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Xu Jingqing
Xu Jingqing is a famous heavyweight composer, who single-handedly composed all the compositions for the 86th edition of Journey to the West.
His musical works such as "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", "Daughter Love", "Tianzhu Maiden", "Return from the Scriptures", "Journey to the West Overture" and other musical works can be called classics that have never faded.
Xu Jingqing's life was bumpy, low-key, and poor. In order to open a concert, his entanglement and hard work made people cry. His wife accompanied him through ups and downs, and also had a lot of unforgettable bitter past...
01
Xu Jingqing was born in 1942 in a poor and remote village in Longkou, Shandong Province, to the father Xu Zengtai and his mother to Yu Zhenzhi. When Xu Jingqing was 1 year old, his parents took him to the Kanto region and came to the distant Boli County of Heilongjiang.
Xu Jingqing in the fourth grade of primary school
After arriving in Heilongjiang, his parents gave birth to two younger sisters to Xu Jingqing, the eldest sister was called Xu Jingfen, and the younger sister was called Xu Jingfang. The family of five depends on their father's odd jobs at the oil mill to make ends meet.
Xu Jingqing helped his mother work in the field when he was 5 years old, carrying a basket to pick up coal cores and dead branches in winter, and returning home to let his mother make a fire for warmth.
The Xu family's ancestors never engaged in literary and artistic work, but Xu Jingqing had an extraordinary musical talent.
When he was in elementary school, his father made him an erhu out of fish skin, but he never visited a teacher. If you want to talk about the music enlightenment teacher, it is the local Northeast duo turn actor.
At that time, Xu Jingqing did not have the money to buy tickets to watch the performance, so he hid behind the curtain and watched the actors sing on the stage from the cracks in the curtain.
In the winter, his hair was frozen and he was unconscious. After watching the performance, Xu Jingqing used erhu to pull out the two-person turning song.
Xu Jingqing's eldest sister Xu Jingfen (right) younger sister Xu Jingfang with her mother
Xu Jingqing in front of his alma mater (taken in 1961)
When Xu Jingqing was 14 years old, his father died prematurely due to overwork. Before leaving, his father tearfully said to Xu Jingqing: In the future, you will only be a man in the family, and you will have to support the family.
Xu Jingqing took his father's words to heart.
During middle school, he helped his mother push the trolley and pick up the bag valley, which was equivalent to a strong laborer. The poor family situation makes Xu Jingqing become introverted, silent, and unsociable.
In 1961, Xu Jingqing was admitted to the composition department of Harbin Academy of Arts. Because his family was poor, he rarely interacted with his classmates and was very lonely inside. Xu Jingqing knew that it was not easy for him to study, and he spent all his time studying.
When he returned home during the winter and summer vacations, Xu Jingqing was about to cry when he saw his mother. Because my mother had unkempt hair and ragged clothes, she pushed a cart to work in the fields.
Young Xu Jingqing was in front of the unit
Because of overwork, her mother's face was dark and thin, and she looked older than her peers, and people who didn't know the inside story thought she was a woman named Hanako.
In 1965, after graduating from University, Xu Jingqing was assigned to the China Agricultural Film and Television Center as a composer. The poor boy left Heilongjiang and came to Beijing to work and live.
Receiving a monthly salary, Xu Jingqing left only a meager living expenses, and sent the rest of the money home to help his mother support the family and raise two younger sisters.
In the Spring Festival of 1966, Xu Jingqing returned to his hometown for the New Year, and when he saw his mother and two younger sisters living a normal life, he burst into tears.
Xu Jingqing came to his father's cemetery and choked up to comfort his father: Dad, you rest in peace over there, I will support your family for you. Thinking of his father who died early, Xu Jingqing wept bitterly.
New Year painting "Dazhai Red Flowers Bloom Everywhere"
Xu Jingqing's job is to compose music for documentaries and science and education films produced by the unit. He has composed music for more than 50 scientific and educational films and documentaries, and composed music for natural creatures such as rabbits, chickens, rice, and ears of wheat.
Xu Jingqing is talented and has a good personality, but he is not valued in the unit because he is introverted and unsociable. The music he composed won awards, but he did not have his share in going abroad to receive awards. Xu Jingqing didn't care, he only knew how to bury his head in work.
In 1972, Xu Jingqing's folk music ensemble "Dazhai Red Flowers Bloom Everywhere" caused a huge response, and he had a certain popularity.
02
It was also at this time that Xu Jingqing got married, and his wife engaged in cultural work.
As early as before getting married, Xu Jingqing said to his wife: My father left early, the conditions at home are not good, I want to adopt my mother and two younger sisters. If you think I'm burdened, I don't blame you.
Young Xu Jingqing
The wife is interested in Xu Jingqing's kindness and simplicity, and has a sense of responsibility. She said: If you are not good to your mother and two sisters, I will not accept you."
In 1973, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Xu Jingqing was born. The couple's salary is not high, but the wife is meticulous, and Xu Jingqing can send a little money to his mother every month.
The two younger sisters married and started a family, and Xu Jingqing also gave financial support.
Xu Jingqing did not expect that he was a poor boy, with no roots and no foundation in Beijing, and that he could have a happy and stable family, so he was full of gratitude to his wife. If it were not for the generosity and kindness of his wife, he would not have been able to be a filial piety and a competent brother easily.
A good woman can nourish three generations, Xu Jingqing has a hard understanding of this sentence.
Director Yang Jie is in the crew of "Journey to the West"
In 1982, CCTV prepared to shoot the TV series "Journey to the West", directed by the famous female director Yang Jie. Born in 1929 in Xinyang, Henan Province, Yang Jie is one of China's first generation of television directors and a national first-class director.
Yang Jie is talented, dares to say and dare to do, and is a director with a great sense of justice and personality.
In 1983, after the script of "Journey to the West" was produced, the crew recruited composers from all over the country to compose music.
Because "Journey to the West" reflects myths and legends and has special requirements for music, the crew has changed 7 composers, and the director team has made difficulties for music creation.
In 1983, someone recommended Xu Jingqing to director Yang Jie. At that time, Xu Jingqing was not too popular, and Yang Jie asked him to try.
Xu Jingqing with a six-year-old child
In March of that year, CCTV music editor Wang Wenhua called Xu Jingqing and asked him to meet. The two talked about composing music for Journey to the West, but then there was no follow-up.
Two months later, Xu Jingqing thought that this matter was out of the woods, and who knew that Wang Wenhua would soon ask him to meet again, this time at CCTV.
At that time, another composer was invited, and Wang Wenhua gave them the lyrics of "Born Without a Name and No Name" and asked them to compose music at the same time.
After Xu Jingqing finished composing the song, he asked the famous singer Cheng Lin to sing, and he sent a sample of the song to the crew, which was recognized by everyone. As a result, the crew initially determined that Xu Jingqing composed the music.
When Xu Jingqing composed music for the first episode of "Huaguoshan Water Curtain Cave", he used a variety of musical instruments such as strings, electric basses, electric guitars, xylophones, and synthesizers, showing a group of monkeys jumping around in the water curtain cave.
In the early years, Xu Jingqing and director Yang Jie
Xu Jingqing and actor Ma Dehua
Yang Jie listened to the music and clapped on the spot: I want this flavor. Only then did the "Journey to the West" crew decide that Xu Jingqing would serve as the chief composer and would not try other composers.
From 1983 to the Spring Festival in 1987, Xu Jingqing composed 13 interludes, hundreds of music, and more than 10 Facebook songs for Journey to the West for more than four years.
For more than 4 years, Xu Jingqing created every night until the early hours of the morning. Their house is narrow, and Xu Jingqing's desk is a narrow wooden table. Sometimes after writing a song, Xu Jingqing also hummed in the middle of the night.
Sometimes Xu Jingqing looked back and saw his wife and son lying in the doorway looking at him with their sleepy eyes open.
Because Xu Jingqing stayed up late to create, his wife and son did not rest well at night. The wife is kind and virtuous, worried that her husband will stay up late at night to create hungry, she will boil a few eggs in advance, and then put them on the writing desk for Xu Jingqing to eat.
03
Xu Jingqing and singing actor Wu Jing
Xu Jingqing's songs such as "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", "Tianzhu Maiden", "Daughter's Love", "Return from Taking the Scriptures" and other songs composed for "Journey to the West" have many unforgettable, poignant and tear-inducing stories behind them.
After "Daughter Love" was written, Xu Jingqing handed it over to Wu Jing, a young singer of the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe, to sing. Wu Jing sang very well, but she was indifferent to fame and fortune, did not do any publicity, and as a result, the song was very popular, and everyone did not know the singer Wu Jing.
The creation of the theme song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" is quite legendary. One day in December 1983, Xu Jingqing took the No. 332 bus to work.
When passing through the bustling zoo, seeing stalls and selling people running for their livelihoods, Xu Jingqing's mind suddenly gushed out the melody of "a series of spring, autumn, winter, and summer, a sour, sweet, bitter and spicy..."
Xu Jingqing quickly got out of the car, took apart a box of peony brand cigarettes in his pocket, and prepared to record it on the cigarette box, but he did not have a pen.
Xu Jingqing's manuscript of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is"
At this time a schoolboy passed by him, borrowed a pencil from the schoolboy, and recorded the melody against a telephone pole.
After arriving at the office, Xu Jingqing only took more than half an hour to create the classic song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is".
After the song was written, Xu Jingqing first handed it to Zhang Shumo, a famous singer of the Second Artillery Literary and Labor Troupe, to sing. However, Zhang Shumo's "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" only used the first 11 episodes of "Journey to the West", and from the 12th episode onwards, it was replaced by the version sung by Jiang Dawei.
On the evening of the second day of the Chinese New Year in 1986, Xu Jingqing called Zhang Shumo to explain the matter, and Zhang Shumo was very angry and used 4 sentences of national scolding to Xu Jingqing to express his resentment. Xu Jingqing told the truth: This is director Yang Jie's opinion, and I have no way.
Zhang Asked him for Yang Jie's phone, and Xu Jingqing told her. Subsequently, Zhang Yumo called Yang Jie, and Yang Jie also said: This is not my decision, this is the opinion of the director. Zhang Yumo didn't say anything more.
Xu Jingqing and Yang Jie
Xu Jingqing spent more than 4 years composing music for "Journey to the West", and he survived two sideburns with white hair, but he was paid more than 7,000 yuan in total.
Because Xu Jingqing used electronic music in music, he was almost replaced in the middle.
Yang Jie, under tremendous pressure, wrote a letter to the CCTV leader: If you let me be responsible, please respect me. If you don't want me to be responsible, after the TV series is finished, I will leave it to you to do the post-production, I don't care.
Due to Yang Jie's tough attitude, Xu Jingqing was not replaced.
In 1987, when the "Journey to the West" award was awarded, the organizers could not find Xu Jingqing's work unit, and the result was that he was not awarded. After a while, someone sent the trophy to Xu Jingqing's office.
"Journey to the West" is one of the most broadcast TV series on TV, and as the chief composer, Xu Jingqing should be as popular as Wang Liping, the composer of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Xu Jingqing
However, because Xu Jingqing is too low-key, no one knows that he is the chief composer of "Journey to the West". Once Xu Jingqing accidentally violated the rules while driving, the traffic police asked him what he was doing.
Xu Jingqing said: My name is Xu Jingqing, and I am the chief composer of the TV series "Journey to the West". The other party does not believe: I am still the composer of "Dream of the Red Chamber"! It can be seen that the awareness of him in society is not high.
At that time, Xu Jingqing did not realize the importance of publicity and popularity to himself, and only knew how to write songs.
Media reporters interviewed him, and Xu Jingqing also talked very little, and never talked about his wife and son. Therefore, everyone knows nothing about Xu Jingqing and his family.
Xu Jingqing and actor Zhu Lin
After creating the music of "Journey to the West", Xu Jingqing created music works for a large number of film and television dramas, mainly including "Dan Xin Spectrum", "Red Elephant", "September", "Good Night Blood Case", "Woman Is Not the Moon", "Half side building", "Love Debt", "Seven Pins Qin cha Liu Luo Pot" and so on.
Everyone has listened to the music and interludes of these film and television dramas, but they just don't know that the author is Xu Jingqing.
04
He has created so many musical works, but Xu Jingqing and his wife still live a life of poverty, and he has hardly ever received royalties.
A family of three lives in a small two-bedroom apartment in the unit, the house is old, there is no elevator, and the sound insulation effect is not good.
Many people know that Xu Jingqing lived such a simple life, but they don't believe it.
Xu Jingqing
In 2010, when Xu Jingqing was 68 years old, he had an obsession in his heart and wanted to open a special concert of "Journey to the West", but no one invested in him, and he could not come up with money himself.
In more than two years, Xu Jingqing has made various efforts and contacted many enterprises, but has not reached a cooperation intention.
Xu Jingqing really realized that being too low-key did bring obstacles to his career.
He thought: Maybe after a while, others will pretend to be the composers of "Journey to the West", and they will not be able to prove it themselves.
In order to prove that the song of "Journey to the West" was written by himself, Xu Jingqing was interviewed by Hubei Satellite TV. He said: If I don't hold a "Journey to the West" concert, I will not be blinded. The audience at the scene and in front of the TV set shed tears for Xu Jingqing.
Xu Jingqing and Jiang Dawei
Xu Jingqing did not get anything in his creation of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", while singer Jiang Dawei gained fame and fortune. Someone advised him to ask Jiang Dawei for copyright proceeds, but Xu Jingqing could not open this mouth.
Moreover, the copyright tax is paid by the performer, but almost no unit pays royalties to Xu Jingqing.
In 2012, Xu Jingqing sent a Weibo post, hoping that someone would help him open a concert. Many netizens forwarded it, holding uneven for him. Some netizens proposed to Xu Jingqing to use crowdfunding to open a concert.
In 2016, Xu Jingqing held crowdfunding on the Internet, and many netizens did not understand it, and they resisted criticizing him, saying that he wanted money and wanted to go crazy. But netizens who know the inside story have given him assistance.
From left to right: Wang Weinian, Xu Jingqing, and Fang Qiong at the "Journey to the West" theme concert scene
Xu Jingqing at the "Journey to the West" theme concert scene
In 2016, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the broadcast of the old version of "Journey to the West", the 74-year-old Xu Jingqing finally held two "Journey to the West" concerts in the Great Hall of the People through crowdfunding.
At the end of the performance, everyone was gone, and Xu Jingqing sat alone in the makeup room, shedding complicated tears.
Back at home, Xu Jingqing still sighed with emotion and said loudly to the window: It's not easy! Remembering the hardships experienced by her husband, the wife also shed tears.
After entering his later years, Xu Jingqing still insisted on creating music. For decades, he came through staying up late. Xu Jingqing said: For more than 30 years, I have never seen how the morning sun rises in Beijing.
In 2022, Xu Jingqing is 80 years old, and he and his wife still live in an old residential building, which is very old and cramped.
Xu Jingqing and his wife
In his later years, Xu Jingqing and his wife lived on a pension, and they had no savings around them, which was no different from the lives of ordinary people.
Because of his obsession with music creation, Xu Jingqing has not undertaken any housework for decades, nor has he given his wife any romantic moves. But his wife understood him and did not complain a word.
Xu Jingqing thanked his wife, he said: If it were not for her carrying the weight behind her back, he would not have had today.
"Taste celebrity" comments: Xu Jingqing was born in poverty, his life was bumpy, and he relied on personal struggle to get to today step by step. He is low-key, indifferent to fame and fortune, and lives a simple life of ordinary people, but has no complaints or regrets.
Xu Jingqing is probably the first to use crowdfunding to open a concert, which shows his dedication to music, but it is also poignant.
Xu Jingqing
Behind every successful man stands a virtuous woman, and Xu Jingqing is no exception.
Although his material life was average, his spiritual life was rich, and his marriage was stable and his family was happy. Xu Jingqing is therefore full of gratitude to his wife and is very content with his life.
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