Background of establishment
Lijiaban is a Beijing Opera Troupe founded in Shanghai and rooted in Chongqing, the rear area after the Anti-Japanese War, which is popular in the south. The five brothers and sisters of the Li family, known as the "five tigers of the Li family", have also withered over time-Li Huibin, with a bronze hammer and painted face, was called "Little Gold Mountain" in Shanghai when he was a child, and hanged himself in Chongqing at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution; Lao Dan Li Huilan, an industrial student, died in1990; Li Pai, the founder of the art, an inclusive Peking Opera master, died suddenly in his apartment in Tianjin on 1995. At present, the only remaining "Five Tigers" are Li Huisen, a famous Peking Opera clown, and Li Huimin, an actor and underage student. Li Huisen, who grew old with Li Jiaban, is 77 years old this year. Although "Li Jiaban" has changed beyond recognition, the old man is still doing the inheritance tirelessly, silently writing more than 300,000 words of manuscripts "The History of Li Jiaban" and "Remembering the Second Brother Hui Liang".
The old man's speech
The old man said, "I can't go on stage again, for fear of shame." But it is duty-bound to record the history of Lijiaban. "Li Yanzhi, the founder of Li Jiaban, moved his family from the occupied area to Chongqing. 1896 was born in a family in Beijing Banner. He loved Peking Opera since he was a child, and often studied Peking Opera and practiced Jinghu with his fans. Li Huisen said: "My grandfather was born in the army. He was stationed at Shengshengmen in the late Qing Dynasty and often wrestled with the children of the Eight Banners to practice martial arts. My grandfather has a bad temper and has no plan for life. Therefore, although my father enjoyed the salary of the imperial court, he still made ends meet. He had to brush his horse to deliver official documents and subsidize his family with meager income. " "My dad majored in Jinghu after his voice changed, and he often went to the city wall to practice at dawn. His jinghu is recognized as rigid, bright, crisp, accurate and fast, and it was used to support his family after the founding of the Republic of China. "Li Huisen said that fathers are very strict with their children's family education. If he violates all the family rules, he will scold them lightly and hit them hard: adults are not allowed to interrupt, not to ask for money in front of people, not to fight, not to pick vegetables for dinner, not to drop rice ... Brothers see their father as if they are dead. 1930, Zhou Xiaoqing, a Guangdong native, set up an "update stage" in Zhabei, Shanghai, and hired Li Yanzhi to take charge of the business. Boss Zhou is a layman in Beijing opera, but he has strong ability and strict management. His killer weapon was the rare institutional setup and colorful lighting at that time. " When we were seven or eight years old, my father began to teach Peking Opera. Huibin is a clean student, Hui Liang is a student, Hui Min is a scholar, and I am ugly. Huilan is young and hasn't returned to my major. In the updated version of The Journey to the West, in addition to playing Little Monkey, Yun Tong and Sheng Ying Dan, our brothers also have the opportunity to insert other dramas. "Li Huisen said. Two years later, an unexpected fire reduced the updated stage to ashes and moved it to Nanjing on 1934. There was no money, no plan, no enrollment and start date, no backstage sponsorship, and even no class name. From scratch, I accepted ten disciples, including Chen. After Boss Zhou generously bought a batch of small tables and chairs and simple costume props for the little actors, the Li family class began to take shape on the basis of the Li brothers and ten apprentices. 1935, return to Niuzhuang Road, Shanghai.
memory
Li Huisen recalled that at that time, in addition to the institutional set drama, the updated stage was also performed by adults and small actors. "Shanghai opera fans like little actors like the Li brothers and sisters very much. They often go to the ticket office to ask if there is a small grid program?" Is there any play by Li Jiabang? Since then, we have been called' Li Jiaban' by the audience. "Subsequently, Shanghai Opera publications began to pay attention to the Lee brothers and sisters, and Shanghai Record Company specially invited five brothers and sisters to release records, such as Famen Temple and Farewell My Concubine. Due to good discipline, the Li brothers and sisters soon became the pillars of the class and were called "Li family and five tigers" by enthusiastic audiences. War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out in an all-round way in 1937. Li Yanzhi of honest and frank didn't want to be a Japanese aggressor in the occupied area, so he took more than 100 people from Wuhan to Sichuan and moved to the southwest. 1944, Li Jiaban came to Beijing, later renamed as "Bingliangguo Drama Club", and took root and blossomed in the mountain city. Shortly after the liberation of Chongqing, Lijiaban was transformed into a state-run Chongqing Peking Opera Troupe. "Lijiaban"1945 August 15 is a very unforgettable day for "Lijiaban". Li Huisen said that "Li Jiaban" was performing "Thirteen Pacific Insurance" at Yichuan Grand Theatre (now Wuyi Road) that day. "When I finished playing the monk disguised as an old army, I suddenly heard firecrackers everywhere, and the voice of selling extra numbers kept-the Japanese surrendered unconditionally! China and the people of the world have won the anti-fascist war! "Li Yanzhi immediately put down Jinghu, picked up the" extra "and took to the stage to announce this important news to the audience. Then he immediately announced that "Thirteen Pacific Insurance" was followed by "Victory Back to Korea"! At this time, the excited audience sang in unison, and there was laughter on stage and off stage. Li Huisen said that according to the class rules before liberation, you should be beaten for laughing, but you can laugh this time. "All our actors have a unique spirit. The brand' Five Ma Jiang Children's Water' sang loudly and ran happily back to the scene. Finally, Huibin and Hui Liang improvised a horse riding, which reached its climax. That night, Lingbao (now Jie Fangbei) was brightly lit, and Chinese and foreign people sang and danced all night. "When the country was negotiating in Chongqing, General Zhang Zhizhong found Li Jiaban and said," Yan 'an is coming. How was the performance? " As the tickets were sold out that night, Li Yanzhi had to subcontract the performance in person temporarily, and arranged for actors to perform "Thirteen Sisters" and other programs for China delegations such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. After returning to Yan 'an, those who like Peking Opera introduced their superb performance level to Yan 'an Pingju Troupe. In the mid-1950s, Li Yin left Chongqing with a leg injury, performed briefly in Shanghai, and then went north to join Tianjin Peking Opera Theatre. It is said that Mao Zedong once wanted to play Li See Hui Liang's play. It happened that Li was unwell at that time, and the contact did not understand the situation. Li was asked to perform "Pulling the Pulley", so Li had to gnash his teeth and barely fell down after picking the Pulley, without even a curtain call. Unexpectedly, this performance became one of his criminal evidences during the Cultural Revolution: "I didn't work hard for Chairman Mao, and I didn't even make a curtain call. "Li suffered the most in the Cultural Revolution. At that time, a pamphlet criticizing him circulated in the street with the title "Shoot Li". Li Huisen said that at that time, Kang Sheng, who was in a high position, looked down on Hui Liang. 1964 During the performance of Beijing Drama, Hui Liang performed an evening party at Gate 6. " Kang Sheng said at that time that there was a play by Li, and I didn't want to watch it! "In this way, Li soon stopped performing. Later, Luo Zhi was accused of many crimes, and his lifestyle was really bohemian. He was sentenced to prison for the crime, first with a suspended death sentence, then for life. Finally, it was sentenced to 15, 1966 in June. Li is in prison, but he has never lived a negative life. Discipline cadres regard him as an actor and take care of him to do light manual work, but he is unappreciative and repeatedly asks to do heavy manual work and be a porter with a large amount of labor. Li Huisen said, "Second brother is afraid of losing his kung fu. When he moved the goods, he deliberately used the stage footwork of Peking Opera. When taking a bath, he practiced his legs while people were not paying attention. In order to seize the time to practice kicking, he applied to go to the toilet to relieve himself. He is always looking forward to going out and returning to the stage. All he wants is to act sooner or later. "The Li family's football complex for generations is an out-and-out sports fan, especially for football. He said, "I joined the city's senior football team many years ago, and now I practice in Chongqing Iron and Steel twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, mainly passing and shooting. We pulled up wires and planted flags around a small stadium. A dozen old men opened the battlefield and began to fight. Some of them are over 80 years old and still active on the field. "In retrospect, it reminds him of the scene of Li Jiaban forming the' Huiguang Football Team' more than 60 years ago and several unforgettable games." My father is a fan. In 1930s, he often took time to watch the game of Li Huitang, the king of the ball. 194 1 year, when Li jiaban performed in Kunming, he chartered a' Huiguang Football Team'. "Li Huisen said," At that time, Liu Huigang, a shelf man, was the best player and often scored goals with the ball. Kelly Chen, a brave martial arts student, has excellent leg skills. When playing football, he often raises his legs high and competes with his opponent for golf. Li likes playing football, but he is afraid of getting hurt. He was armed to the teeth with a cotton vest, fenders and knee pads. He kicked the defender. When the enemy came in with the ball, he turned around quickly, knocked the ball to the ground with his hip handle, and took the opportunity to kick it out. This is his favorite killer. "He said that fortunately, the rules of the game were loose at that time, otherwise the seniors would be sent off. Brothers dare to play and fight, but they never pay attention to tactical cooperation on the court, and only play by themselves, so they often lose. However, the audience of the Huiguang team is quite large. They come to watch the ball, people and wonderful somersaults. When the Huiguang team scored a goal, the players were in high spirits and used their theatrical skills one after another. One by one, "forward somersault" and "back somersault" triumphed from the enemy. In the 1940s, the "Oriental Football Team" was composed of stars from Hong Kong and Macao, all with unique skills. After the iron foot and the bottom line shooting is essential. 1943, they competed invincible from Hong Kong to Guiyang, and even the local first-class teams could hardly beat the top in the competition. Most members of the Oriental Team like Peking Opera, especially the little actors in Lijiaban. On one occasion, they proposed to have a friendly match with the Huiguang team. On that day, the Nanchang Barracks Stadium in Guiyang was crowded with people, and the Oriental team deliberately made a "big move". The goalkeeper played the center and the striker was the goalkeeper, and often took the initiative to "lure the enemy deeper". Despite this, the Huiguang team still has no hope of scoring. As a result, they carried more than 20 duck eggs and happily "lost" them back to their hometown. After liberation, Chongqing Peking Opera Troupe formed an "Art Football Team", and Li Huisen, who played forward, was elected as the captain. At that time, he was very thin, but he was conscientious and not afraid of death, and won the title of "Desperate Saburo". He said, "At that time, the Beijing Opera Troupe was going to perform two plays on Sunday, so the players arranged to play football in the morning and perform in the afternoon. After watching the play, they walked to Datianwan Stadium to watch the wonderful match between Southwest Team and Combat Team, and then rushed back to perform in the evening, which truly achieved a combination of work and rest. "After singing all his life, Li Huisen sometimes really feels tired. But once I say goodbye to the stage, I am still a little reluctant. 1988 retired from Beijing Opera Troupe at the age of 60, unwilling to be lonely, and continued to teach in Chongqing Art School for two years. However, once the students are assigned after graduation, they become real idle people again. Li Huisen said, "I am a person who is afraid of trouble and nothing. What shall we do? I have nothing to do with myself. "Li Huisen is a collector. After liberation, he bought many books, twenty-four histories, Chinese and foreign ancient and modern masterpieces, poems and songs, and various picture books and copybooks filled several bookcases. After the Cultural Revolution, most books were lost, and only Peking Opera series, Peking Opera compilation and other drama materials were returned. He rallied and bought them again, and named his humble room in Jiaochangkou "Yaxinzhai". He said: "I am a person who has never been to primary school. My only singing ink is all from reading. " He wrote an epitaph for himself: "Good reading, not seeking to know more; "Good writing, low level; Good poetry, playing ducks on the shelves; Speak well and talk nonsense; Good friends are not empty words; Good travel, horse racing, flowers; Love time and have nothing to do; Sexual alcoholism, occasional overdose ",but his body is more and more" rejuvenated ",so this epitaph is not used.