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Preface
In the history of modern Chinese theater, Zhang Ruifang's name shines brightly. As a talented actress, she has won the hearts of the audience with her superb acting skills on stage, but also experienced emotional ups and downs and challenges in her private life. From her brief marriage to Yu Keji to her complicated relationship with Jinshan, Zhang Ruifang's love life is full of twists and turns. But how have these experiences influenced her career and personal growth? Let's take a little history to learn about it.
Zhang Ruifang was born into a relatively wealthy family, his father was a high-ranking military officer, and his mother came from a prominent family. However, her childhood took a dramatic turn at the age of ten, when her father died heroically in the Northern Expedition, which was a severe blow to the entire family.
Her mother, Lian Wei, showed extraordinary tenacity and perseverance in the midst of grief. She decided to move to Peking with her five children to start a new life and devote herself to raising them to success. As a thoughtful woman, she insisted that her children receive a good education, which had a profound impact on Zhang Ruifang and her siblings.
In such a family environment, Zhang Ruifang has shown a smart and motivated personality since she was a child, and her feelings for her family and country have also been cultivated. When she was a teenager, Zhang Ruifang began to participate in anti-Japanese propaganda activities, which also laid the foundation for her indissoluble bond with drama in the future.
In high school, Zhang Ruifang not only excelled in academics, but also actively participated in drama activities. Her first stage performance was in a drama called "Put Down Your Whip", an experience that deeply touched her passion for the performing arts. Her talent and passion were recognized, which eventually helped her get into the National Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where she specialized in Western painting, but her love for theatre never waned.
At art school, Zhang Ruifang met Zheng Zenghu, a student in the sculpture department. The two met at an on-campus event and quickly developed a deep friendship and special affection. Their relationship quickly warmed up, often dining out together, visiting each other's homes, and becoming a well-known couple on campus.
The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War made the future of the two uncertain. Zhang Ruifang joined the "Beiping Student Mobile Troupe" and went to Chongqing with the troupe to participate in a wider range of anti-Japanese war literary and artistic activities. Although Ms. Zhang wanted Mr. Cheng to travel with her to Chongqing, Mr. Cheng stayed in Beijing for family and academic reasons. This difference in choice marks a bifurcation in the fates of the two.
During her stay in Chongqing, Zhang Ruifang devoted herself to the theater career, and the correspondence between her and Zheng Zenghu never stopped, but the two were never able to communicate as closely as they did for the first time. Cheng later went to the United States for further studies and entered Pennsylvania State University to pursue a doctorate, while Zhang Ruifang gradually established herself in the theater industry. Although this first love is beautiful, they finally have to face the cruel reality of separation, leaving only deep nostalgia and infinite regret for the two.
In the spring of 1939, the young Zhang Ruifang arrived in Beiping with the Chinese Drama Art Society to participate in the rehearsal of the new play "Heart Sick". During this time, she met a talented director, Yu Keji, who had founded the Roar Drama Club in Chongqing two years earlier and successfully directed the patriotic drama "Defending the Lugou Bridge". Yu Keji's passionate voice has aroused the national sentiment and patriotism of many Chinese.
During the rehearsals for "Heart Sick," Yu Keji often discussed the script and characters with Zhang Ruifang individually, and she was fascinated by his passion for drama and innovative spirit. With the success of the play, the relationship between the two gradually warmed up, and finally entered the palace of marriage.
However, just when Zhang Ruifang's married life gradually got on the right track, her old love Zheng Zenghu returned to China after completing her studies. Their chance encounter rekindles the old relationship, but Zheng Zenghu discovers that Zhang Ruifang has become Yu Keji's wife. Despite his reluctance, Zheng Zenghu could only comply with his family's wishes and marry someone else soon after.
Although the marriage is famous, the relationship between Zhang Ruifang and Yu Keji gradually shows cracks. Yu Keji's obsession with drama is so obsessed with drama that he almost neglects his family. Zhang Ruifang tries to share the bits and pieces of life with him, but can only face a husband who is immersed in the world of theater. Yu Keji's passion for drama is like a raging fire, but his indifference to his family is like ice.
Zhang Ruifang's career also encountered a turning point during this period. She was invited by the famous dramatist Guo Moruo to play Chanjuan in "Qu Yuan", during which she met Jin Shan, who launched a passionate pursuit of Zhang Ruifang, although she realized the inappropriateness of this relationship, it was still difficult to completely resist Jin Shan's charm.
During this time, an emergency occurred in Zhang Ruifang's family life. Her sister was in labor at Zhang Ruifang's house, and Yu Keji was busy with work and could not take proper care, causing her sister to go to the hospital alone. Zhang Ruifang was deeply angry and disappointed by this, and this incident became the fuse for the accumulation of dissatisfaction with Yu Keji in her heart.
Soon after, Zhang Ruifang received a letter from her mother and learned the sad news of her brother's death. Yu Keji's indifferent reaction to this further deepened the rift in Zhang Ruifang's heart. She began to re-examine her married life and realized that she was too far away from Yu Keji's heart.
Finally in 1945, Zhang Ruifang and Yu Keji ended this marriage without temperature. When Zhang Ruifang regained her freedom, Jinshan's love was as warm as spring. In the courtyard late at night, the conversation between the two dragged on into the night, and Jin Shan finally revealed that he was also a member of the Communist Party, which brought Zhang Ruifang's trust in him to a peak.
Despite facing the opposition of Guo Moruo, Cao Yu and other friends in the literary and art circles, Zhang Ruifang decided to marry Jin Shan in October of that year. However, the marriage was not blessed by his friends and ended in failure. Kanayama's amorous nature was the main reason for the breakdown of this marriage.
In 1946, Zhang Ruifang and Jin Shan were transferred to the Northeast Film Studio, the predecessor of Changchun Film Studio. There, Zhang Ruifang shone in Jin Shan's film "On the Songhua River", and her performance made more audiences remember the talented actress.
After the liberation of the country, Zhang Ruifang and Jin Shan were transferred to Beijing Film Studio. Soon after, Jin Shan's eyes were attracted by the new female director Sun Weishi. Sun Weishi has a strong background in theater, having studied at the Drama Academy in Moscow, graduating with honors. After returning to China, she worked in Yan'an and served as the leader of the Russian translation team during Premier Zhou and Chairman Mao's visit to the Soviet Union.
In 1950, Beijing had just ushered in the breath of peaceful liberation, and the whole city showed new vitality and vitality. In this year, Sun Weishi directed her translation of the Soviet classic drama "Paul Kochagin", and chose Jin Shan, whom she had admired deeply since she was in Shanghai, and his wife Zhang Ruifang to play the male and female leads.
During this time, Zhang Ruifang discovered that 29-year-old Sun Weishi had developed a deep affection for her 39-year-old husband, Jin Shan. Since joining the Chinese Communist Party in 1932, Jin Shan's artistic career has been closely linked to China's political and social changes.
He founded and participated in a number of theatrical societies, especially during the Anti-Japanese War, and his works such as "Plugging the Storm" and "Professor Mamen" greatly promoted the literary and artistic anti-Japanese war activities at that time. Jin Shan's artistic achievements are not limited to performances, and his starring role in "Qu Yuan" during his stay in Chongqing has established his artistic status at home and abroad.
After entering the People's Republic of China, Jin Shan's artistic career did not stop. He served as the vice president and chief director of the China Youth Art Theater, directed and starred in many important works such as "Paul Kochagin" and "Uncle Vanya", and made indelible contributions to the theater art of New China.
His tall stature and passionate personality also made him controversial in his private life. Especially when Sun Weishi pulled his heart away, this relationship became the focus of the art circle and beyond. The news soon spread to the West Flower Hall in Zhongnanhai, which shocked Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao.
As a revolutionary of the older generation, Premier Zhou was once the leader of Jin Shan and Zhang Ruifang when they were working underground. Zhou Enlai gave a serious criticism of Sun Weishi's reckless behavior, emphasizing that her actions were a violation of revolutionary morality. Sun Weishi's feelings for Jinshan can no longer be extricated.
Faced with such a situation, Zhang Ruifang showed her tenacity and reason. She knew that if Sun Weishi's relationship with Jin Shan was so deep, then the relationship between herself and Jin Shan actually existed in name only. In order to ensure the smooth performance of "Paul Kochakin", Zhang Ruifang suppressed her emotions and decided to complete this last collaboration.
After the performance, Zhang Ruifang resolutely ended her marriage to Jinshan and asked the organization to transfer her out of Beijing, and she chose Shanghai as a new beginning. Since then, Zhang Ruifang's artistic career has jumped from the drama stage to the screen world, marking her gorgeous transformation from a stage star to the film industry.
Cinema broadened her acting horizons and made her name a well-known symbol both at home and abroad. In this process, Zhang Ruifang not only sublimated in art, but also found a true partner in her personal life - Yan Li. The combination with Yan Li has brought her family warmth and emotional support that she has never felt before, and they have lived together for nearly half a century.
Yan Li's company made Zhang Ruifang feel the true meaning of family life. The two have gone through countless springs, summers, autumns and winters side by side, facing the ups and downs of life together, and when they are about to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, fate unfairly takes Yan Li away from her.
After experiencing the pain of the death of her lover Yan Li in 2000, Zhang Ruifang decided to create a nursing home called "Aiwan Pavilion". At this time, Zhang Ruifang has entered her old age and can choose to enjoy Qingfu in peace, but she has chosen another path and is committed to providing a warm home for the elderly.
Zhang Ruifang admits that the process of running a nursing home is full of challenges, and funding is a big problem. Despite all her savings, the funding gap remains. In the process of raising funds, some companies offered to invest, but required that the nursing home must be branded under Zhang Ruifang's name and managed by the investor.
Zhang Ruifang firmly rejected these conditions, which she believed were contrary to her original purpose of establishing a nursing home. "If you leave the original intention of serving the elderly, then there is no point in establishing a nursing home," she stressed. Finally, through various efforts, the "Aiwan Pavilion" was officially opened to the public in 2000. The nursing home is designed with the warmth of home, and the staff does not wear uniforms to reduce the sense of alienation of the elderly and make them feel like they are in their own home.
Zhang Ruifang's life is full of dedication. In her acting career, she has been extremely professional, obedient to the director's arrangement, worked diligently, and never cared about personal gains and losses. In her later years, she also didn't care about money, and even donated her precious collection to give the elderly better living conditions.
Despite the numerous accolades she has received artistically, she has always modestly described herself as "an obedient actor". In the eyes of Professor Chen Shan of the Beijing Film Academy, Zhang Ruifang is a typical older generation artist, she does not have any shelves, and she is not as high as some contemporary young stars. He once sighed: "Zhang Ruifang can live for months for the role, can this kind of professionalism be done by young people now?"
In 2007, Zhang Ruifang won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chinese Film Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival. At the award ceremony, she choked up and said that the award should belong to those late artists, such as Zhao Dan and Shi Hua, who also made great contributions to art. "I see this award as a consolation for our generation of older artists," she said. She then bowed deeply on stage to show her respect to the audience.
Zhang Ruifang has always considered herself just one of many excellent actors, and despite her extraordinary achievements, she has never felt that she is anything special. Her life is not only a legend of art, but also a display of noble sentiments. On Zhang Ruifang's birthday in 2010, Zhao Wei came to visit as a junior artist. Zhao Wei's behavior, kneeling on the ground and talking to the old man, is not only a respect for a senior artist, but also a reverence for an era. Zhao Wei's move deeply touched everyone present.
In 2012, Zhang Ruifang passed away peacefully in Shanghai at the age of 94. In the last years of her life, although she was riddled with illness, her heart was always concerned with the art of film. In the last stage of her life, Qin Yi, an old comrade-in-arms who fought side by side with her, recalled that Zhang Ruifang once firmly expressed her unchanging love for movies: "Everyone has fallen, you are alone, okay, you will represent us!" This sentence not only expresses her dedication to the film industry, but also reveals her expectations and trust for her younger generations.