Former residence of Zhou Xinfang

Former residence of Zhou Xinfang

Zhou Xinfang's former residence is located on the Bank of Dongwen canal, Huaihai Road, by Guhong bridge (next to No. 63, dutianmiao Street). This is the birthplace of Zhou Xinfang, the famous Peking Opera master and founder of Qi school's former residence.

Personage introduction

Zhou Xinfang was born on January 14, 1895 in Hongqiao, punanmen, Qingjiang City, Huaian City, Jiangsu Province. When he was six years old, he began to perform on the stage at the age of seven. Later, he changed his name to "Qilin Tong" in Shanghai. For half a century, Qilin Tong has been famous in Chinese and foreign drama circles for his brilliant achievements, profound artistic attainments and noble personality, and has been known as "the founder of Qi school Peking Opera Art".

Introduction to former residence

Zhou Xinfang's former residence is located on the Bank of Dongwen canal, Huaihai Road, by Guhong bridge (next to No. 63, dutianmiao Street). This is the birthplace of Zhou Xinfang, the famous Peking Opera master and founder of Qi school. His ancestral home is Cixi, Zhejiang Province. His father Zhou Weitang was exiled in Huaiyin with the troupe. Later, Zhou Weitang married Xu, a native of Huai'an, and settled in a small house on the east side of pilu'an near Hongqiao. Zhou Xinfang was born here on January 14, 1895. Zhou Xinfang's former residence is a simple and elegant courtyard. In front of the courtyard, there are lush green banana trees on both sides, which marks the vigorous development of Qi school art created by Zhou Xinfang. When you hear the sound of playing and singing, Huai'an opera fans gather here to learn and sing Peking Opera and entertain themselves, which makes you feel like entering the opera garden. Now Zhou Xinfang's former residence is the holy land of Peking Opera fans in Huai'an. They gather here every day to learn art and sing a song, just like the couplet on both sides of the door: "learn from the master's style, revitalize Peking Opera, inherit the art of Qi school, and promote the national essence." This is not only a memorial for Peking Opera master Zhou Xinfang, but also a place for lovers of Peking Opera in Huai'an to exchange skills and promote Peking opera art.

Personal experience

There are three rooms in Zhou Xinfang's former residence, which display more than 30 photos and text descriptions, respectively introducing Zhou Xinfang's life, artistic achievements and the concerns of the party and state leaders.

Contact with Opera

Zhou Xinfang has been in and out of the opera garden with his father since he was a child. He has been influenced and cultivated his strong ability of understanding drama. Because his mother knew opera and had a general command of words, when he was five years old, his mother accidentally taught him a passage of wenzhaoguan. Unexpectedly, he soon learned it. The parents were very happy, so they invited Mr. Chen Changxing to teach drama. Kaimeng learned "golden platform" and other four plays. When he was 7 years old, he went to Hangzhou with his father to perform. He was praised by the audience and was known as a child prodigy. At the age of 12, he took the stage name of qilingtong. When he went to Suzhou, Zhenjiang and other places to perform, he was mistakenly called Qilin Tong, so he said that he would call it Qilin Tong in the future. This is the origin of the name of Qi school.

Acting career

At the age of 13, Zhou Xinfang went to Beijing to take art to xiliancheng class. Here, he met Mei Lanfang, a master of Peking Opera, and learned from each other's strong points to make up for each other's weak points. He performed in the same stage as an old man of culture and martial arts. At the same time, he studied the performing arts under the guidance of Tan Xinpei, who was known as the "king of the performing arts" of the Beijing school.

When he was 15 years old, Zhou Xinfang's voice suddenly collapsed. It was said that he had been drugged, so that he could no longer sing the high voice of Beijing opera. But he finally turned short into long, and formed a simple and vigorous singing style with sand sound but from Dantian. He used this kind of aria in his plays, such as Zhui Hanxin and Wusong, which not only gave the audience a refreshing feeling, but also produced a unique shock. The sound effect was excellent, which made the art of Qi school form a unique charm, so that there were many imitators in the drama circle. After that, he took the troupe to perform in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as in Vladivostok, Shuangchengzi and Yantai.

At the age of 20, he first entered Shanghai to perform on stage. He led the troupe, composed and performed "Wang Mang usurping the throne", "Xiao He chasing Han Xin under the moon" and so on, and co performed "Dai Yu burying flowers" with Ouyang Yuqian. He also had close contacts with Shanghai literary and art celebrities Tian Han and Yu Ling. So far, Zhou Xinfang has become the real leader of Shanghai drama, a master of Shanghai style, and one of the most influential figures in the national drama circle. At this time, he advocated democratic thought, followed the trend of progress, hated the reactionary evil forces, and fought against the reactionaries with drama as a dagger and a gun. After the outbreak of the May 4th movement, his new play "learning to fight the King Kong" was widely welcomed and praised.

Later life

After the age of 22, his acting career has always been associated with the trend of democracy and progress, with the vanguard of our party and the writers and artists who are close to our party. In cooperation with the "February 7th strike" led by our party, we edited and performed "Chen Sheng Wu Guang" and staged the progressive drama "Thunderstorm". In 1945, he was invited to attend a forum convened by Zhou Enlai. At the banquet after the meeting, he had a long talk with Zhou Enlai. In 1948, in order to celebrate the victory of the liberation war, he co starred with Mei Lanfang in Shanghai in "killing fishermen". After the founding of new China, he was elected member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference and vice president of the China Academy of drama in 1951. In 1951, in order to raise money for aircraft and artillery to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, he co performed with Mei Lanfang in dragon and Phoenix, with Gai jiaotian in Lotus Lake, and with Yang Baosen in searching for and rescuing the orphans. In 1953, he took part in the second Chinese people's delegation to the DPRK and served as deputy head of the delegation. In July 1958, he was elected vice president of the National Drama Association. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1959. In that year, two big plays were performed, namely "Hai Rui Shang Shu" and "splitting the mountain to save my mother". Since 1965, Zhou Xinfang opposed the gang of four to play a model opera alone in Shanghai. He was brutally persecuted by the gang of four on the charge of playing Hai Rui Shang Shu. At one time, he was isolated and censored, expelled from the party and put on the hat of counter revolutionary. Zhou Xinfang died in Shanghai Huashan Hospital on March 8, 1975. It was rehabilitated in 1978.

Honors

As a great master of Peking Opera, Zhou Xinfang is as famous as Mei Lanfang. He is known as Mei Lanfang in the north and Zhou Xinfang in the south

The character is commendable. As early as 1951, Zhou Enlai wrote an inscription to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Zhou Xinfang's performance. Li Xiannian once praised him for "the spirit of Qi school art will last forever". Deng Yingchao once wrote an inscription in commemoration of Zhou Xinfang's 90th birthday: "learn from his revolutionary will and the spirit of art revolution.". Li Ruihuan, former chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference, wrote an inscription "Qi Yi Liu Fang", praising Zhou Xinfang for his contribution to the art of Peking Opera and his integrity. These inscriptions were engraved on the wall of the corridor.

On the right side of the stone tablet, the front is engraved with a portrait of Zhou Xinfang, and the back is engraved with the text of the discovery and construction of Zhou Xinfang's former residence. Please look at the stele gallery on the west wall of the former residence. It is 12 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. It is composed of 21 pieces of Mongolian black granite. Most of the inscriptions are engraved according to the original trace. The inscriptions include not only the inscriptions of the leaders mentioned above, but also the inscriptions of Mao Dun, Cao Yu, Liu Haisu, Tian Han, etc. Next, please visit the stele gallery.

Address: 788 Changle Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai

Longitude: 121.449218

Latitude: 31.216494

Ticket information: no ticket required.

Chinese PinYin : Zhou Xin Fang Gu Ju