Cheng Zhaocai

Cheng Zhaocai

He was born in shenggezhuang village, bagegang Town, LUANNAN COUNTY, Tangshan City, Hebei Province. His name is jiesan and his stage name is DongLaiShun. He is an outstanding playwright in modern China, a famous opera performing artist in the north, and the founder of Pingju.

Personage introduction

Cheng Zhaocai (1874-1929) was born in a poor peasant family on December 20, 1874 (November 12, the 13th year of Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty). His grandfather Cheng Shun and father Cheng Yongyi were both long-term workers. The family has 4 mu of sand and 3 cottages. Poor family, when no overnight food, often lack of shelter clothes. Since the age of 12, Cheng Zhaocai has been feeding pigs, doing chores and doing small jobs for large families in the village. He is not only industrious and frugal, but also intelligent and versatile. He is praised by his neighbors, such as flute, Banhu, suona and so on. In the first month of every year when he held a flower party, the villagers all vied to see him as a girl. At the age of 15, he became a famous Yangko corner in the local area. As a young man with ambition, he felt that he was illiterate and difficult to make a difference. Therefore, we should pay attention to every possible opportunity to learn from all literate people. When he was 18 years old, the village's "guhuaitang" private school hired Jin Xiucai to teach. Cheng Zhaocai often secretly learned to read from Mr. Jin through the window, listening to the stories in "wonders of modern and ancient times" and "Strange Tales from a lonely studio". Soon he learned the enlightenment books such as "Hundred Surnames", "Three Character Classic" and "thousand character essay". In his spare time, he practiced writing with branches instead of writing and sand beach as paper. He got married at the age of 18. In order to support his family, he learned to sing lotus blossom and took part in the Erhe class.

Life experience

In 1891 (the 21st year of Guangxu), Cheng Zhaocai joined Zhao Xiaozhai class in Weizhuang, Fengrun County, and performed in Tianjin for the first time with Erhe, Qingshun, Yishun and Yihe classes. That year, there was a famine in luanzhou, followed by a plague. Cheng Zhaocai's father and mother died one after another, so he had to abandon his art and return home. But because he couldn't make a living, his brother Cheng Zhaowen went to Xifeng to sing lotus and beg. Soon after, his wife and two children died of the disease. Cheng Zhaocai was too sad and lonely. In order to make a living, he and his uncle Cheng Yongyu joined Zhao Xiaozhai and the Cui family troupe at the temple of leting county to sing lianhualuo. In addition to being an actor, he sometimes served as a foreman and a box keeper. From then on, he became a professional lianhualuo artist. As Cheng Zhaocai was diligent and studious, he soon became a male Dan comparable to the famous artist "xilaishun" in lianhualuo of Xilu. He was deeply loved by the people in luanzhou rural market town and got the stage name "DongLaiShun".

In the artistic practice, Cheng Zhaocai deeply feels that the program is monotonous, which can not meet the audience's appreciation requirements and the artistic level of the actors. In the 26th year of Guangxu (1900), he began to write wulongyuan and other scripts. Most of his works were transplanted and adapted from other kinds of dramas. From then on, he began his writing career. His plays show some aspects of rural life in the late Qing Dynasty, and reflect the simple moral concepts and yearning for a beautiful, friendly and harmonious family among the farmers, so they are welcomed by the rural audience. In the following year, Cheng Zhaocai and nine troupes, including Erhe, Qingshun and Yishun, re entered Tianjin from Tangshan and performed lianhualuo in tianfulou, xiatianxian and hujiafen in the French concession. They were expelled from Tianjin by Zhili Governor Yang Zixiang under the ban of "immortality and eternal power". In the same year, his stepmother, Zhang's family, and his young son died. Cheng Zhaocai's family suffered from internal and external troubles. For several years, he did not perform in the city, only in the countryside. During the period when he was out of business, he worked as a brewer, a porter, a part-time laborer, and also sold spice "purse" and gailian (pot cover), etc. he went through hardships, but also accumulated rich life materials for his stage career and screenplay creation.

In 1908 (the 34th year of Guangxu), Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi died one after another, and the common people wore "double National filial piety". During this period, opera activities were banned all over the country, and the lotus troupes disintegrated one after another, and the lotus troupes were in a desperate situation. In autumn, in order to strive for the survival and development of folk art, Chengzhao would gather together with Ren Lianhui, Du Zhiyi (chrysanthemum), Zhang Huawen, Zhang Deli, Hou Tiantai, Zhang Hualong, Liu Chunsheng and others at Zhang deli's home in wujiatuo, Luanxian County, to carry out bold reform. Starting from the script, Cheng Zhaocai created a large-scale script with the characteristics of the play, such as "Gongjin fan", "June snow", "widow Ma's shop", "Qin Xuemei's filial piety", "Liu Ling's drunkenness", etc. The emergence of big plays promoted the emergence of various professions (Xiaosheng, Xiaodan, Laosheng, laodan, Chou, wusheng) and the reform of vocal music. On the basis of maintaining the traditional style of lianhualuo, he absorbed the Bandiao of Qinqiang, leting Dagu and luanzhou shadow puppet, making different professions have their own singing characteristics.

In the first month of 1909 (the first year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty), lianhualuo appeared in the countryside of Eastern Hebei with a new attitude. Cheng Zhaocai and others appeared in wujiatuo of Luanxian county and performed such dramas as "GAOJIN fan" and "Liu Ling drunk" with great success. The performance lasted for five days and five nights, with a sea of people in front of the stage. Then, Jingdong Qingchun class was set up, and Cheng Zhaocai was a screenwriter and actor. The troupe entered Yongping prefecture (now Lulong County) from Luan county. Due to the local government's repeated orders to ban lianhualuo performance, in order to get away with the government's ears and eyes, Qingchun troupe, in the name of "pingqiang Bangzi opera", performed three plays in Yongping Prefecture, namely "widow Ma's shop", "wulongyuan" and "ghost pulling leg", which were both civil and martial arts and excellent in singing and composition. They won the praise of the officials and the people and opened the forbidden area of Yongping Prefecture. Under the influence of Jingdong Qingchun class, Lianhua Luoban society, which was disbanded during the period of "shuangguoxiao", was set up one after another and became active again.

In April of the same year, enlightened gentleman Wang Yongfu built "Yongsheng tea garden" in Tangshan hill with the help of Tangshan railway factory workers in order to meet the needs of the increasing number of industrial workers and the cultural life of the people at the bottom. Cheng Zhaocai entered Tangshan with his class from Yongping mansion and occupied Yongsheng tea garden to perform lianhualuo. On the first day, the performance was stopped by the authorities. On the one hand, Cheng Zhaocai and others argued with the authorities, on the other hand, they paid for the police station, so they were approved to perform. There are new plays created by Cheng Zhaocai, outstanding actors such as golden chrysanthemum, etc. the "Qingchun class" is popular in Tangshan, and its influence is expanding day by day. At this time, lianhualuo is called Tangshan Luozi.

After the Qingchun class got a firm foothold in Tangshan, Cheng Zhaocai devoted himself to writing the script. Cheng Zhaocai's early dramas, due to the limitations of his own cultivation and the times, in order to cater to the vulgar taste of the lower class, mostly expressed family trifles, joys and sorrows, the theme was narrow, the performance style was vulgar, and there were many shortcomings, some even dross, such as "killing children" and "Huang's female Youyin". After entering the city, his later works had obvious changes, getting closer to life and the times. In 1911, the revolution of 1911 broke out. Influenced by the democratic trend of thought, Cheng Zhaocai constantly produced excellent works, such as flowers as the media, Du Shiniang, Wang Shaoan catching the boat, Zhan Huakui and so on, which were deeply welcomed by the audience Welcome. Among them, "flowers as a medium" is his early representative work, which is based on the chapter "parasitism" in Strange Tales from a lonely studio. It describes the love story between Wang Junqing, Wang Shaoan's son, and Li Yuee. It shows their pursuit of freedom of marriage, and gives the characteristics of the times and the color of folk life. In the play, the author borrows Zhang Wuke to visit Jia Junying in the garden and writes: "look at my head, look at my feet. What do you say about my six inch golden lotus? It's hard to see! I'm not ashamed of your saying that I have big feet, but I'm more civilized now. " Although this writing method is not good in art, it is a kind of pursuit of progress in thought. The play has been performing for a long time and has become one of the traditional Pingju plays. After liberation, it has been put on the screen.

From 1909 to 1912, Jin Juhua, Xiao Jinlong and other famous actors left Qingchun class. Cheng Zhaocai trained and recruited Ren Shanfeng, Cheng Guozhen, Jin Kaifang and other young actors. Ren Shanfeng, with the stage name of "moon pearl", has become the first Dan Xing actor who can perfectly express the typical image in Cheng Zhaocai's plays in the history of Pingju. With the popularity of Qingchun class in Tangshan and the increase of economic income, a small number of actors are gambling, whoring and complacency. Cheng Zhaocai had an insight into the unhealthy tendencies, and set down ten major clauses of class rules and prejudices, which stopped the unhealthy tendencies. Everyone in the cast had their own time. Other troupes are also competing to follow suit, which naturally leads to the formation of unbiased critical drama law. He also determined the Republican class system, paying the garden rent and box rent from the performance income, leaving the accumulation fund, and distributing the rest to everyone according to the size of the head. According to the development of the actors' art, they are evaluated and adjusted at any time to encourage the actors to strive for progress. These are important measures for the survival and development of Qingchun class.

In 1913, Jingdong Qingchun class was renamed Jingdong Yongsheng class. In the same year, Xiao Yufeng, a female apprentice, was recruited. The appearance of actresses has injected new blood into the development of Pingju. Xiao Yufeng looks handsome, moves natural and unrestrained, plays seriously, and has a bright future. However, due to many inconveniences in her life, she left the class half a year later, after which the class turned the actress away.

In 1915, Cheng Zhaocai performed in Tianjin for the third time. "Pingqiang Bangzi opera" won the praise of Tianjin people from all walks of life for its rich flavor of life, fluent artistic features, punishing the evil and promoting the good, warning the world. The audience starred in yuemingzhu's plays "Kaiti", "widow Ma opens a shop", "flower as a medium", "zhanhuakui" and famous Beijing Opera master Liu Hong The sound of "three cuts and one touch" is comparable. Tickets have gone up from three to ten. At this time, Cheng Zhaocai's script and yuemingzhu's singing are well-known in Tianjin.

Cheng Zhaocai is a screenwriter, director

Chinese PinYin : Cheng Zhao Cai