Meng Xiaodong

essential information

Character experience

On December 9, 1908, Meng Xiaodong was born in guanshengli, Tongqing street, Minguo Road, Shanghai. In 1912, he began to practice at home with his father and learn old students' aria. Meng Xiaodong in different periods

In 1914, he went to Wuxi, Nanjing, Jinan and other places with his father to perform as a baby boy. In 1915, sun Ju Sheng and his uncle Qiu Yue Xiang learned to sing Lao Sheng. His father told him not to enter Danxing. In the autumn of 1916, Wu pen Ji (the second half of it) was first performed in Shanghai.

From March 9 to May 15, 1919, under the leadership of master Qiu Yuexiang and father Meng hongqun, he went to Wuxi for the first time to perform a business play. The first play was "catch and release Cao" (which is called "Xiaoyaojin"), when it was listed, he performed 68 performances in Wuxi under the stage name of Meng Xiaodong. On July 6, he went to Wuxi again to perform in the roof garden of new world, taking the full version of "Si Lang Tan Mu" and "sangyuan Jizi" Compared with the first performance, "Cuiping mountain" has 14 more plays. It has been performed for 110 days until the beginning of November, during which there is no interruption. It has performed more than 30 plays of Tan school and sun school. After that, she went to Xue Guanlan's (Yuan Shikai's son-in-law's) house to play the role of Liu Bei in the play "Yellow Crane Tower"; on December 1, she joined the Qiankun Dajing class of Shanghai grand World Amusement Park and became an official actor, with Li Chunlai, pink chrysanthemum, etc.

In 1920, he performed in Qiankun Dajing class until the contract expired in November. On December 14, he officially took the stage set up by Huang Jinrong, changed the stage name of Meng Xiaodong to Meng Xiaodong, and took over Lu Lanchun's leading role in liantai opera. His plays include "hongbiyuan", "shoot Yan Ruisheng" and so on.

In 1921, he performed on the stage in Shanghai until the end of his contract in late November. He was invited to Fujian for a short-term performance, and then went to Nanyang little Luzon (now Luzon Island in the Philippines) for several months. In the same year, he made records such as beating drums and scolding Cao, Xiaoyaojin, XUCE running City, wujiapo, wupenji, catching and releasing Cao in Baidai company.

On August 20, 1922, he went to Hankou from Shanghai to perform with master Qiu Yuexiang and zither player Sun zuochen. During the performance, he met old woman Yao Yulan, and they got married. In the spring of 1923, he finished his performance in Hankou for nearly half a year and returned to Shanghai.

From June to early July of 1924, he was invited to Wuxi and starred in such plays as Si Lang Tan mu, Shi Kong Zhan, Xiao Yao Jin, Zhu Lian Zhai, and Shi Ba La in Qingsheng garden. After returning to Shanghai, according to sun zuochen's suggestion, he continued to follow the tan and Yu school's Opera path and prepared to go north for further study. In the autumn of the same year, Wu Sheng Bai Yukun went north in the Shanghai negotiation group, Meng Xiaodong joined the Bai Yukun troupe, and Qiu Yuexiang and sun zuochen went with him. On the way to the north, he performed in Jinan for several months, and was called to the official residence of Shandong warlord zhang Zongchang to perform for many days.

In the spring of 1925, he arrived in Tianjin with Bai Yukun's troupe and performed in Xinmin Grand Theater. Together with Bai Yukun and Zhao Meiying, he co starred in wujiapo, wulongyuan, fenhewan, erjingong, sangyuanhui, Meilongzhen, shooting Yan Ruisheng, Shiba, etc. During the performance, he was instructed by Wang Junzhi, a famous ticket of Tan school; in June, he went from Tianjin to Beijing; on June 5, he took Yongsheng Shekun class to perform in Sanqing garden, Dashilan street, qianmenwai, shooting with the full version of "Si Lang Tan Mu". Later, he performed in Kaiming, Sanqing, Guangde and Chengnan amusement park, including wupenji, nanyangguan, Sibang Tanmu, wujiapo, wulongyuan, lianyingzhai, cimaohuantaizi, qiqumenghuo, etc., and carefully observed Yu Shuyan's stage performances. In the same year, he produced zhulianzhai, zhufangcao and Xiaoyaojin in Changcheng and Lige records In August, he took part in the grand benefit performance of the first stage in Beijing, and performed the play "on the roof" with Qiu Guixian; on August 23, he performed the hall play "Sibang Tan Mu" with Mei Lanfang; in December, he gave two benefit performances for Beijing Chenzhong school.

In 1926, he took his parents and brother from Shanghai to Beijing, settled in dongtangzi Hutong, and then moved to 25 and 26 of Dongsi santiao. Since then, while performing, he asked Chen Xiuhua, Chen yanheng, Wang Junzhi, Su Shaoqing, Yan Jupeng, Li Shike, Bao Jixiang and other artists, and invited Yang Baozhong to speak drama and play piano accompaniment. In the same year, with the support of Ye Yongfang, he organized a class with Jin shaomei and performed in daluotian theater. In the same year, he performed the play "You Long Xi Feng" with Mei Lanfang at Wang Kemin's birthday party.

In 1927, he married Mei Lanfang in Feng gengguang's mansion after being brokered by Feng gengguang and others. He kept it secret and left the stage. In April, he moved to an alley in the Interior Department Street of Dongcheng and lived in seclusion. On September 14, Li Zhigang, a college student who had a crush on Meng Xiaodong, heard that Meng had secretly married Mei Lanfang and planned to rob and kill Mei Lanfang. As a result, Zhang Hanju (chamber pot Zhang San) was killed by mistake. Meng Xiaodong and Mei Lanfang became the center of tabloid discussion.

In 1928, he had a quarrel with Mei Lanfang. In September, he left the residence of the Ministry of internal affairs and performed with Xue Yanqin in Tianjin for more than ten days. Sha Dafeng, the founder of Tianjin gale daily, who recorded the performance, called Meng Xiaodong the "winter emperor". In November, he accompanied Mei Lanfang to perform in Guangzhou and Xianggang. In February 1929, he returned to Beijing with Mei Lanfang from Guangzhou via Shanghai. On December 28, Mei Lanfang led a delegation to perform in the United States. Meng Xiaodong and Mei Lanfang took a group photo at their apartment.

On August 5, 1930, because Mei Lanfang's mother (aunt, Mei Yutian's wife) died, Mei Lanfang went back to Beijing to mourn. Meng Xiaodong also went to Mei's house to mourn for her mother-in-law as daughter-in-law, but she was stopped by Mei's wife, Fu Zhifang. Mei Lanfang can't persuade them, so she can only ask Meng Xiaodong's uncle to persuade him back. Meng Xiaodong lost peace with Mei Lanfang, left Beijing and returned to Tianjin. He ate fast and chanted Buddhism with his hostess in a house surnamed Zhan. On November 10 and 11, he cooperated with Hua Huilin to perform for the disaster relief at Chunhe theater in Tianjin. At this time, Mei Lanfang was also invited to perform in Tianjin, where they got back together. On December 16, he performed the compulsory play "catching and releasing the hostel" in Tianjin, and returned to Beijing with Mei Lanfang after the performance.

In July 1931, he formally proposed to break up with Mei Lanfang, break away from his family relationship, return to Tianjin, and continue to eat fast and recite Buddhism in Zhan's house; on December 9, his father Meng hongqun suffered from a stroke for a long time and his condition worsened, so Meng Xiaodong returned to Beijing to visit. During his stay in Beijing, Yang Baozhong was invited to speak drama and tune his voice. In the same year, he made recordings of "catch and release Cao" and "zhulianzhai" in Great Wall company. In September 1932, he took Su Shaoqing as his teacher in Tianjin, and in late September, he took part in a business play in Tianjin.

On September 5, 1933, an "emergency notice" was published in Tianjin Ta Kung Pao to explain the relationship between Mei Lanfang and Mei Lanfang. It was published for three days, and then officially returned to the stage. On September 25, the full version of "Si Lang Tan Mu" was performed in Beijing Jixiang Theater. From October 19 to 21, it was performed in Tianjin Star Theater. When Cheng junmou was in Tianjin, he asked for a ticket from mingcao.

In 1934, he performed in Beijing, Tianjin and other places from time to time, and learned to perform Yu's drama "lost empty chop", "catch and release Cao", "Si Lang Tan Mu" and "Wu pen Ji" to Bao Jixiang; on September 27, he performed the drama "catch and release Cao" with Wang quankui and Bao Jixiang in Beijing Jixiang theater; in December, he was introduced by Yang Wushan and Dou Gongying, and worshipped Yu Shuyan as his teacher at Yang house banquet. After that, Yu Shuyan often went to Yang's house to talk for Meng Xiaodong.

In 1935, he continued to perform irregularly in Beijing and Tianjin. In November, he and Zhang eryun were invited to Shanghai for a benefit performance at the golden theater. Originally, they were scheduled to sing for 20 days, but because of their health, they only stopped performing for 8 days. The repertoire included empty city plan, catching and releasing Cao, zhulianzhai, steal zongjuan, Nanyang pass, wupenji, etc.

In April 1937, he performed with Zhang Junqiu, Zhou Ruian, Li Duokui, Li Chunheng and Wu Caixia in Tianjin China Grand Theater, such as "lost Street Pavilion", "wupenji", "wujiapo", "stolen zongjuan", "Famen Temple" and "exploring the mother of Si Lang"; in May, at the invitation of Shanghai Golden Grand Theater, he, together with Zhang Yeyun and Lu Sujuan, re opened the theater. After the ribbon cutting, Yao Yulan, the fourth wife of Du Yuesheng, left her at her side and lived together in the 18 floor apartment (now Jinjiang Hotel) where Yao Yulan lived. Therefore, Meng Xiaodong began to have contact with Du Yuesheng. In November, the Japanese occupied Shanghai, Du Yuesheng and Yao Yulan fled to Hong Kong, and Meng Xiaodong returned to Beijing.

In 1938, after contacting Huang Guodong, Du Yuesheng's accountant, in Shanghai, Meng Xiaodong went to Kowloon, Hong Kong, where he met with Du Yuesheng and Yao Yulan for several months, and then returned to Beijing via Shanghai. On October 21, in Taifeng building, Beijing, Meng Xiaodong formally paid homage to Yu Shuyan as his teacher. Since Yu Shuyan gets up every evening, Meng Xiaodong asks Yu Shuyan's zither player Wang Ruizhi to practice singing for her every afternoon, and then goes to Yu Fu to learn opera at about 7 pm, and returns home after class in the early morning. On December 24, he performs his first public performance in Beijing Xinxin Theater after paying homage to his teacher, and performs the play "Hongyang cave" personally taught by Yu Shuyan. Yu Shuyan comes to the theater in person, with Li Chun as supporting actor Wang Ruizhi plays the piano.

From 1939 to 1942, he continued to study opera with Qin player Wang Ruizhi at Yu Shuyan daily in Beijing, and basically stopped performing. On May 19, 1943, Yu Shuyan died of illness. After that, Meng Xiaodong lived in seclusion in Beijing.

In 1945, in order to celebrate the victory of the Anti Japanese War, he and Cheng Yanqiu sang the play "wujiapo" on the radio station. However, due to illness and lack of strength, they only sang a line of xipi Daoban: "a horse left the Xiliang border", which was later sung by Yang Baosen instead. In September, Du Yuesheng first returned to Shanghai and asked Huang Guodong, the accountant, to write a letter

Chinese PinYin : Meng Xiao Dong