Chang Xiangyu, the "Queen of Yuju Opera," completed her 81-year life in the
early morning of June 1 in Henan Provincial People's Hospital in Zhengzhou,
capital of Central China's Henan Province.
Chang Xiangyu
attends the Sixth National Meeting of the China Federation of Liberary and
Art Circles in 1997. [Xinhua/file] |
The death of this great artist brought deep sorrow to opera circles and fans
of Yuju Opera, which has millions of followers, mostly in Henan Province, the
opera's birth place.
On Thursday morning, several thousand officials, artists and fans gathered at
the Zhengzhou Funeral Parlour to pay last respects to the great star, who died
of cancer on Tuesday.
"I grew up listening to the singing of Chang, and my creations are derived
from the marrow of Yuju Opera," said noted writer Liu Zhenyun, who was born in
Henan and now works in Beijing.
Li Runjun, a retired military officer who was born in the same county as
Chang, is deeply grieved because Chang will never again grace the stages of
China.
"I like Yuju Opera very much and became a fan of Chang when I was a young
boy. For 50 years, enjoying Chang's performances has been the greatest joy in my
life, wherever I have worked, in Henan or in Northwest China's Shaanxi
Province," he said.
Chang Xiangyu
performs the role of Hua Mulan. [file
photo] |
People remember and adore Chang not only for her superb Yuju Opera
performances, but also for her devotion to the art and her contributions to the
country.
Chang was born to a poor farmer's family in Henan's Gongxian County in
September, 1923, and her father was a popular Yuju Opera actor in their
hometown. He had to leave the stage because of a throat disease after Chang was
born.
Chang first learned Yuju Opera from her father and won stage fame at the age
of 13, when she acted the part of a lively maid in the "Romance of the West
Chamber" (Xixiang Ji). "I liked to watch Yuju Opera when I was very young, but I
had to learn to be an actress because of poverty," Chang said in an interview
with local media two years ago. "My family was so poor that sometimes we had
nothing to eat for one or two days when I was young. And I started to follow my
mother to beg in the streets when I was 6."
When she was 9 years old, she could have become a child-bride, leaving her
own family to live with her future husband's family.
However, they'd seen so many child brides living miserable lives that Chang's
father took the little girl to learn opera.
Difficult rise to stardom
In Chang's memory, learning opera was a path full of tears. Beatings were
seen as the simplest and fastest way to teach opera skills to a little girl.
"Though my father loved me dearly, he was very strict with me, because it was
the only way he knew to help me master more skills. I understood him and I tried
hard," she said.
Chang's original name was Zhang Miaoling but she was forced to change it to
Chang Xiangyu, because the people from her village with the same surname as hers
considered it shameful that a girl surnamed Zhang would become an opera actress.
However, those who used to look down upon Chang eventually became jealous of
her and made trouble for her after she became popular around her county.
Threats, including a hand-made grenade explosion, forced the Changs to leave
their hometown. Later the Changs went to Shaanxi, the neighbouring province to
the west.
There were still traps laid for this rising and popular young opera star away
from their home town. "I still remember that in Baoji, a city in western Shaanxi
Province, I was forced to perform in a local rich despot's home. I was so angry
about it that I tried to commit suicide by swallowing a gold ring," Chang said.
Fortunately, Chang did not die. And in this darkest moment in her young stage
life, she met Chen Xianzhang, who later became her husband and life-long
partner.
Chen was at that time the headmaster of a primary school and was married, but
lived an unhappy life with his family. Chen also came from Henan and loved Yuju
Opera. He often went to watch Chang's performances and fell in love with her.
"Chen gave me a helping hand when I met with difficulties, and I knew he was
a man I could depend on for my whole life," Chang smiled, looking at a picture
of Chen, who died in July, 2000.
In 1944, 21-year-old Chang married 27-year-old Chen who had divorced, and
later, Chen resigned and concentrated all his attention on helping Chang in her
opera career. With Chen's help, Chang enriched Yuju Opera art and expanded its
appeal by adapting performance skills and vocal techniques from other local
Chinese operas. She created a Yuju school of her own. In 1948, Chang established
the Xiangyu Opera Troupe in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province and worked very
hard to train young opera students.
Traditional legacy
Yuju Opera, originally called Henan Bangzi, is one of the major local opera
forms and has a broad popular base in China.
According to written records, Yuju Opera has a history of over 200 years. At
the end of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it had spread over Henan and after 1949,
operas in the Yuju genre could be seen all over the country. By the 1980s,
through the efforts of Chang and other Yuju Opera artists, the number of Yuju
Opera troupes, actors and actresses and fans topped the list of the 300 types of
local opera in the country.
Yuju Opera has various schools and its five noted actresses - Chang Xiangyu,
Chen Suzhen, Cui Lantian, Ma Jinfeng and Yan Lipin - represent five major
styles.
Chang's style has remained the most popular, distinguished by its beautiful
music and loud and sonorous singing, as well as its vigorous movements and
exquisite performances. Chang's art is considered the epitome of Yuju Opera.
Her fans have deeply engrained memories of Chang's vivid portrayals of dozens
of characters, varying from an ancient woman general to a commoner in a people's
commune.
Hua Mulan, one of her most loved operas, depicting a legendary heroine from
around 1,500 years ago, was filmed in 1956 and remade as the animated film
"Mulan" by the famed Disney Studios in the United States in 1998. Hua Mulan's
song, in which she says, "Who says women are not as capable as men?" has been
loved and learned by millions of Chinese.
Chang not only performed as a heroine on stage, but also displayed her strong
spirit in her daily life.
In 1951, when China became involved in the Korean War, after discussions with
her husband and on behalf of her drama troupe, she donated a fighter plane to
the Chinese volunteers. Chang collected money for the plane by performing "Hua
Mulan" all over the country in more than 180 shows, and after two years, Chang
fulfilled her promise.
Jing Hua, one of Chang's colleagues who had worked with her since 1951, said
Chang was not rich and that she lived a simple and frugal life. Over the past
decades, every time disaster struck the country and the people, Chang would
always donate money and give a helping hand. She always considered the people's
concerns as her own, Jing said.
Chang's outstanding achievements both in art and daily life are highly
appreciated by both the nation and her fans. She was elected a deputy of the
National People's Congress from the first until the seventh session, except for
the fourth.
Chang passed away leaving two wishes she could never fulfill. One was that
her school could be passed down by her own children, but unfortunately that was
not to be; and the other, that she would have time to look after her family. "I
gave all my life to my career and I owe too much to my husband and children,"
Chang often said in her last days.
