Two Springs Reflect the Moon performed by the young artist, Ji Wei, leaves a deep impression on the audience. Ji Wei, born in 1956, sings with a beautiful, mellow, and sweet voice and acts naturally with a poised manner. She is credited with having made many innovations to the Meihua dagu. She studied Jingyun dagu at first. Later she changed her course and studied Meihua dagu under Shi Wenxiu and Hua Wubao.
Different from those countryside dagu (like Leting dagu and Xihe dagu), Meihua dagu spread in a different way. Countryside dagu moves towards the city from the countryside, but the simple and graceful Meihua dagu originated from a self-entertainment group created by Manchu banner men.
Meihua dagu's words are elegant, and its melody is graceful, meaning it is extremely suitable for actresses to perform. In the 1930s, there was a group of actresses who sung Meihua dagu. The 90 year-old Guan Cuilan was one of them.
Guan Cuilan's ancestors were aristocrats in the Qing Dynasty. But her family declined when she was a child and at last they were forced to the gutter.
In 1927 Guan Cuilan began to study with her neighbor, Xu Zhengrong whose family member all are street-performers. After only several months of studying, Guan Cuilan began to perform in the street with Hua Bao, a senior male student.
Two months later, someone began to invite them to sing at a teashop. On a typical night, Guan Cuilan could earn more than one Yuan, but her partner, Hua Bao, could only get 2 or 3 Jiao. At that time, although Guan Cuilan was only 14 years old, she supported both her and Hua Bao's families.
In 1932, 17-year-old Guan Cuilan married Hua Bao. Gradually, Guan's performance gained more and more people's appreciation.
However, with the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance (WWII), Guan Cuilan and her family became refugees.
In 1945, at the age of 30, Guan Cuilan ended her career and stayed at home to take care her children.
After 1949, as a housewife, Guan Cuilan spent most of her time on embroidering to supplement the family income. Even today, her neighbors do not know she was once a famous actress in her time.
Author: Ivana
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