Yuan Xuefen

Yuan Xuefen

Yuan Xuefen (March 26, 1922 - February 19, 2011), formerly known as yuan Xuekai, was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. She is an actress of Yue opera, Gong Qingyi and guimendan, and is the representative inheritor of the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects of Yue opera.

In 1933, he entered a science class to learn art. In 1936, she made the first record of Yuefang Yuniang. In 1940, he starred in the improved Yue Opera hengniang. In 1942, the reform of Yue Opera began, and a new play, ghost of the ancient temple, was performed. In 1943, he starred in the play "Xiangfei", creating the "Chi tune" singing. In 1946, Lu Xun's novel blessing was adapted to Xianglinsao and put on the stage of Yue opera. In 1947, the "ten sisters of Yue Opera" charity performance was launched. In 1949, he starred in the play acacia tree. In 1952, he won the honor award of the first national opera performance conference. In 1953, he starred in Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the first color drama film of new China. In 1955, he was the president of Shanghai Yue opera academy. In 1958, he starred in the drama the soul of plum blossom. In 1959, he starred in Yue Opera shuanglie Ji, creating a "six character tune". In 1965, he starred in the modern play "huoye village" and created the singing of "B flat". In 1977, he returned to the stage. In 1978, she starred in the film Xianglinsao, and once again served as the president of Shanghai Yue Opera Theater. In 1985, he retired to the second tier. In 1986, he performed in Paris with Shanghai Yue Opera Troupe as an artistic director. In 1989, he won the first China Gold Record Award. Since 1995, he has been the director of the jury of Shanghai Magnolia Drama Award. In 2008, he was selected as the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project. In 2009, he won the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of the first Chinese Drama Award.

He died in Shanghai on February 19, 2011 at the age of 89.

Yuan Xuefen is the founder of Yuan school of Yueju Opera, whose singing melody is simple, rhythm is changeable, feelings are sincere and deep, charm is mellow, euphemistic and touching, voice and emotion are rich, and he pays attention to depicting the character and inner activities in the performance.

Character experience

On March 26, 1922, Yuan Xuefen was born in Dushan village, Puyi Township, Shengxian County, Zhejiang Province. She was the third child in her family. Because she was born in heavy snow, her father named her "Xuekai". In 1928, he entered private school. In 1930, he was sent to the women's Shaoxing opera class to learn drama. Because he was too young, he was sent home by his master three days later.

In July 1933, she officially entered the sijichun science class to study opera, gongqingyi and guimendan. She also studied martial arts in Shaoxing Da class and Hui class. Her master was Bao Jinlong, an artist in Shaoxing Wen opera male class. At the beginning of the class, because her real name "Xuekai" was often mistaken by theater writers, she changed her name to "Xuefen". After the full division, he once shared the stage with Wang Xinghua, an early female Dan actor in Yueju Opera, and his singing and performance were influenced by Wang.

In the spring of 1936, he went to Shaoxing, Xiaoshan, Hangzhou and other places with "sijichun" to perform while learning. He played for Wang Xinghua in the drama "baihuatai" in Hangzhou laomao shopping mall for the first time. In September, he went to Shanghai with "sijichun" for the first time and performed with Wang Xinghua in dalaozha theater. He performed the drama "Wenwu Xiangqiu" on the day and the drama "Lianghua" on the night Shanbo: on November 4, he made a record for Gaoting record company and sang with Qian Miaohua the first record of women's Yue opera. In the spring of 1937, with the "Four Seasons Spring" performance in Shanghai again, as the three shoulder Huadan. After the outbreak of the "August 13" Anti Japanese war in Songhu, he fled back to his hometown.

On February 1, 1938, she went to Shanghai for the third time with "sijichun" and performed with "Sufeng stage" headed by Zhu su'e and Wang Xinghua and "Tongchun stage" of Shaoxing Grand troupe in Shanghai Sima Lu small theater, laozha Grand Theater and Dalai theater. Zhu su'e led the show and Yuan Xuefen played the leading role. The repertoire included "Baolian lamp" and "Panfu Suo Fu". Since July, he has performed with Ma Zhanghua, an actor of Xiaosheng, in Dalai theater. He has made a preliminary study of the traditional bone opera "the sad history of Liang Zhu", and broadcast and sang Yue Opera on the radio. On November 10, she participated in the "seven class meeting" of women's Shaoxing opera, which was held to raise funds for Shanghai epidemic hospital, and cooperated with Ma Zhanghua to perform the play "three auditions".

On February 13, 1939, she participated in the women's Shaoxing opera performance jointly held by Shanghai refugee relief association and Shaoxing fellow townspeople's Association in golden theater, and raised donations. From August 1 to August 2, 1940, she participated in the women's Shaoxing opera class 8 meeting of "soliciting donations from Shaoxing's seven counties to Shanghai" held by Shaoxing's seven counties' Shanghai fellow townsmen Association in Kalden Grand Theater; on December 30, her improved Shaoxing opera hengniang was performed in Shanghai's Dalai Theater, which was adapted from the novel of the same name in Strange Tales from a lonely studio.

On January 3, 1941, she participated in the fund-raising campaign of China Relief women and children's Federation and held the "city wide women's Shaoxing opera conference" in Shanghai Xinxin radio station. On January 22, she participated in Shengxin women's Shaoxing opera troupe's gathering for disaster money from her hometown and performed the Shaoxing opera "Meng Lijun" on the new stage in Shanghai, playing the protagonist Meng Lijun. On July 29, she participated in the Shengxin women's Yueju troupe's fundraising meeting sponsored by the fund raising Committee of China Relief women and children's Federation and performed the play hengniang in the Golden Grand Theater.

On March 7, 1942, he stopped playing because of illness and went back to his hometown to recuperate. In October, he broke away from Ke ban and started the reform of Yue Opera in Dalai theater. With 90% of his salary, he hired a full-time screenwriter, director and dancer, and set up a drama department to preside over the performance activities. For the first time, he established a formal system of drama editing and rehearsal in the field of Yue opera, and reformed the dancer and costume. On October 28, Yuan Xuefen made his debut again in Dalai theater, performing a new play "the ghost of the ancient temple". This play still uses the screen outside the screen, while all the on-screen plays use the complete script. On November 12, the play heartbroken man, based on the stories of Lu You and Tang Wan, was officially staged. In shaping the protagonist Fang Xueying, Yuan Xuefen borrowed the performance style of gelia Carson in the film Madame Curie. From the beginning of the play, Yue Opera began to fully implement the repertoire system. On December 3, the drama "love, heaven and hate" co starred by Zhang Guilian was staged, which is adapted from "Romeo and Juliet", the first Shakespeare work adapted from Yue opera. In addition, she also rehearsed new plays such as "eternal regret", "it's him", "Mulan joins the army" and "full moon night" in Dalai theater.

On February 5, 1943, the Shaoxing opera "sailing in the sea of people" based on Beijing Opera "Linjiang post" starred by him was staged. On February 22, the mythical drama "a dream on a rainy night" starring him was staged, which used spotlights on the stage of Yueju Opera for the first time. On November 1, she performed the play "Xiangfei" in Dalai theater, in which she played a Uygur woman Xiangfei who would rather die than surrender. During the performance, she cooperated with pianist Zhou Baocai to create the "Chi tune" singing. On December 27, he co starred with Zhang Guilian, Lu Jinhua and others in the anti drama "West Chamber", in which he played Zhang Sheng.

On January 25, 1944, the play Mulan joined the army was performed. In March, after performing the play Wang Zhaojun, he returned home to recuperate from lung disease. On September 24, in cooperation with fan Ruijuan, she appeared on the stage in the name of "snow sound theater" at the nine star Grand Theater, with the premiere of "return of wild geese to the South". On November 6, his self-made, self directed and self performed play "the dark family" was staged, which shows the life course of virtuous women who are devastated by drugs and finally despair of life, calling people to stay away from drugs. On November 27, the Shaoxing opera "red powder golden dagger", based on the story of Liu Rushi and Qian Qianyi, was staged. In the same year, he also performed Lin Daiyu, Qiannv Zhuan and other new plays in Jiuxing theater.

On January 29, 1945, Yuan Xuefen and fan Ruijuan performed the drama "the sad history of Liang Zhu" in the Nine Star Theater. Together with the director, Yuan Xuefen rearranged the play. Since March, the company has been performing in the Star Theater, including "the queen of beauty", "flower girl" and "the sad history of new Liang Zhu". On December 24, during the Shanghai Shaoxing opera conference held to raise funds for relief in Shengxian County, she and fan Ruijuan performed the play "blood of the loyal soul".

On May 6, 1946, the Shaoxing opera "Xianglinsao", based on Lu Xun's novel "blessing", starred by Lu Xun, premiered in the Star Theater, playing the tragic Xianglinsao in the play. This is the first time that Lu Xun's works have been put on the opera stage. On September 15, Zhou Enlai and fan Ruijuan co starred in the historical drama "desolate Liao palace moon" in the Star Theater, playing empress Xiao Guanyin who suffered a lot. That night, Zhou Enlai was present to watch the performance.

On January 2, 1947, Yuan Xuefen held a farewell meeting with all the staff of Xuesheng opera company in Meilong Town Restaurant due to the recurrence of lung disease and other reasons. On January 12, after performing the Yueju Opera Luoshen, Yuan Xuefen announced that she would stop playing, and Xuesheng troupe was temporarily dissolved. On July 29, he got together with Yin Guifang, Xu Yulan, Zhu shuizhao, Xiao Dangui, Zhang Guifeng, Wu Xiaolou, Fu Quanxiang, Xu Tianhong, fan Ruijuan and others at the Atlantic west restaurant of Shanghai Simao road to sign a contract for the joint benefit show, known as "ten sisters of Yue Opera". On August 19, the "ten sisters of Yue Opera" staged a joint charity performance in the golden theater, performing the play "love between mountains and rivers", in which yuan Xuefen played Ji Di, Mi Ji's maid. On August 29, Yuan Xuefen, Yin Guifang, Wu Xiaolou and Tang tiyin went to the social security bureau to fight face to face with Wu Kaixian, the director of the Social Security Bureau, after receiving a "stop order" from the police the night before. Love between mountains and rivers was allowed to continue to perform until September 12.

March 24, 1948, Ying Yun

Chinese PinYin : Yuan Xue Fen