Wang Shaotang

Wang Shaotang

Wang Shaotang (1889-1968), a critical artist, is a representative of "Water Margin" of Wang school. At the age of 20, he became one of the four famous critics in Yangzhou. His representative works are Wu Song and Song Jiang.

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Wang Shaotang (1889-1968) commented on artists. Its name is Dezhuang, also known as Xihe, and its stage name is Shaotang. He was born in Anle lane, Yangzhou. Uncle Jin Zhang and father Yu Tang are Yangzhou Pinghua artists, good at saying Wu (song), song (Jiang), Shi (Xiu) and Lu (Junyi). At the age of 7, he studied art from his father. At the age of 9, he appeared on the stage. At the age of 12, he formally worked as a family member Wu (song) for ten times, and he made an appearance in Yangzhou calligraphy. When Wang Shaotang began to study the book, he studied the water margin. But when he first entered the bookstore, because he was not proficient enough, and there were many Yangzhou bookstores at that time, and other critics were all talking about the water margin. Few people came to listen to Wang Shaotang's talk about the water margin. At that time, Wang Shaotang talked about "seven heroes and five righteousness" for a while. Compared with "Water Margin", the characters in "seven heroes and five righteousness" are more distinctive and the plot is more ups and downs. With this book, Wang Shaotang opened up a new situation. However, it was not long for Wang Shaotang to say "seven heroes and five righteousness", because his father Wang Yutang later banned him from saying "seven heroes and five righteousness", but asked him to work hard on "Water Margin". After that, in his long-term artistic practice, Wang Shaotang not only inherited his father's calligraphy skills, but also inherited his uncle's advantages, and received the advantages of his peers. Finally, he inherited and improved the water margin of Wang school, and became a great master of Yangzhou Pinghua. After 1949, Wang Shaotang was successively elected as the people's representative of Yangzhou City, member of the Standing Committee of the northern Jiangsu Federation of literary and art circles, chairman of Yangzhou quyi workers association, President of Jiangsu quyi Research Association, vice chairman of China quyi workers association, deputy to the third National People's Congress and member of China Federation of literary and art circles. In 1954, the people's Government assigned a special person to record the complete bibliography of Wu Song, Song Jiang, Shi Xiu and Lu Junyi's four "ten chapters" and transcribe them into 5 million characters. In 1958, the government organized forces to collate and publish his Yangzhou commentaries Wusong and Songjiang. Wang Shaotang is the representative of "Water Margin" of Wang school. His ancestral home is Jiangdu County, Jiangsu Province. He was born in Yangzhou. Uncle Wang Jinzhang and father Wang Yutang both learned arts from famous teachers and were good at speaking and acting Yangzhou Pinghua Shuihu. Wang Shaotang studied art with his father at the age of seven, performed on stage at the age of nine, and formally performed at the age of twelve. In his long-term artistic practice, he not only inherited his father's calligraphy, but also inherited his uncle's advantages, and also received the advantages of his peers. First, based on the art of family biography, Wu Song's story in Shuihu, a famous classic of Chinese literature, was perfected into ten chapters. Then, Song Jiang's story in Shuihu was performed into ten chapters. In the 1950s, two copies of the song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song song. At the same time, he also compiled the stories of Shi Xiu and Lu Junyi in Shuihu into Yangzhou Pinghua, which made Wusong, Songjiang, Shi Xiu and Lu Junyi four "ten chapters" and became the representative works of Yangzhou Pinghua art represented by him, which is known as "Water Margin" of Wang school

Water Margin

The way of inheriting art by word of mouth makes the folk art performed by oral rap in China often appear the phenomenon that several generations are engaged in the same industry, and there are talented people from generation to generation. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou Pinghua's "Water Margin" family, which is marked by the formation and development of "Water Margin" of Wang school, is a typical example. The feature of the performance of "Water Margin" of the Wang school is that the story is composed of four main characters, which connect the whole content of "Water Margin"; especially, it enriches the deeds that are not or simply explained in the original work, and expands the calligraphy skills of the predecessors, so as to make it more complete and full. Wang Shaotang inherited the work of his ancestors and developed his family's calligraphy. His performance is exquisite, both in form and spirit, relaxed and elegant, which is called "meticulous but not cumbersome, magnificent but not careless" His son Wang Xiaotang and granddaughter Wang Litang are both famous performers of Yangzhou Pinghua. In particular, Wang Litang, her granddaughter, inherits her grandfather's calligraphy skills. On the basis of his grandfather's artistic style of "sweet, sticky, sharp and spicy", her performance is more crisp and elegant, and her language is more refined. She has the reputation of "Xiu Kou" and "Pan Huo Tong pour a string of beads". Thus, the owner of the "Water Margin" of the "wangpai" has become a veritable "Water Margin" art family of the "wangpai". "Water Margin" of Wang school not only has its own artistic heritage, but also has a relatively complete collection and preservation of artistic materials. Following the publication of Wang Shaotang's performance editions Wusong and Songjiang in the 1950s, in 1989 and 1995, China quyi publishing house and Jiangsu literature and Art Publishing House published Wang Litang's performance editions Wusong, Songjiang, Shixiu and Lu Junyi respectively. It is known as "four ten chapters" of Water Margin by Yangzhou Pinghua Wang school.

Chinese PinYin : Wang Shao Tang