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In the course of world cultural exchanges, especially the early Western missionaries who came to China to preach, they highly valued the form, content, and fund-raising ability of storytelling.

But the key to the success or failure of storytelling is the "storyteller" who takes on the role of "missionary".

The same thing is put on the capital, whether it can be successfully listed, the storyteller and narration ability are also very important, please refer to Jack Ma.

In the previous life, Master Mei visited the United States for the first time, and the most important storyteller was of course Mei Lan herself, but it was also inseparable from the assistance and cooperation of the other two storytellers, Qi Shanru and Zhang Chunpeng.

Why is Master Mei irreplaceable?

First of all, there are several qualities that Merlin has that are unparalleled and unreplaceable.

First, the exquisite art of Peking Opera performance.

As the head of the four famous Dans in China, Mei Lan, of course, he is not recognized yet, but it will not be a few years.

Master Mei not only has first-class Peking Opera kung fu, but also completely conquered the audience in the ugly country in terms of male and female costumes, outstanding singing skills, and beautiful dancing.

Telling a story in the form of drama not only reduces boring nonsense, but also enhances the penetrating function of the story itself beyond race and culture.

In the eyes of the ugly audience, Master Mei's head, neck, shoulders, hands, waist, eyes, sleeves and the animation of walking on the stage all express "a pure happiness".

Therefore, it is enough for the audience to look only at Mei's eyes one night, his hands another night, and his beautiful movements freely as he moves around the stage.

Second, the outstanding ability to learn from others' strengths and spit out the old and embrace the new.

Master Mei's hobbies are not limited to Peking Opera, and he has been fond of literature and art since he was a child, especially making friends from all walks of life.

Mei Zhai has always been "talking and laughing with Confucianism, and there is no white ding", and often learns from Peking Opera theorists and directors and artists.

Moreover, in the process of making friends and communicating, I have cultivated the ability to be happy and constantly improve when I hear it.

This characteristic of keeping pace with the times and constantly innovating can not only adapt and conform to the preferences of the audience in the ugly country, promote the localization of Peking Opera in the society of the ugly country, but also keep the form, content and repertoire of Peking Opera in the original flavor and continuous innovation.

And this ability to balance tradition and innovation is exactly what a storyteller must have.

In his book, Suger argues that "Mei was deeply influenced by Western art, and he absorbed the principles of modern and progressive opera into the old Chinese opera, but did not damage the antique tradition of the old Chinese opera."

Third, the character of endurance and perseverance. Mei Lanfang, who was born in a family of pear orchards, has the stamina and emotional intelligence to endure the bullying of the powerful and the exploitation of the financiers, and once she enters the arts, no matter what hardships and hardships she encounters, she will never give up.

For example, Mr. Fu, the secretary of President Situ, who played the vanguard for Mei Lanfang's contact theater and performance, suddenly sent a telegram a few days before Mei left for Chouguo: Please come to the economic crisis here;

The next day, Fu called again: "If you come, you have to bring more money." ”

After a long examination, Master Mei said in a rare excited tone: "Go!" ”

"The farewell party has been held, the cabin has been decided, and if the troops are collected in battle, it will be passed on as a laughing stock."

Then, May, suddenly, raised her voice:

"It was an adventure, but I had to take the courage to take it."

On the ocean liner from neon to Maple Leaf Country, Mei Lan often hears the national anthems of the United States, Britain, France, and Japan played in turn, but there is no Chinese national anthem.

In this regard, Mei convened the members of the group and said, "There is no need to be too indignant", we need to "cultivate the body and then the family, the family and then the country, and then the country can be peaceful." If everyone can do this, our national anthem will naturally be played all over the world, so that the people of the whole world will stand and pay tribute."

Fourth, humility and low-key behavior.

As a famous theatrical actor with an annual salary of $750,000 at the time, Mei Lan was so gentle and frugal in his speech and demeanor, which won the praise of the audience in the ugly country, and greatly strengthened the affinity function of cultural diplomacy.

During his visit to New York, he did not hesitate to use the time between performances to meet and interact with the public of the ugly country to the greatest extent.

Almost every day is spent in academic gatherings, stylish receptions, and community meals.

At the farewell party of the New York trip, Merlin behaved "with great politeness and gentleness, slowly skirting the long table, looking earnestly at the foreigner's face, and extending his astonishingly soft hand to all others."

He didn't miss anyone. Everyone he greeted with dignity", even though "he looked particularly tired".

This kind of scene of famous actors shaking hands with the audience one by one "is a very popular and important way of communication."

At the same time, Master Mei's humble learning attitude and ability have also been widely praised, fulfilling the open-mindedness advocated by Chinese culture.

This kind of modest words and humble body movements are indispensable for a good storyteller.

Fifth, the ability to stimulate the curiosity and empathy of ugly people.

It must be admitted that many ugly Chinese people come to watch Master Mei's play with curiosity, and this curiosity comes from the magic, psychedelia and myth of Orientalism on the one hand.

On the other hand, Master Mei's own unique charm, because his impression on the ugly people is always elegant and beautiful, solemn and gentle, which can stimulate the infinite and pure imagination of the ugly people.

It is worth mentioning that just recently, Tagore watched Master Mei's special performance of "Roselle" for him in Beijing, at the Kaiming Theater.

The day after reading it, Tagore wrote a poem in Bengali on a fan with a brush that could be passed down to the world:

Honey, you use what I don't understand

The veil of language

Covering your countenance;

Just as the distant view is like a vein

Ethereal clouds

Mountains shrouded in mist.

Tagore really didn't understand Peking Opera, but he resonated with Peking Opera and Master Mei, because Chinese Peking Opera is good at expressing "the scenery is outside the image, and the mind is in the air", "there is something out of nothing, and the reality is revealed in the void".

Therefore, the connection of hearts and minds is a unique function of art.

This point is also the most important point of Master Mei's success, and the temperature of truth, kindness, beauty and love he shows is felt by the ugly people.

An actor without temperature cannot convey any heat to the audience.

Of course, in addition to Mei Lanfang's own subjective efforts, the success of this Peking Opera story is inseparable from the combination and help of Qi Shanru and Zhang Chunpeng, who have learned from the past and the present, and have studied both China and the West.

Qi Shanru studied German, French and Russian at the Tongwen Museum in the late Qing Dynasty, and traveled to Europe three times.

After Xinhai, she was a professor at Beijing Normal University Hall and Beijing Women's College of Arts and Sciences, and was quite accomplished in drama and drama theory.

The two met in 1913, and for more than 20 years after 1916, Qi Shanru was deeply involved in the arrangement and improvement of more than 10 repertoire by Master Mei, and cooperated with Mei Lan with the aim of "restoring the essence of classical drama" and "reviving historical Peking Opera".

In 1919 and this year, at the beginning of 1924, Qi Shanru accompanied Master Mei to visit Neon twice, and proposed a new theory that Chinese Peking Opera is "silent and no singing, no movement and no dancing".

According to Fuguier, since 1919, Master Mei has been making a lot of preliminary preparations for the performance in the United States, including understanding the situation of the ugly people, preparing materials for dissemination, and contacting all walks of life in the United States. Eight Chinese Net

And this time, I originally planned to come over and have a look, and I didn't want to do a performance, but since Li Yaoyang took the initiative to send out an invitation and was willing to bear the relevant expenses, there was nothing to hesitate, Master Mei has never been a person who looks ahead and backwards.

Without Li Yaoyang, Qi Shanru's workload would have doubled, and most importantly, he would have to do more liaison work and postpone his visit to the United States indefinitely.

First of all, through contacting the guests of the Chouguo, he vigorously promoted Meilan and Peking Opera in the capital, and took advantage of the opportunity of the dinner and tea party to introduce the rules and practices of the Peking Opera stage to the foreign guests.

Qi Shanru believes that this kind of unintentional propaganda has a much more common effect than the formal propaganda!

In fact, before sending rich and noble children to the United States, there were about 80 such dinners and talks, and as many as 6,000 or 7,000 foreign guests were entertained.

The core of culture is "humanization", and this social opportunity helps Master Mei to spread culture in hospitality, and cups, plates, cups, and chopsticks are the carriers of Chinese cultural communication.

Moreover, the use of brushwork, landscapes, and freehand flowers to explain Chinese drama can better express the connection between Chinese painting and Peking Opera, because most of their brushwork, mannerisms, actions, and speech expressions are "evolving from image to art".

Qi Shanru used her extensive social connections to correspond to the gentry stationed in various countries, provide materials to students studying in the United States, and encourage them to correspond and publicize to local newspapers.

He also specially funded the hiring of two correspondents from Chouguo, asking them to correspond with various newspapers in Chouguo from time to time, and attaching one or two photos of Master Mei to each letter, which led to Chouguo having appeared in Mei Lanfang's news magazines, no less than dozens.

Among them, there are more than 30 kinds of ugly country magazines sent to Mei's family.

Fuguier's efficiency is very high, and after getting Li Yaoyang's personal confirmation and personal letter, he set off to return to China as soon as possible, and informed everyone in Meifu of the good news, and for a time the whole world celebrated together.

Qi Shanru also received the news as soon as possible and immediately arranged the trip.

In order to prevent the visiting members from traveling to the United States and going abroad, he attaches great importance to overseas training, after all, if one person makes a mistake, the whole group will lose.

Therefore, Qi Shanru began to promote overseas training, including the ugly national rules of clothing, food, housing and transportation.

In order to familiarize himself with the eating habits of the ugly Chinese people, he also rehearsed dozens of times on the spot, and invited the famous diplomat Fu Jingbo and others to teach English.

We must do our best to make sure that during the period in the ugly country, the members of the Mei Opera Troupe "did not have a place to laugh at outsiders".

Finally, China is a country of etiquette, and gifts to outsiders are crucial, which is also the best excuse and way to spread Chinese culture.

In this regard, the Mei Opera Troupe carefully selected several categories of gifts.

One is a magnet, specially fired, printed with a photo of Master Mei, and a plum blossom and an orchid as the symbol of Meilan;

the second is pen and ink, engraved with Mei Lan's name and photo;

the third is embroidery, which is a unique art in China, and is also fascinated by most outsiders, and embroidered with Mei Lan's name, the icing on the cake;

Fourth, art drawings, specially hired people to draw more than 200 pictures of Chinese dramas, and Mei Lan also personally painted more than 200 freehand flowers;

Fifth, fans, Mei Lan personally painted more than 100 fans;

Sixth, photographs, five or six thousand photos of Mei Lan's costume were printed, and group badges, logos, flags, etc. were also made.

The day before the box was sealed, he also specially told the members that no one was allowed to bring private goods into the customs.

As a result, the members of the Mei Opera Troupe are very self-controlled, self-respecting, and self-loving, and there is no private goods when the lock box is checked, which ensures that there is no trouble during the customs entry and inspection in the ugly country.

In addition to Qi Shanru, there is also an important figure on this trip, and another hero who helped Mei Lan tell the story of Peking Opera is Zhang Chunpeng.

In 1910, he became the second Gengzi Indemnity student, enrolled at Clark University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then entered Columbia University's School of Education, where he received a Master of Arts and a Master of Education degree in 1915.

From 1916 to 1918, he worked at Nankai School, and in 1919 he went to Columbia University's School of Education, where he received a doctorate in education in 1924.

In 1923, he returned to China and served as a professor and provost at Mizuki University, where he met Mei Lan and participated in some of Mei Lan's consultations during his visit to the United States.

However, this time, Zhang Chunpeng was not ready to go to the United States on the same ship as Mei Lan, he rushed to New York to make a front stop, and at the same time went to Columbia University to receive his doctorate.

Before leaving, Zhang clearly told Mei that only a very small number of ugly Chinese people could understand his Peking Opera, and most of the time, he had to face the situation that "the audience was somewhat at a loss about all aspects of the performance".

Mei immediately invited Zhang to be the chief director of Mei's performance in the Ugly Country, which was the first time that the Mei Opera Troupe established a director system.

Compared with Qi Shanru, Zhang Chunpeng has a better understanding of ugly culture, better understanding of the similarities and differences between Chinese and American dramas, and more academic level and international concepts.

The New York Times once commented:

Zhang's comparison of Chinese and Western drama is easy to understand, because he says that although the music of Chinese drama is "less instrumental and less tonal," Huaxia music wants each tone to have "more personality and meaning."

In fact, no one needs to say, if you think about it, you know the fact that Broadway and Merlin don't know each other at this time.

I'm afraid only Zhang Chunpeng knows both Broadway and Meilan.

Zhang believes that the audience in Chouguo will be able to accept the art of Chinese love Peking Opera, which combines singing, dancing and drama, and that "Chinese culture and Western culture can complement each other."

Although Peking Opera and Western theatre have completely different cultural backgrounds, Western audiences can fully appreciate the art of Peking Opera based on intuition alone.

In particular, Zhang Chunpeng's English level can help Mei Lan speak for the outside world, which is an ability that Qi Shanru can't achieve.

When Mei made her debut in the Chou Kingdom, Zhang Chunpeng had to take the stage first in a tuxedo to explain in English the organization, characteristics, style, and movement of Chinese drama.

Moreover, Mei's participation in various entertainments, gatherings, dinners, and visits before and after the performance is inseparable from Zhang's participation and organization.

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

Shen Changqing walked on the road, and when he met someone he knew well, he would say hello to each other or nod his head.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

There was no superfluous expression on everyone's face, as if they were very indifferent to everything.

on this.

Shen Changqing is used to it.

Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, it is an institution that maintains the stability of Great Qin, and its main responsibility is to kill demons and monsters, and of course there are some other side jobs.

Arguably.

In the Demon Suppression Division, everyone has a lot of blood on their hands.

When a person is accustomed to seeing life and death, then he will become indifferent to many things.

When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but over time he got used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division is huge.

The people who can stay in the Demon Suppression Division are all powerful masters, or people who have the potential to become masters.

Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.

Among them, the Demon Suppression Division is divided into two professions, one is the town guard and the other is the demon exterminator.

Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Division starts with the lowest level of demon slayer.

Then step by step, he is expected to become a town guard.

Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level of the demon slayer envoys.

Have memories of the predecessor.

He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of an attic.

Unlike other places full of slaughter, the attic here seems to stand out from the crowd, and in the bloody Demon Suppression Division, it presents a different tranquility.

At this time, the attic door is open, and there are occasional people entering and exiting.

Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment, and then stepped in.

Access to the attic.

The environment has changed in vain.

A burst of ink fragrance mixed with the faint smell of blood came to his face, making his brow furrow instinctively, but quickly stretched.

The smell of blood on everyone's body in the Demon Suppression Division is almost impossible to clean.