Chapter 2 Liyuan Family

Mei Lanfang's family background is clear Meng Xiaodong's life experience is a mystery Mei Lanfang was born in a family of danxing in Liyuan, and the third generation sang dan Meng Xiaodong grew up in an aristocratic family in Liyuan, with three generations of singers "Lafayette" bestows on Mei Lanfang's grandfather "Fat Qiaoling" Meng Xiaodong's grandfather was known as "Old Meng Qi" Regardless of Meng Xiaodong's real background, it is certain that she grew up in a Liyuan family.In this way, living in a Liyuan family is the only thing Mei Lanfang and Meng Xiaodong have in common.

That being the case, when they finally embarked on the road of acting, they are not limited to adhering to the traditional Chinese family concept of inheriting their father's business and honoring their ancestors, but they have no choice and cannot choose.Although the household registration habit of "children who sing operas can only be engaged in operas" left over from the Song Dynasty was no longer mandatory by the end of the Qing Dynasty, its residual poison still affects people's thinking.For Mei Lanfang and Meng Xiaodong, fate has long paved a arduous but brilliant artistic path for them.Before they had time to clarify the truth of the world, they stood helplessly on the starting line of art and stepped into the gate of Peking Opera.

From the generation of Mei Lanfang and Meng Xiaodong, the Mei family and the Meng family are three generations of pear gardens. Mei Lanfang's grandfather was named Mei Qiaoling.He has a nickname, called "Fat Qiaoling".It is very interesting to say that the origin of this nickname is related to the "Lafayette" Empress Dowager Cixi.Because Mei Qiaoling was born with a round face and a fat body, which matched his amiable personality, Empress Dowager Cixi, who loved to watch his plays, gave him this nickname.This theater-loving Lafayette also has a bit of aesthetic vision. She said that Qiaoling's fat body can just show grace and luxury.

Before her grandfather Mei Qiaoling, the Mei family lived on carving for generations.From the 10th year of Daoguang period to the 10th year of Xianfeng period, there were constant floods in the Lixia River area of ​​northern Jiangsu, causing countless families to fall into extreme poverty. Mei Qiaoling's father, Mei Tiancai, died of poverty. Qiaoling and her two younger brothers fled to the south of the Yangtze River with their mother Yan. But the prosperous Jiangnan did not change the fate of the family.Yan couldn't watch her sons starve to death, so she had to sell her eight-year-old eldest son, Qiaoling, to a widower named Jiang in Suzhou as a foster son.After Qiaoling's two younger brothers disappeared, Yan returned to his hometown alone, and soon died of starvation.

Mei Qiaoling was sold to the Jiang family and escaped the fate of starving to death.Yifu Jiang also regarded him as his own for a time, but the good times didn't last long.After Jiang got married and had children, his attitude towards Qiaoling changed.One day, Jiang's wife was cooking braised pork in a sand pot on the stove in the house, and asked Qiao Ling to take care of it.Qiaoling accidentally knocked over the sand jar, and no one saw it at the time, so Qiaoling naturally didn't dare to say anything.When everyone got to the bottom of the matter, they found that there was gravy on the soles of Qiaoling's shoes, which caused a catastrophe.Jiang and his wife were so angry that they denied Qiaoling's bad deeds on the pretext that they refused to give Qiaoling food for three days and three nights as a punishment, and starved Qiaoling to death.It was because one of the cooks at home became kind and secretly wrapped some rice in lotus leaves for him to eat, so he didn't suffer from hunger.

When Qiaoling was eleven years old, the Jiangs sold him out again. This time, Mei Qiaoling was sold to a troupe called "Fusheng Troupe" as an apprentice. This was the beginning of the relationship between the Mei family and Peking Opera. At that time, Peking Opera had been formed and was growing rapidly.Mei Qiaoling worked hard to learn Pihuang and went through hardships.Yang Sanxi, the class leader of Fusheng Class, is good at Kunqu opera, but is famous for abusing his apprentices.He beat and scolded his apprentice, and he especially liked to hit his apprentice's palm with a hard board. It is said that Qiaoling's hand lines were evened out.

One New Year's Eve, Yang Sanxi inexplicably refused to feed Qiaoling, and asked Qiaoling to pick up rice grains on the ground with his grandson Yang Yuan in his arms.Many years later, Mei Qiaoling became the leader of Sixi Troupe and also took in apprentices. Yang Yuan was invited to teach opera to the apprentices.Perhaps because of what he has heard and seen since childhood, Yang Yuan is also very demanding of his apprentices, waving wooden planks at every turn.Mei Qiaoling said to Yang Yuan: "This is not the Fusheng class. I can't watch you ruin other people's children. Why don't you just invite me." Yang Yuan died in a temple later. Relentless, he sent his family to collect Yang Yuan's body.

After Mei Qiaoling left Yang Sanxi, she followed a master named Xia Baiyan, who was another master who liked to abuse his disciples.Mei Qiaoling also suffered a lot at his hands.It wasn't until he followed the third master, Luo Qiaofu, that he was completely out of the sea of ​​suffering.Luo Qiaofu is very kind. He was originally Yang Sanxi's apprentice. After he finished his teacher, he started teaching apprentices on his own. Seeing that Qiaoling was being tortured by Xia Baiyan, he couldn't bear it, so he spent a sum of money to redeem Qiaoling. , received under his own door.Luo Qiaofu is very serious in teaching opera, and from then on Qiaoling is at ease learning from Luo Qiaofu, and has made rapid progress.

As for exactly when Mei Qiaoling came to Beijing, it is impossible to verify at present.What is certain is that Mei Qiaoling also set up her own school after completing her teaching.At this time, he still didn't know that his mother had died early, and his two younger brothers had also disappeared, so he sent people to his hometown, intending to take his family out to live with him.Mei Qiaoling did not find out the whereabouts of her family until her death.So, is it possible that he entered Beijing immediately after leaving the teacher? Mei Qiaoling works as a female actress, but she is not satisfied with her job. He boldly innovates in figure, expression, air, steps and appearance, breaking the previous Peking Opera stage of virgins and martyrs who "can't move their skirts and smile without showing their teeth" , and absorbed Tsing Yi's singing skills, gradually became popular in the capital, becoming one of the "Tongguang Thirteen Wonders", and also took over the "Sixi Class", one of the "Four Great Hui Classes", as the class leader (the other three Classes are Sanqing Class, Chuntai Class, and Hechun Class).

Mei Lanfang's continuous innovation and transformation on the Peking Opera stage in the future is not so much based on his awareness of conforming to the trend of the times and his open-minded attitude of being good at listening to the advice of insightful people, but rather because of the fact that his blood vessels are already flowing. The forever forward blood passed down from the grandfather.He not only fully inherited his grandfather's personality of being uneasy about the status quo and bravely breaking through the traditional cage, but also further carried forward the "Huashan" performance method, which combines Qingyi and Huadan, on the basis laid by his grandfather. He also inherited his grandfather's honesty. As Mei Lanfang himself said: "I like to make friends, read books, love painting and collect cultural relics, which can also be said to be the talent passed down to me by my ancestors."

Meng Xiaodong's grandfather, Meng Qi, was originally named Meng Fubao, also known as Meng Changqi, "Meng Qi" was his stage name.After his third son Meng Hongrong was called "Little Meng Qi", Meng Fubao was called "Old Meng Qi".The Meng family was originally from Jinan, Shandong.Just like Mei Qiaoling did not know when she entered Beijing, it is impossible to verify exactly when Meng Qi came to Beijing.It is estimated that it was after the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.How can a singer be related to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement?This is quite dramatic. In the early days, Meng Qi and his older brother Meng Liu sang Wu Sheng and Wu Jing in the troupe.When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement was in full swing, the young Meng Qi, who was also good at martial arts, resolutely left the troupe with enthusiasm and went south to Jiangsu to join the Taiping Army.It is not known whether he has made great achievements in the army, or even participated in the battle against the Qing army in a real sense.Chen Yucheng, the British king of the Taiping Army, organized a Tongchun class in the army. Because Meng Qi was born in opera and had martial arts skills, he was naturally hired as a teacher in the Tongchun class.In his spare time, he taught apprentices, of course, not only singing, but also martial arts.During the war, they sang operas and performed labors. Naturally, after the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Meng Qi had to return to his old career, went north to take a job, and continued to make a living by singing opera.Perhaps at this time, he entered Beijing.What is known so far is that the earliest theatrical troupe he set up in Beijing was Jiuhe troupe, which often performed "Iron Cage Mountain", "Shouguan Sheng", "Bawa Temple", "Xiahedong", "Daming Mansion", "Wu Shi Back" and other martial arts.Because of his outstanding martial arts skills, the audience at that time were all men, who preferred martial arts, so he was very popular.In the early years of Tongzhi, at the invitation of Liu Weizhong, the owner of Shanghai Dangui Tea Garden, he went to Shanghai with his classmates Yang Yuelou, Ren Chunting and Shen Yunqiu.Since then, he has been stranded in Shanghai. In 1860, Mei Qiaoling married Chen Shi, the daughter of the famous young student Chen Jinque.Chen has a kind heart and is good at managing the family. She is 2 years younger than Mei Qiaoling.The two married and had two sons and two daughters.Two sons, one is Mei Lanfang's uncle Mei Yutian, and the other is his father Mei Zhufen. Mei Yutian had the reputation of "Six Fields Through" when he was young, and he was a recognized opera musician.The reason why he engaged in opera music is related to his father Mei Qiaoling.Mei Qiaoling is known as a "righteous actress", but his "righteousness" is not always rewarded. When the actor or scene (that is, the band members) loses his temper and asks for leave to stop performing, Mei Qiaoling is heartbroken. He grumbled in front of him and said, "I must let our son learn the scene." As if God wanted to make Mei Qiaoling perfect, Mei Yutian has loved music since she was a child.He was born in 1865, just turned three years old, sitting in a wooden barrel, holding a handful of broken strings, tinkling and playing.When he was eight years old, his father asked him what he wanted to learn, and he said, "I love to learn scenes." Mei Qiaoling was so happy when she heard that.After that, he invited all the players in the capital to teach his son. Jia Xiangrui, a luthier from the "Sixi Class", became Mei Yutian's enlightenment teacher, and other famous players in Beijing, such as Li Chunquan, Fan Jingtai, Han Minger, and Qian Chunwang, all taught Mei Yutian.Mei Yutian is talented and intelligent, and also talented in music. He is good at playing and playing, no matter what he learns, he finally lived up to Mei Qiaoling's painstaking efforts and high hopes. Mei Yutian has a withdrawn and arrogant personality, and often gets into trouble with the actors who work with him.At that time, there were only six people in the scene, divided into the martial arts field and the literary field.There are single-skin drums, big gongs, and small gongs in the martial arts field; huqin, yueqin, and sanxian in the literary field, and the huqin is also a flute, water cymbal, and suona;Because Mei Yutian is proficient in everything, whether it is martial arts or writing, whether it is Huqin or Yueqin, he has the title of "Six Fields Through". For several years, Mei Yutian was called into the palace to play the piano for Tan Xinpei, a famous old student and the founder of "Tan School Laosheng".Boss Tan's vocals, Mei Yutian's huqin, and drummer Li Wu's drums are a perfect match.The three are recognized as the most ideal partners, but because of their aloof personalities, they often quarrel with each other. The outside world rumors that they have broken up, and the outside world says that they have reconciled.But once on stage, Boss Tan sang vigorously, Mei Yutian played happily, Li Wu beat the drums happily, sang well, and the cooperation between the three was perfect. Mei Lanfang had never met his grandfather, even when Mei Qiaoling passed away, Mei Zhufen was only ten years old.Later, Mei Zhufen married Yang Changyu, the daughter of the famous martial artist Yang Longshou.She is Mei Lanfang's mother.Yang Changyu was born in 1876, four years younger than Mei Zhufen.Mei Zhufen inherited Mei Qiaoling's kind and docile personality, and she is serious and not opportunistic.He first learned from old students, then changed to niche students, and finally inherited his father's mantle and sang Tsing Yi Hua Dan.Because his singing style is very similar to Mei Qiaoling, and his appearance is also very similar to his father, so he is called "Mei Xiaofen". At that time, Mei Zhufen took the Fushou class.Some actors in the class often lose their temper and refuse to sing on leave.At this time, the class leader always asked Zhufen to sing on stage.He never refused, and every time he sang Mei Qiaoling's opera.In order to make more money, the theater troupe has very frequent commercial performances and frequent outings.Mei Zhufen had to sing as hard as her family was going from bad to worse.Long-term fatigue, so that his body was devastated.When he was twenty-six years old, he contracted "Big Head Plague" and took medicine but it didn't work, and he died within a few days. Regarding Mei Zhufen's early death, the saddest thing is naturally Mei Lanfang's grandmother Chen Shi. She said sadly: "Zhufen died of exhaustion, because he was honest and honest, and he was asked to do all the hard work." Therefore, , she has some resentment towards the head teacher.On the day of Zhufen's funeral, the head of the class cried bitterly before the funeral, Chen thought to herself: "I'm afraid it will not be easy for you to find such a talkative actor again." The Mei family had only Mei Qiaoling in Beijing, and Qiaoling had two sons. The second son, Mei Zhufen, died young. In addition, the eldest son, Mei Yutian, had no children all his life, and Mei Zhufen had only one son, Mei Lanfang. Therefore, The population is not prosperous, and the inheritance is very single. The Meng family is different.Old Meng Qi and his elder brother Meng Liu both worked as Wu Sheng and Wu Jing.Lao Mengqi had seven sons. Except for the seven sons who did not enter the opera world, the other six sons were all engaged in opera. The eldest son, Meng Hongfang, studied martial arts with his father when he was young, and later changed to civil and martial arts.In the early years of the Republic of China, he took the class of unicorn boy Zhou Xinfang in Shanghai, and often acted in plays such as "Small Shangfen", "Killing Children", and "Eight Out of Strings of Beads".More often, he collaborated with Zhou Xinfang in performances. The second son, Meng Hongshou, was poorly developed due to illness when he was young, with his feet turned inward and a little limp.Lao Meng Qi intentionally asked him to play drums and piano, and later became a drum master.However, he is very competitive and eager to learn, and his martial arts are not inferior to his brothers.Because of his weird appearance, he is not only short and fat, but also "big as a bucket, with a waist as wide as you can hug". Therefore, he wisely chose to work as a clown, and finally turned from a drummer to a clown. "Biography", "Stolen Soul Bell", "Fool Marriage", "Cat and Dog Complaint", "Buddha Offering in the Bridal Chamber", "Underwater", "Strong in the Strong", "Eighteen Stories" and so on.He has a loud voice, not only is good at life and ugly, but also can sing Danjiao opera, and he is also active in rehearsing new plays, so he became a good actor in all troupes for a while, and eventually became famous and ugly.He calls himself "the first monster". The third son, Meng Hongrong, is also known as "Little Meng Qi".The reason why he has this nickname is because he resembles Lao Meng Qi the most.Of course, this "likeness" is not only about looks, but also skills.That is to say, in him, the demeanor of old Meng Qi can be best reflected.In fact, he studied Wudan when he was young, and studied under Wang Qingyun.It is unknown why Lao Mengqi let Xiao Mengqi use Wudan to enlighten him.But later, Xiao Mengqi still transferred to "Zhengxing".When Lao Mengqi was teaching in the "Xiaojintai" class, Xiao Mengqi entered the class and transferred to Wusheng, Wujing, and Laoshengxi.Not only that, but he is also good at screenwriting, and has written and acted in dramas such as "The Hate of the Deer Terrace". Among Lao Meng's seven or six sons who were engaged in art, only the fourth son, Meng Hongxiang, was not an actor on stage.Just as there was a scene in the Mei family, there is also a member of the Meng family who is engaged in opera music, and he is Meng Hongxiang. The fifth son of the Meng family, that is, Meng Xiaodong's father, Meng Hongqun, is known as "Meng Wuye" because he is the fifth eldest son. Yanyang Tower, Tongtian Rhinoceros and other dramas.In the early years of the Republic of China, Tan Xinpei, the "King of the Actors", was hired to go south to Shanghai to act. Meng Hongqun was fortunate to cooperate with Tan Xinpei in "Lianyingzhai", playing Zhao Yun, which won the appreciation of Tan Boss.This is the proudest experience of his life.The famous actor in Shanghai who has cooperated with him the most is Zhou Xinfang. They have co-starred in "Daming Mansion", "Song Jiaoren Killed", "Broken Arm" and so on. The sixth son, Meng Hongmao, was born to Lao Meng's seventh stepmother, and also graduated from Xiaojintai class. He first learned Hualian, and later changed to Wenchou. He once collaborated with Xun Huisheng, one of the four famous actors, in "Little Cowherd", and collaborated with the famous old actor Gong Yunfu. He has worked on "Fishing for the Golden Turtle", and collaborated with Gao Qingkui, one of the four major Xu Sheng, on "The Legend of Drama Fans".In scandal, he is second to none. In the 1930s, he was invited by Lige Records Company to record a record "Smoker Sigh" aimed at promoting the ban on smoking. Whether Meng Xiaodong is of Meng family blood is still in dispute.The introductions about Meng Xiaodong's life experience published in the tabloids and drama magazines in the 1930s are basically the same. They all say that she is a descendant of the Meng family, her grandfather Meng Qi, and her father Meng Hongqun.However, folks say that she was not born by Meng Hongqun, but adopted by Meng Hongqun when he was performing in Hankou.There are two theories about the time of adoption, one is that it was the end of the Qing Dynasty; the other is that she was already 7 years old at this time.In this way, she seems to be from Hankou. It is also said that Meng Xiaodong's real surname is "Dong".When Meng Hongqun performed in Hankou, he lived in a family named Dong near the theater.The Dong family has four daughters. Xiaodong is the third, whose original name is Linghui and whose baby name is Ruolan.At that time, Xiaodong liked to listen to opera very much, and often went to the theater.Meng Hongqun saw that she was smart and loved to sing, so he taught her to sing a few lines in his free time.Unexpectedly, she sang so well that Meng Hongqun was very surprised. He thought that this child would become a great talent in the future, so he wanted to train her.After the performance period in Hankou expired, Meng Hongqun was about to return to Shanghai. He was a little bit reluctant to part with Xiaodong. The Dong family had many daughters, so he gave Xiaodong to Meng Hongqun.From then on, Xiaodong became the daughter of Meng Hongqun.It is said that Meng Hongqun had always called Xiaodong "Xiao Dong" before, and then, when she was about fifteen years old, Meng Hongqun changed her name to "Xiaodong" and changed "Dong" to "Meng". This is a bit far-fetched.If Meng Xiaodong was indeed seven years old when he was adopted, then the Meng family was originally from Shandong and later settled in Shanghai. Based on the addressing habits of Shandong and Shanghai people, it is impossible to call a seven-year-old girl surnamed Dong "Xiao Dong". ".Besides, she was born in 1908 (or 1907), and when she was fifteen, it should be 1923 (or 1922).In fact, when she left Shanghai for the first time to perform in Wuxi in December 1919, she had already used the stage name "Meng Xiaodong".Therefore, it is impossible to say that she changed her name at the age of fifteen. However, the statement that Meng Xiaodong was not from the Meng family is not groundless.Shanghai writer Shen Ji once wrote that he visited Meng Xiaodong in Hong Kong in the early 1950s, and Meng Xiaodong personally told her about her life experience.Silence wrote in the article: When I mentioned Meng's family of famous actors, I don't know if she told me out of trust in me or for other reasons. I have a secret history of her own life experience (maybe it is not a secret, but this is the first time I have heard it, and it is estimated that many people don't know).Her eyes were gloomy and her expression was bitter. "I am not born of the Meng family..." He stopped after saying only one sentence. Of course I was stunned, and it was inconvenient to ask more questions.However, this sentence has always been a mystery to me. If "not born of the Meng family" is indeed what Meng Xiaodong himself said, then it confirms the folklore.However, there is another thing that is also very strange, and it seems to deny such a legend from another aspect.The Meng family's ancestral home is Shandong. Since Meng Qi, he moved from Beijing to Shanghai, and has lived and multiplied here since then.It is said that Meng Xiaodong was born in Shanghai.When she talked about where she was from, she didn't say Shandong or Shanghai, but Wanping.For example, in the 1950s, Sun Yangnong, a good friend of the famous old student Yu Shuyan, wrote a book "Talking about Yu Shuyan".Her disciple Li You recalled that Master Meng told him that she was "from Wanping, Hebei". "Hebei Wanping" originally belonged to Hebei, and it belonged to Beijing in the early 1950s.Perhaps it is based on this that opera dictionaries such as "Encyclopedia of China" and "History of Chinese Peking Opera" all say that Meng Xiaodong's ancestral home is Shandong and he is a native of Beijing. The reason why Meng Xiaodong said she was from Beijing is probably because her grandfather Meng Qi lived in Beijing, and Meng Qi's son, Meng Xiaodong's father, Meng Hongqun, was probably born in Beijing.On the one hand, she said that she was "not born in the Meng family", but on the other hand, she used Meng Hongqun's birthplace as the basis for her being a Beijinger.So, did she really say "not born of the Meng family"?If she was not born of the Meng family, then why did she say that she is from Beijing?I don't know if it's because she hesitated to speak and deliberately left a difficult mystery for future generations, or she really has other difficulties not to say.In short, no one can say clearly about her life experience. Although Meng Xiaodong's life experience is a mystery, there is no doubt that she grew up in a Liyuan family. This also means that she must make a living as an opera singer in the future, just like Mei Lanfang was born in a Liyuan family.In addition to Mei Qiaoling, Mei Yutian, and Mei Zhufen's three fathers and sons who are engaged in singing in the Mei family, Mei Lanfang's grandmother, mother, aunt, and aunt also came from Liyuan.Grandmother Chen is the daughter of Chen Jinque, a famous Kunqu opera student, and mother Yang Changyu is the daughter of Yang Longshou, a famous Wusheng actor known as "Living Wusong". , the aunt is the niece of the actor Hu Xilu. The difference is that Mei Lanfang sang Dan as a man, and Meng Xiaodong sang Sheng as a woman.The reversal of yin and yang on the stage brought their relationship closer and made their story come true. Just because the three generations of the Mei family played women on stage, Mei Lanfang's character is weak and gentle, neither anxious nor impatient, nor complaining nor angry, always polite, humble, calm and kind; He fought in the battlefield in his early years, so his personality is naturally opposite.Although Meng Xiaodong is a woman, what she plays on the stage is a student, not a young student, but an old student.The role requires her to abandon the softness and plaintiveness of a woman and replace it with masculinity and domineering.As time went on, her character became more steadfast.This is the difference between the two, and perhaps one of the reasons why they cannot last forever.