Silent Oral History: I visited Hong Kong-based tycoon Du Yuesheng and "Winter Emperor" Meng Xiaodong

One day, I talked with Li Zuyong that I like to watch Meng Xiaodong's drama very much and want to know her current situation. Li Zuyong said that Meng Xiaodong and Du Yuesheng lived together, and Du Yuesheng was not seen from anyone from the mainland. But Li Zuyong also said that he had a good relationship with Du Yuesheng and could accompany me. Li Zuyong's predecessor, Li Zhengwu, was a veteran of the Xinhai Revolution. The Li family in Ningbo Xiaogang is very famous. The section to the north of the Shanghai Nicheng Bridge is the Li family's real estate. Li Yifen Hall and Yongye Building are both Li Zuyong's. The Daye Printing Company prints money and has a relationship with the Kuomintang. The Anti-Japanese War broke out, Chiang Kai-shek went to Chongqing, there was no machine to print money, Wang Kemin transported machines from the Northeast to Chongqing, and Li Zuyong's wife was Wang Kemin's niece. When Li Zuyong was printing money in Chongqing, he met Du Yuesheng. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Zuyong flew to Hong Kong and set up Yonghua Film Company. Therefore, the relationship between him and Du Yuesheng is quite close.

Li Zuyong's establishment of a film company was Zhang Shankun's idea for him. Zhang Shankun filmed a "Spring River Hate" during the fall of Shanghai, which was in collaboration with the Japanese. Starring Li Xianglan. The content is to tell the story of Lin Zexu's destruction of opium by the United Kingdom. In the film, the characters shout "Down with the invaders!" Down with imperialism! The audience applauded when they saw it, implying resistance to Japan and opposition to "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity". Because Japan also sells opium. In the film, there is also a song "Selling Sugar Song", which educates everyone to eat sugar and not eat opium. At that time, it was the Japan who sold opium and ate opium, so the director was amazing. From this, I don't think it can be said that Zhang Shankun is a traitor. No one has talked about this in the past. In this film, Ma Xu Weibang also participated in the director, and there is a director team.

To Yuet-sheng's home is Gini Lane, Hong Kong. That day, when we went to Du Yuesheng's house, I saw him wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and he said that it was because he was not in good health and was afraid of the cold. In fact, there is a thorn on the left arm, and I don't want to show it for people to see. Du Yuesheng sat in a wicker chair, and Li Zuyong introduced me to him that I was from Shanghai. He listened, and he didn't look at me. He invited Li Zuyong to sit in the rattan chair opposite him, and I sat in the wicker chair next to him. The two of them talked, and I didn't want to listen to it, and Du Yuesheng ignored me. At this time, I remembered that Li Zhihua had written to me saying that Li Zuyong's Yonghua Company was the largest, best-equipped, and most sophisticated film company in Southeast Asia, and that it was necessary to unite all those who could be united to strive for Li Zuyong's return to Shanghai. So, what should be done to Du Yuesheng? At this time, I noticed that there was a birdcage in Du Yuesheng's living room, which was flat and long. So I got up and looked at the birdcage. There was a bird inside, and it was a yellow warbler. I can't listen to them when they speak. Li Zuyong saw it, so he introduced me to Du Yuesheng again, this is Shen Shi from Shanghai, and I invited him to my company to be a screenwriter. Du Yuesheng raised his eyes to look at me and said, "You are from Shanghai." I thought he was asking me, so I took the opportunity to speak. I said, "Mr. Du, Mr. Yan from Shanghai wants me to say hello to you." "Before I left Shanghai, Li Zhihua taught me that when I saw Du Yuesheng, I must mention Mr. Yan to say hello to him. As for who Mr. Yan is? I still don't know. He listened, and said "oh". Then, looking at me, he stood up. He asked me, "How is Mr. Yan?" I said, "That's good." And so I spoke to him. Li Zuyong took the opportunity to help me say, "He wants to come to visit Boss Meng." Du Yuesheng said briskly: "Okay! With a clapping of hands, a servant opened the curtain. Du Yuesheng instructed: "Mr. Shen, a distinguished guest from Shanghai, greets Boss Meng. The servant nodded, and the curtain fell. It is estimated that she went to report to Meng Xiaodong.

After a while, I heard footsteps, the door curtain was drawn, and Meng Xiaodong appeared at the door of the room. Ah, Meng Xiaodong is Meng Xiaodong after all, she is already in her forties at this time, she is still dazzling, wearing a beige linen gauze cheongsam, no fat powder. I immediately stood up and greeted her. She made a gesture and said, "Please come to my room, Mr. Shen." So I followed. Li Zuyong and Du Yuesheng were stunned. I walked three paces away from her and followed her into her room. She invited me to a seat. I looked around the room, and there was a copper bed with a Zhuluo gauze tent hanging on the bed, a set of gold-encrusted furniture, and a huqin hanging on the wall. There is also a photo of "Wujia Po" hanging on the other wall, but she is the only one wearing a costume, in fact, this photo should be a group photo of two people, and the other person is Mei Lanfang. Probably she folded Mei Lanfang's photo to the back.

At this time, a maid brought tea in. Meng Xiaodong opened his mouth and asked me, "You are from Shanghai?" I said, "Yes." I told her, "There are two Peking Opera performers from Shanghai who are coming to Hong Kong to perform. Which two actors, she asked? I said, "Among them is Zhou Xinfang." Then she asked Zhou Xinfang, Cheng Yanqiu and other famous Peking Opera singers, but she didn't ask Mei Lanfang. I took the initiative to tell him that Mei Lanfang was acting in a new play recently. She smiled, but still didn't say anything. At this moment, Li Zuyong was urging me to go back outside. I got up and said goodbye to Meng Xiaodong. Meng Xiaodong smiled and got up to send me to the door of the room. After I came out of the room, Du Yuesheng got up and sent us to the gate, as soon as the car door opened, I saw a birdcage inside, I asked, "What is this?" Li Zuyong said: "It's a birdcage." It was given to you by Mr. Du. I said, "No." I don't raise birds. Where do I put such a big birdcage? Li Zuyong hurriedly stopped me and said, "You can't return what Mr. Du gave you." You have to give him face. I said, "What then?" He said, "Or I will take it." I quickly said, "Okay." "

After coming out of Du's house, after Li Zuyong and I got in the car, Li Zuyong asked me, "What did Meng Xiaodong say to you?" I said, I didn't say anything. He said how could it be? I said, "She asked about the situation in Shanghai, and she asked everyone else, but Mei Lanfang didn't ask." Li Zuyong didn't squeak.

Then, I asked him, "Where is Meng Jiaban?" Li Zuyong said: Meng Xiaodong was not surnamed Meng. Her hometown is Wanping County, Beijing, and one day there is a drama troupe, called Mengjiaban, with six brothers, singing various stalls, performing in Wanping County, talking about three days and three nights, six performances day and night, and many people watching, because Mengjiaban is quite famous. When they were performing, they saw a little girl, who first looked at the back, and then ran to the front to watch, and they were very fascinated. The matinee was done, and she was gone. During the night show, she came again. Later, I simply went to the stage to watch the play. The people in Meng's class saw that this girl watched the play so much, and they all liked her very much. The next day, when there was no acting in the morning, the little girl came again to watch the rehearsal. After lunch, she didn't go back, and watched the actors and actors of the Meng family's class give her some food.

Three days later, when the play was over and the Meng family class was leaving, the little girl said to the class master, "I want to go with you." I love to watch and act. "The actors in Meng's class see her very aura, and they like her when they see her singing along while watching the play. The head of the class asked her, where do you live? "My home is right here," she said. The class leader said, "If you want to leave, we can also take you away, but do your parents agree?" She said, "My parents will let me go, but if you don't believe me, you will come with me to meet them." The head of the class and the others followed her to her house to see that in addition to her parents, there were six children in the family, and they were so poor that they couldn't even eat. The head of the class said to her parents, "Do you agree that this child wants to go with us?" The little girl's father looked at the off-duty owner, then at the little girl, and nodded in agreement. The head of the class said: "Your family's original surname is Dong, but if you follow us, you must follow our surname Meng, and your name will be Xiaodong, okay?" The little girl nodded and followed the people of the Meng family's class. Of the six brothers in Meng's class, the fifth brother was blind. Meng Xiaodong worshipped him as a teacher and learned drama from him. He couldn't see with his eyes, so Meng Xiaodong took care of him. She's smart. The drama is very well learned. I asked Li Zuyong, "How do you know so much about it?" He said that Du Yuesheng told him to listen. This is first-hand information about Meng Xiaodong's life experience.

Later, I went to Du's house twice. Once was Meng Xiaodong's birthday, and Li Zuyong asked me to go. I said, "We should give gifts for people's birthdays." Li Zuyong said, "Go in the afternoon." You can not give gifts. I said, "Give me a cake." He disagreed. also said that her birthday was confidential, so there was no need to send anything. So I went with him. When I arrived at Du's house, there were already people sitting in the living room. When I saw it, they were all famous singers in Beijing and Kunming, including Yu Zhenfei, Yang Baosen, Ma Lianliang, and Ma Lianliang's pianist Li Muliang. They're talking about something funny, it's hilarious. Li Zuyong was busy greeting the distinguished guests, while I sat quietly on the side. Everyone wants Meng Xiaodong to sing a play. Meng Xiaodong said: "You have also learned from the Yu faction. Today, please sing first, and I'll sing again. In this way, Ma Lianliang sang "Battle Taiping" first, and he sang it really well. Then, Yang Baosen sang "Wen Zhaoguan".

Yu Shuyan originally did not accept female disciples. At that time, Meng Xiaodong was at his aunt's house in Beijing and planned to become a nun. I heard that Yu Shuyan accepts two students every night and teaches them to sing, so I also want to learn drama from Yu Shuyan. But knowing that Yu Shuyan doesn't accept female students, she can only stand outside the door and listen. Who knew that the two male disciples of Yu Shuyan's sect really didn't learn well on this day, so they were angry and asked them not to come. At this time, the pianist played another play, and Meng Xiaodong had been listening to the play outside for two days, so he hummed two sentences. The luthier was taken aback and hurried out to stop her from singing. Who knows, Yu Shuyan heard it and asked, "Who is singing outside?" The pianist said, "There is a person outside who likes your play very much and wants to learn." Yu Shuyan asked again: "Who is it?" The pianist said, "It's Meng Xiaodong." Yu Shuyan said, "Then you can call her in." After Meng Xiaodong came in, he sang a paragraph. Yu Shuyan listened and said, "Singing is quite good." I can't accept two men, so you can learn from me. At this time, Yu Shuyan had bladder cancer and was often in unbearable pain. He said to Meng Xiaodong: "Optical singing is useless, you still have to learn the style." From then on, Yu Shuyan taught Meng Xiaodong when he was sick, and it was often Meng Xiaodong who helped him to teach him in the back. Every day, Yu Shuyan taught him to sweat, and Meng Xiaodong learned with tears on his face. She felt that Mr. Yu taught him so seriously, I must learn. Sure enough, Meng Xiaodong learned the essence of the Yu faction.

That day, after Ma Lianliang sang well, everyone laughed at him, you sang so well in Yu Pai opera, why don't you sing Yu Pai opera? Ma Lianliang smiled and said: "Now that there is Boss Meng, I can't sing Boss Meng no matter how much I learn, so I'm better at singing Ma Pai opera." "Yang Baosen is dumb, and he can't sing the Yu faction. Yu Zhenfei couldn't sing Peking Opera, so he asked Meng Lao to sing Peking Opera. She stopped singing the first sentence of "Wujia Po" and said that it was time to eat. Li Zuyong and I left. The first sentence of "Wujia Po" is "A horse out of Xiliangcheng ......", Meng Xiaodong only sang this sentence, which means that her relationship with Mei Lanfang was folded at the beginning, so the photo hanging in her room was folded in the frame, and she was only seen alone. Therefore, Meng Xiaodong and Mei Lanfang must have a relationship.

[Shen Jing, formerly known as Wang Chonggang, a native of Fenghua, Zhejiang, was born in Shanghai in September 1924 and studied at the Department of Western Literature of Fudan University in Shanghai. He has published more than 40 short stories in magazines such as "Novel Monthly", "Vientiane", "Spring and Autumn" and "Violet", and published a collection of novels "Fishing for the Golden Seal", "Two Generations", "Salt Farm" and "Red Forest". In 1946, he edited magazines such as "Happiness", and in 1948, he founded the Human Book House. Shen Jing got acquainted with many writers such as Ke Ling and Zhang Ailing, who were active in the Shanghai literary scene at that time, and was also familiar with Ruan Lingyu, Zhou Xuan, Huang Jinrong, Du Yuesheng, Ha and other Shanghai Tang figures, and published biographical literature "A Generation of Movie Star Ruan Lingyu" and "A Generation of Movie Star Zhou Xuan" and biographical novels about Huang Jinrong and Hartung "Tycoon" and "Taipan", and is an expert in writing old Shanghai characters. Famous writer, screenwriter of Shanghai Film Studio, winner of the title of "Outstanding Film Artist", librarian of Shanghai Museum of Culture and History. He died in Shanghai in May 2016 at the age of 92. 】