單田芳，將中國古老傳統(tǒng)推向現(xiàn)代的評書大師

Shan Tianfang, a storyteller whose energetic oral renditions of classical Chinese novels and historical events propelled the ancient pingshu tradition into the modern age for generations of Chinese, died on Sept. 11 in Beijing. He was 83.

說書人單田芳于9月11日在北京去世，享年83歲。他對中國古典小說和歷史事件做出充滿激情的演繹，將古老的評書傳統(tǒng)推向現(xiàn)代，讓幾代中國人得以欣賞。

The cause was multiple organ failure, said Xiao Jianlu, Mr. Shan’s business associate and the manager of the Shan Tianfang Culture Communication Company.

單田芳的業(yè)務合伙人、單田芳文化傳播公司經(jīng)理肖建陸稱他死于多器官衰竭。

Mr. Shan tried for many years to avoid becoming a performer of pingshu, the Song dynasty-era storytelling tradition. Growing up in 1950s China in a family of folk art performers, he had seen struggle firsthand. It was a life of constant financial troubles and low social status.

單田芳曾經(jīng)并不希望成為這種源于宋代的故事講說傳統(tǒng)的表演者。他在20世紀50年代中國的一個民間藝人家庭長大，親眼目睹了這一行的艱難。那是一種持續(xù)處于經(jīng)濟困境、社會地位低下的生活。

So it was with great reluctance when, out of financial necessity, he became an apprentice to a family friend who was a master of pingshu. He made his debut in 1956.

因此，當他出于生計上的需要，成為一個家族朋友——一個評書大師——的徒弟時，他非常不情愿。他于1956年首次登臺演出。

In the pingshu tradition, the performer wears a traditional gown and sits behind a desk equipped with a folding fan and a wooden block, which is used like a gavel. The storyteller recounts a legend — typically a classical Chinese epic — from memory, using different voices and exaggerated gestures as well as adding occasional background detail and commentary.

在評書傳統(tǒng)中，表演者身著傳統(tǒng)的長袍，坐在桌子后面。桌上有一把折扇和一個作醒木之用的木塊。說書人講述通常來自中國古典史詩的傳奇故事。他們根據(jù)記憶來表演，使用不同的聲音、夸張的手勢，偶爾還加入背景細節(jié)和評論。

Mr. Shan grew to love the storytelling form, which is popular across northern China. It is a demanding profession that combines acting, oration, writing, historical research and literary criticism and requires countless hours of memorization. 單田芳漸漸喜歡上了這種在中國北方流行的講故事方式。這是一個要求很高的職業(yè)，集表演、演說、寫作、歷史研究和文學評論于一體，需要記憶無數(shù)個小時的材料。

But bothered by what he felt were the many historical inaccuracies and superstitious fantasies found in the classical epics, Mr. Shan, who had studied history, soon began performing his own interpretations based on his meticulous historical research.

不過，在古典史詩中發(fā)現(xiàn)的許多歷史錯誤和迷信幻想令單田芳感到煩惱。曾研究歷史的他很快就開始根據(jù)自己對歷史的細致研究進行詮釋和表演。

In teahouses around the northeastern region, he became celebrated for his fresh takes on the classics.

在東北地區(qū)的許多茶館里，他以對經(jīng)典的新穎演繹而聞名。

“The new China was not the same as before,” he once said in an interview. “People wanted to see a pure stage free of superstition with characters that actually made sense.”

“新中國不一樣，”他曾在一次采訪中說。“要求凈化舞臺、破除迷信，這些色彩都得清除。”

With the onset of the repressive Cultural Revolution in 1966, however, radicalized youth sought to root out all remnants of China’s ancient “feudal” culture, and that included pingshu. Mr. Shan was labeled a “counterrevolutionary” and sent to do manual labor in a village in northeastern China.

然而，在1966年，隨著文化大革命鎮(zhèn)壓的開始，激進的青年們試圖根除所有中國古代“封建”文化的殘余，這包括評書。單田芳被貼上“反革命”的標簽，并被派往中國東北的一個村莊從事體力勞動。

In his memoir, published in 2011, he called those years of persecution his “life’s greatest suffering.”

在他2011年出版的回憶錄中，單田芳稱那些年的迫害是他“這輩子吃過最大的苦”。

With the collapse of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Mr. Shan set out to revive his pingshu career. Many Chinese were hungry for something other than bland, party-approved propaganda, and it was against this backdrop that he leapt at the opportunity to record a pingshu radio broadcast.

隨著1976年文化大革命的結(jié)束，單田芳重新開始了他的評書生涯。當時許多中國人都渴望接觸到平淡無奇、被黨批準的政治宣傳以外的東西，正是在這種背景下，單田芳抓住機會錄制了一段評書廣播。

He soon discovered that performing on radio was vastly different from doing so in teahouses. There were no props, no reactions from the audience to guide him — just Mr. Shan and the microphone in a recording studio. 他很快發(fā)現(xiàn)，在電臺表演和在茶館表演有很大的不同。電臺沒有道具，沒有觀眾的反應來引導他——只有單田芳自己和錄音棚里的麥克風。

So for his first radio performance, an abridged version of the historical novel “The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties,” Mr. Shan used the studio’s three recording technicians as his audience and adjusted his performance based on their reactions.

因此，在他的第一次廣播演出——節(jié)略版的歷史小說《隋唐演義》中，單田芳用了演播室三名錄音師作為觀眾，根據(jù)他們的反應對自己的表演進行調(diào)整。

The performance had its premiere in 1980 on Chinese New Year, and more than 100 million Chinese were estimated to have tuned in during the 56 hours over which it was broadcast. It was the beginning of a dramatic second act both for Mr. Shan and for pingshu in the People’s Republic of China. He was soon a household name across the country.

這次表演于1980年在中國農(nóng)歷新年首播，在播出的56個小時里，估計有超過1億中國觀眾收聽。對于單田芳和中國評書來說，這都標志著戲劇性的第二春的開始。他很快在全國家喻戶曉。

“In the 1980s everyone had a radio, so you could hear Shan Tianfang everywhere, in homes and in taxis,” Zhu Dake, a Chinese cultural critic, said in an interview. “He took a traditional art form and made it popular by adapting it to the new era in the most simple way.”

“上世紀80年代，每個人都有一臺收音機，所以在家里和出租車里，到處都能聽到單田芳的聲音，”中國文化評論家朱大可在接受采訪時說，“他采用了一種傳統(tǒng)的藝術(shù)形式，并通過最簡單的方式使其適應新時代，而變得流行起來。”

Over six decades, Mr. Shan recorded more than 110 stories for radio and television totaling about 12,000 episodes and spanning 6,000 hours. His best-known works include his renditions of Chinese classics like “White-Eyebrow Hero” and “Sanxia Wuyi” and his dramatizations of historical figures like Zhuge Liang and Lin Zexu.

60多年來，單田芳為廣播和電視錄制了110多個故事，總共約12000集，時長6000小時。他最著名的作品包括對《白眉大俠》、《三俠五義》等中國經(jīng)典名著的演繹，以及對諸葛亮、林則徐等歷史人物的戲劇化改編。

Even today, hop into a Beijing taxi and the driver may be listening to one of Mr. Shan’s recordings.

即使在今天，如果你坐上一輛北京出租車，司機可能還是在聽單田芳的錄音。

“For my generation, Shan Tianfang was a master,” said Zhao Fuwei, 48, a Beijing taxi driver. “If back then there was such thing as a viral star, then Shan Tianfang was definitely the hottest viral star.”

“對我們這代人來說，單田芳就是一個大師，”48歲的北京出租車司機趙福為(音)說，“過去是沒有網(wǎng)紅一說，要是像現(xiàn)在這樣，那單老爺子準是網(wǎng)紅。”

“Listening to his stories has made it easier to kill time in bad traffic,” Mr. Zhao added. “He was so good at making complicated historical stories simple and interesting. You feel like you could relate to the characters in his stories, even though they lived a long time ago.”

“北京這破路，堵死，聽聽書還舒服點，”趙先生接著說，“人家能把復雜故事簡單化，聽著特別帶勁兒。雖然他講的都是古人的事，但是你能感覺到自己和這些人物能產(chǎn)生共鳴。”

Shan Chuanzhong was born on Dec. 17, 1934, in Tianjin, China. His mother, Wang Xianggui, was a stage actress. His father, Shan Yongkui, was a folk musician who played the sanxian, a three-stringed Chinese lute.

單傳忠(單田芳本名——譯注)于1934年12月17日在中國天津出生。他的母親王香桂是一名舞臺演員。他的父親單永魁則是一名民間音樂家，主要演奏一種名叫“三弦”的中國彈撥樂器。

Growing up, Mr. Shan and his four sisters frequently moved around northeastern China with their parents, an experience that left him longing for a more stable life and career. But in the early 1950s, when his parents divorced and his mother left the family, Mr. Shan gave up his dream of being a doctor and embraced his performance heritage.

在成長的過程中，單田芳和他的四個妹妹在中國東北地區(qū)頻繁搬家。因為有著這樣的一段經(jīng)歷，單田芳非常希望擁有一個穩(wěn)定的生活和工作。但是，在20世紀50年代早期，他的父母離異，母親離開了這個家。而從那以后，單田芳就放棄了當醫(yī)生的夢想，接過了家里做表演行當?shù)囊吕彙?/p>

After completing his apprenticeship with a pingshu master, he joined a folk arts troupe in Anshan, a town in northeastern China known then for its teahouses and pingshu performers. 他先跟著一個評書師父做學徒，學成后加入了一個民間曲藝團。這個團體駐扎在鞍山，而在那時候，這個東北小鎮(zhèn)正是一個以茶館和評書聞名的地方。

He found early success on the regional teahouse circuit until the Cultural Revolution, beginning in 1966, derailed his career for a decade.

在演藝生涯的初期，單田芳在鞍山地區(qū)的茶館里表演，演出非常成功。但到了1966年，中國開始進行文化大革命，他的演藝生涯也因此沉寂了十余年。

He is survived by his son, Shan Ruilin; his daughter, Shan Huili; two grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. His wife, Wang Quangui, died in 1992.

單田芳身后留有他的兒子單瑞林，女兒單慧莉，兩個孫輩，以及一個重孫。他的妻子王全桂已于1992年去世。

The revival of Mr. Shan’s career in the early 1980s and his subsequent rise to national prominence paralleled the re-emergence of the pingshu tradition.

單田芳在20世紀80年代復出，隨后享譽全國，而與此同時，評書這一傳統(tǒng)也重新出現(xiàn)在大眾面前。

But in recent years many of the great pingshu performers have died, and the tradition is fading. By the time Mr. Shan retired in 2007, interest in pingshu among Chinese had all but been replaced by mobile phones and gaming.

然而近年來，許多優(yōu)秀的評書人都相繼去世，這一傳統(tǒng)也在逐漸消失。到了2007年單田芳退休的時候，中國人對評書的興趣已經(jīng)被手機和游戲所取代。

Nevertheless, even after retiring, Mr. Shan worked tirelessly to promote pingshu among young Chinese, mentoring apprentices and starting a school dedicated to the folk arts.

然而，即使在退休后，單田芳也依然辛勤地工作，在中國年輕人當中推廣評書、教導學徒，還辦了一家民間藝術(shù)學校。

Ever willing to adapt to new technologies, he posted a message to his Sina Weibo microblog account on Sept. 6, five days before his death. It was an announcement about a new live-streamed lecture series about pingshu.

對于生活里出現(xiàn)的新科技，單田芳始終抱著接納的態(tài)度。在他去世的前五天，也就是9月6日，他還在他的新浪微博賬號上發(fā)送了一條消息。在那條微博里，他向大家宣布，他的線上評書公開課開講了。