Qi Rushan

Qi Rushan

Qi Rushan (1875-1962) was an opera theorist. In his early years, he studied in Europe and was involved in hunting foreign dramas. After returning to China, he devoted himself to opera work, but failed to find a suitable main actor. When Mei Lanfang saw his talent and diligence, he decided to help Mei and write a play for him.

In 1912, he often put forward suggestions for Mei Lanfang's performance and script in Beijing. For more than 20 years after 1916 and 1917, he and Li Shikan arranged plays for Mei Lanfang, and Qi created more than 20 fashion plays, ancient costume plays and adapted traditional plays for Mei. Qi Du helped to plan Mei's several overseas performances and accompanied her to Japan and the United States. In 1931, he and Mei Lanfang, Yu Shuyan and others formed the Peking Opera Society, and established a national opera school to engage in Opera Education. He published drama series and Guoju pictorial, and collected a lot of valuable historical materials of Chinese opera.

Character evaluation

Qi Rushan devoted all his life to the study of Chinese opera. Qi Rushan is knowledgeable and rigorous in his studies. He is not satisfied with the study of books. Instead, he extensively collects materials in real life and draws a definite conclusion by comparing them with the records in books. In nearly 40 years, he has visited 3000 or 4000 famous opera stars in Peking Opera circles, recording rich and vivid original materials, and from ancient classics, Ci Fu, notes, local records and so on There are more than 30 works about psychology and drama theory in the west, including Shuo Xi, Guan Ju Jian Yan, the organization of Chinese opera, the changes of Peking Opera, the illustration of facial makeup, a spot of Mei Lanfang's art and Mei Lanfang's journey to the United States. His argument of "no sound, no song, no movement, no dance" is the most concise and accurate summary of traditional Chinese drama. His later work "the collection of Chinese opera art" is rich in content and detailed in textual research. It also revises some immature views in his early research, and makes objective and precise textual research on all kinds of problems related to the art of Peking Opera For a full and complete reference book.

In addition to theoretical research, Qi Rushan is also engaged in the practice of art reform. In the early years of the Republic of China, a large number of rehearsals for Mei Fengshan and Mei Fengfang, such as "farewell to the goddess of heaven" and so on, were performed. He created a new style in dance action, costume and make-up, and script literariness, which laid a solid foundation for Mei Lanfang to create a unique Mei school art. Under his initiative, Mei Lanfang made several visits to Japan, the United States and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, which enabled Chinese Peking Opera to carry forward overseas and become one of the world's three ancient drama cultures. In 1931, he and Mei Lanfang, Yu Shuyan and others formed the Peking Opera Society, and established a national opera school to engage in Opera Education.

Qi Rushan is also a historian. Many of his works belong to the category of social history, and they are lively, fresh, vivid and specific first-hand materials. He said to himself, "I've been doing business for more than ten years, and I've come into contact with people from all walks of life. It can be said that I've learned a lot about all kinds of things. I've learned a lot about agriculture, industry, merchants, and all kinds of technicians." and "if you want to study the classics and history, you can't leave the society." he realized that "from many social situations, you can understand the significance of the classics and history; from the records in the classics and history, you can also know the society Therefore, he abandoned the old way of learning, but found a new way to go to the society. He was very interested in the culture, customs, customs, human feelings, wedding and funeral, celebration, reward, intercourse, business, craft, technology, entertainment, entertainment, diet and so on in the society, and carefully investigated them. His works in this field include 360 lines in Peking, a brief account of the old capital, snacks in Peking, and Beijing dialect. They are all obtained from his own investigation and interview. They are first-hand authentic and reliable materials, not from books. Qi Rushan can be regarded as a master of anecdotes in modern society.

Qi Rushan's memoirs, written in his later years, is even more comprehensive, with vivid and simple words, all in daily spoken language, which is cordial and touching.

Qi Rushan used to teach in Peiping women's College of Arts and Sciences. He died in Taiwan in 1962.

In the film Mei Lanfang directed by Chen Kaige, Qiu Rubai, the core figure of Mei party, takes Qi Rushan as the prototype.

Life experience

summary

Mr. Qi Rushan is the last generation of Chinese intellectuals who received a complete and systematic old-fashioned education. His original name was zongkang and his character was like a mountain. He was born in Gaoyang County, Hebei Province in 1875. When I was a child, I read extensively the classics and history, and loved Kunshan opera, Yiyang opera, Bangzi opera and other local operas popular in my hometown. At the age of 19, he entered the official foreign language school, Beijing Tongwen school, studying German and French for about five years. After graduation, he decided to study in Western Europe and studied and investigated European drama with heart. After the revolution of 1911, he returned to China and became a professor of Beijing University and Beijing Women's College of Arts and Sciences. Qi Rushan has an in-depth study of drama and drama theory. In his early years, he also wrote drama script "women in the army", drama script "new roof brick" and "new doctor". Of course, he is most fascinated by Beijing opera. He loved Peking Opera very much, but saw some shortcomings of the old PI Huang, so he became interested in researching and reforming Peking Opera.

At that time, Qi Rushan often participated in some activities of Zhengyue education society led by a generation of masters, Tan Xinpei (great grandfather of Tan Yuanshou, a famous modern Peking opera performing artist), and Tian Jiyun. Qi Rushan is one of the people who are often invited to give speeches. He introduced the situation of Western drama and related drama theories to the members of the society, and strongly advocated the improvement of Chinese opera. His speech opened the eyes of the actors who had been isolated from the stage of Beijing opera for a long time. Tan Xinpei and Tian Jiyun praised: "well said!" Among the audience is Mei Lanfang, a rising star.

cut a striking figure

Qi Mei's acquaintance is also a good story in the pear garden. In 1913, Mei Lanfang, who was just emerging, performed Fenhe Bay in Tianle tea garden. It is said that this is Qi Rushan's first time to watch Mei's performance. Just as the movie shows: when Xue Rengui sings to the kiln gate on stage, Mei Lanfang, who plays as Liu Yingchun, sits facing inside according to the traditional acting method taught by the master, and even "rests". In other words, like the audience off stage, he sits with his back to Xue Rengui and listens to his solo quietly.

Mei Lanfang's play was very popular with the old audience at that time, and most of the audience came to "listen" to the play. The fans would even close their eyes and shake their heads to listen to it. When they heard the good news, they would open their eyes and cheer loudly, as if they didn't care about the relationship between other characters and the plot. Therefore, for the actors on the stage of Chinese Peking Opera, it is often you who sing your songs and I who sing mine. Many actors even fight their voices in order to please the audience. But Qi Rushan, with the unique appreciation of contemporary dramatists, found many flaws and deficiencies in the old plays. Qi Rushan attached great importance to the studious young actor, who was 19 years younger than him, and wanted to help him. But he didn't know Mei Lanfang at that time, so he wrote letters in the way commonly used by scholars. The letter he wrote in small block letters with a writing brush was as long as three thousand words, and it took almost a day. Its main content is to take fenhewan as an example to talk about how to combine the performance with the plot: "if there is a man who says that he is his husband who has been separated for 18 years, he does not believe it and asks him to narrate his life experience. How can the other side talk on and on, but they are indifferent? " In his letter, Qi Rushan directly criticizes the interpretation of traditional drama, and puts forward his own suggestions on the figure design of Liu Yingchun, who is played by Mei Lanfang. In the play, Xue Rengui has been away from home for 18 years, but now he is back. Liu Yingchun suspects that he is a stranger posing as his husband, so he runs back to the cold kiln without opening the door. At this time, Xue Rengui had a large "xipi" aria outside the kiln. He recalled the scene of his newlyweds in hanyao and expressed his yearning. According to the traditional performance, Mei Lanfang has been sitting motionless with her back to Xue Rengui outside the door after entering the kiln. Although Xue Rengui sings with both voice and emotion, she is still indifferent and has no "drama" on her face and body. However, as soon as Xue Rengui finished singing, Liu Yingchun immediately opened the door to recognize each other, which is not in line with the logic of life and the rationality of drama characters. In the letter, Qi Rushan suggested that when listening to Xue Rengui's story, Liu Yingchun should take advantage of Hu Qin's "passing through the door" to add body and expression. With Xue Rengui's story, Liu Yingchun's complex psychological changes should be shown. When you hear him sing "as the saying goes, a thousand miles of marriage is certain", you should listen to him very much, because this sentence is closely related to you. When Xue Rengui sings "your father is too cruel to be poor", Liu Yingchun seems very angry and sad. When it comes to "driving you and my husband out of the gate", Liu Yingchun wants to be emotional and make the action of wiping tears with her sleeve. When Xue Rengui has described all the secrets of that year, Liu Yingchun can understand that the man outside the door is her husband who has been separated for 18 years. In this way, if we open the door to meet again, it will be as if we are ripe. In the second half of the letter, Qi Rushan divides Xue Rengui's Aria into nine paragraphs, one by one accompanied by Liu Yingchun's figure performance.

Qi Mei and her husband

Mei Lanfang is very happy to receive Qi Rushan's long letter. He thinks the opinions in the letter are to the point and the suggestions are very reasonable. He was deeply grateful to this learned old man for his support and guidance, and he was bold

Chinese PinYin : Qi Ru Shan