The first generation of Tianqiao Eight Monsters

"Being poor is not afraid", whose real name is Zhu Shaowen, is a scholar who didn't win the lottery. Born about 1829, he entertained crosstalk in Tianjin during Tongzhi and Guangxu years. His ancestral home is Beijing, Han Junqi, and he was originally a clown in Beijing opera, playing a showy face. According to legend, he wrote the martial arts drama Eighteen Choices. Then lay the ground on the overpass. In his later years, he lived in a felt house outside Di 'anmen in Beijing. Zhu Shaowen, who was jealous when she first sang Peking Opera, made some innovations in dressing up and playing, so she switched to cross talk and named it "Poverty is not afraid", which means that although she is poor, she has the backbone of being a man and is not afraid of anyone or anything.

"Being poor is not afraid" is not only proficient in writing and pen and ink, but also has a good study of the sound, form and meaning of Chinese characters. When he performs, he always scatters the white sand in a straight line, telling the truth while scattering it, so as to attract the audience to watch his performances and let people learn knowledge through laughter. Therefore, Zhu Shaowen's greatest contribution to the art of cross talk is to introduce the performance mode of "Baisha Sanzi" into cross talk. Before crosstalk, Zhu Shaowen always took a small bag of thin white sand, two small bamboo boards and a big broom, and drew a big circle with white sand in crowded places. This is called "painting pot", which means paddock performance. Then he knelt on the ground with one leg, squeezed the white sand with his thumb and forefinger with one hand and sprinkled it into various fonts or patterns, and then beat two small bamboo boards to sing, or lead to various teasing and jokes. After the performance of a program, sweep the words off the ground with a broom, rewrite the new words, and start talking about the new program. He can write a Chinese character with a double hook of 10 feet and 2 feet on the white sand, which is quite vivid, such as "a tiger", "a blessing" and "a life". There are often small characters under big characters. When many words are combined together, they become a poem or a pair of poems. He often scatters a pair of couplets, which reads: "A very good boy grinds ink, a very good boy wipes a pulse of ink, adds coal to Mei Mei and explodes at Mei Mei". This couplet reads like a tongue twister, which is clever and interesting. The same is true of the couplet "painting a lotus monk, the book is close to the Chinese character Hanlin book" The new performance form of "Bai Sha Chuan Zi" has attracted many audiences, and everyone is willing to watch it. Therefore, Zhu Shaowen's cross talk was listed as the first of the "Eight Monsters of Tianqiao" at that time. "vinegar drowning cream" is a nickname, also known as "Chu Miao Gao" My name is Zhang. He was a folk artist who appeared in Tianqiao during Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty and specialized in singing Shanxi folk songs. He mainly talks about jokes and cross talk, and is good at singing Shanxi folk songs, folk songs and pier tunes.

He usually dresses strangely. When he arrived at the ground, he wore grass beads and a gauze robe, with long sideburns and unkempt appearance. His specialty is called "dark spring", and today it is called "ventriloquism", among which imitating bird calls is his unique skill. The birdsong he learned, including all kinds of birdsong, is melodious and vivid, and it is like being in a bird market when performing. There is a poem praising "vinegar drowning paste" in "Tianqiao Zayong":

Li Qu Village's songs are prosperous and magnificent, and the rhyme is loud and noisy.

It is still said that there is a wonderful vinegar paste.

The grass bead yarn is swaying, and the drum board must be knocked and beaten;

In the past 50 years, whoever succeeded has been ignored by the world.

The folk songs sung by "vinegar drowning paste" are called "folk songs" in Shanxi and are popular folk tunes in Hequ area of northwest Shanxi. Its lyrics are basically seven words, which are not strictly bound and can be extended freely. The most famous is A Chinese Odyssey, which shows that Shanxi people and Hequ people go out to make a living in Inner Mongolia in spring. There are three kinds of tunes, namely, demand mode, Shang mode, feather mode and gong mode, with simple and beautiful rhythm and unique features.

Minor is also called "ditty", which is characterized by soft and smooth tunes, beautiful lyrics and popular images. The content is mainly based on the field work in Shan Ye, which has a strong local color. In those days, the minor songs sung by "Vinegar Drowning Ointment" included Meng Jiangnv, Wugeng, Embroidering a Pouch, and Su Wu Shepherd. He is good at using different tunes, changing different lyrics, making it constantly changing and singing constantly, so that the audience will not lose their taste.

Dock tune is also called "social fire tune". "Shehuo" is a form of song and dance performance. In the early years, in western Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, whenever festivals came, community fires were held in villages around the country, such as running dry boats, dancing yangko and walking on stilts. The tune used is called dock tune, which is used for singing. Its music falls into two categories: rap and lyric. The former is mainly narrative, with interesting and vivid content and bright and simple style, but not melodious. The latter is strong in singing, smooth and rich in tunes, cheerful and lively, euphemistic and soft, and desolate and sad.

The singing scene of "vinegar drowning ointment" in the entertainment industry is not only rich in folk songs, but also the words of laughing, cursing and mocking the disadvantages of the times. In addition, the surrounding audience is reluctant to leave. There used to be an old saying in Beijing: "Pockmarked Han akimbo-ask for money." This two-part allegorical saying was specially created by old Beijingers who had been playing in Tianqiao for a long time for Han Mazi, one of the eight eccentrics of Tianqiao in his early years.

Han, as the name implies, knows this person's surname is Han, and his face is covered with hemp seeds. People call him "Asako", not his name. He was the most famous stand-up comedian in the early days of Old Tianqiao. This person specializes in telling jokes or imitating the cries of various merchants in the market, which is very interesting to perform. He is sharp-tongued and the country is extremely ugly. If you look at him again, he looks strange, his face is purple and numb, and his eyebrows are shaking to some extent. He put his braid on his forehead and held a broken fan in his hand. Every time I see his lips sticking up and his eyes turning, I can't help laughing when I don't hear what he says. Tianqiao artists once recalled Han Mazi's voice and smile and said, "Han Mazi is a different person." His big head is like a pear, his forehead is criss-crossed like a flower, and his face is beaming. Put white ash on your face, tie a foot-long braid behind your head, and pout in the air to make people laugh. He often wears a green coat with a big right skirt with five knotted buttons nailed to it. He is a big fat man with a pockmarked face. " "Pockmarked Korea is carrying a thrush cage in his hand, and it will be lively wherever he goes. When he puts the birdcage on the ground, people will gather around. When he made people laugh, he suddenly stopped, put his hands on his waist and looked around. Then people will know that he wants money. He will say more when he has received the money once. When he puts his hand in his waist, he wants money again. " Sun Baocai often imitates Pockmarked Han, hands akimbo, and proudly says, "Pockmarked Han has a fierce mouth and can swear, so you can't hear him. For example,' he said of Miss XXX's ivory bed,' What ivory bed? There are dog bones, wolf bones, pig bones, cow bones and all kinds of animal bones in the front and back of the bed. Only the middle of the bed is ivory! When he said this, he stood in the middle of the venue and scolded the audience around him. Only he is ivory. By the time the audience understood, he had been scolded. Many people hate him because he loves to curse, but because he is clever and clever, the audience still likes to listen to him. After the performance every day, Asako Han always earns more than other crosstalk performers. This is mainly because he speaks cross talk well, and everyone is willing to listen and pay. What's more, everyone is afraid of his scolding and dare not give him money. "

It is said that the famous painter Shen Rongpu painted a cross talk of pockmarked Han in a picture frame, hung it on the window partition of Dashilan dormitory or at the entrance of Dongmipu, Meishi Street Road, and made it a signboard of Qingshui fax, which attracted many people to watch.

Han Mazi's "Guankou" (Quyi terminology. Refers to singing quickly, reciting lyrics or describing many things in succession) and "changing one's mouth" (Quyi terminology. It refers to the use of local dialects and other basic skills, which complement his unique appearance. It is also a traditional stand-up comedy program such as "Three Myopia" and "Waxitai". After he said it, he had a different charm and a charm that made people laugh. It even makes people laugh and cry. So every time he writes a paragraph and stands in a T-step, people always throw money at him.

Asako Han said that asking for money for cross talk left a deep impression on the audience. Most old Beijingers who are familiar with Tianqiao know the bald man. Bald man in the basin is an artist's nickname, and his real name cannot be verified. Because he knocked on the earthen bowl and sang a little song on the overpass, and his head was bald, everyone called him bald.

Bald man himself has two obvious appearance characteristics, one is baldness, and only some hair grows on his temples. Second, he walks with a limp, just like Tie Guai Li in The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea.

Singing a ditty on the earthen basin has historical allusions. Sima Qian's Historical Records recorded the story that the king of Qin defeated the king of Zhao at the Mianchi meeting, which has been widely known so far. The history of Yuan percussion can be traced back to ancient times. According to the general examination of the literature, "Lekao" records: "Ancient brick, shaped like a foot basin or a cover basin, was hit with four sticks." Looking up relevant historical records, we can see that according to legend, during the Yao Dynasty, an old man went to the soil to sing, "Work at sunrise, rest at sunset, dig wells and drink, plow fields and eat." How can the emperor help me? " This lyric later became an allusion to the celebration of peace and prosperity. Textual research also learned that smashing soil is smashing the ground. After Tang Yao, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, there were records about percussion and music. Such as: "Han Shu? There is a saying in "Yang Yunchuan": "After drinking, your ears are hot and you slap your face to the sky, but you call a dog. "

The performance of Baldy Pot is different. He holds a big clay pot and taps different parts of it with a pair of chopsticks, making different sounds and tones, and making up lyrics and songs at will to make bloggers laugh. Sun Baocai said of baldy: "Baldy is a monster. His head is bald, only two sideburns are a little hairy, and he walks with a limp, like a Tie Guai Li person. He is holding a clay pot, which is two feet in diameter and one foot deep. He can knock around with a pair of chopsticks, but he can also knock out five tones and twelve rhymes. He sang while knocking and improvised words to make people laugh. "

The bald man in the washbasin knocked on the pottery washbasin, and Kan Kan made a sound. Although the octave is not harmonious, it is clear and harmonious, which should be integrated with his cadence and cadence. Tracing back to the source, it also has some ancient heritages. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty poet Yang praised the baldness of the basin in Tianqiao Fu:

I saw the bald man in the basin that year, and struck rhyme in the basin;

Now there will be a new tune on the market. Do you know that Qin people are good at this kind of voice?

Beating people and singing are like begging, and the Sri Lankan people can't stand it now.

Laughing at his vulgarity and ignorance, he made a fake plan to knock on the basin around Zhuang. Tian Gai was an old folk artist who opened a barber shop in Tianqiao Acrobatic Field during Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty. His real name can't be verified, because he has never revealed his life experience to others for decades, and it seems that there is something hidden, so it is difficult for others to ask.

This man was very skilled in martial arts when he was a child, and he was disabled because he kicked his legs too hard. However, some people say that he was injured when fighting with others. No one can tell who is right or wrong. But it's quite strange to practice all kinds of technical movements on the bar with a half-legged person. Every day, he takes his apprentice to the Tianqiao performing arts venue. First, he sets up the bar, then lets his apprentice perform one or two tricks as an introduction, and then limps to the venue himself. He is like the old man Hong Tao in Guayuan. He is physically strong and has no old age. He jumped up and down on the barbell, making all kinds of movements flexibly with his hands and feet. Such as one-handed big top, choking water, left and right downwind flags, swallows turning over, Nezha exploring the sea, the changes are endless and indescribable. The audience cheered and praised it. Each performance can be properly received in the top ten, three to five thousand yuan. At the end of the day, there are 30 thousand to 40 thousand yuan, which is quite expensive.

People have long been familiar with the "two-finger Zen" of martial arts masters. However, as early as 100 years ago, Tian's best kung fu was to hold the ground with two fingers and stand upside down on the barbell, which was also a must in the Tianqiao entertainment circle at that time.

Although Tian has a disability, he has extraordinary strength, the swiftness of a tiger and the dexterity of an ape. Whenever he performs, he always attracts the audience with a few simple moves first, and then comes up with his housekeeping skills one by one after the audience gathers around. Many of his difficult and wonderful action performances are related to historical figures or fairy tales. Such as the white ape stealing peaches, Liu Ling lying drunk and Huang Xiang lying on the mat. In addition, there are imitative action forms, such as "duck drowning", "kite turning over" and "hanging upside down".

"The White Ape Steals Peach" is a myth in which one knee bends to clamp the bar, and two arms encircle the knees to make the white ape hold the peach to wait on his mother, and then turn around the bar seven or eight times, which is dazzling. Nowadays, the gymnast's "one-knee loop" action on the horizontal bar is quite like a white ape stealing peaches when the field is lame.

"Liu Ling Drunk Lying" is more difficult because one arm bends the bar and the other hand supports her drunk lying, and the whole body weight is supported by one arm. Liu Ling was a famous scholar in ancient Wei and Jin Dynasties, and he was also called "Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest" with Ruan Ji and Ji Kang. Because it "often rides a deer cart and carries a pot of wine, which makes people follow the lotus bell" and "in the name of wine, one drink one stone and five fights wake up", it is famous in Brewmaster, so later generations left a much-told story that "Du Kang makes wine and Liu Ling is drunk". Liu Ling and the great writer and little prince Zhang Hua were good friends. He traveled thousands of miles to Sui City (now Xu Shui, Hebei Province) to visit Zhang Hua, who often drank and had fun. After his death, he was buried in Zhanghua Village, west of Xushui Valley.

"Huang Xiang sleeps on the mat" is holding the bar with both hands, bending his arms, hanging his waist and legs horizontally, and turning upside down on the bar. Huang Xiang, a native of Jiangxia in the Eastern Han Dynasty, has a strong word. At the age of nine, he lost his mother, filial to his father, fanned his bed and pillow in summer, and warmed himself up in the cold. He is proficient in classical literature and can write articles. The name of the capital is "A Chinese Odyssey, Jiangxia Huangtong". Official to official. Later, Huang Xiang's story was compiled into Twenty-four Filial Pieties, which was widely circulated in China. Therefore, the allusion of "Huang Xiang lying on the mat" will be more welcomed by the broad masses of the people.

I once recalled that cripple Tian said, "His skill is to practice. Look at him. He landed with one hand and his whole body stood on end. It's called holding the top with one hand. He can also somersault, turn back and stand in front of you. This is called swallows turning over. He has another stunt. When one hand holds the top, he leans left and right, as if the wind is blowing crooked. This is called the left and right downwind flag. Another feature of the field cripple is that he spends all his money when he gets it. Not a penny left, earn more and spend more, earn less and spend less. This is because Jianghu people are running around at sky-high prices and have not settled down. Generally, they don't do permanent production or long-term planning. In addition, they suffer more often. Once they have money, they should enjoy it. Let's talk about it the next day, tighten your belts and go to the show. "

The most wonderful movements of Tian lame are "horizontal bar" and "two-fingered handstand". Riding on the bar means riding the leg on the bar separately before and after, rotating forward or backward several times in a row, and so does the femoral clamping bar. "Two-finger handstand" is a program in which the index finger and middle finger point to the bar and the body slowly turns up and down. This is the "grand finale" of Tian's lame man, which is extremely thrilling, and the audience cheers in unison every time they practice.

With his profound kung fu and unique skills, Tian lame not only captured the audience with his performances, but also made him stand on the overpass for a long time and become famous. The "ugly grandson" surnamed Sun is nicknamed "ugly grandson" because he is ugly. He was a famous crosstalk artist in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, and he mainly pretended to be funny.

Sun Baocai once described "ugly grandson" like this. He said, "The ugly grandson is as ugly as a pig. On ordinary days, he said cross talk. On the first day of New Year's Day, he wore a hemp crown, held a funeral stick in his left hand, and mourned his son in his right hand, crying for his father and mother, and complained all the way to the busy place in the overpass. At this time, many people surrounded him and knew that this was his way of asking for money, so everyone laughed and threw some money to him. "

The best program of Ugly Grandson is the performance of Funeral on New Year's Day. His own performance imitated the whole funeral scene, and his performance was vivid. First, he imitated many people's voices in a tent: two girls cried, three sisters-in-law shouted, four aunts advised, and five concubines said, making a terrible noise. Then the "ugly grandson" walked out of the tent, wearing a hemp crown and mourning clothes, holding a mourning stick in his left hand and a paper banner in his right hand, slamming the basin and crying loudly for his father. Crying and screaming made the audience laugh and made everyone throw money at him.

The "ugly grandson" is already ugly, and with the burden of filial piety, it is extremely ugly. So the Tianqiao market has the name of "ugly grandson". One is strange, and the other is playful. Known as one of the "Eight Monsters" in the early days of Tianqiao.

Yang, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, praised the "ugly grandson" with seven quatrains in Ode to Tianqiao;

Make a living by wearing a hemp crown and cry;

I don't know how taboo China people are, and I know that if money is true. There is little information about rhinoceros in history. According to legend, Buzz the Nose is a strange and poor anonymous artist. His name is unknown, and everyone calls him "Tintin Tinker". Some people say that he used to be a buddy in a certain place in Shanxi, but later he resigned and went to Beijing because of his good singing skills, so he set up his own school in Tianqiao. I wonder if this information is accurate. He put an iron pipe into his nostrils, hung a broken tin can around his waist, and sang while walking with a banger in his hands. Sometimes the broken tin pot around his waist is used as a drum, and the iron pipe stuffed in his nose is used as the end of the song. Every time he sings, the voice of his tail is changed to a nasal tube, which is ridiculous. He is also listed as one of the "eight eccentrics".

When he officially performed for the audience, he also specially dressed up, wearing flowers on his head and powder on his face. When he put two bamboo tubes in his nostrils and buzzed, he beat the tinplate pot hanging around his waist with a small stick and made a rhythmic sound. At the same time, I sang a ditty to the tune of the bamboo tube and the beat of the iron pot. Everyone will laugh at his ridiculous antics and leave a deep impression. In the Qing Dynasty's "Tianqiao Zayong", he once praised "nasal hum" with a seven-character rhyme:

The rhyme of horse iron pot can also be used to assist court merchants;

At that time, it was ghostly, but now I feel strong.

As soon as the nasal sound rings, it is strange to apply powder;

But visitors who practice can pay attention that they will not bear heavy ash today. Chang fool is also one of the eight eccentrics in the early days of the old overpass. His "stone-smashing" performance is very Jianghu artist's color. Most artists on the old overpass have heard of his performance. Some people say that his "stone-beating" is real kung fu, but others say that his "stone-beating" is to promote his patented medicine service for treating traumatic injuries, which is commercial and quack. As for kung fu, it's not perfect, it's very authentic. But in any case, admit that he is one of the weirdos in the early days of the old overpass. Nobody knows what his real name is.

It is said that the stones that fools often smash are mostly pebbles. Before the performance, his younger brother often touches two stones first, so that the audience can hear the noise, and then hands them to the audience to touch. Take a look and tell the truth. At this time, fools are often lucky enough to convey qi to their hands. Then, pick up the stone and put it on the edge of the bench. After finding the right place, just listen to "hi!" "hey!" Second, where the palm falls, the stone has been smashed.

Often fools have a unique skill, which is to poke stones with their fingers. His performance will be reminiscent of the kung fu performance of armed police soldiers today, which is of great significance. However, "shine on you is better than blue, and ice water is colder than water". The kung fu performance of armed police soldiers is much deeper than that of ordinary fools in those days, and the qigong used is also more extensive than before.

Often a fool will sell his "riki" to the audience after a performance of "throwing stones". He said that his "100-ton therapy" has miraculous effects, one is to strengthen the body and bones, and the other is to cure injuries from falls. Third, it can treat the internal injuries caused by flash waist and fork qi. In his statement, he said that it is only after taking this medicine that he has such great strength and can practice real kung fu. It is said that the pills he sells have no magical effect, but they will not spoil people. The reason why he beautifies pills so much is mainly to maintain the minimum living needs in order to survive. At the same time, "play with money" to the audience in the form of selling medicines. From this perspective, it is not unreasonable for some people to say that his busking is commercial.