Beijing opera star second only to Mei Lanfang in popularity

Beijing opera star second only to Mei Lanfang in popularity

Cheng Yanqiu (January 1, 1904 - March 9, 1958), formerly known as Chenglin, is a Manchu suochaoluo, born in zhenghuangqi, Manchu. Beijinger, later changed to Han surname Cheng, the initial name Cheng junong, later changed to Yanqiu, the word Yushuang. In 1932, it was renamed Yanqiu and changed to Yushuang. Peking Opera actor, Gong Dan, founder of Cheng Pai. He died on March 9, 1958 at the age of 54.

Character experience

Cheng Yanqiu was born on December 20, 1904, on November 14, the thirtieth year of Guangxu. His family was in decline when he was a child. At the age of six, he joined Rong Diexian's family to practice martial arts, and Xiang Rongchun Liang studied martial arts. A year later, he learned drama from Ding Yongli, a famous martial arts teacher. Later, because of his beautiful appearance, he changed to study Huadan from Chen Tongyun. Later, he found that his voice was excellent. He changed to study Qingyi and studied under Chen Xiaoyun. At the age of 11, Cheng Yanqiu performed on the stage. With his outstanding civil and martial arts skills, he has made a breakthrough in singing, reciting, doing and playing, which is refreshing both inside and outside the industry. In Beijing's Dangui tea garden (formerly in Dong'an Market), he cooperated with Zhao Tongshan, Liu Hongsheng, sun Juxian and others to perform "sangyuan Jizi", "Yuanmen Zhanzi" and "cinnabar mole".

Around 1916, Cheng Yanqiu met Luo Yinggong. At that time, although Cheng Yanqiu was only twelve or thirteen years old, Luo Yinggong was astonished after seeing his performance, and asserted that he would become a master on a par with Mei Lanfang. Boys are faced with voice changes during puberty. If they don't have a good rest during this period, they are likely to sing badly. In the changeable period, Cheng Yanqiu practiced martial arts in the daytime, performed in Dangui garden in the evening, and helped Rong Diexian do housework in his spare time. One night, after singing wujiapo, he suddenly fell down. At this time, he was asked to perform in Shanghai, and he was promised 600 yuan a month. Rong Diexian of course advocates letting Cheng Yanqiu go, but Luo Ying believes that this will ruin his future. Therefore, Luo Yinggong paid rongdiexian 700 yuan to redeem Cheng Yanqiu.

After coming out of the Rong family, Luo Yinggong specially designed courses for Cheng Yanqiu: in the morning, he learned martial arts skills from Wudan Yan Lanqiu, and then he sang; in the afternoon, he learned Kunqu body style from Kundan Qiao Huilan; in the evening, he went to Wang Yaoqing's home to learn drama; every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Luo Yinggong took him to the cinema to let him know more about artistic techniques. In addition, Luo Yinggong also taught him to copy calligraphy and painting, to teach him history and drama, to teach him poetry and Fu. Cheng Yanqiu was gifted and cultivated by Luo Yinggong. He soon showed his refined temperament different from that of ordinary opera actors. For Luo Yinggong's cultivation, Cheng Yanqiu has always kept in mind, and Cheng is suitable for Luo as a teacher. After Luo Yinggong died of illness, Cheng Yanqiu stopped performing for a few months, held a grand funeral for Luo, and served as a mourner for a year. He also paid a special visit to the old man Chen Sanli on the Bank of the West Lake and asked him to write the seven characters "Tomb of the poet Luo Yinggong" in calligraphy.

In 1922, he performed in Shanghai for the first time, which caused a sensation. In 1923, he came to Shanghai again, which made the Shanghai audience ecstatic and the art gradually matured. From 1925 to 1938, Cheng Yanqiu entered the golden age of his prime and the mature period of "Cheng School" art. At this time, Cheng Yanqiu has become a more powerful artist by integrating creation, performance and director. At the same time, influenced by the progressive thought, facing the social reality of the working people in dire straits, he was full of indignation and created many plays of patriotism and democratic thought, such as Wenji Guihan, barren mountain tears, spring boudoir dream, and the lost Shu Jian. In different periods of anti feudalism, anti warlord civil war and anti Japanese imperialist invasion war, it aroused strong resonance among the audience and expressed the strong desire of the broad masses against war, oppression and peace. After this period, he focused on the performance of tragedies. After "qingshuangjian" and "Dou'e yuan", there were "biyuzan", "Meifei" and a series of tragic works mentioned above. He successfully created a number of tragic characters. From then on, he was also famous for his good performance of tragedies. Of course, Cheng Yanqiu is not just a tragedy, "Suolin bag" is another type of representative work.

In 1956, Beijing Film Studio filmed his artistic film "tears of barren hills". In order to retain more Cheng tune and water sleeves, the film added many new aria (adapted by Wu Zuguang), and photographed more than 200 water sleeve performance forms created by him in combination with the plot. In 1957, the Central People's Radio invited him and Yang Baosen to record wujiapo. In his later years, Cheng Yanqiu devoted himself to teaching and summing up his experience in stage art. In 1949, he participated in the first session of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference as a specially invited representative. In 1950, he was elected a deputy to the National People's Congress and a member of the presidium of the Council of the Chinese Drama Association. In 1953, he served as the vice president of the Chinese drama Research Institute. In 1957, Premier Zhou Enlai introduced him to join the Communist Party of China. Cheng Yanqiu devoted his whole life to the cause of Peking opera art. His outstanding achievements are one of the peaks of Peking Opera Art in the past 100 years. He not only has a profound and significant influence on the Dan roles of Peking Opera, but also on the development of Peking Opera and traditional opera. Chen Lifang, Zhang Yeyun, Xin Yanqiu, Zhao Rongchen, Hou Yulan, Wang Yinqiu, Li Shiji, Li Qianghua and other actors who have studied Cheng School and made great achievements.

On March 9, 1958, he died of a sudden heart attack in a few minutes. He was only 54 years old.

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Personal life

Family marriage

Cheng Yanqiu's ancestors entered the pass with duoergun. They made great achievements and died in battle. According to Chen Shutong's textual research, Cheng's fifth ancestor was the Prime Minister of the middle Qing Dynasty. Cheng Yanqiu's great grandfather Kui Zhao was the son of Yinghe. He was a Jinshi of Jiaxu in 1814 and served as Minister of rites and Minister of military aircraft. His grandfather Xi Zhi was a Jinshi of Yiwei in 1835 and served as a scholar of Hanlin academy and a salt envoy of Changlu. His father Rong Shou was a world-famous general and his mother Tuo's family. Introduced by Mei Lanfang and his wife Wang Minghua, Cheng Yanqiu married Guo Suying. He has three sons and a daughter, the eldest son Cheng Yongguang, the second son Cheng Yongyuan, the youngest son Cheng Yongjiang and the daughter Cheng Huizhen. None of them entered the pear garden.

Cheng Pai's successor

Cheng School Art founded by Master Cheng Yanqiu has a very important influence in the field of Peking Opera. Among its successors, Xin Yanqiu, Li Shiji, Wang Yinqiu, Zhao Rongchen, Chi Xiaoqiu and Zhang Huoding have an important influence on the inheritance and development of Cheng School Art and the promotion of Peking Opera.

Main works

Representative plays

Cheng Yanqiu's repertoire is very rich. His traditional plays include "wujiapo", "he Hou scold Dian", "three high fives", "yutangchun", "fenhewan" and so on. There are also "You Long Xi Feng", "Hong Ni Guan", "Gong Yan Yuan" and so on. His Kunqu Opera "farce", "garden dream", "think of all" is also very powerful. With the help of Luo Yinggong, Jin Zhongsun, Weng Dianhong and others, he edited the biography of Hongfu, the fate of Huafang, yuanyangzhong, qingshuangjian, chunguimeng, tears from barren mountains, Wenji Guihan, suolinao, nuerxin, wushujian, biyuzan, Ma Zhaoyi, yujingtai, qianwenjuan, Nie yinniang, Meifei, Shen Yunying, peacock screen and Yushi There are a number of new dramas, such as falling, marriage between dragon and horse, story of pear blossom, romantic stick, story of exploration and Chen Liqing. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, he also adapted "Dou E yuan" and edited "Yingtai anti marriage".

Main works

The articles included in Cheng Yanqiu's anthology, such as the foundation of opera performing arts, four skills and five methods, on opera singing, on the experience of creating opera, and on Dou'e's injustice, are of great significance for guiding creative practice.

artistic characteristics

The singing style of Cheng school is unique. He strictly abides by the rules of phonology. With the development and changes of drama plot and characters' emotions, his singing is full of ups and downs, and his rhythm is changeable, which requires a high combination of "sound, emotion, beauty and eternity". His performance is very detailed and profound, paying attention to the integrity and aesthetic feeling of the stage form, and paying attention to the reality close to life.

In his artistic creation, Cheng Yanqiu has the courage to innovate and create. In his stage performance, he pays attention to the rhyme and the four tones. According to his unique voice characteristics, he creates a quiet and graceful singing style, which forms his unique characteristics. The characters he created are elegant and quiet, just like the white chrysanthemum in the frosty sky, which has a kind of pure beauty. Later, he became one of the "four famous dans". Cheng Yanqiu also has a series of creation and distinctive characteristics in terms of eyes, posture, footwork, fingering, water sleeves, swordsmanship and so on. As a complete art school, Cheng Yanqiu is fully displayed on the art stage of Beijing opera. Cheng Yanqiu pays attention to drawing lessons from his brothers and sisters' art and integrating it into his own artistic creation. He is one of the most outstanding art masters.

Resisting Japan and helping the country

Boxing agent

In 1942, Cheng Yanqiu performed at the Golden Grand Theater in Shanghai, Bi Huiping, passed through Tianjin, and performed for three days at the invitation of the Chinese Grand Theater in Tianjin. After the performance, Cheng Yanqiu asked all the members of the class to go back to Peiping first. He stayed in Tianjin for several days to see his old friends before returning to Peiping. On that day, Cheng Yanqiu was dressed in a blue cloth and grey robe, wearing a dark brown Turkish felt hat. After getting off the train, he walked to the exit of the station. Two agents searched Cheng Yanqiu. They took him to a small room and punched him in the left ear. Cheng Yanqiu sternly said, "you can kill a man, you can't insult him. What are you going to do?" He found a pillar and stood in front of it in case he was attacked by the enemy behind him, so he fought back and beat the two agents into a mess. As soon as the spy saw that he was not Cheng Yanqiu's opponent, he fiercely said to Cheng, "I'll see you later." Cheng said, "OK, I'll see you later." so he left the station dressed up. When I got home, I found my gold watch missing. The next day, the left ear was sore, and then the patient was asked to go to the Department of otolaryngology

Chinese PinYin : Cheng Yan Qiu