Anecdotes about Li Haiquan

Trace the history of the Lee family. During the late Qing Dynasty, there was a well-known martial arts master in Shunde, Guangdong. He was Li Haiquan's father, Li Zhenbiao. Li Zhenbiao served as an escort in the Foshan Escort Bureau, escorting valuable goods for banks and merchants. Li Haiquan's original name is Li Manquan, and he has an older brother named Li Mantian. Li Zhenbiao did not want his son to become a martial arts master when he grew up: he would go through life and death, and be in turmoil. He hopes that future generations will live a plain and stable life. When Mantian was 9 years old and Manquan was less than 7 years old, his father sent them to serve as apprentices at Xiaochenhuan Tea House, a famous restaurant in Foshan. In addition to food and wine, Xiaochenhuan also provides morning and evening tea. Waiters in old-style teahouses are required to be able to "sing a list", that is, sing out the drinks, dishes, refreshments ordered by customers and the amount of money to be paid. The songs used in the "sing list" are Cantonese opera. The two brothers studied hard and practiced hard, especially Manquan, who was born with a talent for music and had a good accent.

In 1911, Li Manquan met the famous Cantonese opera actor Xiao Shengyi who changed his life. Xiao Shengyi was gathering with friends at a teahouse. When he heard Li Manquan's "singing single" with clear enunciation, mellow tunes and sincere expressions, he immediately fell in love with it and asked Li Manquan to try out a Cantonese song. After hearing this, he happily praised: "The basic skills are not bad, but they can become great talents!" Xiao Shengyi asked Li Manquan if he would like to perform with his theater troupe. Li Manquan agreed wholeheartedly, but later said that he would need his parents' permission. Li Zhenbiao and his wife were firmly opposed to their son joining the theater troupe. In the old days, actors were in the lower ranks and had a low social status. But Li Manquan insisted on learning drama, and his brother Li Mantian also helped his younger brother to plead for mercy. His parents finally relented and let Manquan go. Li Manquan officially worshiped Xiaoshengyi as his teacher, and Xiaoshengyi gave him the stage name Li Haiquan. Xiao Shengyi was a famous martial arts student. Li Haiquan studied opera and martial arts with him. He traveled all over the country and became more popular as he sang, and later became one of the "Four Famous Actors of Cantonese Opera". In 1940, Japan swallowed up most of China. The war is raging, the people are in dire straits, and the theater world is in despair. As a famous Cantonese opera actress, Li Haiquan and his family fled to Hong Kong from Guangdong, which was under the iron heel of the Japanese army. Hong Kong is a peaceful corner. However, the Japanese army has already become a force in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is in crisis, and people are panicked. Li Haiquan and his wife went to the United States, which is thousands of miles away. At that time, the United States was far away from the flames of World War II and was a safe haven for refugees from all over the world. Li Haiquan went to the United States not so much to escape the war, but to develop Cantonese opera, which he regarded as his life. At that time, more than ten cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago had formed stable Chinese residential areas, and the community areas were called Chinatowns. Chinatown is very rich in Chinese cultural characteristics. Most of the early immigrants came from Guangdong. This culture is also very rich in Guangdong characteristics - Cantonese opera is a cultural entertainment that Chinese people love to talk about. In the United States, in order to make ends meet, Li Haiquan had to leave his wife He Aiyu, who was expecting child, to tour with the group.

On November 27, 1940, Li Haiquan’s wife He Aiyu gave birth to their son Bruce Lee at the Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco, USA. When his wife was giving birth, Li Haiquan was still 9,000 miles away performing at the Chinatown Theater in New York for his Cantonese opera career. At that time, Li Haiquan only stayed at home for a short time, and he was in a hurry to tour the United States with the group. His wife and family still stayed in Chinatown in San Francisco.

At the end of March 1941, Li Haiquan saw that Cantonese opera did not have much room for development in the United States, so he decided to return to Hong Kong to develop his career and returned to Hong Kong with his family. The reason is that the audience of Cantonese opera is mostly limited to the Chinese circle of Guangdong origin, and the world is too small; in addition, although the Japanese army and the British army were in confrontation, Hong Kong was still peaceful and peaceful. Japan spread a smoke screen of peace and deceived many Hong Kong people and even Hong Kong. British authorities. Hong Kong people still live in their own way, and Li Haiquan is still busy acting. When the Pacific War broke out at 4:45 a.m. on December 8, 1941, Li Haiquan's family did not leave. He had already traveled far away with his family, preparing to experience the pain of displacement. He believes in Buddha, who will protect his family's safety.

In 1950, Li Haiquan became a famous Cantonese opera clown, and his income gradually became abundant. In addition, his mother He Aiyu came from a well-known family, and the Li family belonged to the upper class of Hong Kong society. Family life is stable and comfortable. Fu Duo, played by Li Haiquan, is a farmer who "lives by himself". Because he "keeps himself", he feels that "tea and rice are too rich". Later, "the land was flooded and his farmland was destroyed". The family of three fled to Kyoto and became beggars. Fu Duo was begging for food and aspired to rise to the top. Although he was old and had nothing to do, he pinned his hopes on his son. While swallowing scraps and eating chaff, he studied and taught his son in order to obtain fame and achieve "famousness and fame". parents" purpose. Fu Duo lives at the bottom of feudal society. He has lived a life of wandering and experienced the pain of "suffering from poverty", but he has no complaints against the feudal rulers. He only wants to climb up from the status of a beggar to the scholar-bureaucrat class. , he believed in the imperial examinations like a god, and seemed to have great ambitions. In fact, he was just a little slave who wanted to be a big slave, and a hungry slave who wanted to be the master of slaves. Li Haiquan's play can be regarded as creating a slave with great ambitions. The image of a slave has been created to be "deep and profound", and his powerful and simple singing voice is deeply loved by the audience. The play caused a sensation in the Hong Kong art scene once it was performed in Hong Kong. Together with Xue Juexian's "The Number One Scholar Is Red", Chen Jintang's "The Number One Scholar Is Red", and Liao Xiahuai's "The Local Number One Scholar", they are collectively known as the "Four Number One Scholar" plays and have been popular for a long time. Li Haiquan achieved great success with this drama.

Li Haiquan devoted his whole life to the cause of Cantonese opera. He did not retire from the Cantonese opera stage until 1958 and made immortal contributions to the cause of Cantonese opera in China. He was not only a famous Cantonese opera ugly actor and niche actor, but also a famous Cantonese opera actor. I have practiced Tai Chi for decades and have profound attainments.

He was the first teacher of his son Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee began learning Tai Chi from his father when he was just a few years old. The Tai Chi he studied later occupied an extremely important position in Jeet Kune Do.