Basic information about Hu Zhaohai

Hu Zhaohai: Head of Shaoxing Lianhualuo Art Troupe in Zhejiang Province and president of Shaoxing Lianhualuo Association

"When the strings of the duqin on the ruler board are played, I will sing on stage alone..." If you If you like to listen to Shaoxing lotus flowers falling, you will definitely be familiar with this opening line. There is another person's name that is also familiar, and that is Hu Zhaohai. This grassroots artist who was once very popular in the 1970s and 1980s has recently begun to make frequent appearances again after he personally funded a folk art school and faded away from the stage for many years. The only difference from the past is that the main purpose of returning to the arena now is to cultivate and promote more young and middle-aged rookies. The enlightenment teacher is the shouting on the street

"My enlightenment teacher is the shouting of the street vendors. The hawking skills are so amazing that they have fascinated me since I was a child." Hu Zhaohai was born on Xinjian Road in the urban area. He is the second eldest child in a poor family of six at Renmin Road. My father earns money by doing odd jobs, and my mother is a housewife who supplements the family income by selling blood and collecting firewood. However, the difficulties of his family did not overwhelm Hu Zhaohai's pursuit of art. With only an artistic talent, he received the earliest artistic influence from the shouts.

When he was 12 years old, Shaoxing folk art training class was recruiting students, and Hu Zhaohai signed up as soon as he heard about it. The little guy's innocent and funny performance aroused everyone's laughter, but what everyone laughed at was just a child's naivety, and what he got was just a joke from the recruitment teacher: Wait until you are taller than the table. Take the test! Until the age of 16, when the third opera training class in Shaoxing was recruiting students, Hu Zhaohai once again rushed to take the exam. Competition was fierce at that time, with more than 1,000 applicants and only 30 admitted, but Hu Zhaohai passed easily. He took to the subject like a fish in water and quickly distinguished himself. This period of professional experience also laid a solid foundation for his later engagement in Shaoxing lotus falling art. However, "unforeseen circumstances arise", and Hu Zhaohai's artistic path did not always go smoothly. In 1965, the opera training class was cancelled, and all students were dismissed. At that time, there were only two roads ahead, one was to support farmers, and the other was to go home and "gnaw on old bones." But for Hu Zhaohai, there is only one way forward.

The 17-year-old Hu Zhaohai came to the then Shaoxing County Liberation Commune United Brigade, which is now the Lanting Town United Village, with a simple bedding, and lived the life of a farmer. But because he had long been famous in the drama training class, Hu Zhaohai was asked by the villagers to show off his skills on the first night he came to the village. This "exposure" was out of control. Villagers from neighboring villages heard about it and came to invite him. And every time he went to a village, "fans" from a ten-mile radius would rush to support him.

"I already like singing, and I can earn my work points. It's easier than working in the fields." This was Hu Zhaohai's truest thought at the time. In addition to singing model operas, he also sang "road operas". During the day, I read "little people's books", and at night, I went on stage to "speculate and sell now." Hu Zhaohai's creative career also began in this countryside. From a simple story he heard, he was able to create a lotus-falling "Shanghai Strange Case" that could last two nights. And gradually, he was no longer satisfied with singing to earn work points, so he quietly recruited two or three people to form a "grass stage team" and began to "teach acupoints". The performance fee is not low, you can earn 14 yuan per performance. "Performing at that time was like an underground party, and the cultural department would come to arrest 'black theater troupes' like us at any time. But we also gained a lot. We used permanent brand bicycles, semi-steel watches and other new gadgets at that time."< /p>

Later the "Cultural Revolution" broke out, and Hu Zhaohai and others no longer dared to "commit crimes against the wind." It wasn't until September 1972 that he finally got the chance to survive. After learning that the Shaoxing County Cultural Center was going to restore Lotus Falls, Hu Zhaohai rushed there as fast as he could. After many twists and turns, he stayed there as a "temporary worker" coaching rehearsals. The rehearsed play was called "Three Carrying Pole". At that time, the leader had decided that if the rehearsal was not successful, the Shaoxing Lotus would have to "die naturally". In other words, this is related to the life and death of Shaoxing Lotus Falls. Under such circumstances, Hu Zhaohai, who came on stage as a temporary replacement, became an instant hit as soon as he came on the stage. Later, "People's Daily" published an article: Hu Zhaohai saved a genre of music by himself, and that was what he was talking about. After this incident, Hu Zhaohai finally embarked on the path of stardom, specializing in lotus falling art.