Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), whose real name is Lan, also known as Heming, whose nickname is Skirt and Qunzi, whose word is Hua Hua and the word Huan Hua, was originally from Taizhou, Jiangsu Province. On September 2th (October 22nd, 1894), the 2th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty, a Liyuan family was born in Guaijie Street, Litie, Beijing. He died in Beijing on August 8, 1961 at the age of 68. He is an outstanding Peking Opera performer in modern China and a respected social activist. He devoted all his life to the artistic career of the motherland, made outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese traditional opera art and international cultural exchanges, and became a famous cultural celebrity at home and abroad.
(2) Studying hard in childhood
Liyuan Family: Mei Qiaoling, the grandfather of Mei Lanfang, was a famous Peking Opera actor in the 19th century and was also good at Hua Dan in Tsing Yi, and was listed as one of the "Thirteen Musts of Tongguang". My father, Mei Zhufen, was also a versatile Peking Opera actor, but unfortunately he died young. Uncle Mei Yutian is an excellent Beijing Opera instrumental musician, who is known as "six scenes are transparent" (that is, all instruments on the scene can be picked up to accompany) and has been accompanying Tan Xinpei for a long time. The artistic edification since childhood laid the foundation for Mei Lanfang's pioneering and development in Beijing Opera.
Mei Lanfang's childhood life was quite hard. His parents died young and relied on the income from his uncle's accompaniment to make a living. He began to learn art at the age of 8 and performed at the age of 11. During this period, besides studying Tsing Yi Opera, he also studied Hua Dan Opera, Kung Fu and Kunqu Opera. At the same time, I also went to the theatre to compare and ponder the artistic essence of previous artists.
Besides acting, he has a wide range of hobbies, especially pigeons, flowers, calligraphy and painting, and these hobbies have played a great role in improving his performing arts. Mei Lanfang's eyes were slightly nearsighted when he was young, and sometimes he cried in the wind, and his eyes were not flexible. Therefore, at dusk, he let the pigeons soar in the air and let his eyes rotate with the pigeons to exercise his eyesight seriously. Over time, the eyes are flexible and vivid.
He thinks that the costumes, colors, makeup, facial makeup and stage installations of Beijing Opera are closely related to art, and it is best to draw them yourself. During his two performances in Shanghai from 1913 to 1914, he made an unforgettable friendship with Wu Changshuo, an old painter, and began his painting life. Please ask Wang Mengbai to teach painting first. Later, he learned to draw Buddha statues from Chen Shiceng and Mang Fu Yao, and learned to draw grasshoppers and pine plums from Qi Baishi and Tang Dingzhi.
Mei Lanfang's contribution to film art is also praised. As early as 192, the silent stage documentaries "Chun Xiang Noisy School" and "The Goddess Scatters Flowers" were filmed.
(3) Learn from others and build your own Mei Pai
At the age of 2, Mei Lanfang was already a famous Peking Opera actor in Beijing and Shanghai.
In November p>1913, Mei Lanfang and Wang Fengqing were invited to perform in Shanghai for the first time. One or two "Rainbow Pass" were staged, which set a precedent for one person to play two different professions, different costumes and different acting methods in the same play. "Shooting Mu Tianwang" caused a sensation in Shanghai.
In the autumn and winter of p>1914, Mei Lanfang was invited to perform in Shanghai again, and other plays were added, which lasted for 45 days, and the venue was full and unprecedented. With more than 22, votes, he was elected as the "king of the entertainment world".
Performing in Shanghai twice is an important key to Mei Lanfang's development in drama in her life. His position in the art world has been obviously consolidated.
After returning to Beijing, Mei Lanfang began to create a new fashion drama, such as A wisp of hemp, which opposed the feudal arranged marriage and exposed the darkness of the officialdom, and played a significant role in promoting the innovation and development of Peking Opera.
Soon, he tried to rehearse new dramas in ancient costumes, such as Daiyu Burying Flowers, which portrayed the images of women who were pursuing freedom and happiness, created new women's costumes and appearances, and enriched the stage costumes of Beijing Opera. These new dramas of ancient costumes based on literature are loved by the audience.
From April p>1915 to September 1916, Mei Lanfang edited and performed 11 new plays, and also arranged and staged many traditional plays, such as Cosmic Front, Mulan and Kao Hong. Farewell My Concubine, written in 1921, depicts a kind, knowledgeable, emotional and unyielding concubine. This play later became one of the outstanding repertoires of Mei School.
He combines the artistic achievements of Peking Opera with the performance characteristics of Tsing Yi, Hua Dan and peking opera blues, and creates his own unique performance form and singing style-Mei School. Later, it was praised as one of the "four famous Dan" of Peking Opera.
(4) artistic envoy
Mei Lanfang has been invited to visit more than 1 times in his life. He has visited Japan, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, Germany, Italy, Egypt, India, North Korea and other countries. Exchange experiences with many masters of art and form a deep friendship. He is a pioneer who introduced the art of Peking Opera to foreign countries and made immortal contributions to promoting international cultural exchanges.
In April and May of p>1919, Mei Lanfang was invited to perform in Japan. This was the first time that a Chinese Peking Opera actor appeared on a foreign stage and was warmly welcomed. Japanese drama critics spoke highly of his artistic attainments.
in October, 1924, he led his country to perform in Japan for the second time and achieved greater success. He also turned the "gun-to-gun" in Lian Jinfeng and The Rainbow Pass into a movie. Since then, fame has spread far and wide in many countries around the world.
In the same year, I met Tagore, a great Indian poet, and gave him a performance of Luoshen in Beijing Kaiming Theater. The scenery of the "Kawakami Meeting" that is still in use today was designed according to Tai Weng's opinion.
In October p>1926, the Swedish Crown Prince and his wife (later Gustav VI) visited China and asked to watch Mei Opera. Mei Lanfang performed a sword dance in Qin Tiao and Farewell My Concubine for them at home, and since then, the two sides have forged a profound friendship. In the summer of 1957, the International Dance Association awarded Mei Lanfang an honorary medal in recognition of his profound artistic attainments.
in December p>1929, Mei Lanfang led a delegation of 24 people to perform in the United States, which lasted for half a year. Wherever he went, he was warmly welcomed and warmly received by the local government, people from all walks of life and special literary and art circles. American academic circles also attached great importance to this visiting performance, and the University of Southern California and Pomona College awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature. For a time, Peking Opera was all the rage in America. The American film industry thinks that his performing arts are of valuable reference value to movies, and he made his movie "Stinging Tiger" into a news film with sound, which is the first sound film of China opera.
in February, 1935, the Soviet government sent the "North" to Shanghai to welcome the Mei Troupe to visit the Soviet Union. He performed 8 performances in Moscow and Leningrad, which lasted for one and a half months. During this period, Mei Lanfang had the honor to meet a group of world-famous writers and dramatists, such as Gorky, Tolstoy Jr., stanislavski, etc., as well as British writer Bernard Shaw, German dramatist Brecht and Piscator who were in the Soviet Union.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mei Lanfang continued to devote herself to safeguarding world peace and promoting cultural exchanges.
In December p>1952, he attended the World People's Peace Conference held in Vienna, and on his way home, he made a short visit and performed in Moscow, the Soviet Union.
In the spring of p>1952 and November of 1953, he led a delegation to give condolence performances on the Korean battlefield twice.
In p>1956, he led China Peking Opera Troupe to visit and perform in Japan.
In p>1957, I participated in a working people's delegation from China and went to the Soviet Union to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the October Revolution.
(5) Patriots
In p>1931, when the September 18th Incident broke out, Japanese militarism plotted to build a puppet Manchukuo in the northeast of China. Mei Lanfang was invited to perform several times as a "celebration", but he refused every time.
In p>1932, Mei Lanfang's family moved to Shanghai. In order to inspire the people's fighting spirit against Japanese aggression, Mei Lanfang and Ye Gongchuo edited and staged "Anti-Jin Bing" together. He also adapted Yi Xie Ji into a performance of Life and Death Hate.
After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Mei Lanfang lived in the enemy-occupied area, and did not give in to the threats and inducements of the enemy and puppet troops. She resolutely saved her beard and never performed on stage for eight years. Due to the long-term suspension of the performance, the Mei family's economy was in trouble, so he had to sell his house in Beijing. Later, I made a living by selling paintings and even quality. During this time, he once made a "Dharma Wall Map" with a pun on it: "Cave in the wall, not afraid of the shadows; The wall breaks and flies away, and a reed crosses the river. "
In p>1938, Mei Lanfang lived in Hong Kong. In December 1941, the Pacific War broke out and Hong Kong quickly fell. Mei Lanfang didn't leave at that time. One day, Sakai, commander of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, sent someone to take Mei by force. At that time, Mei Lanfang had been growing a beard for a long time. Sakai was surprised to ask him why he grew a beard. He replied, "I am a singer, and my appearance and voice are not as good as before. I should quit the stage." Sakai was helpless and finally made no request. On another occasion, at a tea party held in Sakai, many journalists wanted to snap the scene of Mei Lanfang shaking hands with Sakai for publicity. May has tactfully avoided it. Later, the Japanese army asked Mei Lanfang to sing a Peking Opera several times, but he refused on the grounds of toothache.
In the autumn of p>1942, Chu Minyi, a great traitor, made a sudden visit and proposed to invite Mei Lanfang to perform again to celebrate the first anniversary of the so-called Great East Asian Jihad. Mei Lifang immediately refused. When the Japanese and Puppet saw that it was not soft, they came forward to intimidate and ordered Mei Lanfang to participate in the performance, otherwise he would engage in military law. Later, under the advice of a friend, I asked the doctor to give me an injection to prevent typhoid fever, which suddenly raised my body temperature to above 4 degrees. It was really "seriously ill" after examination by the Japanese military doctor, so I would forget about it.
on August 8, 1945, as soon as the news of the victory of the anti-Japanese occupation came out, Mei Lanfang shaved off his moustache with joy that day. Within two months, he was back on the stage at Shanghai Meiqi Grand Theatre. At that time, he was 52 years old.