Chapter 30 downturn and recovery

On October 14, 1949, Aiqun Building welcomed a new owner. This 15-story building was the tallest building in Guangzhou at that time, and it was built in the middle of the long embankment. When it opened in 1937, Aiqun Building stood out from its peers.Liang Yanyan, an old newspaperman who grew up in Guangzhou, recalled that the publicity of Aiqun Building at that time was that "all steel materials come from Siemens in Germany; all sanitary ware, elevators, and stairs are American products; there are heating and cooling air conditioners in the building to ensure that the four seasons are like spring. Use The tableware is exquisite in workmanship, including crystal plates, silver 'Dongmeilin' knives and forks, rice cups, etc. 'Dongmeilin' is a very famous tableware manufacturer in the UK. Hotels in Guangzhou that can afford Dongmeilin Just the Aiqun family."

A few months ago, the Aiqun Building was a "refuge" for senior KMT officials.Legislative President Tong Guanxian lives on the 2nd floor, Gansu Provincial Chairman Ma Hongkui lives on the 7th floor, Qinghai Provincial Chairman Ma Bufang lives on the 8th floor, and Jiang Menglin, director of the General Administration of Rehabilitation and Relief, lives on the 14th floor.Aiqun was rented in the offices of embassies in exile in 12 countries, and she was so embarrassed that she didn't even pay the rent when she left.When Yang Yingbin, deputy secretary-general of the Guangzhou Military Control Commission, entered this landmark building in Guangzhou as the first batch of cadres who went south to take over the city, he saw the dilapidated Aiqun Building: it was the 11th floor of the open-air garden, which was covered with tin and wooden boards. The nails have become dance halls and bars, and have been turned into "water melon sheds" due to ventilation and rain.There are only dozens of sets of tableware left in the hotel, almost all the wires are damaged, the glass windows are broken, and most of the bed and chair furniture are broken and broken.

Huang Yi, who was assigned to the military control team of the "Guangzhou Material Distribution Office", was also one of the southward cadres stationed in the Aiqun Building.He recalled that the "chaotic situation" in the building at that time was exactly the same as the scene in the Soviet movie "Lenin in October". "The cadres who participated in the takeover of the Guangzhou Municipal Government lived together in the gray ten-story building of Aiqun Building. Hundreds of cadres came from all over the world and lived together without knowing each other. At that time, the public security in Guangzhou was very poor, so the system was very poor. Strictly, no one is allowed to go to the street casually. The guards and soldiers standing guard can only let them go with the armbands of the "Guangzhou Military Control Commission" worn by people. The 11th floor of the building has become a large restaurant, which serves meals all day long, with the meal coupons issued by the Military Control Commission Eat as you go." When Huang Yi and his comrades took the elevator to the restaurant on the 11th floor for the first time to eat, they walked to the window on the south side and looked at the Pearl River. All kinds of boats are missing. People in Guangzhou wear clogs, and the whole city of Guangzhou is filled with the sound of rattling wood on the floor.”

Street gates are also displayed on most of the roads. These fortifications for self-defense by Guangzhou locals during the war became one of the most unique landscapes in Guangzhou during the liberation.According to Liang Yanran, the self-made street gates are used to prevent the Kuomintang from being defeated or bandits taking advantage of the vacuum during the transition period. "Street gates are made of iron branches, big wood or bamboo, and block the entrance of the street. The street also organizes a self-defense force, which is composed of some strong young people in the neighborhood. They will patrol with knives and guns, and do not allow strangers to approach Street gates.” Cai Jingxing, who is nearly 90 years old, is an “old Guangzhou”. He recalled: “In the bustling Xiguan, on some narrow roads, residents even built overpasses with bamboo to prevent robbers from setting fires after robbery. Xiguan is full of shops. , Once set up, it is easy to set fire to the company. When Guangzhou was occupied in 1938, the shops on both sides of Yonghan Road were robbed by bandits and set on fire, and the burning lasted for several days. There is a way of escape."

The cadres who went south brought a new atmosphere to this ancient city, and also brought some northern habits.Wang Jianxun, honorary chairman of the Guangzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said: "Because a large number of cadres who went south came to Guangzhou in 1949, the northerners also brought some changes in living habits and tastes. Before and after liberation, the biggest change in the teahouse was the time. In the past, it was four or five in the morning. The market opened at 1:00. After liberation, because the northerners could not get used to the early morning market, most teahouses gradually changed to open after 7 o’clock. Women rarely drank morning tea before. After 1949, the teahouses in Guangzhou There are more women, and this trend is also related to the female cadres going south. In addition, steamed buns and sesame cakes, which are not eaten by old Guangzhou people, have begun to enter the refreshment menus of many teahouses.”

On November 11, 1949, when the People’s Liberation Army entered the city, Huang Shaohua, who lives on Wende Road, was only 5 years old at the time. He said that he still remembers two scenes in the city entry ceremony: “One is the Guangzhou locals waving flower sticks. That is the middle Two grooved wooden strips were dug out, and iron wires strung with copper coins were dug out, and the dancing was very lively. The other was that the People's Liberation Army walked on stilts and performed Yangko. There were also two soldiers in the team dressed as pregnant women. , which means a hero mother.”

The old life is slowly disintegrating. In Tongdeli, Henan, Guangzhou, a Cantonese-style mansion occupying four streets is closed all day long.The owner of the house was Jiang Kongyin, the last governor of Guangdong, Guangxi and Qingxiang in the Qing Dynasty. After the Republic of China, he also served as the general agent of British American Tobacco Company, and once accumulated a fortune of tens of millions.His great-nephew Jiang Peiyang said: "Uncle's grandfather's family used to be very wealthy, and even the security guards at the gate did not use local people. They specially invited 'Morocha' (Indian police) from Hong Kong to guard the gate. They were very prestigious." Jiang Kongyin's reputation In addition to wealth, there is also good food.There are many famous dishes in his family, the most famous one is "Taishi Snake Soup".But by 1949, the provincial and Hong Kong tycoon who had enjoyed great glory during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China had already passed his best time. "He no longer pays attention to food, and he fired all the chefs in the family. But the old tradition of literati has not changed. Before liberation, his family often saw him leaning on the railing alone, reciting some very sad poems." Jiang Peiyang Say.

Many well-connected people have gone to Hong Kong, and Liang seems to be one of them. In 1949, Liang, who was the director of the editorial department of "Guangzhou Daily" and concurrently the director of the interview department of "China Daily", became one of the unemployed because of the Kuomintang's news control. He defected to a friend in Hong Kong. "As liberation was approaching, various newspapers in Guangzhou were arguing about the current situation and had different opinions. At that time, the police commander in Guangzhou was called Ye Zhao. Under the instruction of Song Ziwen, he combined more than a dozen newspapers in Guangzhou into one "Central Daily" in order to unify Discourse. The newspaper was gone, and many colleagues had to leave Guangzhou to find a living, and I went to a film studio in Hong Kong to do film reviews.” Liang Yanran recalled.

The art gathering of painters in the teahouse also stopped.Wang Jianxun was still an art teacher in elementary school in 1949. He recalled the changes of painters in Guangzhou: "The teacher I learned painting was Zhao Shao'ang, who is the second generation famous painter of the Lingnan School of Flowers, and his teacher Gao Qifeng is a member of the Lingnan School of Painting. One of the three great veterans. When the Thirteen Lines were first established, a group of Chinese people who painted Western paintings appeared on the streets of Guangzhou. Their paintings were sold to foreigners who came to China to do business like today’s postcards. These paintings later Called "export painting", it has existed for more than 100 years with the prosperity of the Guangzhou port, and the painters and private studios in Guangzhou have always grown up with this kind of calligraphy and painting trade, and it was still very prosperous until 1949." "Many of the ordinary families Cultural people, in addition to fixed occupations such as teachers and office clerks, will choose to learn painting as a side skill, which is also a long-standing tradition in Guangzhou. Zhao Shaoang set up a "Lingnan Art Garden" in Guangzhou in 1948, and received nearly Thousands of students, and I'm one of them."

Before liberation, Guangzhou painters were both artists and businessmen, and they formed a large social circle in Guangzhou. "The three elders of the Lingnan School of Painting, Gao Jianfu, Gao Qifeng, and Chen Shuren, all had close contacts with celebrities in Guangdong society. Chen Shuren himself was the director of overseas Chinese affairs for the Kuomintang government in Guangzhou. Before liberation, they often lived in some places like Tao Taoju in Guangzhou. Such big teahouses and their own homes hold 'gatherings', and famous Cantonese opera actors like Liao Xiahuai are also frequent visitors to these gatherings." Wang Jianxun said.

After liberation, a large number of painters went to Hong Kong. "Hong Kong has become a gathering place for Guangzhou literati and businessmen." Wang Jianxun said, "My teacher Zhao Shao'ang also went to Hong Kong and moved his 'Lingnan Art Garden' to Hong Kong. With the closure of a large number of private studios, Guangdong's art gradually began Academia and professionalization, it is basically difficult for young people like me who study painting part-time to continue.” The elegant collection of literati in the teahouse disappeared with a large number of painters going south, and the business form of the teahouse also changed. "Not long after liberation, the teahouse industry began to implement public-private partnerships. More than a dozen teahouses and restaurants were combined into one, and the employees of the smallest teahouse were in charge of choosing the name of the new teahouse." Liang Yanran recalled that his friend Feng Mingquan was a veteran in the teahouse circle in Guangzhou. . "Before liberation, he opened a Yuyuan restaurant, which was very famous. After liberation, a Yongxiang tea house with only a dozen tables was designated to merge with the Yuyuan restaurant. The guy who was in charge of carrying water at Yongxiang teahouse did The manager, he will decide the name of the new restaurant after the merger. This guy retains the name of Yuyuan Restaurant, but Feng Mingquan has changed from a manager to a dishwasher." Liang Yanran said. The long-standing individual business form in Guangzhou is disintegrating, resulting in a large number of unemployed people.According to the research conducted by Xie Tao, the Party History Research Office of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, when it was first liberated, the unemployed population in Guangzhou was nearly 300,000, accounting for about a quarter of the entire urban population.In the city, a large number of unemployed people even gave birth to another kind of entertainment. Storytelling replaced Cantonese opera and became the most prosperous folk entertainment in Guangzhou at that time. "Guangzhou calls storytelling 'Shuogu'." Wang Jianxun said, "It's different from Cantonese opera. It doesn't need a troupe, and one person can tell a book. In the early 1950s, there were many unemployed people in Guangzhou. Gather to parks, cultural palaces and other places to inquire about jobs and seek financial resources. In these places, there are fixed desks for "Shuoguren". People who can't find a job gather around them and listen to books to pass the time." In 1950, Guan Guohua, who sang Cantonese opera, came to Guangzhou from the countryside. Before that, he was a budding Cantonese opera rookie in the countryside of Guangzhou. "When Guangzhou was occupied, I followed my father in the brothers' class in Kaiping County, Guangzhou, and made a living. At that time, all the Cantonese opera artists in Guangzhou fled to the countryside and performed together, and all their income was used for food." Guan Guohua recalled. "The performances are mostly at night until dawn. The owners of open-air casinos in rural areas usually invite troupes to perform. Before the show starts, people from the surrounding villages gamble in front of the stage. The singing starts at eleven o'clock. Those who lose all have no money to return." The people at home watched the Tianguang Opera." Before the liberation, Guan Guohua had already gained a certain popularity in the countryside.He mostly plays the role of a little cunning niche.This role positioning continued until after liberation. "I played with the red thread girl. She played Qin Xianglian, and I played Chen Shimei. In "Shajiabang", I played Diao Deyi." In 1949, the war caused the rural population to wither, and the business of the brother class was also difficult. As a result, Guan Guohua's father even starved to death. When Guan Guohua came to this big city that had just been liberated to find a way out, he found that there were no jobs for rural artists in Guangzhou.But Wang Jianxun remembers that the government at this time was proposing to "let Guangzhou people go to the countryside, and encourage some unemployed workers to return to their hometowns, where they can make a living from the land." Cao Zhonglun is also a member of the unemployed army.He came to Guangzhou from Anhui in August 1949 to look for a job. The few silver dollars he brought with him had already been spent, and he relied on friends to help him survive. At the end of November 1949, he and his good friends decided to try their luck in Hong Kong.Hong Kong is not only a receiving place for literati and businessmen who are watching the current situation in the mainland, but also a place of hope for some ordinary people who hope to find a way out in troubled times. Because most of the wealthy families went to Hong Kong, people who stayed in Guangzhou after 1949 were not fashionable.Tian Yuzhu, a cadre who went south from Tianjin to Guangzhou, still remembers that when she went shopping occasionally, she would see local women pointing to the socks on her feet, "feeling very novel".The first thing Cao Zhonglun did when he arrived in Hong Kong was to "make himself more fashionable". "My friends in Hong Kong bought me a new set of clothes, a military-style jacket, and a pair of jeans. This is a very trendy outfit in Guangzhou. I feel very proud when I wear it on the street. But I didn't expect it to be washed and dried at night. Outside the window, I was caught by a thief with a hook, which made me annoyed for a long time." Cao Zhonglun recalled. Finding a job was also very difficult. "I saw an advertisement in the Ta Kung Pao that the police station was recruiting staff, so I went to take the test. I saw that there were about 1,000 people who came and stood in a large playground. The rule of recruitment is that 10 people stand in a row, and the recruiting instructors Look at it next to each other, and if you decide to like it, you will be caught. I was not selected." After several twists and turns, Cao Zhonglun got a part-time job from the unemployment agency. "At that time, more and more people flocked to Hong Kong to look for work, and there were also many unemployment agencies. I found one on the side of the road and paid three Hong Kong dollars. The employer I introduced was a family workshop that made cards. like the one in the movie "Seventy-Two Tenants". The salary is 5 Hong Kong dollars a month, which is the bottom line of living in Hong Kong. In addition to helping make cards, I also cook two meals a day .” Hong Kong in 1949 was not prosperous.Cao Zhonglun remembers that even in Kowloon, the center of Hong Kong, there are no high-rise buildings. "There are three-story and four-story buildings on the side of the road, like the Renmin South Road in Guangzhou, which was not prosperous at that time. The only things that showed prosperity were some entertainment venues, and the neon lights at night In a blink of an eye, it looks a bit foreign."In Hong Kong, Cao Zhonglun saw Hollywood signboards for the first time, "On Nathan Road, Kowloon, there was a huge signboard that said 'Hollywood'. I thought it was a signboard selling carp when I thought of the carp in the lotus pond. ". Jiang Qiufan's experience is also a portrayal of Hong Kong's economic downturn before and after liberation.He served as the manager of the first beach in Hong Kong.He recalled: “A junior high school classmate of mine went to Hong Kong before Liberation and made a lot of money in the business of British velvet suits. He inspected the Hong Kong market and found that there was no swimming pool on this island, so he invited me to Hong Kong. Help him build the first beach in Hong Kong." "The shareholding system for investment. My classmate invested 100,000 yuan, and then brought together several shareholders to pool a total of 500,000 yuan. The beach chose three spots, Stanley, Repulse Bay, and Zhongwan, all far away from the urban area. The consumption of the bathing beach is relatively expensive. A family of three will spend about two or three hundred Hong Kong dollars to play once. This is the consumption of the rich. Due to the war in the Mainland at that time, many people came to Hong Kong to avoid the current situation, but There are not many families with this spending power. After the beach opens, it usually only has business on weekends. After a year, it lost 110,000 yuan and had to close." Ordinary people's gold digging trips in Hong Kong mostly ended in failure, and many celebrities who came to Hong Kong to temporarily escape the current situation did not have an easy life, and Ma Lianliang was one of them. Ma Chongren and his father Ma Lianliang arrived in Hong Kong from Shanghai via Guangzhou at the end of 1948. "At that time, my father had just finished performing in Shanghai for four months. After the performance, the Beijing-Shanghai Railway was interrupted due to the Battle of Huaihai, and he couldn't go back to Beijing. My father was very tired because he sang so many times. Sun Lanting, the manager of the theater, is my father’s sworn brother and a business partner for many years. He is a kind man. He suggested that my father go to Hong Kong to relax. I followed him to Hong Kong. At that time, it was very convenient to enter and leave Hong Kong from the mainland. Buy one and go Luohu ferry tickets, and then take the train from Luohu to Kowloon. The boat passed Taiwan and stopped in Keelung for eight hours. My friends and I got off the boat and went shopping in Keelung. We arrived in Hong Kong after dark.” Ma Chongren said. The Hong Kong that Ma Chongren saw for the first time was "like a foreign country", full of landscapes that could not be seen in his hometown Beijing: the sea is surrounded by mountains, and the mountains are full of houses, all of which are lit at night.There was a tram that zigzags up to the top of the mountain, but Ma Chongren dared not sit on it again because he was afraid of heights.I can’t find a Hui restaurant in the whole island. Most of the taxis running on the street are empty, but among the drivers, I can still find some people from my hometown. “Tianjin has the most people, followed by Shandong people.” The first show in Hong Kong was at the entertainment theater. "This was the best movie theater in Hong Kong at that time. There was a Peking Opera box office upstairs. The fans were all members of the Rooftop Club. According to the current saying, they were all big money. The chairman was Liang Jihao. They invited my father to perform a few performances, and Strong support guaranteed.” At that time, Hong Kong opera circles were still dominated by Cantonese opera.Ma Shizeng, New Ma Shizeng, Hongxiannv and many other famous Cantonese opera actors gather here, but it is difficult to find a complete Peking Opera troupe. "Later, Sun Lanting, the manager of the Shanghai China Theater who accompanied my father to Hong Kong, said that he would return to Shanghai immediately and bring the crew of the China Theater over." Ma Chongren recalled.Sun Lanting brought about 40 people, and even the actors came from Shanghai, which indicates that in Hong Kong around 1949, the cost of an authentic Peking Opera performance was very high. Ma Lianliang sang in the entertainment theater for five days. "The attendance rate was very high, the audience responded enthusiastically, and the applause continued. My father was very happy. After five days of performances, the total income was more than 76,000 yuan, which was the highest income in Hong Kong's entertainment industry at that time." It has already broken the record." Ma Chongren said. After five days of singing, it was Christmas, and there was a mess during Christmas. "After we sang in the entertainment theater, Feng Weiying, a red dancer who fled from Shanghai to Hong Kong, invited me and my father's luthier Li Muliang to dinner. She saw it from the window of her "Bao's house" in Hong Kong, and asked a few of her men to wait at the door. When they came out, they beat up Li Muliang. Afterwards, my father found Du Yuesheng to come forward and ended the matter." After Christmas, I went to Gaosheng Theater and Puqing Theater to sing for seven days. "These two theaters are second-rate theaters in Hong Kong. After all, there are only a few Shanghainese who understand Beijing opera, and the attendance rate is getting worse and worse. They lost 18,000 yuan and 26,000 yuan respectively. The Hong Kong market cannot support Beijing opera. The Peking Opera troupe from Shanghai left Hong Kong soon. After a while, my father had his costumes packed and escorted back to Shanghai,” said Ma Chongren. With no drama to sing, Ma Lianliang relied on debts to survive.He rented a unit on the third floor in Causeway Bay. There were bunk beds in the room, where his family and luthier Li Muliang lived.Ma Lianliang usually lives in secluded places, and occasionally meets with friends, "for the convenience of borrowing money in the future." "I remember a friend of my father's acquaintance named Shen Weichang. He is a Chinese medicine practitioner. After arriving in Hong Kong, he quit his old profession and set up a radio station called Lidi Husheng, which mainly broadcasts folk art, Peking opera and local opera. When he was in Shanghai, he Playing Peking Opera, he is a fancier. He often writes for a tabloid "Robin Hood". This newspaper is called "the originator of opera newspapers" and specializes in writing gossip about Peking Opera. After Shen Weichang arrived in Hong Kong, he simply ran a "Dacheng Magazine" ", and all published news about literature and art. At that time, there were many readers of such news in Hong Kong. The only employee of Dacheng Magazine was Mr. Shen, but he often went to theaters and studios, and knew many insiders who contributed articles to him." Ma Chongren said. In May 1949, because he received an invitation for a concert, Ma Lianliang sent a telegram to ask for his play to be shipped back to Hong Kong. "A concert can cost thousands of dollars, but this kind of performance opportunity is rare after all, only once every three or two months." Before leaving Hong Kong in 1951, Ma Lianliang had owed nearly 40,000 Hong Kong dollars in debt. "By 1951, I just felt that more and more people came to Hong Kong. Some Shanghai friends I knew said that it was difficult to find a job. We didn't think about it. We don't know anything except singing. We can only do our best. Save money, don’t buy anything. Sometimes it’s too hot, at most you can find a big hotel, have a cup of coffee or ice cream, sit for a day, just kill time like this. Basically don’t go out at night.” Ma Lianliang became more and more silent , He doesn't tell his family how much he earns every time he sings an opera, and how much his family spends.Ma Chongren said: "When my father lived in Hong Kong, he suffered from depression." In fact, after 1951, the domestic market has recovered somewhat, and artists who went to Hong Kong around 1950 began to return to Hong Kong in a big way.Of course, there is also encouragement and mobilization from the government. "At the end of 1955, Cantonese opera celebrities Hong Xiannv and Ma Shizeng returned to Beijing from Hong Kong. Many national leaders and generals watched the performance." The fear of war and the disintegration of personal businesses have accompanied the city for four years from the victory of the Anti-Japanese War to the liberation.As normal commerce was disrupted, speculation began to pervade the city.The most chaotic field of currencies has become the favorite industry for speculators.Ye Shuming, an expert on Guangzhou literature and history, recalled: "After 1948, Shendian could make huge profits. The so-called Shendian was a remittance between Shanghai and Guangzhou. Since a large amount of hot money in central China fled south, a large amount of cash was remitted to Guangzhou through Shendian. , The supply and demand of cash between the two places is one-sided. There is a big exchange rate difference in Shendian, with a difference of 20% to 30%. For example, if you exchange 10 million yuan in Shanghai, you can only receive 8 million or even 7 million yuan in Guangzhou. Therefore, many bank operators in Guangzhou brought cash to Guangzhou by plane from Shanghai, Wuhan and other places. There are various methods of carrying private banknotes. The most dramatic method is to cover the cash with eggs and chrysanthemums. A basket of eggs can be stored. More than 500 million yuan in cash." In connection with this, Shanghai could not remit cash and bought gold one after another. As a result, the price of gold in Shanghai soared, which was quite different from that in Guangzhou.It was profitable to transport Guangzhou’s gold to the north, so financial speculators appeared to take gold by plane. Chen Bang, who worked in Guangzhou Minxin Bank Co., Ltd. before liberation, also personally participated in this spectacular financial speculative war. "The deputy manager of the company and I are wearing special silver clothes. This kind of silver clothes is made of canvas, with compartments, and each compartment hides a piece of gold, and then put on a suit. You can carry hundreds of taels of gold at a time. to Shanghai." The folks have also invented some methods to deal with currency confusion.Chen Benneng, former Secretary-General of the Guangzhou Peasants and Labor Party, was an underground party member of the Guangzhou Fire Brigade before liberation.he recalled. "At that time, once the salary was paid, the first thing to do was to go to the money changer on the street and exchange the banknotes issued by the Kuomintang into Hong Kong dollars. The gold dollar coupons have become waste paper, and the government-in-exile who fled to Guangzhou issued the so-called 'silver dollar coupons' The difference between the two is that the gold-dollar coupons are red, and the silver-dollar coupons are blue, but the market prices are also skyrocketing.” Most of these money change shops are opened under arcades on the side of the road. "A small cabinet for private use, like the glass cabinets used for repairing watches in the Mainland, is used to exchange various currencies while doing small transactions such as candies. Because the money change shops Another name is 'razor lintel', which means that it has to be scraped when it is bought or sold, just like a razor on the lintel, which has to be scraped every time it enters and exits. At that time, these money stalls were all over the main roads. , there are dozens of stalls concentrated on the street of Shisanhang, which is only a few hundred meters long.” In order to avoid the exploitation of the razor lintel, Liang seems to have two other ways to preserve the value of currency.One is to buy a gold ring. "As soon as I get paid, I go to the gold jewelry store and buy all the money for gold rings. When I need money, I take the gold rings to the pawnshop to exchange for Hong Kong dollars. At that time, when I buy a ring, I will give a small jewelry box. Liberation soon Before, I had accumulated a lot of jewelry boxes at home, and people thought I was rich when they saw them, but in fact all the boxes were empty and they were all exchanged for Hong Kong dollars.” Because Hong Kong dollars are the most stable real currency in the market, all barters on the market are exchanged. The ultimate goal is the Hong Kong dollar, so "we call the Hong Kong dollar the base. A gold ring can be exchanged for 300 bases." Teahouses are another place to preserve value.Liang Yanran recalled: "In the tea house in Laoxiguan, when drinking morning tea, each variety of tea and food was marked with iron plates, such as three iron plates for an egg tart. One base can be exchanged for ten iron plates. After I get my salary, I will Go to the teahouse to exchange a lot of iron plates, so that you can still eat tea and food with the iron plates the next day. So when we drank morning tea, we chatted and said that now a teahouse is more useful than a country’s bank or government.” By 1950, inflation had still not been completely eliminated. "My salary is 600,000 yuan a month, and the currency issued by the new government is also 10,000 yuan a piece." Liang Yanyan said, "Until the razor lintel was banned, the currency value in Guangzhou gradually stabilized. By 1952, taking one Ten thousand yuan can be exchanged for one RMB in the public bank.” On the fourth day after the liberation of Guangzhou, people in Guangzhou discovered that the frequency bands of the Guangzhou Radio Station they had listened to before had been replaced by the Guangzhou People's Broadcasting Station, and the frequency bands of the three private radio stations had also been cancelled.For the first time, a clear and melodious Mandarin female voice came out on the radio. During the 13 hours of broadcasting time, she repeatedly read the "Letter to the People of Guangdong", "Three Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention", "Eight Chapters of the Covenant Law" and military management. various laws and policies. The voice that is still unfamiliar to Guangzhou natives comes from Tian Yuzhu.She was the first announcer after the liberation of Guangzhou, and her daughter would compare her to "Xing Zhibin of Guangzhou" when she joked.For nearly two years from October 18, 1949, her voice accompanied Guangzhou people almost every day.During this period, Tian Yuzhu and her colleagues not only had to stabilize the city, which was in the chaotic period of the transition from the old to the new, but also provided citizens with a brand new set of entertainment programs that matched the new regime. Tian Yuzhu entered Guangzhou on the night of October 17, and was sent to Shamian to take over the radio station the next day. She still clearly remembers the location of the radio station: No. 67 Zhaohe Road, Shamian Island. "Shamian Island was the foreign embassy area before liberation. When we got there, the sign 'Chinese and dogs are not allowed' was still there. The radio station was in a small building built by the Japanese when Guangzhou was occupied. It was originally a Japanese radio station. , After the Kuomintang took over, it became the only public radio station in Guangzhou. The small building is close to the river, and the river is very clear, and some people go swimming in the river at night." Tian Yuzhu recalled. After taking over the radio station, the first thing to do is to change the station number. "It turned out that the station was called 'Guangzhou Radio Station'. The leader reminded me that the word 'people' must be added to show that it was different from the old society. Because of the shortage of manpower, the station still retained a group of radio announcers from the Kuomintang period. They cannot broadcast important news, but only entertainment programs. For example, a short piece of Western music will be interspersed between news and government orders, and they are responsible for the explanation of each piece of music." Tian Yuzhu said. Strict political control was necessary at the time. "There is a retained announcer whose husband is an air force member of the Kuomintang. When she reports the station number, she always does not add the word 'people', but insists on saying 'Guangdong Broadcasting Station'. I remind her many times, but she always says that she forgot Later, she was going to be arrested, but she knew about it in advance and asked the technicians from the private radio station to help her record the program to be broadcast in advance. While the recording was playing, she fled and went to Hong Kong.” In addition to rolling out important government news every day, Tian Yuzhu and her colleagues also have to find ways to invent some new programs to replace the traditional Cantonese-style entertainment of the old radio stations. "It turned out that the radio programs of the Kuomintang period could not be used, and we had to use new ones. At that time, we thought of many ways, such as inviting some students to come to the radio station to teach revolutionary songs such as "Dongfanghong" and "National Anthem", and teach whatever new songs come out. At the end of each song teaching program, the name of the song to be taught next time will be announced, so that the audience can find the sheet music. Because many Cantonese only speak Cantonese, this program also takes the opportunity to promote Mandarin. Before teaching songs, I have to read the entire lyrics in Mandarin. It’s called Zhengyin.” Cantonese people listen to Cantonese opera, but the newly launched Guangdong People’s Broadcasting Station broadcasts less Cantonese opera, and only rebroadcasts the concerts of famous Cantonese opera artists such as Hong Xiannv. "Because everything has to be new and different from the old society," Tian Yuzhu said. By the beginning of 1950, Tian Yuzhu and her colleagues had already run a program for the radio station that belonged entirely to the new regime: the program started at 6 a.m., and the opening music was "Dongfanghong".Six o'clock in the morning and evening, twelve o'clock at noon and ten o'clock in the evening are news on the hour.Other times are various entertainment programs.They brought many non-local programs to Guangzhou, such as Hou Baolin's cross talk, drama, and Soviet poetry.In the middle, there will be an emergency message that the secret agent is discovered at any time.There will be an hourly reminder at ten o'clock in the evening: listeners, it is ten o'clock in the evening, it is too late, please turn down the volume of the radio. "We invented this." Tian Yuzhu said proudly. Guan Guohua found his way out under the new regime in another government-organized campaign to rebuild new entertainment.He participated in the recruitment of the Cantonese opera team of "Sending Opera to the Countryside". "The exam is divided into two parts. Politics first. For example, what do the five stars on the national flag represent? After passing the political exam, art is taken. A regiment has 5 teams, and each team has a maximum of 21 people." Guan Guohua recalled. "The performances in the countryside were in line with the political movement at that time. In 1950, when the land reform began in Guangzhou, we all performed modern dramas to cooperate with the struggle against the landlords." Guan Guohua recalled. "The White-haired Girl" has the most performances. "After the performance, the landlord was immediately dragged to the stage to criticize. At that time, there was a court chief who was with us. The landlord who was more angry was dragged to a place a few meters away from the stage and shot. ".Guan Guohua's folk art path from the countryside to the city started with sports. Since then, "Siqing, centralized cadre schools, and large-scale steelmaking, I have participated in performances. So I joked that I am an athlete, not an actor." In the first few years after liberation, theatrical performances in Guangzhou were dominated by modern dramas.In order to meet the needs of publicity in the current situation, a large number of playwrights have participated in the creation of "modern drama" in a short period of time, and Wang Jianxun is one of them.He said that in order to write the screenplay, he was exposed to no less than 10,000 new and old plays at that time.The land reform movement, the gathering of young actors and new screenwriters laid the foundation for the unprecedented prosperity of this drama. "From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, we called it the 'Golden Decade of Cantonese Opera in Guangzhou'. In this atmosphere and enthusiasm, this group of Hong Kong famous actors represented by Hong Xiannu and Ma Shizeng came back , which gave the Guangzhou opera market a soul. I remember that until 1954, there were five most famous private theater troupes in Guangzhou ('Pearl River Troupe', 'New World Troupe', 'Southern Troupe', 'Dongfanghong Troupe' and "Sunrise" troupe) and seven large theaters. These troupes are all private and responsible for their own profits and losses. The big names are the core of the troupe, and they are responsible for finding plays by themselves. At that time, the competition was very fierce, and each troupe relied on itself "New World" is good at martial arts dramas, Luo Pinchao's "Pearl River Troupe" is good at costume dramas with love themes, and "Sunrise Troupe" created Luojiabao's "Shrimp Tune" with "Liu Yi" "Biography" became popular. These theaters are basically sold out." Since the late 1950s, dancing styles have emerged all over the country, and Guangzhou is no exception.The provincial party committee also often holds weekend dance parties to enliven cultural life.Ou Chu recalled: "The place where the dance party is usually held is in a small conference room next to the provincial party committee auditorium. In some special circumstances, the dance party will be held in the conference room on the fifth floor of the provincial party committee office building." After liberation, Mao Zedong came to Guangzhou eight times, and sometimes participated in dances, and Ou Chu accompanied him many times.He recalled: "The General Office of the Provincial Party Committee arranges a dance for Mao Zedong, and usually prepares a small band of more than a dozen people, which is directed by Li Tian, ​​the head of the Guangzhou Folk Art Troupe. It is equipped with musical instruments according to the requirements for performing Cantonese music. The music is mainly Cantonese music such as "Backgammon", and sometimes some small performances are interspersed in the middle. At that time, the famous actress Hong Xiannv once went to the fifth floor of the Provincial Party Committee to dance with Mao Zedong and sang "Selling Litchi". "Everyone at the ball regards dancing with Mao Zedong as the highest honor. Every time Mao Zedong sat down, people rushed to ask him to dance. Mao Zedong usually only danced five or six pieces, and the time was about an hour before and after. Leave. The office will greet you in advance, and the person who danced with Mao Zedong will leave automatically before switching to another partner, and the next partner will take over. In this way, every time a piece of music is played, several people will get to dance with Mao Zedong Everyone is happy with the opportunity." "When dancing in the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, Mao Zedong usually seldom speaks. His dancing posture is like walking, and he has a lot of personality." This is different from other leaders that Ou Chu saw. "In the 1950s and 1960s, during each session of the National People's Congress, leaders such as Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi went to the Beijing Hotel to attend evening parties and dance with famous figures in the literary and artistic circles such as Wang Renmei. They danced and talked and laughed happily with their dancing partners." The wind of dancing spread from the municipal party committee compound to the people. "I learned to dance during the land reform," said Li Yuzhong, a retired professor at South China Normal University. In the 1950s, Li Yuzhong led a group of students to carry out land reform in the suburbs of Guangzhou. The two things he looked forward to most were meetings and dancing. "The meetings are concentrated in the daytime, and the content is nothing more than small summaries and big summaries, but because the land reform is very bitter, there is something to eat during the meeting, so we still like to have meetings." Li Yuzhong said that the dances are mostly arranged in the evening. Three steps and four steps. There are all kinds of tunes, as long as the rhythm can be matched with three steps and four steps. I remember that the songs that were often used at that time included Western waltz and "When Will You Come Again". The trend of dancing didn't gradually fade until the "Cultural Revolution".欧初还记得一场特殊的舞会：“大约是1966年10月中旬，主持省政府工作的省委书记处书记林李明打电话找到我，要我到小岛参加一次舞会。我正为应付串联、造反的红卫兵忙得焦头烂额，心情相当恶劣，就说，现在还开舞会，不怕红卫兵批判我们吗？林李明说，陈老总来广州主持秋季出口商品交易会开幕式，是他要跳舞。”后来欧初硬着头皮去参加，看到陈毅准时到场，跳得兴高采烈。当时全国“破四旧”风潮正烈，在红卫兵眼里，跳舞是资产阶级的腐朽行为。批判的矛头也指向中央的老革命，陈毅却不为所动，让欧初佩服不已。