More attention for Wang Ping!
I have to make up leeway and briefly introduce Wang Ping in this blog.
Double Plum Blossom winner (1998, 2005) Wang Ping, as far as I noticed, does not die for media attention. Besides managing the Jingju Theater of Tianjin, he even has time to perform. His regular repertoire is more than impressive, packed with rare and hard military dramas that require not only extra fine martial skills but a nice voice too.
Little Wang Ping with his dad, Wang Baochun (王宝春). He made his stage debut at the age of 6.
I turned into a Wang Ping believer after seeing him as Lin Chong in The Wildboar Forest. The following clip is from this year’s CCTV Spring Festival Chinese Opera Gala. The adorable Yang Chi plays the role of Lin Chong’s sworn brother, a Buddhist monk – I admit he’s my favorite Lu Zhishen. Not only his singing and acting is superb, but his physique also fits the role perfectly. Only Wu Yuzhang has a more impressive belly. ^_^
→ 京剧《野猪林》Yezhulin (Wildboar Forest) 
[DOWNLOAD] 25MB
Wang Ping (王平) as Lin Chong, Yang Chi (杨赤) as Lu Zhishen.
Wang Ping was the first person who was able to force me to watch model opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy from beginning to the end, and I got truly impressed by his portrayal of the title character of a (relatively) new political drama, Hua Ziliang. This play was accepted into the National Stage Treasures Project and published in the DVD series. You can buy a copy here.
In 1949, many revolutionists were still held captive by the nationalists. In the drama, prisoner #83, Hua Ziliang pretends to be a harmless lunatic, but actually he’s a secret agent CPC member, connecting the prisoners with the underground communist movement.
In the following scene, Hua Ziliang is distributing food to the prisoners. The food is very bad, no-one wants to eat it. The jailkeeper asks Hua Ziliang to decide it’s edible or not. He says the food is fine. In order to deliver a secret message, he has to tolerate beating and humiliation from his comrades, who still don’t know he’s not an idiot but a loyal party member.
→ 现代京剧《华子良》Hua Ziliang [DOWNLOAD] 52MB
Wang Ping (王平) as Hua Ziliang, Ma Guoxiang (马国祥) as the officer, Zhang Zhanlai (张占来) as #215, Deng Muwei (邓沐玮) as #29, Yang Naipeng (杨乃彭) as #212.
Pictures: bbs.cntv.cn, zhyc.com.cn
