Century Family / Tan Xinpei

Author: Li Zhongming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: On the Peking Opera stage of the 20th century, it was not uncommon for artistic masters to perform on stage with their children. For example, Mei Lanfang performed alongside Mei Baojiu and Mei Baokey in Mu Guiying Guai Zhua; Mei Lanfang also performed with Mei Baojiu in Duanqiao and Youyuan Jingmeng. Additionally, Shang Xiaoyun and Shang Changchun, Xun Huisheng and Xun Linglai, Tan Fuying and Tan Yuanshou, Li Wanchun and Li Xiaochun, all once performed together on stage and were highly popular with audiences. However, performances with three generations on stage were extremely rare. In 1997, Liu Zhiqiang from China Central Television proposed that Tan Yuanshou, Tan Xiaozeng, and Tan Zhengyan perform Ding Junshan together as a three-generation collaboration. The Tan family took this very seriously. At the time, Tan Zhengyan was only in his late teens, and Tan Xiaozeng taught his son Zhengyan the vocal techniques and movements, practicing repeatedly. The first performance of Ding Junshan by the three generations took place in the auditorium of the Twenty-first Century Hotel. The performance was a great success and became a frequently performed piece during New Year celebrations, holidays, and traditional opera commemorative events.
From December 12 to 16, 1997, Beijing held a grand event to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Tan Xinpeng's birth, organized jointly by the Peking Opera Revitalization Guidance Committee of the Ministry of Culture, the China Peking Opera Art Foundation, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, and the Hubei Provincial Bureau of Culture. The event included six performances and academic seminars. One of the performances featured Ding Junshan·Yangpingguan. Tan Xinpeng's great-grandson Tan Yuanshou and his great-great-grandson Tan Xiaozeng, along with Tan-style inheritors Gao Baoyan and Zhang Ke, played Huang Zhong. Wang Jinlu played Zhao Yun, Jing Rongqing played Cao Cao. At the age of nearly seventy, Tan Yuanshou sang the line, "This old man is seventy this year, ready to show some youthful spirit," and immediately received a warm round of applause from the audience. Tan Yuanshou also performed Qunyinghui·Jiedongfeng·Huayongdao alongside Ma Changli, Ye Shaolan, and Sun Yue. Yan Guixiang and his son, Tan Zhengyan, the seventh-generation inheritor of the Tan family, participated in Sifang Tantumu and Changbanpo·Hantiankou. The final performance was Lianhuanquan. Tan Yuanshou and Wang Lijun played Huang Tianba, while Tan Shaoying, Meng Guanglu, and Shang Changrong played Soudelun. The theater was filled with excitement and continuous applause, especially for the exceptional performances of Tan Yuanshou and Shang Changrong, which earned them long-lasting applause from the audience.
During the commemorative event, League of Communists of China leader Li Ruihuan inscribed the phrase "One Generation Master" in honor of the event. Premier Zhu Rongji sent a congratulatory letter to Tan Yuanshou. Leaders such as Ding Guangen attended the event and took a group photo with Tan Yuanshou and his entire three-generation family. Tan Yuanshou deeply felt the care of the Party and state leaders and the affection of the. Although he was elderly, his peers also advised him, "At seventy, one is considered ancient; it's time to enjoy a peaceful life at home!" However, Tan Yuanshou devoted every day to the development of Peking Opera, viewing the "promoting national culture and revitalizing Peking Opera" as an inescapable responsibility. Every New Year, he would earnestly remind his family, "If our Tan family does not dedicate ourselves to Peking Opera, we will betray the kindness of the three generations of central leaders!" Tan Yuanshou often recalled the stories told by his grandfather Tan Xiaopei and his father Tan Fuying: after the Boxer Rebellion, Empress Dowager Cixi returned to Beijing and demanded that Tan Xinpeng perform in the palace. At the time, Tan Xinpeng was too ill to attend, and Empress Dowager Cixi was furious, saying, "He is truly sick—carry him here, even if it means dragging him!" Later, Tan Xiaopei personally apologized to Empress Dowager Cixi. Yuan