The 51-year-old Dao Ma Dan actor turned to the live broadcast room and won tens of millions of likes for his stunt

Zhen Shusuo is performing a unique skill

Because of the unique job of "relying on the flag to turn the knife", Zhen Shusuo, 51, of Quyang County, Baoding, Hebei Province, became a hit on the Internet, absorbing 1.2 million fans and receiving tens of millions of praises. She was originally a Peking Opera knife and Martin actor, who went to Wenzhou to work hard more than 20 years ago, became the top pillar of the troupe, and was called "Wenzhou's first knife and horse dan" by opera fans, and performed 60 times a month when she was most popular. At the beginning of 2020, affected by the epidemic, her performances decreased, and she did not want to change her career, she began to perform Peking Opera Kung Fu online. Recently, in an interview with the Yangtze Evening News/ Purple Cow News reporter, Zhen Shusuo said that changing platforms to perform is still loved by so many people, especially after gaining a lot of young post-90s and post-00s fans, which is a very kind feeling.

Purple Cow News reporter Wan Huijuan

A

At the age of 11, he studied art with a teacher

Obsessed with Wu Dan, his feet are frozen and rotten or he practices every day

At the age of 11, Zhen Shusuo watched a performance by the local county theater troupe in Quyang County, Baoding, Hebei Province, the Peking Opera "Hu Yanqing Beating", and was attracted by the heroic female general Lu Fengying on the stage, bent on becoming a "heroine". From time to time, she would sing a sentence or two and play a few tricks with a wooden stick. After watching the Peking Opera movie "The Legend of the White Snake", she was completely fascinated by opera, and she pestered her mother to say that she wanted to learn drama. "At first, my mother didn't agree, thinking that learning drama was too hard, but I had an iron heart to learn." Unable to resist her daughter, her mother sent her to a local theater troupe and visited a master.

"I just started learning the basics, pressing my legs, opening my crotch, and lowering my waist, all of which were children my age, and everyone was screaming in pain." Zhen Shusuo said that every morning when the sky was just dark, she had to get up and practice, and the cold wind of the northern winter blew on her face like a knife cutting. "At that time, my family was poor, I only had a pair of shoes, and I sweated a lot of my feet when I practiced. The next morning, the shoes were frozen out of the ice slag, and I had to wear them the scalp, and then I practiced sweating, and over and over again, my feet were frozen. "When the master found out, he took her to the hospital, and after the wound was cleaned, the bones could almost be seen." The doctor said, you child, how can you be so tolerant. Zhen Shusuo said that it was a little uncomfortable to look back on now, at that time, I really felt that there was nothing, and I just wanted to practice each action well.

With this fierce strength, Zhen Shusuo learned a solid basic skill. Two years later, she was admitted to the Tang County Theater Troupe and began to run dragon sets for professional opera actors. "At that time, there was only one knife and horse actor in the troupe, so I practiced with her, and after a while, I had the bottom in my heart, so I applied for an audition with the group." It was a folding play, only half an hour, 15-year-old Zhen Shusuo took the stage for the first time, without fear, brandishing knives and guns, and performing hard. At that time, there were many people watching the drama, and she frequently heard applause, which greatly increased her confidence. Since then, Zhen Shusuo has really embarked on the path of Daomadan.

Dao Ma Dan is a kind of Wu Dan, specializing in the hero of the towel, carrying a knife and riding a horse, a woman with high martial arts, and most of her identities are female generals. In addition to mastering the basic skills of opera performers, Zhen Shusuo also has to learn how to play with whips, make swords and dance swords and guns, so she practices day by day and never slacks off.

Later, Zhen Shusuo left the Tang County Theater Troupe and returned to her hometown of Quyang County, joined the local opera troupe, met her current husband, and married and had children.

B

Become the pillar of the troupe

Fans called her "Wenzhou's first knife Madan"

In the 1990s, most families had television sets, and fewer and fewer people came out to watch the play. Zhen Shusuo's troupe is private, self-financing, with a monthly salary of only 99 yuan, "the late troupe is very difficult", so she and her husband entrusted their four-month-old son to the care of the elderly and went out to seek a way out.

Zhen Shusuo told reporters that at that time, in the case of the "opera crisis" in many parts of the country, the performance market of traditional dramas in Wenzhou was very prosperous, the creation of state-owned theater troupes was overwhelming, and the performances of private theater troupes were continuous. "Wenzhou people love to watch dramas, and during the New Year's Festival, they always invite a troupe to sing a big drama for a few days."

When she first arrived in Wenzhou, she found that some colleagues in the regiment were famous characters in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, and she was a little nervous and did not dare to take the stage.

"I came from a small place, I hadn't performed a complete play before, I practiced with the teachers in the troupe for seven days, and I Chinese New Year's Eve performed on stage at night." Zhen Shusuo said that she was too nervous at that time, as soon as she came to the stage, the knife fell off, the gun also fell, and she left the stage crying. At that time, an old gentleman who sang a flower face comforted her, "He said that as soon as I got on the stage, I had a model and an audience, and I must stick to it." ”

The next day, in addition to eating and sleeping, she was practicing all the time. Half a month later, when she took the stage again, her spirit was different, and her excellent performance won enthusiastic cheers from the audience. Zhen Shusuo became a hit in Wenzhou and gained unprecedented fame that year. She soon became the pillar of the troupe and was called "Wenzhou's first knife Andan" by fans.

Zhen Shusuo often performs classic Wudan repertoire, "I like Mu Guiying the most, handsome, skilled, as soon as he took the stage, the audience cheered and applauded." ”

Zhen Shusuo told reporters that at that time, the troupe performed a lot, and the fans came in droves to support her, and when she was most popular, she performed 60 times a month, "Acting in Wenzhou, our two sons can earn 80 yuan a day, and before they only earned 99 yuan a month in their hometown." ”

C

Show off your unique skills in the live room

I want more young people to fall in love with Chinese opera

After working hard in Wenzhou for more than 20 years, the days are getting more and more prosperous. But around 2018, Zhen Shusuo obviously felt that the troupe performances were becoming less, "Now that everyone's entertainment projects have become more, it is quite interesting to go to KTV to sing, soak in hot springs, and watch movies." In 2019, the son inadvertently mentioned the short video platform to Zhen Shusuo, "He said, Mom, you have to practice every day, your ability should let more people see, you shoot videos and send vibrato." She took her son's advice, registered a Douyin account, and occasionally posted her own practice videos, but each one was not played high.

At the beginning of 2020, Zhen Shusuo followed the troupe to a small mountain village in Wenzhou to sing a New Year drama, and just three days after the performance, he encountered the epidemic, "My son called me and knew that I could not perform for a short time, so he suggested that I open the vibrato and broadcast live while practicing." Zhen Shusuo began the first live broadcast with the attitude of trying it out. At first, there were only four or five people in the live broadcast room, and on the third day, there were hundreds of people, and after a week, there were more than ten thousand people. "I can't believe it, I was so excited, I broadcast live for eight hours that day, and for the first time, so many people watched my performance, I really couldn't bear to go down the show." Some people chatted with her, and some people cheered her up, which made Zhen Shusuo more motivated.

After she returned to her hometown, she continued to shoot videos of her practice and uploaded some unique tasks to the short video platform. A video showing the unique skill of "turning the knife by the flag" has been played more than 50 million times, allowing Zhen Shusuo to gain the first fans. Some netizens sighed: "The aunt is worthy of being a great aunt, this is definitely real kung fu!" Some netizens said: "Before, I didn't understand why my grandfather loved to watch dramas, but when I grew up, I understood: this is the essence of the real country." ”

Whether wearing a drama costume or an apron for cooking, she can play with sticks, knives and guns, attracting a large number of fans, and many videos have reached hundreds of thousands of likes.

Zhen Shusuo will occasionally wear the head of Peking Opera and perform a paragraph for everyone in the live broadcast room, netizens will order their favorite Peking Opera excerpts, and she will basically meet their requirements. Zhen Shusuo said that what made her happiest was that many old fans of Wenzhou's former opera recognized her and said in the live broadcast room, "It's good to see you perform!" It made her feel as if she was back on the stage.

Zhen Shusuo told reporters that most of her fans were post-70s in the past, and some time ago she sent a video playing "Mu Guiying", and suddenly there were many more fans after the 90s and 00s. "They said, Auntie, you're amazing!" Zhen Shusuo said that before performing on stage, she could only judge whether she was acting well or not through applause and applause, and there was no communication with the audience. Nowadays, in the live broadcast room, she can communicate with fans and get their feedback in time, "Now, my audience is much more than when I performed offline, but no matter where I perform, I am very serious." 」 ”

Nowadays, shooting short videos and live broadcasts has become a part of her life. "I have been working hard in Wenzhou for more than 20 years, in fact, the living conditions are OK, and the reason why I live broadcast is because I like to sing and perform." She said that she wanted to show everyone what she had learned in her life, and she also wanted to spread Chinese opera culture and let more young people fall in love with Chinese opera.

Source: Yangtze Evening News