"Mountain songs are like spring river water, not afraid of many dangerous bends on the beach. ”
This theme song "Mountain Song is Like Spring River Water" is from the movie "Liu Sanjie", which is extremely familiar to audiences born in the fifties and sixties of the last century. And the image of Liu Sanjie in the film is a common memory of several generations.
The film "Liu Sanjie" released in 1961 is the first scenery ** feature film in Chinese mainland, which not only spreads the story and singing voice of Liu Sanjie, but also shows the simple and natural customs of Guangxi Zhuang to the national audience.
Huang Wanqiu's role as Liu Sanjie has made her a popular film and television star, and her stills frequently appear on the front pages of major newspapers and magazines, so she is known as the "national goddess", which is well deserved.
However, many viewers may not know that Huang Wanqiu had just turned sixteen years old when the film was filmed, and her screen debut was "Liu Sanjie", what is even more amazing is that this girl has no love experience at all, but she can portray the love between Liu Sanjie and Brother A Niu so movingly.
Huang Wanqiu's life with"Liu Sanjie"This cultural symbol is intimately linked, and with the success of the film, this character has become her trademark. Until March 4, 2023, Huang Wanqiu passed away in Guilin, and the classic role on the screen also ended the last scene of her life.
Let's explore Huang Wanqiu's legendary life and walk into the story of "Liu Sanjie".
In 1943, Huang Wanqiu was born in an ordinary family in Yongfu County, Guilin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Although Huang Wanqiu's father was just an ordinary department store clerk, he was very fond of singing and often hummed some tunes at home. Influenced by her father, Huang Wanqiu developed a strong interest in singing and acting.
According to Huang Wanqiu's brother's recollections, his "fourth sister" often "acted" with friends of the same age when she was not in school, Huang Wanqiu likes to play the role of a princess, and always sings a few words, she is the kind of little star that every family loves.
When Huang Wanqiu was young, she was taken by her aunt to learn art from Xiao Jinfeng, an old-timer in Guiju Danjiao, and this experience had a profound impact on her. Huang Wanqiu recalls that this experience became the starting point of her theatrical career.
Huang Wanqiu volunteered to serve as the backbone of the class in primary school, and participated in the city's singing competitions on behalf of the Guilin Affiliated Primary School many times and achieved good results, so she was recognized as a "singing seedling" by the teachers and students of the school.
When Huang Wanqiu was thirteen years old, she saw an advertisement in the newspaper for the Gui Opera Troupe to recruit students, which made her excited. So after discussing with her family, she boarded the admissions examination room of the Gui Opera Troupe.
According to the memories of the teacher in charge of admissions at the time, Huang Wanqiu was not only not timid when she stood on the stage at the age of thirteen, but she danced with great energy, and more importantly, Huang Wanqiu was full of enthusiasm and yearning for Guiqu opera performances at a young age.
Although Huang Wanqiu did not meet the requirements in the cultural class at that time, after the discussion of the leaders of the Gui Opera Troupe, she was finally admitted exceptionally. Since then, Huang Wanqiu's fate has changed completely.
Huang Wanqiu has been training in the Gui Opera Troupe for more than a year, and her growth is remarkable, at the age of fourteen, she made her first stage performance, playing the role of Su Daji in the Gui Opera "Killing the Three Demons".
Every actor remembers his first appearance on stage, and Huang Wanqiu is even more so. Years later, she recalled that the show had a profound impact on her fate, so she was both nervous and excited. She put on her makeup an hour in advance and rehearsed the acting moves more than a dozen times in her mind.
Huang Wanqiu won the recognition of the troupe's teachers for her successful debut, and since then she has become the "little pillar" of the Gui Opera Troupe. Subsequently, she successively performed in plays such as "Flooded Golden Mountain", "The Legend of the West Chamber", "Drunken Golden Branch" and "Double Moon Worship", and gradually became a rising star in Guilin's theater circle.
In 1959, a color drama called "Liu Sanjie" came out, which quickly set off a boom in Guangxi, and many professional and amateur literary and artistic groups staged this drama one after another. Soon, this trend also swept Huang Wanqiu's Gui Opera Troupe.
The legend of Liu Sanjie by the people of Guangxi has long been a household name, especially Huang Wanqiu, who often fantasized that she lived in the era of Liu Sanjie when she was a child, and now she finally has the opportunity to interpret this classic image.
However, in the process of assigning roles in the troupe, due to her young age, Huang Wanqiu could only play the C role in the color drama "Liu Sanjie". Despite this, Huang Wanqiu was not depressed, but devoted herself to rehearsals, seriously thinking about the character image, and finally successfully got the opportunity to play a corner during the rehearsal.
It is precisely because of Huang Wanqiu's performance in the color drama "Liu Sanjie" that she has the opportunity to participate in the later movie version of "Liu Sanjie", and many people don't know that the movie "Liu Sanjie" released in 1961 did not originally choose Huang Wanqiu to star, and there is a little-known story behind it.
Around 1960, various versions of "Liu Sanjie" began to flourish on the land of China, and Changchun Film Studio also showed a strong interest in the story. As the first film studio in New China, they decided to shoot a film version of "Liu Sanjie".
Director Su Li, composer Lei Zhenbang, and lyricist Qiao Yu went to Guilin, Guangxi Province to collect creative styles, and finally completed a first draft of a script of more than 300,000 words.
Director Su Li was still hesitating for a while who would play the role of Liu Sanjie, the protagonist of the movie. The crew initially considered looking for professional actors who are more familiar to domestic audiences, but Guangxi said that Liu Sanjie is Guangxi's signboard, so it should be more appropriate for a local to play it.
So, in Guilin, the crew began casting. Huang Wanqiu, a young, beautiful, simple and natural member of the Gui Opera Troupe, also got the opportunity to audition.
Although her audition impressed director Suri, due to her lack of experience in film acting, she could only end up playing the role of "Zhou Mei" during the trial filming stage. and the role "Liu Sanjie" was won by Fu Jinhua of the Guangxi Song and Dance Troupe.
Fu Jinhua, a native of Guangxi Miao nationality, is famous and enjoys national popularity. He has staged the "Liu Sanjie" color drama starring him four times in Zhongnanhai, Beijing.
At the time of the start of filming of the movie "Liu Sanjie", Guangxi film producers put forward a request: they thought that Fu Jinhua's mouth shape when singing in front of the camera was not perfect enough, which would affect the image of the character Liu Sanjie. Therefore, they finally decided to replace Fu Jinhua with Huang Wanqiu, who played "Zhou Mei". This decision had a profound impact on both Fu Jinhua and Huang Wanqiu.
Although Fu Jinhua lost the opportunity to play Liu Sanjie, she appeared in the movie "Liu Sanjie" in another way. Maybe many people don't know that the dubbing of Liu Sanjie in the film is Fu Jinhua, including the song "Mountain Song is Like Spring River Water" that has been passed down through the ages, which is also sung by Fu Jinhua.
Huang Wanqiu was only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, and she lacked experience in screen acting, so for her, this was undoubtedly a turning point in her fate. However, with the encouragement of director Su Li, Huang Wanqiu began to devote herself to playing the role of Liu Sanjie, working hard day and night.
In the summer of 1960, the film crew came to the banks of the Li River, which is where Liu Sanjie's story takes place. Huang Wanqiu, who was a first-time participant in the crew, seemed a little uncomfortable, she was Xi to stage performances, and she was not used to the position and angle of the camera. In addition, this is her first appearance on the screen, so in the early days of filming, Huang Wanqiu behaved very restrained.
Su Li, a veteran director, discovered Huang Wanqiu's problem and did not put too much pressure on the newcomer, on the contrary, he patiently guided her, teaching her how to change her acting style and how to enter the play. This method has benefited Huang Wanqiu a lot.
Huang Wanqiu recalled that director Su Li told her at the time that he chose her to play Liu Sanjie because he took a fancy to her natural simplicity and frank temperament.
So she resolutely let go of her psychological burden and began to perform as she wanted, but she was highly satisfied by the film crew, and her performance gradually reached its peak.
Huang Wanqiu faced a somewhat embarrassing problem after more than half of the filming, that is, she had never been in love, and she didn't know how to behave for the love scene between Liu Sanjie and Brother A Niu. Of course, this is a problem that arises halfway through the shoot.
Audiences who are familiar with the movie "Liu Sanjie" will definitely remember the scene where Liu Sanjie and Brother A Niu fell in love under the big banyan tree, especially the expression and action when Liu Sanjie threw the hydrangea, which was even more lifelike.
This eyebrow-eyed "Third Sister Liu" is actually a little girl who has not opened her love in real life, and many people may not have thought of it. Therefore, it can be seen that Huang Wanqiu has made great efforts to deduce Liu Sanjie's sincerity and unrestrainedness in dealing with feelings.
The climate on the Li River was unusually hot at the time, and with the huge challenges of acting, Huang Wanqiu, a native of Guangxi, could not avoid heat stroke and fainting on set, even though she was nervously carrying out the filming task.
Despite this, Huang Wanqiu and the rest of the film crew overcame many difficulties and presented the first 112-minute feature film "Liu Sanjie" in Chinese mainland to the national audience in 1961.
As soon as the film was released, it immediately set off a craze across the country, and there were crowds of people in many places. Liu Sanjie's image and singing voice became a major feature of the Guangxi Zhuang people, and Huang Wanqiu also became an idol in the hearts of many young men at that time.
Liu Sanjie", a landscape feature film, was widely praised at home and abroad for its beautiful character image, moving singing voice and gorgeous scenery, and became one of the largest domestic films in circulation at that time.
With the success of the movie "Liu Sanjie", Huang Wanqiu's acting career has also ushered in a peak moment. It can even be said that, to some extent, Huang Wanqiu's name has been closely linked to Liu Sanjie. In 1963, due to her outstanding performance in the movie "Liu Sanjie", Huang Wanqiu won the Best Actress Award at the 2nd Hundred Flowers Awards, and has since become famous.
Huang Wanqiu then appeared on the stage of color dramas again, and she starred in classic plays such as "The White-Haired Girl", "On the Jinsha River", "Osmanthus and Shilang". Just as she was devoting herself to her acting career, the giant wheel of the times was whistling past her.
As we all know, Chinese society entered a special historical period in the mid-sixties of the last century, and all walks of life were affected. "Liu Sanjie" starring Huang Wanqiu was criticized as a negative example, causing her to fall from the spotlight on the stage to the tragic situation referred to by Qianfu.
In the past ten years, Huang Wanqiu has considered giving up many times, but her husband He Youcai has always been her safe haven during this period.
He Youcai is a film and television actor, although he is not as famous as his wife Huang Wanqiu, and he is six years younger than her, he is a very considerate husband.
In an interview, He Youcai once said that he was willing to be the moon and always accompany Huang Wanqiu, the sun, because the third sister was more famous than him.
In real life, He Youcai does care about Huang Wanqiu like this. He acted as a driver and assistant for Huang Wanqiu, helping her with her life and career affairs wholeheartedly. In the most difficult ten years of Huang Wanqiu's life, he became Huang Wanqiu's "Brother Niu", guarding her.
Thanks to the care and support of her husband He Youcai, Huang Wanqiu was able to rediscover her life trajectory. When the haze dissipated, she appeared in front of the audience again as "Liu Sanjie".
The color drama "Liu Sanjie" was re-staged in November 1977, which was undoubtedly a gift from God for Huang Wanqiu, and it was also the second spring of her life.
Although Huang Wanqiu is now 34 years old and her figure has changed due to childbirth, her demeanor when she played Liu Sanjie is still the same, and when "Liu Sanjie" is staged again, there is indeed no one else who is more suitable for this role except her.
In the past ten years, although Huang Wanqiu no longer performs on stage, she has not given up her understanding and interpretation of Liu Sanjie. In order to present the audience's new "Liu Sanjie", Huang Wanqiu re-choreographed the dance moves, and finally achieved amazing innovative results.
In the following years, Huang Wanqiu starred in nearly 300 performances of "New Liu Sanjie" at the Lijiang Theater, and then created the Zhuang opera "Bird's Clothes", thus entering her second artistic career.
Until March 4, 2023, 80-year-old Huang Wanqiu passed away in Guilin. This story about "Liu Sanjie" seems to have come to an end, but in fact it has not come to an end.
Mr. Ho Youcai said that he will compile the materials of Huang Wanqiu's creations and performances over the past few decades, and publish the story of Huang Wanqiu and Liu Sanjie into a book, so as to continue the spirit of Liu Sanjie inherited by his wife.
A reporter once interviewed Huang Wanqiu and asked her if she had any regrets about life. Huang Wanqiu replied without hesitation, her only regret was that she was not from the Zhuang tribe.