The play tells the story of Zhang Guimei, a teacher in a small town called Huaping in the mountains of Yunnan. Regardless of her personal pain, she used a pair of hands covered with painkillers to lift more than 2,000 girls out of the mountains and pass the entrance examination.

The drama "Teacher Guimei", written by Wang Baoshe and directed by Chang Hao, was jointly created and staged by the Yunnan Provincial Theater and the Yunnan Dramatists Association, and was performed at the Shijiazhuang People's Hall on the evening of August 25, 2022. The play tells the story of Zhang Guimei, a teacher in a small town called Huaping in the mountains of Yunnan. Regardless of her personal pain, she used a pair of hands covered with painkillers to lift more than 2,000 girls out of the mountains and pass the entrance examination. University. She also founded China's first free girls' high school, and served as the "mother" to more than 100 orphans in Huaping Children's Welfare Home... The stage design of the play is simple, the performance structure is rich, and the sound effects and lighting are appropriate. The artistic image of "Teacher Mei" is vivid, three-dimensional and flesh-and-blood, and has infected countless audiences.

Performance stills of "Teacher Guimei" courtesy of Hebei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism

1. Full character creation

The prototype of the character of Teacher Guimei is Teacher Zhang Guimei, who was born in the Northeast. She came to the mountains of Yunnan together because of her sister's support. Here, Work and life, taking root for forty years.

It is difficult to bring a living prototype to the stage, and she is very close to the creators. To create this character is too exaggerated and it will lead to the hollowness of the character; copying the original version will lose the principle that artistic creation is higher than life. The design of the opening of the play reflects the ingenuity of the screenwriters and directors: Huaping Girls' High School received a task from its superiors to organize a propaganda team to go to various parts of the country to preach the advanced deeds of Teacher Guimei. However, during the preaching practice of the preaching team, Teacher Guimei did not allow them to use adjectives such as "love without boundaries" to describe her, nor did they allow them to praise her. The female classmate said that Teacher Guimei used her thin shoulders to carry their colorful dreams. This was something that Teacher Guimei seriously disagreed with. She said that they had forgotten the way they came. At this time, the transition of the stage and the use of lighting were just right. Let Teacher Guimei’s appearance be rounded and natural. At this moment, Teacher Guimei, who was called the Big Devil by her students, appeared plump and three-dimensional. The character's appearance is frail, but his heart is so firm and powerful!

Faced with difficulties, she has also been frustrated and discouraged. It was faith that gave her the strength to rise from the dead, and she firmly raised her right hand and swore to the party flag: Fight for the cause of communism for the rest of her life!

There is a detail in the play. Teacher Guimei’s thin fingers are always covered with white tape. That was because she had been suffering from rheumatic bone pain for many years, and her hands were covered with pain-relieving plasters. She suffers from more than 20 diseases, each of which can end her life at any time, but she can't care about it, because children in the mountains, especially girls, lose school too early, get married, have children, and destroy their lives. It's several generations. Saving a girl, allowing her to receive a good education, leave the mountains, enter university, and become a useful member of society will not only change her personal destiny, but also save several generations. This is what Teacher Guimei thinks. Faced with the fact that her female students have become shepherds and their parents favor boys over girls, she is extremely worried. Use your own salary and all your hard work to help one person after another. In the past few decades, she has traveled more than 110,000 kilometers on foot, leaving her footprints on every corner of the mountains and dangerous rivers. She visited every household of poor children, helped them, and persuaded their parents. With her hands covered with plaster, she held them, one after another, out of backwardness and desolation, and opened up a hopeful tomorrow.

This road of hope is so bumpy and thorny. When she used the money she begged and alms to build Lijiang Huaping Girls' Free High School brick by brick, within three months, some teachers couldn't stand it. The working environment was too difficult and men had to go to the toilet. The teacher also worked as a security guard, and it was difficult to take a shower. One after another, some teachers resigned. Teacher Guimei went to the Education Bureau and hoped that the leaders would find a solution. The solution given by the leaders was to dissolve the school and divert the students.

That night, Teacher Guimei, who was lying at the table, experienced a shock in her heart and a baptism in her emotions. She also thought about it all, but Sister Jiang's glorious image inspired her.Compared to Sister Jiang, what are the difficulties that I have encountered? Teacher Guimei cheered up, and her whole body was iron-clad. She led the six remaining Communists and swore to the party: they will fight for the cause of communism for life!

2. Stage art scheduling is smooth

Education is the future of the nation. The center of the play focuses on the theme of education to show Teacher Guimei's life and hard work for education.

She said something from the bottom of her heart: Educating a girl and giving her a good education can save three generations. This is because she has witnessed the consequences of ignorance and the harm that ignorance brings to mankind. For example, the woman who took poison because someone grabbed her clothes. The husband who thought his wife was unclean because she was being dragged away, fought hard against her, and finally drove the woman to death and committed suicide himself... Their tragedy brought about an even greater tragedy, and Teacher Guimei was heartbroken.

In this part of the transition, the use of lighting is particularly smooth and natural, and the timely sound of the music is also touching people's hearts. A good stage art effect is like the four seasons of nature. Spring and autumn are orderly and distinct.

In another scene, a woman accidentally killed her husband in front of her eight-year-old son. She went to jail for it. The child became taciturn and refused to forgive his mother. The mother, who had lost all hope, committed suicide several times in prison, wanting to end her hopeless life. The prison guards were also helpless.

is Teacher Guimei, who persuaded the child. On her child's birthday, she personally brought a box of cakes and accompanied her child to the prison where her mother was serving her sentence. The child resisted at first. He lowered his head and said nothing. He was unwilling to call his mother out and did not allow her to cut the cake. Teacher Guimei at this time is a woman with maternal feelings. She uses winks, small movements, and mute words to express the character's psychology at this time. The stage lighting and transition arrangements at this time were all used very cleverly. Some inmates were discussing the woman who killed her husband in front of them. Their discussions and the woman's explanation revealed the mystery of the tragedy. The mother recalled that that day, she wanted to buy a cake for her son’s birthday. The ten yuan I finally saved was stolen by my husband to drink. He got drunk and hit people. At this time, the actress's performance was very real and believable. She said that it was because she broke the man's leg at first, and her family was worried that he would beat her with more violence or even beat her to death when he got better. So the mother gestured "hit, hit, hit" - and a tragedy happened.

The boy who forgave his mother cut the cake with his own hands, brought it to his mother, and fed it to her mouth. The mother wanted to eat, but returned it to her son, letting him take the first bite. At this time, the music started playing, and the mother and son hugged each other and cried. All the inmates and prison guards present were moved. The audience in the audience was also worried. This is the true love in the world, and it also leads to the mismatch of education. "Some people spend their whole lives healing their childhood, while some people can use their warm childhood to heal their whole lives."

Teacher Guimei's merits in that mountain , in the short term, it changed the fate of those children, but in the long term, how could it not change the fate of mankind?

Those girls who have grown up have become elites from all walks of life, female teachers, female judges, female police officers, female doctors... They use their soft but solid arms to shoulder the heavy responsibility of education. It is this cycle of love and the inheritance of the power of civilization that brings together the cultural Great Wall of the nation and the ocean of love.

3. Simple and diverse expression techniques

The play uses multi-perspective techniques to show the ordinary but glorious life of Teacher Guimei. She was originally a girl from Heilongjiang and came to Yunnan with her sister when she was 17 years old. She loves reading, has feelings and ideals, and has worked in many types of jobs. It was fate that he ended up in education. The Girls' Senior High School in Huaping, Lijiang, was built by her with one yuan and one donation.The play uses some real life plots. For example, at the beginning of the performance, Guimei, who is already a voluntary mother at Huaping Children's Welfare Home, uses her own money to buy yogurt for her children, just to let her children grow ambition and understand dignity; She raised funds to start a girls' high school, but she was ridiculed on the streets of the city; she wore pants with holes in them to attend the party congress, and was almost misunderstood by reporters... Such a stingy teacher, Guimei, spent almost all her money on her children. on them. It is these ordinary and common details in life that enrich Teacher Guimei as a person. The success of this drama is inseparable from the ingenuity of these artistic techniques.

Excellent literary and artistic works rely on excellent creative teams and excellent innovation mechanisms. There are many themes of educators on the stage, and the reason why "Guimei Teacher" can stand out is inseparable from its entire creative team. More than a dozen actors stood in the center of the stage. Through the performances and dialogues of different roles by students, colleagues, and children in the orphanage, they conveyed Teacher Zhang's aura, heights, valleys, and origins step by step. No exaggeration, no pretense, layer by layer. Advance, showing the original intention of a Communist Party member. The screenwriter has a life, the director has a detailed grasp of his second creation, and the actors' performances are fitting and just right. Especially those pieces of music that sounded at the right time, flowing into the hearts of the audience like a trickle. Let the character of Teacher Guimei enter the hearts of the audience and enter thousands of households. This is the moving power of art.

Teacher Guimei’s explanation about the hot land in the play, her inner monologue, “What power has supported me over the years and not fallen down? It’s faith! This faith is like a seed, taking root and sprouting in my heart. As soon as I meet It grows in the sunshine... Because you have love in your heart, everyone can do it if you want to. The total amount of love is a great love, a truly boundless love.” Teacher Zhang Guimei is a national advanced worker, one of the top ten moral models in the country, one of the top ten female heroes in the country, one of the top 100 outstanding mothers in the country, and one of the top ten intellectual women in the country. Outstanding Communist Party member of Yunnan, winner of the National May 1st Labor Medal... The stack of honors has become a monument. She has demonstrated the original mission of the Communist Party members.

4. Derived from the dialectic that life is higher than life

Use excellent literary and artistic works to sing for the times. Yunnan Repertory Theater's "Guimei Teacher" is undoubtedly a vivid practice. Among similar themes, this drama can also be regarded as the best. But if the setting of individual plots is a little deeper and the progression is hierarchical, the whole drama will be richer and fuller. For example, the picture on the blackboard of the little girl missing her hometown, the house, the river, and the old tree in front of the door. The teacher briefly told her how difficult it was to carry tuition fees in her father's schoolbag, and she brushed it off with shame. This wipe is too thin. In the second half, the ups and downs are not gradual, but there is a fall after the climax. The prototype of the character "Teacher Guimei" is still living among us. The artistic expression "originating from life is higher than life" that is put on the stage needs to be more in-depth and meticulous, and it can only reach the highest level of sincerity.

In short, the drama "Teacher Guimei" created by the Yunnan Provincial Repertory Troupe is already an outstanding work among stage plays. In reality, Teacher Zhang Guimei is still racing against the disease. Thanks to the writers and creators for presenting this excellent play to the audience, and thank them for fulfilling the General Secretary’s call, inspiring people with their excellent works, and singing for the times.

(Guest authors: Jin Yawei and Cao Wu, Hebei Provincial Institute of Culture and Tourism)

Editor: Li Yang