On October 11, 2023, we lost a great director, Mr. Guo Baochang. He died of illness at the age of 83. In his final moments, it was gratifying that he had finally finished writing "The Gate of the Mansion". This masterpiece, which has exhausted his life's work, has finally come to an end. This work fulfilled his life's wish, especially the TV series version of "Mansion Gate", which was loved by the audience and was enough to be his last words.
The origin of a laugh, love open two doors, the soul of the troubled times... Whenever this familiar melody sounds, we can recall those vivid characters: the flamboyant Bai Jingqi, the ill-fated Yang Jiuhong, the deep-rooted Bai Yuting, and the humble but unwilling Xiangxiu.
In 2001, after the premiere of "Mansion Gate" on CCTV, it quickly became popular across the country, setting a record for the ratings of that year. To this day, it is still regarded as the pinnacle of domestic family dramas. The audience spoke highly of this drama, "there is no half-time waste".
The reason why "Mansion Gate" can deeply attract the audience is because its storyline is based on real people and things. Many of the characters and stories in the play are the product of what director Guo Baochang saw and heard when he was young. Characters such as Yang Jiuhong, Xiangxiu, Bai Jingqi and the second grandmother all have their prototypes, and they are all relatives, friends or people he has met around Guo Baochang.
Guo Baochang began to conceive the script of "Mansion Gate" at the age of 16, which has gone through four editions and more than 40 years. The first three editions were destroyed for historical reasons, and it was not until the fourth edition that it was made into a TV series. In 2000, when CCTV began to prepare for the filming of this drama, many powerful actors saw its potential and lowered their salaries to star. Therefore, we can see many familiar faces in "Mansion Gate", even if there are not many scenes of the dragon role, there are also many big names in cameos.
22 years have passed, and the actors in "Mansion Gate" have also undergone many changes. Bai Jingqi's actor Mr. Chen Baoguo, in reality, is the prototype of the thirteenth generation head of Tongrentang, Le Jingyu, and Guo Baochang's adoptive father. The "Baicao Hall" in the play is the Hongji Hall founded by Le Jingyu in Jinan.
Time flies, and we miss those classic moments and familiar faces. And "Mansion Gate", an immortal work, will always remain in our hearts. At the moment of birth, other children cried when they were beaten, but the more he was beaten, the more he laughed. This innate uniqueness seems to foreshadow his extraordinary life. When he was young, Bai Jingqi was a natural rebel, naughty and uninhibited. He once poured ink on Mr. Teaching, pointed a knife at Bai Sanye, slashed indiscriminately, fed Chinese medicine to goldfish, and even beat his brothers. I really can't find a second person who can get into trouble more than him, he is simply a demon king of the world who is not afraid of heaven and earth.
With the passage of time, Bai Jingqi did not become mature and steady, but became more unruly. He singled out the ruffians to fight, and even took the initiative to marry Huang Chun, the daughter of the enemy. Such behavior made him kicked out of the house by Bai Er's grandmother. On the surface, he is an infatuated man, but in fact he is a flowery person. He married four women, but none of them ended up with a good death. Huang Chun died on the way to the funeral, Yang Jiuhong died alone, Xiangxiu was resentful, and Huaihua died tragically.
The actor who played the role of Bai Jingqi is Chen Baoguo, an excellent actor from a Chinese opera class. He stepped into the film and television industry in 1980, and only two years later, he won the Best Actor Award at the China TV Golden Eagle Awards for the TV series "Red Orange, Yellow Green, Blue and Purple". During the filming of "Mansion Gate", although he encountered twists and turns in investment problems, he still insisted on his beliefs and even took out his savings to invest in it. It is this persistence that has brought his career to a higher level after "Mansion Gate" was broadcast. In 2001, he won the CCTV Viewer's Favorite TV Actor Award.
is different from the characters in the play, Chen Baoguo outside the play is a dedicated and good man. His wife is actor Zhao Kuie, and the two are classmates in Chinese opera. Chen Baoguo was moved from the first time he saw her, and after a period of pursuit, they quickly established a relationship. After graduation, the two supported each other in their careers and collaborated on many film and television works. They entered the palace of marriage in 1982 after 8 years of long-distance love. After marriage, he had a son, Chen Yuemo, who has become an actor under the joint cultivation of husband and wife. Today, Chen Baoguo has become a drama bone in the entertainment industry with his works for many years. In the past two years, he has participated in many hit film and television dramas "Mountains and Rivers and Bright Moon", "Meritorious", "Big Exam" and so on. and Bai Yingyu, the third master of the Bai family, is played by Liu Peiqi. He has been playing tricks and visiting Fengyue places all his life, but he has enjoyed a lifetime of happiness after doing all the bad things. He relied on the inheritance left by his ancestors and the connivance of his second sister-in-law to live a carefree life. Eat, drink, and be merry, cheat, and do all kinds of evil. However, it is such a seemingly scoundrel figure, but in the face of the country's righteousness, he shows a firm blood. He made a deep impression on the audience with his heroic sacrifice.
Bai Sanye"This role was originally played by Li Chengru. However, the producers objected to his emaciated image. At the insistence of director Guo Baochang, Liu Peiqi successfully created this role. Liu Peiqi used her acting skills to interpret this role as flesh and blood, making the audience love and hate him.
With this role, Liu Peiqi's value in the entertainment industry has doubled, and the film appointments continue. He became a popular star, and his career began to get on track. In the days that followed, he took on a number of film and television works and created many roles that were loved by the audience. Whether it is Mr. Zhu in "White Deer Plain", the national hero Feng Zicai in "Dragon War", or Zhou Laosi in "The Year the Flowers Bloom and the Moon is Full", Chen Mou, the Zhishou Guan Master in "Jiang Ye", and the military Li Yishan in "Sword in the Snow", all left a deep impression on the audience.
Liu Peiqi is like a clear stream in the entertainment industry, not fighting or grabbing, indifferent to fame and fortune. His private life is also low-key, and he has been married to his wife Meng Tianjiao for many years without any scandals.
Another character worth paying attention to is Bai Er's grandmother (played by Siqin Gaowa), Bai Jingqi's mother. When the Bai family was about to collapse, she single-handedly supported the entire mansion door. This character is full of a sense of justice, has the right values, she knows great benevolence and righteousness, and is the object of respect for everyone. The prototype of the role of Bai Er's grandmother was created by director Guo Baochang by combining the advantages of three generations of women in his adoptive father's family. According to Guo Baochang, this role is borrowed the most from Bai Qiye's grandmother Xu Yefen and the tenth generation of Lejia's housemother. Initially, the role was played by actor Liu Gege, Guo Baochang's wife. In "Mansion Gate 2", she played Erlanzi. Later, when CCTV was preparing to film "Mansion Gate", it strongly recommended Siqin Gaowa, who had superb acting skills, to play this role. In order to get this role, Siqin Gaowa lost more than ten pounds in a month, and her efforts impressed director Guo Baochang. Her outstanding performance in the play has created a resolute, shrewd and respected housewife of the Bai family, which is deeply loved by the audience. In China's film and television industry, there is a highly respected actress, she is Siqin Gaowa. Since she played the tiger girl in the movie "Camel Xiangzi" in 1983, the former actor of Beijing Bayi Film Studio has been loved by audiences. In her acting career spanning more than 40 years, she has won many actress awards for her superb acting skills, such as the Golden Rooster Award, the Hundred Flowers Award and the Academy Award, which is enough to prove her outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry.
Siqin Gaowa has experienced three marriages in her love life. Her first husband was Sun Tianxiang, a director at the Inner Mongolia Film Studio, and the two had a son and a daughter, but eventually divorced in 1976, and the daughter was raised by Siqin Gaowa. In 1977, she married actor Ao Xingchen, but this marriage did not last long. In 1986, Siqin Gaowa married Chen Liangsheng, a Swiss-Chinese ** family, although there were no children in this marriage, but after Chen Liangsheng's death in 2022, she chose to remain single.
Today, 73-year-old Siqin Gaowa is still active in the film and television industry. In July 2023, her new work "Father's Prairie and Mother's River" will be broadcast on the online platform, once again showing her vitality and talent in her acting career.
Another touching woman is Bai Yuting, played by Jiang Wenli. Bai Yuting is the eldest lady of the Bai family, who has been pampered since she was a child and lives an elegant life. She was deeply obsessed with Wan Xiaoju's drama and was extremely affectionate, and finally married Wan Xiaoju's **. Jiang Wenli used her excellent acting skills to interpret this poor and infatuated woman to the fullest.
It is worth mentioning that Bai Yuting's prototype is director Guo Baochang's twelve aunts. This woman who has been clothed and fed since she was a child has an obsession with the Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang, and she will not marry him. Her love story was put on the screen, and Jiang Wenli successfully portrayed this deeply rooted character.
Jiang Wenli is a top student of Beijing Film Academy, and since she stepped into the film and television industry in 1989, she has gained the attention of the public with the role of Little Douzi's biological mother in "Farewell My Concubine". Since then, her career has been booming, and the TV series "Golden Wedding" has impressed the audience even more impressed.
Whether it is Siqin Gaowa or Bai Yuting, their stories are full of persistence and perseverance. They use their own experiences to tell us that no matter what kind of difficulties they encounter, as long as they stick to their beliefs and pursuits, they can find their own place in life. Original text: Jiang Wenli is a talented actress, her representative works include "Chinese Divorce", "Lichun", "Happiness Knocks on the Door" and so on. 22 years later, she is already the mother of her children, and her husband is the famous director Gu Changwei. In her acting career, she also starred in the TV series "Mansion Gate", in which she played an important role. In addition, Jiang Wenli is also an excellent producer, and her films have won many recognitions and awards at international film festivals.
Jiang Wenli, an acclaimed actress, has had an influential acting career. Her masterpieces include "Chinese Divorce", "The Beginning of Spring" and "Happiness Knocks on the Door", among others. Years later, she has become a mother and spends her life hand in hand with the famous director Gu Changwei. In her acting career, Jiang Wenli has participated in the TV series "Mansion Gate" and left a deep impression on the audience with her outstanding performance. In addition to this, she has also shown outstanding production talent, and her films have won numerous awards at international film festivals, fully demonstrating her artistic vision and talented side. She was willing to abandon her family and follow Bai Jingqi closely, but tragically, as a dusty woman, she was destined to not be able to step into the threshold of the Bai family, and since then she has followed Bai Jingqi namelessly and without a penny, and she can't live in fear. When her daughter Bai Jiali left her, Yang Jiuhong lost the pillar of her life and finally died of hunger strike. Yang Jiuhong's fate is even more tragic than her in the play, her prototype, known as Grandma Kong Si, is the top brand of the Oiran, although she was as beautiful as a flower when she was young, she never stepped into the mansion for the rest of her life. She lives in a small house next to Tong Ren Tang's house, lonely. In the real world, Grandma Kongsi's children were blocked by the family and never recognized her. During the special period of the sixties and seventies, Grandma Kong Si was criticized for her identity, was kicked out of the hut, and spent the rest of her life alone in a thatched hut.
Regarding the role of Yang Jiuhong, director Guo Baochang originally wanted Jiang Wenli to play it, but Jiang Wenli insisted on playing Bai Yuting. Subsequently, CCTV recommended He Saifei. When they met for the first time, director Guo Baochang felt that He Saifei was beautiful, but not strong enough. However, He Saifei was full of confidence and brought surprises to the director. is completely different from Yang Jiuhong's fate in the play, He Saifei married the teacher's son Yang Nan in 1988, he was her first love, and the two had a son after marriage and lived a happy life. As he grew older, He Saifei played the role of a noble lady or amorous woman, and was known as a "professional aunt wife". In recent years, there have not been many shots of her film and television works, and they are almost in a state of extinction.
Huaihua (played by Lei Juan), a maid bought by the second grandmother, was born poor and has a well-behaved personality. She is good at serving people, but unfortunately, after the death of her second grandmother, Huaihua, who lost her support, could not gain a foothold under Yang Jiuhong's exclusion. After Bai Jingqi's beating and scolding, she ended her life in anger. Lei Juan took over some film and television works after "The Mansion Gate", but her popularity was not high, and there were no more characters with distinct personalities like Huaihua. She has been tepid in the entertainment industry and retired after 2008.
Finally, there is Xiangxiu (played by Xie Lan), the maid in the gate of the mansion, who is responsible for holding the dog. She's smart and spicy, but ill-fated. Xiangxiu in "Mansion Gate" is a charismatic and witty female character. Her prototype is director Guo Baochang's adoptive mother Guo Rong. Guo Rong married Le Jingyu, who was in his 70s, at the age of 26, and had no biological children, so she adopted a child and changed her surname, namely Guo Baochang. However, when Guo Baochang was writing "The Gate of the Mansion", his mother objected to his content, because the play revealed many secrets in the family, which she felt would damage the family's image. In addition, she was also dissatisfied with Guo Baochang for portraying his adoptive father as an irresponsible man.
In the play, the wonderful interpretation of the role of Xiangxiu was completed by Xie Lan, who has starred in many excellent film and television works, such as "Little Women", "Walking Through the Harsh Winter" and "Da Song Ti Criminal Officer". However, in real life, after Xie Lan gave birth to her son in 2012, her main focus turned to her family.
What is amazing is that in the past 22 years, 9 actors in the play have passed away. They used to be familiar faces on the screen, such as Manager Hu played by Zhang Qian, Bai Mengtang played by Du Yulu, Shopkeeper Lu played by Yu Liwen, Master Pei played by Ma Zengshou, Ma Liqiu played by Zhang Shaohua, etc.
However, over time, there have been many changes in the entertainment industry. Some actors became popular with "The Gate of the Mansion", while others gradually disappeared from people's sight. Things are people, and time always makes people feel emotional.