My third brother, Baoqi, has a pair of big eyes like my father. He was so popular that his father took him to practice and sent him to the primary school of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is so clever that he can see the signs of taking over his father's class from an early age. But at the age of 8, diphtheria was prevalent and spread through the air, and he died. If diphtheria is not prevalent, I may become the engineer I want to be, just like Brother Si and Brother Five. You don't have to work so hard when you were a child. When I was studying, I tried my best to learn drama. When I was 8 years old, I fell ill, and the doctor said it was diphtheria after examination. My mother fainted on the spot when she heard the word "diphtheria".
On the day I was born, my father was not at home and was performing in Wuhan. It happened that the theater caught fire that day, so he took out half the money (reward) of this issue to help his peers. Up to now, 80 years have passed, and when I went to Wuhan to perform, the second and third generations of Bao at the end of the year still held my hand and mentioned the past, which made me very emotional! A few days after my father returned to Shanghai from Wuhan, there was another flood in Henan. He went to Kaifeng to perform for ten days. Just after the disaster relief, he accepted the invitation of the Soviet Union to attend that extremely important performance and academic seminar in the Soviet Union. I was born in this environment. Father is too busy to perform. On holidays, I often have two performances day and night, and sometimes I have to double out. Because he has to support a large group of people in the troupe.
1937 After the July 7th Incident, the war of the Japanese invaders spread to Chinese mainland. In order to resist performing for Japanese imperialism, my father grew a beard and stopped going on stage. On May 27th, 1949, the PLA entered Shanghai. On May 3 1 day, Mei Troupe accepted the invitation of Mayor Chen Yi and performed for three days at Shanghai Nanjing Grand Theatre (now Shanghai Concert Hall) to warmly entertain and express condolences to the PLA. On June 4th, at the invitation of Mayor Chen Yi, my father attended a symposium of celebrities from all walks of life in Shanghai at the Baxianqiao YMCA. All the newspapers in Shanghai published photos of Mei Lanfang's meeting.
"Boss Mei is back."
1July 2, 949 to1July 9, 9, the first national congress of literary and art workers was held in Beiping, where my father met leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De. When my father shook hands with Mao Zedong for the first time, Mao Zedong wittily mentioned that the people of Peiping welcomed Mei Lanfang, which was no less than when the People's Liberation Army entered Peiping. Mao Zedong said humorously to his father, "Your fame is bigger than mine."
Before my father went to Beiping, my mother, Bao Yue and Mr. Xu Jichuan and I were going north with my father. This is the first time I have been away from home since 16, so I am very excited. On June 24th, we set out from Shanghai and arrived in Beiping, which lasted for 27 days. Beiping station has finally arrived, with a sea of people. The news that "Boss Mei is back" spread like wildfire, and people came to see Mei Lanfang in succession. Shang Xiaoyun, Xun Huisheng, Tan,, and other colleagues in Beijing are here.
After arriving in Beiping, we stayed at the home of Chen Guanfeng in Stan Shi Jia Hutong, which is now the Red Cross Hotel in Ganmian Hutong. The front door of this house used to be in Shi Jia Hutong, and the back door was in Ganmian Hutong. Now the back door is the front door. This is an old villa, not a quadrangle, which is rare in Peiping. It can be described as "the porch is half cold and the billiard hall is moss." Chen Guanfeng is the manager of Xinhua Bank, and Liu (Geng Guang) is the chairman of Xinhua Bank. They are old friends. Mr. Chen Guanfeng's wife went abroad at that time, when a couple of musicians lived there. Father comes here for dinner and rest at other times except for meetings. Because of the busy performances and disordered diet, my father's stomach is not good. My mother specially invited my father's student (Weibo) to Peiping to take care of my father's food hygiene, because she is a nutritionist.
During the cultural conference, my father performed Farewell My Concubine, and watched Sun Yat-sen's Wolf, Entering Chang 'an and the modern drama Four Tendons performed by Yan 'an Ping Theatre under the arrangement of the leaders of cultural work at that time. At the end of July, my father gave four benefit performances in Chang 'an Grand Theatre to save his peers' emergency. All the tickets were kept by Li Baye (Li Chunlin, the father of a famous modern school teacher and the manager of Mei Troupe) to pay for the emergency of his peers.
Attend the first plenary meeting of CPPCC.
On September 4th, my father left for Beiping again to attend the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference. He and Mr. Xu Jichuan live in the guest house of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the Six Countries Hotel. Older delegates attending the meeting are arranged on the second floor, which is convenient for going upstairs and downstairs. Delegates eat in the dining room as required, and the second floor is convenient for going up and down the stairs. There are also my father's old friends for many years, such as Zhou Xiaohuai, Jiang Xiangyun, Li and Chen Wangdao. They are all open-minded and respect the elderly. Especially Lao Zhang Man Nanxian, who used to be the chairman of Zhejiang Province, is 76 years old. He has experienced many vicissitudes and rich experience. For several periods, the national government has been unwilling to attend the political consultative conference for ten years, and he doesn't want to worry too much. But this time, this group of people rejoiced, regardless of their age, and resolutely joined the CPPCC. At the meeting, all the fathers made speeches. Their speech aroused extremely warm applause from the audience. This applause can be said to celebrate these elderly people who have experienced great events, and it can also be said to celebrate CPPCC itself. These old friends have chosen the same one as their father for decades, and now they finally feel that they have chosen the right one.
After the CPPCC meeting, because my father left Beiping for nearly 20 years, people around the age of 20 have never heard of Mei Lanfang's plays, and the public's voice for the performance is extremely high. Chang 'an Theater (old Chang 'an, south of West Chang 'an Avenue) also invited Shang Xiaoyun (father's cousin) to help for a few days. Father also felt that he should meet the public, so he agreed to sing for ten days after the meeting. The drama was defined by my father himself, and five dramas were ordered: Interpretation, Horse Dealer, Frontline of the Universe, My Concubine and Feng Haichao. During the ten days in Chang 'an Theatre, my concubine gave four performances. Because the tickets were crowded, the glass on the ticket counter was broken and the police could not maintain order. Chang 'an Hospital requested more performances of My Concubine to solve this difficulty.
For nearly half a century, Beijingers have known that the Mei family lives in No.29 Curtain Hutong, Xijiu, which is the only property of the Mei family and has the title certificate. This house is the private residence of Mr. Wang, the son-in-law of Ta Kung Pao manager Hu. It is rented by Cao, an old friend who runs Mei Lanfang's economy and the manager of Xinhua Bank Beiping Branch. That year, the owner wanted to sell the house. After his father got the news, he said to Cao, "Ask the owner how much it costs, and I will buy it, so you don't have to move." At that time, it cost about 6000 yuan, which was just the income of singing for a few days. Later, it was slightly renovated and painted into a house to entertain relatives and friends from outside. After the founding of New China, Mr. and Mrs. Feng came to Beijing from Shanghai and lived here. After my father died, my mother was injured because she lived in Huguo Temple and moved to Xijiu Curtain Hutong. During the period of 1966, the "Cultural Revolution" storm swept through Beijing, and a number of posters of Mei Lanfang were posted at the gate of Meizhai in Huguo Temple, and soon we were swept out of the house.
"Look, I'm not me. I don't think I'm me. He pretends to be who he is." This couplet was often recited by my father before his death.
Looking back on his father's life, he always insisted on praising goodness and lashing ugliness. He is not only a Peking Opera performer, but also has many hobbies. He knows everything about poetry, painting, music, calligraphy, flowers and martial arts. He learned these things not as a means of earning a living in exchange for material enjoyment, but through the edification of various cultures and artistic attempts to hone his artistic accomplishment. It is precisely because these are integrated into their own performing arts that they have created a unique international performing arts system. I am over 80 years old now, and these are places where I will never learn from my father.