Zhang Jihou, who is in his old age, lives in a small high-rise building on the east bank of Yuhe River in the urban area. The Jinghu on the wall of his home is his favorite thing, and he touches it every day. This love for Peking Opera and Jinghu will accompany him all his life.

Friends and relatives led to fall in love with Jinghu since childhood

In 1938, Zhang Jihou was born in an ordinary bungalow in Ximenli (now Dongfeng West Street, Weicheng District), Weixian City. His father, Zhang Xinshan, is an industrial and commercial person who runs a "Synergy" warehouse. He is loyal and kind, hardworking and diligent, but his health is not very good. He did not expect his youngest son to be rich and noble in the future, "only being able to inherit Zhang's loyal and loyal family style is enough", so he named him "Jihou".

Zhang Jihou grew up healthy under the care of his parents, and showed his literary hobby and talent very early. There is a Peking Opera Ticketing Club near his home called "Weixian Ping Opera Improvement Club", and Zhang Jihou often goes there to play. There is a Yongle Theater on Lijia Street in Dongguan, where famous actors such as An Shuyuan, Qiu Shengrong, Cheng Yanqiu and Jin Shaoshan often perform. Zhang Jihou's mother was a fan of dramas, and took him to and from the theater every now and then. The other children were probably bored asleep in their mother's arms, but Zhang Jihou made a voice imitating an actor from his baby teeth. The mother was very surprised and very happy, and later allowed him to go to the theater by himself to "play".

It is also a kind of fate: in addition to his mother, many of Zhang Jihou's brothers and classmates are "hardcore" Peking Opera fans. The seventh brother, Zhang Jizhong, has been fond of musical instruments since he was a child, especially good at organ, erhu and Peking opera. Ding Yongchuan, a classmate, whose father is Ding Ziyang, a "famous ticket" in Weixian County, has no one else in the local area in Jinghu skills. Zhang Jihou was so impressed that he fell in love with Peking Opera, and then fell in love with Jinghu. Seventh brother taught him the most basic essentials, while Ding Ziyang not only taught him bowing and fingering, but also led him to experience the magic and beauty of Peking Opera. In a sense, these two people have enlightenment significance to Zhang Jihou. Their words may sound like a scripture to ordinary people, and they are ignorant, but Zhang Jihou, who is spiritual and gifted, can understand it. He seems to have seen a magical hand in the dark, guiding him to the "Pi Huang Big Stage"...

There is a saying that "interest determines career, and character determines fate", Zhang Jihou chose Jinghu. Jinghu fascinated him, or even fascinated him, like a magnet meeting iron, and it held on tightly and never let go. Before I knew it, it turned out that there were more than seventy springs and autumns in one breath.

Admitted to the Datong Peking Opera Troupe

In the summer of 1952, Zhang Jihou graduated from the No. 14 Primary School in Weifang City and took cultural lessons at home. Before I knew it, it was two years. When he was hesitating about whether to continue the examination, it happened that the "Datong Peking Opera Troupe" was recruiting students, and the cadres of the cultural center were responsible for recruiting students. After layers of examinations, Zhang Jihou was admitted. After a simple apprenticeship ceremony, he became a disciple of Jinghu virtuoso Chen Zhenwu. Since then, he has embarked on the road of life specializing in Peking Opera. Zhang Jihou was 16 years old that year.

Chen Zhenwu is the "master qin master" of the Datong Peking Opera Troupe. He mainly taught Jinghu, with Suona, Yueqin, Sanxian and Kundi, in order for his apprentices to "do not overwhelm the body" and "have more jobs". Because it is an apprentice to learn the arts, then "accompanying" is the premise, and the skills learned can be used on the stage immediately. And because Jinghu is the main string of the band, it can't be sloppy, so Zhang Jihou has taken the word "strict" in the first place since the day he was "attendant" and did not dare to slack off. Chen Zhenwu's old saying "If you want to win in front of others, you must suffer behind your back", Zhang Jihou has been holding it as a model for more than 60 years.

Zhang Jihou followed his teacher's instructions and practiced hard. At that time, the performance time was very long every day, and the show could only be finished in the middle of the night. Who doesn't love the bed as a young man? But Zhang Jihou didn't love him, and he got up again before dawn. Wearing the morning star, he took the qin out of the city, went to the wilderness, found a stone pier in the tomb, sat down, and tied the qin bow to the iron grate bars (to increase the weight), and practiced for two or three hours. If it is snowing, put a cushion on the stone pier. Snowflakes fluttered along the bowstring, and the fingers were sore from the cold that they gradually became numb, and even lost consciousness. And when his fingers turned from numbness to warmth, Zhang Jihou's hair also melted the snow.

In this way, Zhang Jihou's Jinghu skills advanced by leaps and bounds and stood out. He began to formally accompany the stage, and won the approval of the teachers and the applause of the audience.

After a few years, he became a master violinist

Master Chen Zhenwu has a famous saying, "It is better to invest in a teacher than to visit friends", which means to break the barriers of a teacher's family, go out, visit a school and make friends, and learn from the strengths of many families. Zhang Jihou kept in mind the teacher's training and took advantage of various opportunities to learn from more teachers.

In 1955, the famous Peking Opera artist Ding Zhiyun led a group to Wei to perform at the People's Theater. Chen Zhenwu became acquainted with the troupe's Jinghu virtuoso Shen Yanxi (a disciple of Master Wang Shaoqing, who is proficient in the accompaniment art of the Mei School), so he led Zhang Jihou to the hotel to meet him. With this "uncle and nephew" relationship, Zhang Jihou learned from Shen Yanxi the accompaniment method of "Drunken Concubine" and other Mei-style plays. Later, taking advantage of various opportunities, he consulted Mr. Wang Yumin, Zhu Mingde, etc., and mastered the various skills of these famous qin masters through chasing with heart and hands.

The most memorable is that in 1958, the Datong Peking Opera Troupe merged with the Yongle Opera Troupe to form the Weifang Peking Opera Troupe. At that time, the master violinist was Wang Shengji, a Jinghu virtuoso. Wang Shengji passed by the "white peony" Xun Huisheng, Jinghu was superb, and his hands were "dipping, hitting, soft, smooth, and wiping". Zhang Jihou actually knew Wang Shengji as early as 1954, and learned from Wang Shengji "Nezha Ling" and other songs, but did not follow the class. Now the two become colleagues, which is a godsend, and they have officially established a master-apprentice relationship. Zhang Jihou followed the practice and made great progress in his skills, especially in "soft strings" and "timbre". After Wang Shengji's death, Zhang Jihou did not forget his teacher's kindness. Every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, he would visit his wife.

Zhang Jihou pondered Mr. Chen Zhenwu's teaching that "it is better to visit friends than to invest in teachers", and believes that the scope of "visiting friends" should be broad, not limited to professional musicians. Those "famous votes" may also be crouching tigers and hidden dragons. So he went to the watch repair shop in Nanba Ya, and learned from Chen Xuekong the accompaniment techniques of the aria "Listen to Gong'e" and the song "Spring Day Scenery" in "Taizhen Waizhuan". I went to another street in Weicheng, and at Mr. Sun Qichang's place, I experienced a different charm of the accompaniment music of "Universe Front" and "Nine Links"...

It is precisely by learning from others' strengths, merging hundreds of schools of thought, and accumulating trickles into a river, Zhang Jihou stood out from his peers and grew into a dazzling star in the industry. A few years later, Chen Zhenwu left the troupe, and Zhang Jihou, who was less than 20 years old, became the head pianist of the troupe.