscow Character" is the first drama performed by "Old Man Art". During the rehearsal of the whole play, Jiao Juyin also came to watch the play, and then he offered to help improve the rehearsal. After the premiere, this play surpassed the previous record of 50 performances of "Red Leaf River", and performed 65 consecutive performances, setting a record for the history of Beijing drama performances. The heroine Greenova in the play is played by actress Ye Ye, who is the first student of Nanjing National Drama Academy and played Chen Bailu in "Sunrise" directed by Cao Yu as early as 1936. During the whole war of resistance against Japan, she created a number of successful roles on the rear theater stage, and was known as the "Queen of Dramas".
Before the establishment of "Old Man Art", Ye Ye worked for a period of time in the Beijing Municipal Party Committee's Cultural Committee led by Li Bozhao to manage the troupe. After the theater was built, she was eager to act, and turned around and became an actor again, but because of that work experience and her intentions, she did a lot of talent-absorbing work for the theater in addition to acting.
For Jiao Juyin, the leaves are all too familiar. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, many left-wing literati went into exile in Guilin. She and her husband Xiong Foxi once shared a house with Jiao Juyin and lived next to each other. As early as the late 1920s, on the eve of Jiao Juyin's graduation from Yenching University, she organized and performed Xiong Foxi's multi-act drama "Cricket". The play was popular with students, but both of them were wanted by Zhang Zuolin on the charge of "propaganda" because they satirized and criticized the warlords who were fighting for power and profit. They had to hide in the homes of foreign professors before they escaped. Later, Jiao Juyin went to Paris University to study for a doctorate in literature. After returning to China, she went directly to Guilin, where left-wing literati gathered. Ye Ye remembered, "He used to do translations all night. At that time, he had already translated some of Stanislavsky's and Danchenko's works, as well as Chekhov's plays".
This time, Li Bozhao found Ye Ye again with the script of "Dragon Beard Ditch" and asked her to come forward and ask Jiao Juyin to direct. Jiao Juyin read the script and was hesitant at first. He felt that the script was relatively thin, and he was still teaching at Beijing Normal University School of Literature, so he was worried that it would be difficult to do both. But after repeated sincere invitations from the hospital, he finally agreed. Jiao Juyin believes that this play is most suitable for rehearsal using the Stanislavsky system, starting from life and obtaining the basis for creating images. The first task of the crew members is to go to Longxugou to experience life.
Ye Zi played Ding Sisao in "Longxugou". When she first went to Longxugou, the sewage was flowing and the smell was very strange, "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really can't believe that human beings still have such a bad living environment. ", which made her deeply feel that the government's decision to build the ditch has indeed done a great deed for the people. In further contact with the residents, she also found the optimistic and tenacious life attitude of the bottom people described by Lao She in the script, which is of great help for her to understand the script accurately and build a sense of belief in the characters.
During the actor's experience of life, Jiao Juyin was still teaching at the Normal University, and he hoped to know the actors' creative status at any time. Therefore, he requires all actors to keep an actor diary, and stipulates that each person has two books, which are sent to him for review in rotation. For the role of the masses, he will never lower his requirements, such as actor diary, character autobiography, and life sketch exercises.
So he kept his diary eclectic and kept it for half a year. Sometimes he wrote to find the details and feelings of Quyi artists, and sometimes he just recorded the problems he was thinking in a few words, such as "The madman has a kind of laughter, I want to find it". Ye Zi's diaries are all long, which is probably related to her graduation from Beijing Normal University's School of Literature. She writes about script analysis, reading insights, and experiencing life. She wrote hundreds of thousands of words in the diary alone.
February 1951, the second anniversary of the liberation of Beijing. After half a year of rehearsal, "Dragon Beard Ditch" debuted on stage. From the subject matter to the stage presentation, its natural life scenes, vivid language, and authentic and credible characters deeply moved the audience and achieved great success. It not only achieved Lao She, Jiao Juyin, and so on, but also laid a solid foundation for Beijing Renyi's future creations.
Shortly after the performance of "Longxugou", "Elderly Art" added Jiao Juyin as the vice president and chief director of the theater. At the end of the year, Peng Zhen awarded Lao She the title of "People's Artist" on behalf of the Beijing Municipal Government.
Just as the crew of "Dragon Beard Ditch" went deep into Beijing's Nancheng to experience life, the Korean Civil War broke out. In October 1950, except for the crew of "Dragon Beard Ditch", all members of "Old Man Art" participated in the propaganda activities of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, defending the family and defending the country. Among them is a four-person art group—the vice president Ouyang Shanzun, Zheng Lucheng, An E, and Xin Daming—who joined the Chinese People's Volunteers Creation Team composed of Liu Baiyu, Wei Wei, Ling Zifeng, Li Ying, etc. , went to the front line of North Korea to experience life and create.
Chinese dramas have performed in Japan in 1907 from "Hei Nu Wu Tian Lu" to Beijing Opera, Civilization Opera, and later in Shanghai. I participated in most of the plays performed there. I participated in Hong Shen's and Cao Yu's plays, directed by my father, including some official scripts and historical plays. ——Ouyang Shanzun "Spring is over, we cherish the sunny year together"
In 2004, during the preparatory period for the Beijing People's Art Theatre Museum, I accompanied Chen Jian, a painter from the Nanjing Military Region, to Ouyang Shanzun's home in order to create the oil painting "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation", he said at the age of 90.
Those moments when the spring breeze blows in the memory, those times when the sun was shining brightly, those times measured by drama, are like silhouettes containing infinite hope. "Cherish the Year of the Sunny" is the deepest impression these artists have left on us. They cherished, reluctantly gave up, and carefully cared for the memory of the common struggle, those shining days.
From 1907 to 2007—the first hundred years of Chinese drama, Ouyang Yuqian and Ouyang Shanzun stared at each other at both ends of the century. This father and son were indispensable to Chinese drama. .
Ouyang Yuqian was born in Liuyang, Hunan. His grandfather Ouyang Zhonghu was open-minded, and Tan Sitong and Tang Cai were often his disciples. In 1895, with the support of Ouyang Zhonghu, Tan and Tang founded the Liuyang Arithmetic Society, advocating new learning. Ouyang Yuqian's father, Ouyang Ligeng, also participated. Later, Tang Caichang became Ouyang Yuqian's enlightenment teacher. In 1902, fourteen-year-old Ouyang Yuqian went to Japan with the first craze of studying in Japan, and completed three years of middle school business studies. In 1907, he returned to Japan and studied liberal arts at Waseda University. At that time, due to the flooding in the Jianghuai River Basin, Chunliu Club decided to hold a fund-raising charity performance. First, in February, it performed "The Farewell Field" based on the third act of "La Traviata", and in June, it performed "Black Slave Urge the Sky" Recorded the whole play. The second performance was well organized. Zeng Xiaogu adapted the complete script. Li Shutong, who was studying Western painting at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, served as the set designer. Professionals from the Hong Kong Theater were responsible for the lighting. Zeng Xiaogu, Ouyang Yuqian, and Li Shutong all played the roles. Role. After more than two months of rehearsal, what was finally presented on the stage was a five-act drama that was performed in strict accordance with Western drama divisions, and the audience gathered during the performance. In the same year, the Enlightened Drama Society and Chunyang Society in China also performed "Tears of Disaster Victims" and "Black Slaves Calling Heaven Records" respectively. Although going back further, there have been records of foreign expats or local students performing modern dramas in Shanghai since the end of the 19th century, but based on the level of performances, the influence and the richness of visible materials, later drama researchers will perform Chunliu Society performances. As a symbol of the birth of Chinese drama, "Black Slave Urge the Sky" designated 1907 as the birth year of Chinese drama.
After returning from Japan, Ouyang Yuqian and several colleagues from Chunliu Club organized progressive performances in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hunan, Zhejiang and other places at the same time to introduce new dramas into China. With Shanghai as his main base, he performed new operas, as well as Peking operas. After living a stable life, he moved his family from Liuyang to Shanghai to live. Among the six siblings in the family, he ranked second, but unfortunately his eldest brother died before he reached adulthood, and he became the eldest son in the actual sense. Because he did not have a boy, he adopted Ouyang Shanzun, the son of his brother Ouyang Jianshu. Ouyang Shanzun, who was only six years old at the time, began to study in Shanghai, and often accompanied his father to the theater to perform, and gradually became interested in acting. In Ouyang Yuqian's one-act drama "After Going Home" and the movie "The End of the World", he has acted as a child actor. But he excelled in his studies since childhood, his favorite was science, and his dream was to be an electrical engineer.
In 1931, Ouyang Shanzun graduated from the high school attached to Hujiang University. Because Hujiang University did not have the electrical department he liked, he gave up the helicopter club and applied for the electrical department of Jiaotong University. Unexpectedly, he suddenly got cholera the day before the exam. He barely took the exam for one day in three days, and unfortunately missed the opportunity to enroll. In the second year, he transferred to the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Daxia University, and went to Zhenru Town, where Jinan University is located, to study mathematics before the exam. One night, he was pulled by his classmates to go to the show, and the last play was "Ran Bell" by Tian Han. The plot tells that on the night of September 18, 1931, a group of college students in Shenyang discussed the turbulent current situation and the future in their dormitory, each with their own plans. The artillery fire of the Japanese aggressors attacking the Beida Camp came, and everyone shared the enemy and decided to fight against the Japanese. At the end of the play, a classmate took the lead in chanting "Down with Japanese imperialism", and the audience also shouted. When the play ended, Ouyang Shanzun returned to the dormitory with excitement and was about to go to bed. There was a rumble of cannons outside the window. It turned out that the Japanese army was provoking another incident to attack the Shanghai defenders. The 19th Route Army rose up to resist, "One· The "Twenty-Eight" Incident broke out. That night, Ouyang Shanzun took the train to leave Zhenru Town with the enemy plane circling above his head. While the train was moving, bombs came from time to time, overlapping with the plot in his mind that had not yet faded away, "January 28, that was a me A day that will never be forgotten." This year, college admissions are suspended...
In 1933, Ouyang Shanzun was finally admitted to the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Daxia University. During his several years in school, he was still an active member of the drama activities, and was almost expelled from the school for performing plays against the Kuomintang. Later, with the help of his father, he transferred to the Department of English Literature. When he was about to graduate, he completed his graduation thesis "A Brief History of Chinese Fiction" in English. He originally planned to professionalize the amateur drama club with Jinshan after graduation. As soon as he stepped out of the school gate, he was greeted by the sound of the "July 7 Incident" again. In line with the determination that "it is a matter of nature, saving the nation from the war of resistance against Japan, and not being a slave of the subjugated country is a major event", he immediately joined the first team of the Shanghai Anti-Japanese National Salvation Drama and went to the Northwest battlefield. He first arrived at the Shanxi headquarters of the Eighth Route Army with the performance team, and performed for the soldiers who had just finished the battle of Pingxingguan.
In Yan'an, the vigorous Ouyang Shanzun originally wanted to fight in the front line, but the organization sent him to work in the newly established art troupe. long. When Ouyang Shanzun led the team to go deep into the base areas and enemy-occupied areas, and face the soldiers and people on the front line, he deeply realized what kind of drama they needed. In the spring of 1942, Ouyang Shanzun received a notice to participate in the Yan'an Literature and Art Symposium and returned to Yan'an from the front line. After listening to Chairman Mao's speech at the first meeting, his mood could not be calm for a long time. After a few days of thinking, he mustered up the courage to write down what he thought and sent it to the chairman. It didn't take long for him to receive a handwritten reply from the chairman: "Your opinion is right." This gave him great encouragement. At the second meeting not long after, he signed up to speak, saying: "The soldiers and the common people have a lot of requirements for literary and art workers. They want you to sing, act, draw cartoons, and write articles. , and also ask you to teach them to do this. You can't say you're a writer and refuse to sing for them, and you can't say you're an actor and don't give them a 'salvation room' (club). You should give them what they need. Everything you give is unreservedly. Just as Lu Xun said, 'If you have a bit of heat, you will give out a bit of light', or even give out two. , learn more things.”
In the autumn of the same year, the Combat Drama Club performed a play in Yan'an that reflected the life of the battle ahead. Chairman Mao watched the play and wrote a letter to encourage them:
Ouyang Shanzun, Comrade Cheng Yin: I think your drama is good. Yan'an and the border region are in need of a drama that reflects life in the struggle behind enemy lines. Hope to do more dramas like this.
Over the years since then, no matter which troupe he is in, whether he is the dean or the director, the spirit of the Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art has become the artistic creed that Ouyang Shanzun has adhered to throughout his life.
Shortly after returning from the front line in North Korea, Ouyang Shanzun received another assignment. He was temporarily transferred to the first deputy head of the China Youth Cultural and Art Troupe. He and Zhou Weizhi led a delegation to Berlin to participate in the "3rd World Youth and Students Peace and Friendship Festival". This is a huge team composed of 220 people from more than 50 units, including many literary backbones, famous opera actors, singers, dancers and so on. After the festival, Ouyang Shanzun led a delegation to visit 152 cities in nine countries in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and performed "White Haired Girl", "Yellow River Cantata", "Red Silk Dance" and "Sanchakou". The trip lasted ten months. On the way, Ouyang Shanzun was summoned back to China through the embassy in China. When passing through Moscow, he met with the visiting Minister of Culture Shen Yanbing (Mao Dun) and Cao Yu. Shen Yanbing told him: go back quickly, now that the art troupe is going to specialize, you have to go back to do this.
five
In May 1945, I became a teacher in the Department of Literature of Lu Yi, just in time for the rehearsal of the opera "The White-Haired Girl" in the Department of Drama. At the beginning, because the play was too long, I often rehearsed until late at night without rest, and I was very energetic. Every night I sang "The North Wind Blows, the Snow Flakes", and I heard it really in the cave on Dongshan Mountain. Lin Bai played Xi'er, Chen Qiang played Huang Shiren, Li Bo played Huang's mother, Han Bing played Second Aunt, Zhang Shouwei played Yang Bailao, Zhao Qiyang played Uncle Zhao, and Wang Jiayi played Mu Renzhi. This play caused a sensation in Yan'an, and later spread to all parts of the country, and it played a big role!
——Xiao Jun, "Unforgettable Years in Yan'an"
In the spring of 1938, when Ouyang Shanzun and his buddies from the drama team rode old bicycles and arrived in Yan'an, Zhao Qiyang was admitted to the Shaanbei Public School from the youth training class of Wubao in Anan, Shaanxi, and also came to Yan'an. But soon, he was sent back to his hometown of Henan to do underground work, openly as a middle school art teacher. It was not until 1942 that the central government transferred a large number of underground party cadres back to Yan'an according to the situation at the time, and Zhao Qiyang returned to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area as secretary of the Cultural Association. . Especially in the opera "The White-Haired Girl", which was popular in the liberated areas, he successfully played the old friend Zhao Laohan, Yang Bailao's old friend. His upright, tall and vigorous image is very consistent with Zhao Qiyang's character and image in life. The character's surname was also taken based on his surname during the creation process. This new national opera, which integrates poetry, singing and dancing, conquered the audience with its strong romanticism once it was performed.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhao Qiyang joined the literary group led by Chen Huangmei and moved to the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region. In 1946, for the cultural construction of the liberated area, the Northern University was founded by Fan Wenlan as its president. This is the first comprehensive university with complete faculties and large-scale established in Jiefang District. There are seven faculties of engineering, agriculture, medicine, finance and economics, culture and education, art and administration. There are many talented teachers, including Zhang Guangnian and Ai Si. Qi, Luo Gongliu such famous. Twenty-eight-year-old Zhao Qiyang became the director of the drama group of the Academy of Arts. In addition to organizing teaching, he also directed and played Lao Song in the opera "Red Leaf River". "Red Leaf River" and "White-Haired Girl" are also known as the two major operas in the liberated area. Although Zhao Qiyang is not a professional actor, he has a chance to have intimate contact with the two famous operas.
In August 1948, in order to welcome national liberation, Northern University merged with the North China Associated University in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area to form North China University. The North China United University is a ten-year-old school that has been cultivating cadres. He has left Zhao Qiyang's footprints.
The newly established North China University consists of four departments. The first part of BGI is the School of Political Science, which trains cadres in the form of short-term training courses, and they go to work after three to six months of study; the second part of BGI is the School of Education, which trains teachers and cadres for secondary schools, and learns Chinese, history, geography, mathematics and physics. Basic subjects such as chemistry and foreign languages; the third department of BGI is the College of Literature and Art, which consists of an engineering troupe, a cultural and artistic troupe, an art factory and a musical instrument factory; the fourth department of BGI is engaged in special scientific research and trains teachers for the university.
Shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the third department of BGI welcomed a group of progressive literary and artistic youths. They were members of the Second Anti-Enemy Drama Team from Peiping and the motherland drama troupe. One of the members later recalled their experience when they retreated from Peiping to the liberated areas:
After we found the Ping Church, there were people who were specially responsible for the reception. They arranged our accommodation and said, "Don't go out, don't leave the room. If you want to go to the toilet, don't talk to anyone when you see it."...In the middle of the night, I came One person said: "Now that I have entered the liberated area, I want to change my name, everyone has to change it, and I will change it now." - The regulations will be changed immediately, and I have no time to think about it. Any implication... There was a Chinese opera troupe whose name was changed to Yu Decai, but he was robbed by bandits on the road the next day, and the money was gone, so he changed his name to Yu Decai. I don't think it matters, the name is just a symbol, or it may be that there are too many surnames "Wang", and I blurted out when I wanted to find an uncommon surname. This name has been used to this day.
—— Lantian Ye "Yanyu Lifetime Blue Sky Wild"
The blue sky is vast and the wilderness is boundless. Since then, Wang Runsen, a student of Peiping Art College who is good at painting and loves drama, has become a blue sky and a field, and has officially become a member of the New China drama team. At first, he and most of his friends were arranged to study in the first political class of BGI, and several older members of the second team, such as Tian Chong and Hu Zongwen, went directly to the third department of BGI. After a few months of study, the victorious situation became clearer. In order to welcome the liberation of Peiping, at the end of 1948, the No. 2 Literature and Art Troupe of the Third Department of North China University (referred to as the "Second Art and Art Troupe of Huada") was established in Zhengding. Lan Lanye and his companions reunited in the Art Troupe.
Like the North China People's Art Troupe, in January 1949, the Second Huada Art Troupe was ordered to enter the city with the army in advance, and in the following months, it integrated into the victorious atmosphere of Peiping and performed for the masses in streets, squares and other places in the city. At the end of the year, according to the needs of national construction, the State Council decided to develop each department of North China University into an independent institution: the Renmin University of China was established on the basis of the first department, the second department was changed to the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, and the third department was merged with the Nanjing National Academy of Drama. , established as the Central Academy of Drama, with Ouyang Yuqian as the dean and Cao Yu and Zhang Geng as the vice deans. The Second Art Troupe where Lan Lanye is located was also reorganized into the Central Academy of Drama Repertory Troupe. During this time, Zhao Qiyang was transferred to Beijing from Hebei, returned to campus, and served as the deputy head of the Opera Troupe of the Central Academy of Drama.
In the autumn of 1951, the country was about to enter a period of large-scale economic construction, and many industries had clearer directions and plans. At this time, the Ministry of Culture proposed the professionalization of cultural and art troupes, and negotiated with the Beijing Municipal Party Committee to reorganize the "Elderly Art" troupes affiliated to the Beijing Municipal People's Government into professional theaters under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture. Peng Zhen, Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, made it clear that if opera, dance, orchestra, etc. are all handed over, Beijing needs a drama troupe. After discussion, the party group of the Ministry of Culture decided to merge the "Elderly Art" Repertory Troupe with the Central Academy of Drama Theatre Troupe to establish a professional theatre affiliated to Beijing. Since the successful performance of "Longxugou" has made "Beijing People's Art Theater" quite famous in the society, the new theater still uses this name. The prestigious playwright and drama educator Cao Yu served as the dean, Jiao Juyin and Ouyang Shanzun served as the vice deans, and Zhao Qiyang served as the secretary-general and party secretary.
At the beginning of the late spring of 1952, No. 56 Shijia Hutong Courtyard became the department of the New Beijing People's Art Institute. The hibiscus and Begonia in the courtyard were full of flowers and trees, just like the mood of the four talkers. They were all in their prime, and the four were almost four years apart in age. The eldest, Jiao Juyin, was only forty-seven years old, Cao Yu was forty-two years old, Ouyang Shanzun was thirty-eight years old, and Zhao Qiyang was only thirty-four years old. With their own drama experience, they had long thoughts and talked freely and freely. Since the birth of Chinese drama in 1907, in the difficult years, from Tianjin, Peiping, Nanjing, Shanghai to Wuhan, Chongqing, Guilin, and Yan'an, there are always these guardians who will never leave it behind. The United States will give agitation, justice and strength, so that it can share weal and woe with the destiny of the country and the people.
The history of Chinese drama is a creative and glorious history of revolutionary battles. This is what we drama workers should be proud of. All four of us believe that no matter what kind of professional theatre Beijing Renyi builds, the fine tradition of Chinese drama should not be lost, not only that, but also should be carried forward
big. It can’t be because it is a peaceful environment now, we have to take the road of specialization, and we have to establish theater art, so we can not integrate with reality, we can no longer learn from life, and we don’t learn from the masses…
——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
Not long before this talk, Cao Yu and Ouyang Shanzun had both visited the Soviet Union. They were deeply impressed by the artistic history and rigorous creative methods of the Moscow Art Theater. Jiao Juyin was even more impressed with it and its creator Stanislavsky. and Danchenko have long been specialized in research. Now to build an unprecedented professional theater in our country, everyone is groping from scratch, and they all think of this example to learn from and learn from. The Si family system was introduced to my country in the 1930s, and was highly praised by drama players in Yan'an and the Kuomintang-ruled areas. Even incompletely translated theoretical books caused a widespread upsurge in learning in schools and troupes. However, their previous artistic practice led them to have such a consensus: borrowing is by no means just used, and "must have Chinese national characteristics and Beijing people's own style".
Speaking of this, we seem to have touched the edge of how to run a professional theater well. The outline of what kind of theater Beijing Renyi will become is also more obvious, but if we use one sentence, it is very concise and generalized. In terms of nature, the ideal of Beijing Renyi is both comprehensive and very clear. After repeated deliberation, we finally determined the ideal and goal of Renyi, which should be "to make Beijing Renyi as good as the Moscow Art Theater." A world-class theater with national characteristics and its own style.”
——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
With a clear goal in mind, the conversation didn't stop abruptly. "Dragon Horse, Fengshen, Camel's Steps" - Thirty-five years later, Cao Yu wrote these eight characters with ink and gave them to the colleagues of the theater. This is also the creed that the four founders of the theater have practiced since the beginning. Jiao Juyin first proposed that: the first step is to unify the creative method, so that the actors from more than 20 theatrical groups with various performance methods can be unified into the Si's system, so as to present a complete and harmonious good play to the audience on the stage. . Subsequently, they naturally talked about issues related to the life of the theater, such as grasping the script, going deep into life, cultivating actors, the quality of the play, improving artistic accomplishment, and scientific rules and regulations. The last measure they talked about was: to have a good courtyard style. Cao Yu said solemnly:
Beijing Renyi can't have the style of "grand theater", and can't call itself a "grand theater"... He hopes that Beijing Renyi will be a very modest and prudent theater, a theater that will never be satisfied with its achievements. ——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
When the conversation was about to end, it was unknown who said, "In order to realize the ideal of the Beijing People's Art Theater, we will hand it over to this theater for the rest of our lives." The four of them were a little excited.
One day in 1897, Danchenko wrote a letter and invited Stanislavsky to a hotel in Moscow for a detailed discussion. From the afternoon to the next morning, they laid the foundation for the Moscow Art Theater within 18 consecutive hours. cornerstone. Someone once said that Beijing Renyi's "Forty-Two Hours Talk" is very similar to it! After they reported the content of the conversation to their superiors and announced it to the whole academy, there was a huge response. This is a major event in Chinese drama.
On the evening of June 12, 1952, the professional Beijing People's Art Theater was announced in the No. 56 courtyard of Shijia Hutong.
references:
Zhao Qiyang: "Reminiscence - A Review of Qiyang's Literary and Art Work", Beijing Library Press, March 2000
Editor-in-chief Liu Lin: "The History of the Past: The Oral History of Beijing People's Art 1", China Drama Publishing House, March 2017
Editor-in-chief Chen Dapeng and Chen Zhijian: "Shijia Hutong", People's Publishing House, April 2017
Shu Tiemin: "New China's First Comprehensive Art Theater - Beijing People's Art Theater", 2018 Supplement to "Dongcheng History"
Editor-in-chief Jiang Rui: "The Stage Art of "Dragon Xugou", China Drama Publishing House, April 1987
Ouyang Shanzun: A Collection of Weeds, Beijing Publishing House, May 2014
Ouyang Shanzun: "The Great Furnace - Memoirs of Ouyang Shanzun", China Drama Publishing House, April 2009
"Memorabilia of the Beijing People's Art Theater" Episode 1 (1952-1956), internal information
Li Manyi: "Me and So This Life", Writers Publishing House, October 2019
Lantianye, Luo Qi: "The Misty Rain Life", Life, Reading and New Knowledge Sanlian Publishing, December 2014
About the Author:
Liu Lin, Master of Education from Peking University, is currently a research librarian at the Drama Museum of Beijing People's Art Theatre. He has long been engaged in the research and arrangement of the history and drama collections of the Beijing Academy of Arts and Crafts, dedicated to the collection of drama history materials and the dissemination of drama culture. He also hosted the oral history project of "Beijing People's Art in Deep Memory", and rescued the memory of those who experienced it.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Beijing Institute of Humanities and Arts, Contemporary Magazine launched a series of articles on "The History of Drama in Museums". Relying on the exhibits in the museum, combined with documentary materials, historical narratives and personal oral narratives, readers can immerse themselves in the scene. Enter this art palace and relive the drama life of generations.
This article was published in the 3rd issue of "Contemporary" magazine in 2022.
Ashamed to say, as a blogger, the first exhibit I collected with my own hands was actually a copy. According to the usual classification of collections, photocopies can only be regarded as reference materials, and compared with those full of ancient objects or original manuscripts, it is really not worth mentioning. But at this moment, when I go back to the starting point of entering this industry, many pictures that I once thought were important are dimmed, and only it naturally jumps out. Following its lead, I went back to eighteen years ago. It was a winter afternoon. I set off from the Capital Theater and changed to tram No. 109 for three stops. With a mixture of curiosity and excitement, I groped to the north of Chaoyangmen. The General Office of the Ministry of Culture on the main street was the first time in his life that he stepped into the door of the country's highest cultural institution. A kind female teacher received me and introduced me to a male teacher in the editorial department, where stacks of printed volumes of "New Culture History" were stacked. Because I had already explained my purpose on the phone, I received a stack of dozens of pages of manuscript copies shortly after. The blanks of the manuscript are densely packed, with notes left by the editor. Through the imprints of revisions, the title of the article can be vaguely seen: "Ambition - Forty-Two Hours of Conversation". While quickly browsing the content, I still reluctantly asked: surely there is no original? The answer was of course expected.
At that time, I was a member of the preparatory team of the Beijing People's Art and Drama Museum, and I was looking for exhibits for the Character Hall where I was in charge of writing the exhibition outline. Among the founders of Beijing Renyi, Zhao Qiyang is the one with the fewest related exhibits, and he has passed away for many years. He has worked in Renyi for more than 20 years and has served as secretary general, vice president and party secretary. Every time he is mentioned, many seniors sincerely miss him and admire his superb level of organizational and ideological work. During the special period, he paid special attention to artists politically, and he patiently comforted the actors who had resisted during the artistic exploration, which ensured that Beijing Renyi was always on the right path of "art creation first" at the critical moment. Su Min, Vice President of Humanities and Arts, gave him a "fair and affectionate" evaluation, but it is difficult to find suitable exhibits to reproduce these shining personality traits. Probably because of the star-studded talent in Beijing, there are too many famous artists, or because Zhao Qiyang's own style of behavior developed during the Revolutionary War, he is accustomed to keeping a low profile. Even if he appears in some old photos, he often stands in an inconspicuous position. .
Therefore, the copy of Zhao Qiyang's manuscript that I got is particularly precious. On June 12, 2007, after the Beijing People's Art Theatre Museum was completed and opened, it became an official exhibit, and Chen was quietly in the corner of the theatre's founder's exhibition hall. For fifteen years, I have passed through it with various audiences and looked at it countless times - with the handwriting on it, the thoughts in it, the seventy years of this temple rushing forward.
What is a "forty-two hour conversation"? It was the four of us who talked continuously for a week around the topic of "how to do well in Beijing's arts and crafts", talking for three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. ! ——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
This long essay of several thousand words was completed in 1992, which was the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Beijing Academy of Arts and Humanities. The Work Committee for the Collection of Party History Materials of the Ministry of Culture asked the retired Zhao Qiyang to summarize his experience in literary and art work during the Revolutionary War. After several deliberation, Zhao Qiyang finally decided not to write about his early work in the border area or Yan'an, because "many people have already written about it", and he wanted to divide his twenty-plus years of work in Beijing Renyi into special topics, one by one. Write it out - "There are many interesting people and things there, which often stir in his chest, and it is the most unforgettable place in his artistic career." So he listed dozens of topics and planned to write them down one by one. . As the opening chapter, "Ambition - Forty-Two Hours of Conversation" reviews in detail the four founders of Beijing Renyi in 1952 - Cao Yu, Jiao Juyin, Ouyang Shanzun, and Zhao Qiyang - talking about the future blueprint together. After the article was completed, the editor felt it was very vivid and published it in the 2nd issue of "New Cultural Historical Materials" in 1993.
In the process of writing the exhibition outline, I have read this article many times, following the author's memories back to that spring decades ago. Time is far away, space is close at hand, and it happened in Shijia Hutong, which I can reach by walking a kilometer. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, many institutions and celebrities have been stationed in this hutong, and the people and events among them carry rich historical information. In the middle of the hutong, there is a courtyard facing the north. It is not a traditional quadrangle. There are more than 30 bungalows, large and small. This is the original courtyard of Beijing Renyi - No. 56 Shijia Hutong.
Manuscript of "Ambition - Forty-two Hours of Conversation"
oneIt is said that the owner of No. 56 Shijia Hutong Courtyard in the Republic of China was Zhang Ruiwu. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, medical staff from Union Hospital, Canadian missionaries and others were rented here. Like many similar mansion gates, when Peiping was liberated in 1949, it was already empty. At that time, the various units that entered the city with the People's Liberation Army were coming, and the first problem was to find a place to live and settle down first. Among them, there is the North China People's Art Troupe who traveled long distances from the liberated areas. Some members of the group lived in Shijia Hutong, and they were sent back to the "numbered house" near their home (this is the saying of the old district, every time they went to a village, they sent people to the village to find vacancies, and then marked them and arranged for everyone to stay), they saw When the No. 56 courtyard was vacant, he quickly reported to the leaders, registered it in the register, and stationed it.
When I graduated from high school, the whole of China was liberated. I also participated in the peaceful liberation of Peiping - the welcoming ceremony of the People's Liberation Army into the city. It was February 3, 1949. The People's Liberation Army entered the city from Xizhimen, and all our underground parties were dispatched to stand at the intersection of Xidan and read aloud the New Year's Day dedication "To Carry the Revolution to the End", and organized the masses to welcome our troops. At that time, I thought: It would be great if I could receive any brother or sister of mine! After the entrance ceremony, I went back to school. As soon as I walked in, a co-worker told me that there was a call for me, and he left me a phone number. I called back at school, and it turned out that it was Chen Tangming, a teaching assistant in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University, who was looking for me. He said that your brother is back, where... I can't remember how to reply, but I was blinded at the time. When I learned on the phone that my brother lived in Beichizi, I threw the phone away and rode like crazy. When you arrive, ask and find Li Delun! I remember that the yard was very lively at that time, and the sound of foreign horns and foreign drums was overwhelming. When I saw Li Delun, I wondered: How did my brother become a cook? Dirty, wearing Eighth Route Army clothes, covered in oil. My brother showed me Li Lu, his newborn daughter. The child came swaying all the way in a carriage, placed on straw and tied with a small blue cloth.
——Li Bin's oral narrative, excerpted from "Times Talking About the Past"
More than 60 years later, Li Bin, a member of the North China People's Art Troupe and an actor from Beijing, sat opposite me and told the story of "sister looking for brother with tears". At that time, she, the fifth brother of "Grease Twist", had just rushed into Peiping from Shijiazhuang with the North China People's Art Troupe. She was one of the first artists to enter the city. He was accompanied by his wife and two-month-old daughter. In the cold winter and twelfth lunar month in the north, they received orders from their superiors to rush back to Peiping for more than 500 miles to welcome the arrival of New China. After eight years of separation, the reunion of the siblings was fixed at such a historical moment, which became an unforgettable memory for Li Bin.
When the troupe entered the city, there were more than 80 people, belonging to the drama department and the music department. When Li Bin found his brother, it was the third day after the whole regiment entered the city. He temporarily lived in the No. 63 courtyard of the former Kuomintang secret agency in Beichizi. After that, young people from the city continued to join in. Soon Li Bin also became one of them. Enter the opera performance training class.
I remember that at that time, the Xinxin Grand Theater (later Capital Cinema) was performing "Akaha River", and I watched it all day. I have never seen an opera before. I often take a group of classmates and go to their school, which is at No. 1 Xitangzi Hutong. After entering the small western-style building that turns around and walks in, there is a bungalow behind it. Go there and find a group teaching section chief named Liu Zixian, because I am Li Delun's younger sister, section chief Liu will take us in. That is, the group of classmates who went to the show with me. Some of them went to the band, and some went to the training class with me. The more famous ones are Fan Buyi, the composer of the dance drama "Dream of Red Mansions", and Cong Zhaohuan, Li Manyi's younger brother Li Baicheng. There I learned Stanislavsky theory, mainly non-physical performances.
——Li Bin's oral narrative, excerpted from "Times Talking About the Past"
In the process of being ordered to transfer, the art troupe arranged and performed many excellent repertoires and plays. In Shijiazhuang, they not only performed the opera "Red Leaf River", Yang opera "Brothers and Sisters Reclaiming the Wasteland", "Couples Literacy", and solo "Turn Over Dao Qing", but also performed a foreign work - Mozart's "String Quartet" for the first time.
After entering Peiping, Tsinghua University was the first university to be taken over. In the school's auditorium, the art troupe performed for the first time for the students of the highest institution in the big city. The hall aisle was full of people, and even the windowsills were full of people. The students were very curious when they saw the polished musical instruments in the hands of the members. They did not expect that the Eighth Route Army not only had cellos and violins, but also female musicians. In addition to performing operas, the troupe also held a musical evening for the students, conducted by Li Delun, to perform their repertoire from Yan'an - "Senji Dema" and "Victory March" and other orchestral works. The performance is very infectious, completely subverting the teachers and students' imagination of "Tuba Road". Also in the audience were Lin Huiyin and his daughter Liang Zaibing. Lin Huiyin studied stage design at the Yale School of Drama, and participated in the performance and stage design of many plays as early as the 1920s. Liang Zaibing later recalled that her mother never expected the PLA Art Troupe to have such a high level of performance. The stage sets and make-up were simple and refined, and the overall artistic and ideological level of the program was admirable.
The opera "Chiye River" tells the story of the peasants in Chiyehe Village, Lingchuan, Shanxi, who have been oppressed for generations, under the leadership of the party, to carry out land reform and become the masters of the family. Because of the twists and turns of the plot and the melody, it has a touching artistic effect. After entering the city, the art troupe performed "Red Leaf River" at the Xinxin Grand Theater for a month, infecting many young people in the city. Cong Zhaohuan and Li Manyi mentioned by Li Bin also decided to apply for the art troupe after watching the play. Cong Zhaohuan was originally a high school student who came to Peiping from Qingdao to study for the Department of Civil Engineering of Tsinghua University. The festive atmosphere of Peiping attracted him strongly. There were singing, dancing, and gongs and drums everywhere. He also applied for the opera performance training class of the Art Troupe. . As a result, Tsinghua University and the Art Troupe released the rankings on the same day. Tsinghua was not listed on the list. The Art Troupe accepted him, and he happily accepted the arrangement of fate. After several turns, Cong Zhaohuan became a professional actor of the Northern Kunqu Opera Troupe. Affected by him, the second daughter Cong Shan later also embarked on the road of acting.
And Li Manyi had graduated from the Music Department of Beijing Normal University at that time. She and her classmates were very excited after watching "Red Leaf River". After hearing that the musician He Luting was one of the leaders of the art troupe, she decided to apply for the art troupe together. As music graduates, they passed the exam with ease. The art troupe asked the trainees to stay. When Li Manyi walked into No. 19, Donghuamen Street, where the drama department is located, she was greeted by a young man in a fuchsia sweater—a month earlier than her. That spring, for So, who had just sent away his mother and was homeless, was like rebirth. He later recalled in an article:
When I was in my early twenties, I lived the first spring of my life—the spring of 1949. In February of the solar calendar, it is still the season when the spring is still cold. I already felt the warmth first: I joined the North China People's Art Troupe. At that time, it was not like now, what was called "arranging work", it was called "participating in the revolution".
I wore a blue cotton robe to participate in the art troupe, and when I went, I asked an old comrade to teach me Yangko and waist drums. Cotton robes are always in the way, so it is naturally inconvenient to practice, but there is only a dark red sweater inside. In the environment where everyone wears coarse cloth uniforms, the cotton robes already look "various", and then showing the red sweater, wouldn't it be a joke? Another thought, liberation, who can manage that much, comrade, practice! After many years, the old comrades met me, and from time to time they mentioned that I wore a red sweater and twisted Yangko. You can imagine how disgusted they were at the time.
The revolutionary team really gave me a lot of warmth. At that time, the old comrades still slept on the floor with straw and gave me a bed alone. That bed was actually a large wooden box for carrying a double bass... At that time, my mother was dead, and I was alone and had no home... Today, No. 19 Donghuamen Street was my home at that time, an unforgettable memory warm home.
——So "Liberation"
A year later, at the celebration meeting after the performance of the drama "Moscow Character", Li Manyi and So Zhi became friends of Qin and Jin.
Li Bozhao, the head of the cultural and art troupe, also serves as the head of the Drama and Music Group of the Cultural Takeover Committee of the Military Control Commission of Peiping, responsible for taking over and recruiting institutions and personnel related to culture and art. Therefore, the North China People's Art Troupe can give priority to recruiting talents. For a time, in addition to young students like Li Bin, there were also members of the original anti-enemy performance team, as well as progressive artists stranded in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao and overseas, folk music groups, and even under the direct care of Premier Zhou Enlai, at that time Northern Kunqu opera artists, Peking opera actors and other opera artists who are scattered in the society and have a difficult livelihood are all included in the team of the art troupe. In a short period of time, the number of members of the troupe has grown rapidly to hundreds.
As the team grew, office locations and housing became more of a priority. In addition to the 56th courtyard of Shijia Hutong as an actor's dormitory, the cultural and art troupe also "numbered" down to No. 1 Xitangzi Hutong, which is the courtyard where Li Bin took his classmates to, the property of Song Zheyuan, the former senior general of the Kuomintang. No. 12 Xitangzi Hutong, the former residence of the mayor of Tianjin, is used as the dormitory for the orchestra and chorus of the Music Department; No. 1 Jinyu Hutong, the former garden, is used as the creative laboratory; The courtyard house was originally a restaurant, and the art troupe set up the drama department here; there is also No. 28 Wuliang Ren Hutong (later changed to Hongxing Hutong), where the training department is located; As a venue for gatherings and rehearsals. In this way, the entire art troupe was able to settle down in Dongcheng, and the housing and rehearsal problems were initially solved.
two
After entering Peiping, the North China People's Art Troupe became the most important art group in the capital of New China. Under the new situation, great changes have taken place in their service objects, performance environment, performance nature, and artistic division of labor. The art troupe and team model established during the Revolutionary War must be transformed to create a new China's modern art system and theater art.
On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established. At the same time, there are countless new plans brewing in this land, ready to come out. On January 1, 1950, a sunny Sunday, Li Bozhao wrote in her diary:
On New Year's Day, the sky is clear, the Beijing People's Art Theater was established... Another record has been left in the history of my artistic work. I have been working in theatre for more than 20 years, and now it is the toughest job. Not only do organizational work, but also create. If it is not well arranged and grasp the main point, the work is going to fail. If it fails, it will be a great loss to the work of art and the work of the Party. I can do a good job tenaciously, and give better play to the enthusiasm of the cadres. I have the conditions to do my job well. Get closer to the crowd. When he first entered the city and first entered the society, he "bowed his head and was willing to be a rude cow". Second, pay attention to the systematic training of cadres and train them with the utmost effort and patience. Without backbone, work is soft.
On this day, on the basis of the North China People's Art Troupe, a comprehensive Beijing People's Art Theater (hereinafter referred to as "Elderly Art"), including drama, music, dance, and northern Kunqu Opera, was established. As the first art theater in New China, it has pinned the ideals and high expectations of too many people. At the establishment ceremony, Zhu De, Peng Zhen, Zhou Yang, and Deng Tuo all mentioned in their speeches: I hope it will establish urban literature and art, become the core of the Beijing literature and art movement and the main force in the development of people's art. Li Bozhao was appointed as the dean, and Jin Ziguang and Ouyang Shanzun were appointed as vice deans. In the early days of the establishment, the theater had about 300 employees, which increased to 429 after half a year.
In the prelude to the triumphant progress of New China, Li Bozhao naturally felt pressured by such an important task, but with her broad experience and talent, this responsibility must be hers. Looking back at her youth, perhaps from the time she was fifteen years old, influenced by two teachers, Xiao Chunv and Zhang Wentian, and joined the Socialist Youth League, she was destined for the path of this life——
The organization sent her to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. Because of her love of literature, she formed a literature research group with several classmates, read Soviet classics, enjoyed drama and ballet, and participated in drama performances herself. The strong artistic atmosphere of Moscow has laid a solid foundation for her in literature and art.
After returning to China, she was sent to the Soviet area to organize publicity and cultural activities. Because of her natural love for literature and art and her study experience in the Soviet Union, she has performed well in every position. She used to be the editor of "Red China" newspaper, the principal of Gorky Drama School, until she participated in the establishment of the first theater company in the Soviet Union, the Bayi Theater. She introduced the dance art of the Soviet Union into the Soviet area, and was once known as the "red dancing star". She also wrote, directed, and acted in many plays, becoming one of the pioneers of the red theater movement in the Soviet area.
In the autumn of 1934, Li Bizhao set off for the north with the Central Working Group of the First Army of the Red Army. He went through hardships and dangers along the way. He arrived in northern Shaanxi in October 1936, and became the only female soldier in the Long March who had crossed the grassland three times. In the past ten years, she has made a legend with her courage and will.
In northern Shaanxi, Li Bozhao continued to work in literature and art, and successively participated in the establishment of the Chinese Literature Association and the Luxun Academy of Arts. In 1946, Yan'an established the Literature and Art Research Office of the Central Party School (hereinafter referred to as the "Art Room") and the Central Orchestra. Li Bizhao was the director of the Literature and Art Office, responsible for summarizing the work experience of literature and art in the liberated area, and concurrently serving as the deputy director of the administrative committee of the orchestra.
In 1947, when Hu Zongnan wanted to attack Yan'an, two literary and art groups were ordered to leave the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. After a long journey, the cultural studio reached the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area, and absorbed some members and progressive students of the local North China Military and Political University Art Troupe and the second group of the original anti-enemy drama evacuated from Peiping to form the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan People's Art Troupe. Soon, the orchestra that arrived at the Jin-Chahar-Hebei border area came to join, and the two groups reunited.
In June 1948, the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border areas were revoked, and the two regiments were ordered to go to the liberated Shijiazhuang, where they formed the North China People's Art Troupe, with Li Bizhao as the head again.
In 1946, 1948, and 1950, in order to adapt to the ever-changing war situation, Li Bozhao led the team to the new China at a speed of reorganization every two years. After continuously attracting talents, the original departments of "Elderly Art" have been enriched: Drama Team, Opera Team under the Drama Department; Orchestra, Chorus, Piano Accompaniment, Military Band under the Music Department; Dance Drama Team, Kunqu Opera under the Training Department The Ministry of Enterprise has an art service agency, a drama factory, an art factory, and a musical instrument factory under its jurisdiction. It also bought the True Light Cinema in Donghuamen, renamed it Beijing Theater, and even opened a kindergarten and a canteen.
three
Because of the multitude of affairs, Li Bozhao's diary is concise, with only a few lines a day, and scattered thoughts and reminders are interspersed in the records of various personnel affairs. In her diary on January 4 and 5, she recorded two meetings with Mr. Lao She.
4th: At 2:00 p.m., the literary and art circles paid homage at the Beijing Hotel to welcome Mr. Lao She. Lao She sang Taiping lyrics on the spot, while Yu Qian, Tian Han, and Cao Yu sang Beijing opera. Ouyang Yuqian's voice is like that of a 16-year-old girl.
Day 5: Go to Fengzi’s place for dinner at 5:00 p.m. and discuss creation with Lao She and Zhao Shuli.
In October 1949, Lao She, who lived in New York, USA, received a letter from his old friend, Cao Yu, saying that he was instructed by Zhou Enlai to return to China as soon as possible to participate in the construction of New China. After receiving the letter, Lao She suffered from sciatica and set off from San Francisco, passed through Japan and the Philippines by boat, and arrived in Hong Kong on November 4. Due to two typhoons on the way, the turbulence at sea caused him to suffer from recurrent sciatica, making him unable to move an inch, so he had to recuperate at a friend's house in Hong Kong for 24 days and arrived at Takukou in Tianjin on December 9.
There are many ice cubes in the Haihe River, and snow falls in the air. It has been fourteen years since I left North China, and when I suddenly saw the snow and ice, and the loess on the river bank, my tears could not help but roll in my eyes. ——Lao She "From San Francisco to Tianjin"
When I left, it was the Republic of China, and when I returned, I had changed the world. But "even though we've been apart for so long, there's not a day when I don't miss her." This should be Li Bozhao's first acquaintance with Lao She, and the writer is accumulating enthusiasm to praise the new China. Perhaps from that day on, Li Bozhao sent Lao She an invitation to write a play for Beijing Renyi.
Soon, when discussing the urban construction plan, Beijing decided to first consider the producers and laborers, and to eliminate the dirty and smelly ditch that the ruling class has always ignored - the Longxu ditch. This decision moved Lao She and aroused his creative passion. Although he is known for his novels, he is no stranger to screenwriting. During the Anti-Japanese War, he served as the deputy director of the Anti-Enemy Literary Association in the southwest, and wrote nearly ten plays including "Residual Fog", "Nation First" and "The Problem of Face", which inspired the morale of the people to resist the enemy.
But this time, Xiugou couldn't move to the stage, which was really hard for him. After thinking hard for half a month, to no avail. But there was always a small courtyard that appeared in his mind. It was a very small, low and dilapidated courtyard that he saw when he went to Longxugou. . He suddenly had an idea, and decided to use it as a stage, arrange a few families in the yard, and find something for each family to do, and the story of Longxugou slowly unfolded, "Although a novel author doesn't know much about the stage. skill, but he can draw people in three strokes and two strokes." So, Aunt Wang, Erchun, Cheng Lunzi, and Ding Si filed in and settled in Longxugou. When the small courtyard was filled with people, he added people from outside the courtyard. After thinking about the tasks of these people in the play, he wrote it quickly, writing three acts and six scenes in one breath.
At first, Li Bozhao arranged for young directors Jin Li and Ling Guanru to be the directors of "Dragon Beard Ditch", but the actors' performance methods were not unified in the newly established theater; although the script was full of vivid characters, Lao She said humbly. It was a short story made by him at risk, and some people also said that this play did not have a fascinating story, like a live report drama. The theater leaders thought it was a good show and should organize a stronger force to arrange it well. At this time, they naturally thought of Jiao Juyin, the director invited by the first drama "Moscow Character" that was successfully performed.
"Moscow Character" is the first drama performed by "Old Man Art". During the rehearsal of the whole play, Jiao Juyin also came to watch the play, and then he offered to help improve the rehearsal. After the premiere, this play surpassed the previous record of 50 performances of "Red Leaf River", and performed 65 consecutive performances, setting a record for the history of Beijing drama performances. The heroine Greenova in the play is played by actress Ye Ye, who is the first student of Nanjing National Drama Academy and played Chen Bailu in "Sunrise" directed by Cao Yu as early as 1936. During the whole war of resistance against Japan, she created a number of successful roles on the rear theater stage, and was known as the "Queen of Dramas".
Before the establishment of "Old Man Art", Ye Ye worked for a period of time in the Beijing Municipal Party Committee's Cultural Committee led by Li Bozhao to manage the troupe. After the theater was built, she was eager to act, and turned around and became an actor again, but because of that work experience and her intentions, she did a lot of talent-absorbing work for the theater in addition to acting.
For Jiao Juyin, the leaves are all too familiar. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, many left-wing literati went into exile in Guilin. She and her husband Xiong Foxi once shared a house with Jiao Juyin and lived next to each other. As early as the late 1920s, on the eve of Jiao Juyin's graduation from Yenching University, she organized and performed Xiong Foxi's multi-act drama "Cricket". The play was popular with students, but both of them were wanted by Zhang Zuolin on the charge of "propaganda" because they satirized and criticized the warlords who were fighting for power and profit. They had to hide in the homes of foreign professors before they escaped. Later, Jiao Juyin went to Paris University to study for a doctorate in literature. After returning to China, she went directly to Guilin, where left-wing literati gathered. Ye Ye remembered, "He used to do translations all night. At that time, he had already translated some of Stanislavsky's and Danchenko's works, as well as Chekhov's plays".
This time, Li Bozhao found Ye Ye again with the script of "Dragon Beard Ditch" and asked her to come forward and ask Jiao Juyin to direct. Jiao Juyin read the script and was hesitant at first. He felt that the script was relatively thin, and he was still teaching at Beijing Normal University School of Literature, so he was worried that it would be difficult to do both. But after repeated sincere invitations from the hospital, he finally agreed. Jiao Juyin believes that this play is most suitable for rehearsal using the Stanislavsky system, starting from life and obtaining the basis for creating images. The first task of the crew members is to go to Longxugou to experience life.
Ye Zi played Ding Sisao in "Longxugou". When she first went to Longxugou, the sewage was flowing and the smell was very strange, "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really can't believe that human beings still have such a bad living environment. ", which made her deeply feel that the government's decision to build the ditch has indeed done a great deed for the people. In further contact with the residents, she also found the optimistic and tenacious life attitude of the bottom people described by Lao She in the script, which is of great help for her to understand the script accurately and build a sense of belief in the characters.
During the actor's experience of life, Jiao Juyin was still teaching at the Normal University, and he hoped to know the actors' creative status at any time. Therefore, he requires all actors to keep an actor diary, and stipulates that each person has two books, which are sent to him for review in rotation. For the role of the masses, he will never lower his requirements, such as actor diary, character autobiography, and life sketch exercises.
So he kept his diary eclectic and kept it for half a year. Sometimes he wrote to find the details and feelings of Quyi artists, and sometimes he just recorded the problems he was thinking in a few words, such as "The madman has a kind of laughter, I want to find it". Ye Zi's diaries are all long, which is probably related to her graduation from Beijing Normal University's School of Literature. She writes about script analysis, reading insights, and experiencing life. She wrote hundreds of thousands of words in the diary alone.
February 1951, the second anniversary of the liberation of Beijing. After half a year of rehearsal, "Dragon Beard Ditch" debuted on stage. From the subject matter to the stage presentation, its natural life scenes, vivid language, and authentic and credible characters deeply moved the audience and achieved great success. It not only achieved Lao She, Jiao Juyin, and so on, but also laid a solid foundation for Beijing Renyi's future creations.
Shortly after the performance of "Longxugou", "Elderly Art" added Jiao Juyin as the vice president and chief director of the theater. At the end of the year, Peng Zhen awarded Lao She the title of "People's Artist" on behalf of the Beijing Municipal Government.
Chen Jian's oil painting "42 Hours of Conversation"
FourJust as the crew of "Dragon Beard Ditch" went deep into Beijing's Nancheng to experience life, the Korean Civil War broke out. In October 1950, except for the crew of "Dragon Beard Ditch", all members of "Old Man Art" participated in the propaganda activities of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, defending the family and defending the country. Among them is a four-person art group—the vice president Ouyang Shanzun, Zheng Lucheng, An E, and Xin Daming—who joined the Chinese People's Volunteers Creation Team composed of Liu Baiyu, Wei Wei, Ling Zifeng, Li Ying, etc. , went to the front line of North Korea to experience life and create.
Chinese dramas have performed in Japan in 1907 from "Hei Nu Wu Tian Lu" to Beijing Opera, Civilization Opera, and later in Shanghai. I participated in most of the plays performed there. I participated in Hong Shen's and Cao Yu's plays, directed by my father, including some official scripts and historical plays. ——Ouyang Shanzun "Spring is over, we cherish the sunny year together"
In 2004, during the preparatory period for the Beijing People's Art Theatre Museum, I accompanied Chen Jian, a painter from the Nanjing Military Region, to Ouyang Shanzun's home in order to create the oil painting "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation", he said at the age of 90.
Those moments when the spring breeze blows in the memory, those times when the sun was shining brightly, those times measured by drama, are like silhouettes containing infinite hope. "Cherish the Year of the Sunny" is the deepest impression these artists have left on us. They cherished, reluctantly gave up, and carefully cared for the memory of the common struggle, those shining days.
From 1907 to 2007—the first hundred years of Chinese drama, Ouyang Yuqian and Ouyang Shanzun stared at each other at both ends of the century. This father and son were indispensable to Chinese drama. .
Ouyang Yuqian was born in Liuyang, Hunan. His grandfather Ouyang Zhonghu was open-minded, and Tan Sitong and Tang Cai were often his disciples. In 1895, with the support of Ouyang Zhonghu, Tan and Tang founded the Liuyang Arithmetic Society, advocating new learning. Ouyang Yuqian's father, Ouyang Ligeng, also participated. Later, Tang Caichang became Ouyang Yuqian's enlightenment teacher. In 1902, fourteen-year-old Ouyang Yuqian went to Japan with the first craze of studying in Japan, and completed three years of middle school business studies. In 1907, he returned to Japan and studied liberal arts at Waseda University. At that time, due to the flooding in the Jianghuai River Basin, Chunliu Club decided to hold a fund-raising charity performance. First, in February, it performed "The Farewell Field" based on the third act of "La Traviata", and in June, it performed "Black Slave Urge the Sky" Recorded the whole play. The second performance was well organized. Zeng Xiaogu adapted the complete script. Li Shutong, who was studying Western painting at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, served as the set designer. Professionals from the Hong Kong Theater were responsible for the lighting. Zeng Xiaogu, Ouyang Yuqian, and Li Shutong all played the roles. Role. After more than two months of rehearsal, what was finally presented on the stage was a five-act drama that was performed in strict accordance with Western drama divisions, and the audience gathered during the performance. In the same year, the Enlightened Drama Society and Chunyang Society in China also performed "Tears of Disaster Victims" and "Black Slaves Calling Heaven Records" respectively. Although going back further, there have been records of foreign expats or local students performing modern dramas in Shanghai since the end of the 19th century, but based on the level of performances, the influence and the richness of visible materials, later drama researchers will perform Chunliu Society performances. As a symbol of the birth of Chinese drama, "Black Slave Urge the Sky" designated 1907 as the birth year of Chinese drama.
After returning from Japan, Ouyang Yuqian and several colleagues from Chunliu Club organized progressive performances in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hunan, Zhejiang and other places at the same time to introduce new dramas into China. With Shanghai as his main base, he performed new operas, as well as Peking operas. After living a stable life, he moved his family from Liuyang to Shanghai to live. Among the six siblings in the family, he ranked second, but unfortunately his eldest brother died before he reached adulthood, and he became the eldest son in the actual sense. Because he did not have a boy, he adopted Ouyang Shanzun, the son of his brother Ouyang Jianshu. Ouyang Shanzun, who was only six years old at the time, began to study in Shanghai, and often accompanied his father to the theater to perform, and gradually became interested in acting. In Ouyang Yuqian's one-act drama "After Going Home" and the movie "The End of the World", he has acted as a child actor. But he excelled in his studies since childhood, his favorite was science, and his dream was to be an electrical engineer.
In 1931, Ouyang Shanzun graduated from the high school attached to Hujiang University. Because Hujiang University did not have the electrical department he liked, he gave up the helicopter club and applied for the electrical department of Jiaotong University. Unexpectedly, he suddenly got cholera the day before the exam. He barely took the exam for one day in three days, and unfortunately missed the opportunity to enroll. In the second year, he transferred to the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Daxia University, and went to Zhenru Town, where Jinan University is located, to study mathematics before the exam. One night, he was pulled by his classmates to go to the show, and the last play was "Ran Bell" by Tian Han. The plot tells that on the night of September 18, 1931, a group of college students in Shenyang discussed the turbulent current situation and the future in their dormitory, each with their own plans. The artillery fire of the Japanese aggressors attacking the Beida Camp came, and everyone shared the enemy and decided to fight against the Japanese. At the end of the play, a classmate took the lead in chanting "Down with Japanese imperialism", and the audience also shouted. When the play ended, Ouyang Shanzun returned to the dormitory with excitement and was about to go to bed. There was a rumble of cannons outside the window. It turned out that the Japanese army was provoking another incident to attack the Shanghai defenders. The 19th Route Army rose up to resist, "One· The "Twenty-Eight" Incident broke out. That night, Ouyang Shanzun took the train to leave Zhenru Town with the enemy plane circling above his head. While the train was moving, bombs came from time to time, overlapping with the plot in his mind that had not yet faded away, "January 28, that was a me A day that will never be forgotten." This year, college admissions are suspended...
In 1933, Ouyang Shanzun was finally admitted to the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Daxia University. During his several years in school, he was still an active member of the drama activities, and was almost expelled from the school for performing plays against the Kuomintang. Later, with the help of his father, he transferred to the Department of English Literature. When he was about to graduate, he completed his graduation thesis "A Brief History of Chinese Fiction" in English. He originally planned to professionalize the amateur drama club with Jinshan after graduation. As soon as he stepped out of the school gate, he was greeted by the sound of the "July 7 Incident" again. In line with the determination that "it is a matter of nature, saving the nation from the war of resistance against Japan, and not being a slave of the subjugated country is a major event", he immediately joined the first team of the Shanghai Anti-Japanese National Salvation Drama and went to the Northwest battlefield. He first arrived at the Shanxi headquarters of the Eighth Route Army with the performance team, and performed for the soldiers who had just finished the battle of Pingxingguan.
In Yan'an, the vigorous Ouyang Shanzun originally wanted to fight in the front line, but the organization sent him to work in the newly established art troupe. long. When Ouyang Shanzun led the team to go deep into the base areas and enemy-occupied areas, and face the soldiers and people on the front line, he deeply realized what kind of drama they needed. In the spring of 1942, Ouyang Shanzun received a notice to participate in the Yan'an Literature and Art Symposium and returned to Yan'an from the front line. After listening to Chairman Mao's speech at the first meeting, his mood could not be calm for a long time. After a few days of thinking, he mustered up the courage to write down what he thought and sent it to the chairman. It didn't take long for him to receive a handwritten reply from the chairman: "Your opinion is right." This gave him great encouragement. At the second meeting not long after, he signed up to speak, saying: "The soldiers and the common people have a lot of requirements for literary and art workers. They want you to sing, act, draw cartoons, and write articles. , and also ask you to teach them to do this. You can't say you're a writer and refuse to sing for them, and you can't say you're an actor and don't give them a 'salvation room' (club). You should give them what they need. Everything you give is unreservedly. Just as Lu Xun said, 'If you have a bit of heat, you will give out a bit of light', or even give out two. , learn more things.”
In the autumn of the same year, the Combat Drama Club performed a play in Yan'an that reflected the life of the battle ahead. Chairman Mao watched the play and wrote a letter to encourage them:
Ouyang Shanzun, Comrade Cheng Yin: I think your drama is good. Yan'an and the border region are in need of a drama that reflects life in the struggle behind enemy lines. Hope to do more dramas like this.
Over the years since then, no matter which troupe he is in, whether he is the dean or the director, the spirit of the Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art has become the artistic creed that Ouyang Shanzun has adhered to throughout his life.
Shortly after returning from the front line in North Korea, Ouyang Shanzun received another assignment. He was temporarily transferred to the first deputy head of the China Youth Cultural and Art Troupe. He and Zhou Weizhi led a delegation to Berlin to participate in the "3rd World Youth and Students Peace and Friendship Festival". This is a huge team composed of 220 people from more than 50 units, including many literary backbones, famous opera actors, singers, dancers and so on. After the festival, Ouyang Shanzun led a delegation to visit 152 cities in nine countries in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and performed "White Haired Girl", "Yellow River Cantata", "Red Silk Dance" and "Sanchakou". The trip lasted ten months. On the way, Ouyang Shanzun was summoned back to China through the embassy in China. When passing through Moscow, he met with the visiting Minister of Culture Shen Yanbing (Mao Dun) and Cao Yu. Shen Yanbing told him: go back quickly, now that the art troupe is going to specialize, you have to go back to do this.
five
In May 1945, I became a teacher in the Department of Literature of Lu Yi, just in time for the rehearsal of the opera "The White-Haired Girl" in the Department of Drama. At the beginning, because the play was too long, I often rehearsed until late at night without rest, and I was very energetic. Every night I sang "The North Wind Blows, the Snow Flakes", and I heard it really in the cave on Dongshan Mountain. Lin Bai played Xi'er, Chen Qiang played Huang Shiren, Li Bo played Huang's mother, Han Bing played Second Aunt, Zhang Shouwei played Yang Bailao, Zhao Qiyang played Uncle Zhao, and Wang Jiayi played Mu Renzhi. This play caused a sensation in Yan'an, and later spread to all parts of the country, and it played a big role!
——Xiao Jun, "Unforgettable Years in Yan'an"
In the spring of 1938, when Ouyang Shanzun and his buddies from the drama team rode old bicycles and arrived in Yan'an, Zhao Qiyang was admitted to the Shaanbei Public School from the youth training class of Wubao in Anan, Shaanxi, and also came to Yan'an. But soon, he was sent back to his hometown of Henan to do underground work, openly as a middle school art teacher. It was not until 1942 that the central government transferred a large number of underground party cadres back to Yan'an according to the situation at the time, and Zhao Qiyang returned to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area as secretary of the Cultural Association. . Especially in the opera "The White-Haired Girl", which was popular in the liberated areas, he successfully played the old friend Zhao Laohan, Yang Bailao's old friend. His upright, tall and vigorous image is very consistent with Zhao Qiyang's character and image in life. The character's surname was also taken based on his surname during the creation process. This new national opera, which integrates poetry, singing and dancing, conquered the audience with its strong romanticism once it was performed.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhao Qiyang joined the literary group led by Chen Huangmei and moved to the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region. In 1946, for the cultural construction of the liberated area, the Northern University was founded by Fan Wenlan as its president. This is the first comprehensive university with complete faculties and large-scale established in Jiefang District. There are seven faculties of engineering, agriculture, medicine, finance and economics, culture and education, art and administration. There are many talented teachers, including Zhang Guangnian and Ai Si. Qi, Luo Gongliu such famous. Twenty-eight-year-old Zhao Qiyang became the director of the drama group of the Academy of Arts. In addition to organizing teaching, he also directed and played Lao Song in the opera "Red Leaf River". "Red Leaf River" and "White-Haired Girl" are also known as the two major operas in the liberated area. Although Zhao Qiyang is not a professional actor, he has a chance to have intimate contact with the two famous operas.
In August 1948, in order to welcome national liberation, Northern University merged with the North China Associated University in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area to form North China University. The North China United University is a ten-year-old school that has been cultivating cadres. He has left Zhao Qiyang's footprints.
The newly established North China University consists of four departments. The first part of BGI is the School of Political Science, which trains cadres in the form of short-term training courses, and they go to work after three to six months of study; the second part of BGI is the School of Education, which trains teachers and cadres for secondary schools, and learns Chinese, history, geography, mathematics and physics. Basic subjects such as chemistry and foreign languages; the third department of BGI is the College of Literature and Art, which consists of an engineering troupe, a cultural and artistic troupe, an art factory and a musical instrument factory; the fourth department of BGI is engaged in special scientific research and trains teachers for the university.
Shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the third department of BGI welcomed a group of progressive literary and artistic youths. They were members of the Second Anti-Enemy Drama Team from Peiping and the motherland drama troupe. One of the members later recalled their experience when they retreated from Peiping to the liberated areas:
After we found the Ping Church, there were people who were specially responsible for the reception. They arranged our accommodation and said, "Don't go out, don't leave the room. If you want to go to the toilet, don't talk to anyone when you see it."...In the middle of the night, I came One person said: "Now that I have entered the liberated area, I want to change my name, everyone has to change it, and I will change it now." - The regulations will be changed immediately, and I have no time to think about it. Any implication... There was a Chinese opera troupe whose name was changed to Yu Decai, but he was robbed by bandits on the road the next day, and the money was gone, so he changed his name to Yu Decai. I don't think it matters, the name is just a symbol, or it may be that there are too many surnames "Wang", and I blurted out when I wanted to find an uncommon surname. This name has been used to this day.
—— Lantian Ye "Yanyu Lifetime Blue Sky Wild"
The blue sky is vast and the wilderness is boundless. Since then, Wang Runsen, a student of Peiping Art College who is good at painting and loves drama, has become a blue sky and a field, and has officially become a member of the New China drama team. At first, he and most of his friends were arranged to study in the first political class of BGI, and several older members of the second team, such as Tian Chong and Hu Zongwen, went directly to the third department of BGI. After a few months of study, the victorious situation became clearer. In order to welcome the liberation of Peiping, at the end of 1948, the No. 2 Literature and Art Troupe of the Third Department of North China University (referred to as the "Second Art and Art Troupe of Huada") was established in Zhengding. Lan Lanye and his companions reunited in the Art Troupe.
Like the North China People's Art Troupe, in January 1949, the Second Huada Art Troupe was ordered to enter the city with the army in advance, and in the following months, it integrated into the victorious atmosphere of Peiping and performed for the masses in streets, squares and other places in the city. At the end of the year, according to the needs of national construction, the State Council decided to develop each department of North China University into an independent institution: the Renmin University of China was established on the basis of the first department, the second department was changed to the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, and the third department was merged with the Nanjing National Academy of Drama. , established as the Central Academy of Drama, with Ouyang Yuqian as the dean and Cao Yu and Zhang Geng as the vice deans. The Second Art Troupe where Lan Lanye is located was also reorganized into the Central Academy of Drama Repertory Troupe. During this time, Zhao Qiyang was transferred to Beijing from Hebei, returned to campus, and served as the deputy head of the Opera Troupe of the Central Academy of Drama.
In the autumn of 1951, the country was about to enter a period of large-scale economic construction, and many industries had clearer directions and plans. At this time, the Ministry of Culture proposed the professionalization of cultural and art troupes, and negotiated with the Beijing Municipal Party Committee to reorganize the "Elderly Art" troupes affiliated to the Beijing Municipal People's Government into professional theaters under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture. Peng Zhen, Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, made it clear that if opera, dance, orchestra, etc. are all handed over, Beijing needs a drama troupe. After discussion, the party group of the Ministry of Culture decided to merge the "Elderly Art" Repertory Troupe with the Central Academy of Drama Theatre Troupe to establish a professional theatre affiliated to Beijing. Since the successful performance of "Longxugou" has made "Beijing People's Art Theater" quite famous in the society, the new theater still uses this name. The prestigious playwright and drama educator Cao Yu served as the dean, Jiao Juyin and Ouyang Shanzun served as the vice deans, and Zhao Qiyang served as the secretary-general and party secretary.
At the beginning of the late spring of 1952, No. 56 Shijia Hutong Courtyard became the department of the New Beijing People's Art Institute. The hibiscus and Begonia in the courtyard were full of flowers and trees, just like the mood of the four talkers. They were all in their prime, and the four were almost four years apart in age. The eldest, Jiao Juyin, was only forty-seven years old, Cao Yu was forty-two years old, Ouyang Shanzun was thirty-eight years old, and Zhao Qiyang was only thirty-four years old. With their own drama experience, they had long thoughts and talked freely and freely. Since the birth of Chinese drama in 1907, in the difficult years, from Tianjin, Peiping, Nanjing, Shanghai to Wuhan, Chongqing, Guilin, and Yan'an, there are always these guardians who will never leave it behind. The United States will give agitation, justice and strength, so that it can share weal and woe with the destiny of the country and the people.
The history of Chinese drama is a creative and glorious history of revolutionary battles. This is what we drama workers should be proud of. All four of us believe that no matter what kind of professional theatre Beijing Renyi builds, the fine tradition of Chinese drama should not be lost, not only that, but also should be carried forward
big. It can’t be because it is a peaceful environment now, we have to take the road of specialization, and we have to establish theater art, so we can not integrate with reality, we can no longer learn from life, and we don’t learn from the masses…
——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
Not long before this talk, Cao Yu and Ouyang Shanzun had both visited the Soviet Union. They were deeply impressed by the artistic history and rigorous creative methods of the Moscow Art Theater. Jiao Juyin was even more impressed with it and its creator Stanislavsky. and Danchenko have long been specialized in research. Now to build an unprecedented professional theater in our country, everyone is groping from scratch, and they all think of this example to learn from and learn from. The Si family system was introduced to my country in the 1930s, and was highly praised by drama players in Yan'an and the Kuomintang-ruled areas. Even incompletely translated theoretical books caused a widespread upsurge in learning in schools and troupes. However, their previous artistic practice led them to have such a consensus: borrowing is by no means just used, and "must have Chinese national characteristics and Beijing people's own style".
Speaking of this, we seem to have touched the edge of how to run a professional theater well. The outline of what kind of theater Beijing Renyi will become is also more obvious, but if we use one sentence, it is very concise and generalized. In terms of nature, the ideal of Beijing Renyi is both comprehensive and very clear. After repeated deliberation, we finally determined the ideal and goal of Renyi, which should be "to make Beijing Renyi as good as the Moscow Art Theater." A world-class theater with national characteristics and its own style.”
——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
With a clear goal in mind, the conversation didn't stop abruptly. "Dragon Horse, Fengshen, Camel's Steps" - Thirty-five years later, Cao Yu wrote these eight characters with ink and gave them to the colleagues of the theater. This is also the creed that the four founders of the theater have practiced since the beginning. Jiao Juyin first proposed that: the first step is to unify the creative method, so that the actors from more than 20 theatrical groups with various performance methods can be unified into the Si's system, so as to present a complete and harmonious good play to the audience on the stage. . Subsequently, they naturally talked about issues related to the life of the theater, such as grasping the script, going deep into life, cultivating actors, the quality of the play, improving artistic accomplishment, and scientific rules and regulations. The last measure they talked about was: to have a good courtyard style. Cao Yu said solemnly:
Beijing Renyi can't have the style of "grand theater", and can't call itself a "grand theater"... He hopes that Beijing Renyi will be a very modest and prudent theater, a theater that will never be satisfied with its achievements. ——Zhao Qiyang, "Forty-Two Hours of Conversation"
When the conversation was about to end, it was unknown who said, "In order to realize the ideal of the Beijing People's Art Theater, we will hand it over to this theater for the rest of our lives." The four of them were a little excited.
One day in 1897, Danchenko wrote a letter and invited Stanislavsky to a hotel in Moscow for a detailed discussion. From the afternoon to the next morning, they laid the foundation for the Moscow Art Theater within 18 consecutive hours. cornerstone. Someone once said that Beijing Renyi's "Forty-Two Hours Talk" is very similar to it! After they reported the content of the conversation to their superiors and announced it to the whole academy, there was a huge response. This is a major event in Chinese drama.
On the evening of June 12, 1952, the professional Beijing People's Art Theater was announced in the No. 56 courtyard of Shijia Hutong.
references:
Zhao Qiyang: "Reminiscence - A Review of Qiyang's Literary and Art Work", Beijing Library Press, March 2000
Editor-in-chief Liu Lin: "The History of the Past: The Oral History of Beijing People's Art 1", China Drama Publishing House, March 2017
Editor-in-chief Chen Dapeng and Chen Zhijian: "Shijia Hutong", People's Publishing House, April 2017
Shu Tiemin: "New China's First Comprehensive Art Theater - Beijing People's Art Theater", 2018 Supplement to "Dongcheng History"
Editor-in-chief Jiang Rui: "The Stage Art of "Dragon Xugou", China Drama Publishing House, April 1987
Ouyang Shanzun: A Collection of Weeds, Beijing Publishing House, May 2014
Ouyang Shanzun: "The Great Furnace - Memoirs of Ouyang Shanzun", China Drama Publishing House, April 2009
"Memorabilia of the Beijing People's Art Theater" Episode 1 (1952-1956), internal information
Li Manyi: "Me and So This Life", Writers Publishing House, October 2019
Lantianye, Luo Qi: "The Misty Rain Life", Life, Reading and New Knowledge Sanlian Publishing, December 2014
About the Author:
Liu Lin, Master of Education from Peking University, is currently a research librarian at the Drama Museum of Beijing People's Art Theatre. He has long been engaged in the research and arrangement of the history and drama collections of the Beijing Academy of Arts and Crafts, dedicated to the collection of drama history materials and the dissemination of drama culture. He also hosted the oral history project of "Beijing People's Art in Deep Memory", and rescued the memory of those who experienced it.
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