【Editor's Note】

On January 12, Liu Xiaolingtong (Zhang Jinlai) brought his documentary "One Belt, One Road Retraces Xuanzang Road" with his own chief director to the Shanghai Library for preview and give a speech. As an old Shanghai native, he shared the historical origins of the family's "Zhang Family Monkey Play" and the city of Shanghai. He believes that each of us must be good at ourselves and find our own position so that we can reach the pinnacle in one field. As a literary and artistic worker, he also hopes to convey more traditional Chinese art through his works. The following is the transcript of the speech, which has not been approved by me:

Photo provided by Liu Xiaolingtong organizer

Hello everyone! I am also from Shanghai. It is a great honor that this documentary also had a clip at the Beijing Book Ordering Conference yesterday, which was pre-screened worldwide, and we are the first audience in Shanghai. Today I was very moved to see the audience of men, women, young and old.

Shanghai is where I was born and a blessed place for my family. My grandfather and great-grandfather's family are both in Shangyu, Shaoxing. The great-grandfather is a farmer in the town. He likes to perform monkey operas and fight monkey boxing, so he asked his son, my grandfather, to open four theaters in Shanghai.

Many old viewers may know that Shao Opera is flourishing in Shanghai. My grandfather is in Huangpu District, there is an old gate theater between Beijing East Road and Fujian Middle Road. I grew up there. I think he is very amazing. A farmer walked from the stone road in Shaoxing to the asphalt road in Shanghai. At that time, Shao Opera and Yue Opera were performed there. The familiar Yue Opera performing artists, Mr. Yuan Xuefen, Mr. Fu Quanxiang, and Mr. Fan Ruijuan, all performed Yue Opera in that theater, and then became more and more popular in major theaters in Shanghai.

Many people just called me "Teacher Six". Actually, my surname is Zhang. Last year, it was the 47th anniversary of the founding of "Zhangshi Monkey Drama". We had the image of the Shao Opera Monkey King on the Shao Opera stage of Laozha Theater in 1947. In the past, there was a saying that Beijing red is not called Hong, Shanghai red is the whole country red. Many of our writers, such as Mr. Lu Xun, Mr. Cao Yu, and Mr. Ba Jin, have close ties with Shanghai. Our art master Mr. Mei Lanfang, etc., can be said that they have gained outstanding status in the country and even the world after Shanghai became famous. Scientists Mr. Qian Xuesen and Mr. Qian Weichang also have deep connections with Shanghai.

In the 1930s, the monkey drama, which can be understood as a competition, is actually in our big Shanghai. Without this kind of friendship and competition, there would not be the thriving art of monkey opera today. The Monkey King in the Northern School is Mr. Yang Yuelou and Mr. Li Wanchun of Peking Opera, and Mr. Zheng Faxiang of the Southern School. At that time, I heard that the statue of the Monkey King was burned to incense and worshipped, which had a great influence. Later, Mr. Gai Yaotian also played Sun Wukong. He had three children acting, and two children played Sun Wukong.

Until the 1960s, my father made the Shao opera color drama movie "Sun Wukong Fights the White Bone Demon Three", which also has something to do with Shanghai. This drama was filmed by Shanghai Tianma Film Studio at that time, and director Yang Xiaozhong, known as the "100 Directors", was filmed by him. This director is very powerful and has left behind a masterpiece of Chinese opera films. Chairman Mao watched this movie twice, and later watched another stage play on October 10, 1961, and then wrote a poem, one of which was "The golden monkey raised a thousand pounds, and the jade body clarified the thousands of miles away." Everyone knows it.

This is also my blessed land. On March 19, 2014, I communicated with our audience at the Shanghai Library, which left a very deep impression on me. In the second half of that year, on October 15, 2014, I received a notice asking me to attend the Beijing Literature and Art Symposium held by General Secretary Xi Jinping. As one of the 72 representatives, I feel that the country needs us actors to promote positive energy and promote our traditional art. We have the responsibility and obligation to think about how to share these positive energy and positive works with our audience.

Before I came here today, I did three activities, and I talked and performed. They were all in several primary schools in Shanghai. Although I was very tired, when I saw those children, I felt that I was young again. As soon as I entered, thousands of children below began to dance when they saw me: "Grandpa Great Sage is here!" Some parents left me a message saying that they were very grateful to me. When the children saw me, they saw the real Sun Wukong. In fact, we are ordinary actors.

I told my reporter friend that I am the happiest actor in the world. There are 1.4 billion Chinese audiences alone. I dare not say all of them. I asked backwards, who among the audience has never seen my acting role in "Journey to the West"? Please raise your hand. I don’t think it’s not how outstanding my acting skills are, but that I have caught up with good times and good themes. I thank Chinese traditional culture from the bottom of my heart, and most importantly, I thank Master Xuanzang whom we just saw.

I was born in Shanghai and grew up in Shanghai. When I gave birth to me, my mother almost had no life. Later, she said that the child was not good enough and she gave birth prematurely. My mother is very great, she gave birth to eleven children in total. Why? Draft! I provided more materials to my father and asked him to choose the right little monkey. Five of the eleven children died. Some foreign reports said that our family continued to perform the drama of Sun Wukong. In our China, there are many people who perform operas, not to mention the fourth generation, the fifth generation and the sixth generation, but sticking to the same theme may not be well-known to us audiences.

In 2014, my father left, at the age of ninety. His last wish is to hope that some of the ashes can be placed in the Huangpu River. This wish has not been fulfilled yet, and I will definitely fulfill it in the future. My father said that the audience is my good mentor and friend, and every time I perform, I have to feel the information I have to give back to. The audience in this place should applaud, but not; the audience in this place should cry, but he did not cry, and this is my own problem. My father said that I must keep the audience in my heart. When I play Sun Wukong, my first requirement is to read Mr. Wu Chengen's novel "Journey to the West", how literature shows this image.

In addition to understanding, you must also have expressiveness. At this time, my father gave me an idea, asking me to visit many seniors, watch many seniors' plays, and humbly ask them for advice and learn from them. Including Mr. Li Wanchun's "Northern Monkey King" came to Shanghai in the early 1980s. He went to see my father's performance. The two of them became friends. This became a legend in the opera opera world. The People's Daily specially painted a painting - the North and South Monkey Kings Gathering in Shanghai. Today we also have many young generations who perform monkey operas very well. For example, in Yan Qinggu, during the Year of the Monkey, we also collaborated on opera party together. He learned the Zheng School monkey opera.

Shanghai audiences are very important for the development of monkey opera, otherwise, if there were no audiences to watch it, monkey opera will gradually be lost. If you have to say something to me, it is actually very simple. If an actor wants to play Sun Wukong well, then you must accept the influence of Chinese traditional opera art and monkey opera art represented by Peking Opera, because people play Sun Wukong, the example of success in history must be in opera. Only the Chinese opera category will tell you how Sun Wukong's joy, anger, sorrow, joy, seven emotions, six desires, hands, eyes, body, and steps are reflected. There is no drama, singing, dancing, and movies. Sun Wukong has uniqueness. He has specific standing postures and ways of walking, and every move and look is well documented.

Everyone should find their own position. Everyone is a practitioner on the road to obtaining scriptures in the West. They all have to go through the difficulties of life. Every age has their own best things. Why didn’t I play Xuanzang ten years ago? Even if I act, I can't reach the current level, and the things that come out of my eyes must be different. Why can I act now? Over the years of accumulation. The audience summarized it to me: Teacher Zhang, how do you feel from a disciple to a master, from a great saint to a master, from a fighting Buddha to a merit Buddha, and with your master's robes and re-take your master's path? That feeling may not be obtained by you, because only those who have experienced it personally know it.

At that time, we were filming "Journey to the West" with our lives, and we didn't even have insurance because there was no insurance company. I have six hundred degrees of myopia and two hundred degrees of astigmatism. An actor's aura lies in his face, and his aura lies in his eyes. His eyes are the window of his soul. Many viewers may see that although some actors perform well, they may lack something, that is, God. I have myopia, but the most important thing is that Sun Wukong has a golden eye and my eyes are wooden, so I started practicing. I turned off the lights at night and stared at the incense. When playing table tennis, I stood in front of the net and my eyes turned quickly with the ball.

American high-tech is very powerful. They said: I can make your mask really like this, but I can't make your eyes like this with high-tech. This is our Eastern art, and the United States cannot surpass it. So, I said that the best actor to play Sun Wukong is not necessarily my Liu Xiaolingtong, but he must be Chinese. From the bottom of my heart, I hope that young actors will be down-to-earth and do something well in their lives, but it seems to be very difficult because there are too many temptations and it is difficult to calm down.

When Master Xuanzang went to the scriptures, he left a famous saying: "It is better to go west and die one step, and never go east and live one step." In fact, Xuanzang also did one thing throughout his life - to obtain scriptures, translate scriptures, and spread scriptures. More than a thousand years later, Mr. Wu Chengen's poems, calligraphy and paintings in the late Ming Dynasty were very good, but we only remember a novel "Journey to the West", and his lifelong efforts were all in it. Wu Chengen has been famous for his generation because of "Journey to the West", and Wu Chengen has been famous for his generation.

I have played many roles. At the Anhui TV "National Drama Festival", I was awarded a grand prize called "The Great Prize for Lifetime Achievement". Actually, I think I am still young and not at this age, because I usually think that I will talk about the Lifetime Achievement Award after my death. Some people say that Teacher Liu Xiaolingtong lives for his family, not for himself. There is some truth, but I think it would be great to live a wonderful life and have a certain effect on society. For example, everyone has hobbies, but it would be even better if you are an actor, your hobbies and art are combined together. I like to collect various artworks in "Journey to the West", and I also won the award I value the most, which is the Guinness World Record in the UK. Liu Xiaolingtong is the person who collects the most artworks in "Journey to the West". A handkerchief and a pair of chopsticks all treat them as treasures.

The most important thing for us to be ourselves is that the so-called great masters and masters are nothing more than to reach the pinnacle and not to surpass in our own field. I have written some books, such as "The Six Younger Children's Journey to the West" and "The Walker" in my autobiography, not to show off, but to hope to convey it to everyone and interact with everyone through our own emotions.

In China, if you want to truly do your acting career well, everyone will remember you for the rest of your life. An audience member said: Some people have acted in many dramas in their lifetime, but we don’t remember them, but some actors have acted in one drama that I have been remembering for the rest of my life, and that is you. I just thought: Have I only acted in one drama? Actually, I have played a lot, but what everyone remembers is the role of Sun Wukong. I played Lu Xun in the Shanghai TV drama "Poetic China" and was also the first Chinese to play Mr. Hu Shi in the TV series, called "Beiping War and Harmony". I also played Hua Tiegan in "Liancheng Jue". He is a very bad person. The audience said he was good at acting, but don't act anymore. I can't accept Sun Wukong's so bad. Can I play a corrupt or a spy? The audience can't accept it, and it's not OK to act like it, and it's not OK to act like it. I starred in "New Swallow Li San", played Jackie Chan, and I played his master. I liked this role very much. Everyone felt uncomfortable when they died in the end.

This is actually an honor. I was very happy to get together with the elders of my hometown. I will continue to work hard and do two things well. One thing is this documentary. After the Chinese New Year, all the master and apprentice will go to India. Mr. Ma Dehua, the actor of Zhu Bajie, Mr. Wang Yue, the first actor of Tang Seng, and Mr. Liu Dagang, the actor of the sequel. Another one is the Sino-US co-production of the movie "Dare to Ask Where Is the Way". I have always hoped that Eastern art can go out through Western high technology, because we Chinese will definitely not be able to accept it by using Western high technology. Some things should not be changed, even if they change, they will remain the same. We must use the short decades of life that are not long to make ourselves live a wonderful life.

The Year of the Dog is coming soon, and 2018 is a very good year. Here, I sincerely wish everyone good health and longevity, middle-aged people's career success, and young friends' wishes come true! Thank you everyone!