Hejian Guangming Theater

Hejian Guangming Theater

Hejian Guangming theater is located in Hejian City, Hebei Province. It has been more than half a century. It is a pear garden building in the 1930s and a key cultural relic protection unit in Hebei Province. Marshal Zhu De went to see a play during his stay in Hejian.

Brief introduction to the theater

It was invested by GE, Wang, song, Zhang and Han in Hejian City in 1934, imitating the "big stage" style of Tianjin. The front of the door is made of artificial stone. On the high plaque, there are two big characters "Guangming". It is written by Hua Shikui, a famous calligrapher in Tianjin at that time. It is said that dozens of pieces of money are now in the ocean.

Theater structure

The structure of the theater is very delicate. The front is the stage, the back is the dormitory, and there are two rows of vermilion columns in the East and west sides. There are boxes on both sides of the building, which can accommodate more than a thousand people. The audience seat is a chair; in the square at the bottom of the balustrade of the theater, Chen Tieshan, a well-known painter of that year, painted flower and bird figures; right above the stage, painted "Eight Immortals", which is quite exquisite. This magnificent, ancient and foreign theater was second to none in the county seat of Hebei Province. In the past, it was privately owned. People spent more than a dozen copper coins to buy a ticket for a theater, and a piece of ocean to buy a box ticket. It was a great spiritual enjoyment to sit in the theater and listen to the opera. Each box has a small square table, several chairs, teapots and bowls on the table, and some fruits. There are also tea stoves and handkerchiefs in the garden. The service is very considerate.

Source of actors

At the beginning of Guangming theater, there was no fixed troupe, and famous actors were on call. The first performance in the garden is "return to Jingzhou in Ganlu Temple". Wang Hailiang, a martial student, plays Zhao Yun and Tong Zihong plays Liu Bei, which makes a sudden sound. Soon after the Garden opened, Zhang Si, who was in charge of money and food in the county government, saw that it was profitable, so he used public funds to invite some famous actors near Hejian to open a "Xinhua theater" to perform in Guangming theater. This is a big miscellaneous class, singing any tune. Wang Hailiang sings Peking Opera wusheng, Tong Zihong sings Peking Opera Xusheng, GUI Sanbao sings Hebei Bangzi Qingyi, Ma Chunkui and Zheng Huchen sing Hebei Bangzi Hualian, Cao Yukui sings Hebei Bangzi clown. Lu Guifen, Tian Guifen, Xiao Cuiyun, GUI Sanbao, Jin Yuxiang and Li Xiaoxia were the famous actresses in Guangming theater.

other

The five shareholders of the troupe all have certain wealth. Song Tianhe made a fortune by selling opium. Wang Shanyuan runs a flour mill. Han Jixian is the president of the chamber of Commerce. Ge Rulin and Zhang Bingchen also have their own business. Some shareholders are very mean to male artists and let them live in big houses, sleep in the whole shop and shop in wheat and orange; they abuse female artists wantonly and let them sleep in a single room in name, which actually provides convenience for them to have fun. Later, Zhang Bingchen married Lu Guifen as his concubine, and Ge Rulin married Tian Guifen as his wife. After the July 7th incident, the shareholders fled and the theater was closed.

Address: No.6, hongpailou street, Hejian City

Longitude: 116.09474

Latitude: 38.437313