Mei Lanfang: In order not to perform for the Japanese, he had a beard and gave himself a typhoid injection

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, in addition to the bloody battles of the Chinese army on the battlefield, people in the Chinese cultural and opera circles also participated in the struggle against Japan in their own way. Among them, Mr. Mei Lanfang, a well-known Beijing opera performing artist, used his own methods to encourage Chinese soldiers and civilians to participate in the anti-Japanese cause.

On the evening of September 18, 1931, Peking Opera performing arts master Mei Lanfang was performing the famous Peking Opera "Universal Front" in Zhonghe Garden, Peking, and the audience included Zhang Xueliang, a warlord in the Feng Department. Before he finished singing, Zhang Xueliang hurriedly left the scene. It was not until the play broke up that he learned that the "September 18th" Incident broke out in the Northeast.

Facing the Japanese invasion, Mei Lanfang and others decided to arrange a new play with anti-Japanese significance. After discussion, they selected the background of this play on the "Jingkang Difficulty" in the late Northern Song Dynasty. It was decided to adopt Liang Hongyu's story and expand Liang Hongyu's ringing drum to occupy the Jinshan section into a complete story. By highlighting Liang Hongyu's spirit of defying strong enemies and fighting bravely, the army and civilians across the country are encouraged to fight against Japan.

After more than three months of hard work, this "Anti-Golden Soldier" drama was put on the stage, in which Mei Lanfang personally played the protagonist Liang Hongyu. As a result, the first performance received a huge response and won the audience. There were bursts of applause.

Later, Mei Lanfang changed a new play "Life and Death Hate" based on the Peking opera "Easy Shoes", which shows the story of the protagonist fleeing back to his home country to vote against the enemy. This new play was released on February 26, 1936. The Japanese premiered on the Shanghai Tianchan stage, and the result quickly heated up, and performed in Shanghai for five consecutive days. At this time, a wave of patriotic resistance against Japan was also aroused among the Shanghai audience.

Unfortunately, when the performance was at its climax, it was destroyed by the secret service and the Japanese puppets. In the face of the tragic bloodshed, Mei Lanfang was full of grief and indignation. From then on, she began to grow a beard and announced her withdrawal from the stage. Soon after, the director of the Guidance Department of the North China Army in Japan sent someone to force Mei Lanfang to perform on stage. With nothing to do, Mei Lanfang asked the doctor to inject three typhoid vaccines for herself, artificially raising her temperature to 42 degrees Celsius, and refused. The Japanese puppet's threat.

In 1945, Mei Lanfang was overjoyed when he heard the news of Japan's surrender. He directly shaved his beard clean, and continued to practice exercises and read scripts in order to come back as soon as possible and perform on stage. In October of the same year, Mei Lanfang participated in the celebration of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and performed "Thorn Tiger" in Shanghai's Lanxin Theater, which made the fans too addicted to the drama. The development of the cause has made an immortal contribution. (The pictures and texts are from the Internet, if any infringement links are deleted)