Why are there two versions of the story of Hou Yaowen’s apprenticeship?

Guo Degang likes to call Hou Zhen "Young Master". In fact, this is inaccurate, because in terms of seniority, art, and inheritance, the Young Master should be Hou Yaowen.

What’s interesting is that Hou Yaowen, who was born in 1948 and officially began to speak cross talk at the age of 17, has been a Haiqing for nearly 30 years, and it was not until the end of 1994 that he established the group through Dai La Junior Disciple He studied cross talk. From then on he began to officially accept disciples. Why did Hou Yaowen become a disciple so late? Let’s start from the beginning.

1. Hou Baolin had high hopes for Hou Yaowen

Hou Baolin’s first wife, Lian Xiuzhen, was childless and later divorced. When Hou Baolin became popular in Tianjin, he lived with Liu Shufang and gave birth to two children, including the eldest son Hou Yaozhong. After returning to Beijing, Hou Baolin married Peking opera actor Wang Yalan and gave birth to Hou Yaohua and Hou Yaowen.

Among these children, it should be said that the one who receives the most attention from Hou Baolin and is the most promising is undoubtedly Hou Yaowen. Therefore, after Hou Baolin's death, Hou Yaowen was the one who had the final say about the Hou family. After Hou Yaowen's death, it was Hou Yaohua who had the final say about the Hou family.

But at the beginning, Hou Baolin did not support Hou Yaowen's cross talk at all. After Hou Yaowen was admitted to the Railway Art Troupe, he did not dare to tell him that it was the leader of the Railway Art Troupe who came to fight for Hou Baolin's "release". It is said that Hou Baolin I was so angry that I threw my chopsticks. After all, old crosstalk artists generally did not support their children's ability to eat.

But the deal was done, Hou Baolin also devoted his efforts to Hou Yaowen's cross talk study, and Hou Yaowen became famous in the 1970s.

However, there were two obstacles for Hou Yaowen to become a disciple. At first, the social environment did not allow it. The cross talk industry had abolished the apprenticeship system. In addition, Hou Yaowen was from the railway art troupe, so naturally he could not become an apprentice.

After the reform and opening up, Hou Baolin's status and reputation became higher and higher. Hou Yaowen wanted to become a disciple but could not find a suitable master. After all, with Hou Baolin's status back then, Hou Yaowen was bound to find a "matching" master, which was not easy. So this matter has been dragged on.

Hou Baolin passed away in 1993. Hou Yaowen was introduced to Zhao Peiru officially by his senior brother Li Boxiang in December 1994. However, this matter was actually agreed upon before Hou Baolin passed away. It is interesting. Unfortunately, there are two versions of how this happened.

2. Gao Yingpei and Meng Fangui’s version

The most popular theory at present is said by Gao Yingpei’s apprentice Meng Fangui. He mentioned in the interview that on the eve of Hou Baolin’s death, Hou Yaowen specifically found him, He was asked to contact his master Gao Yingpei, who took Hou Yaowen's place and became his apprentice to Zhao Peiru. And Hou Yaowen said that this was what Hou Baolin meant.

Meng Fangui quickly told his master Gao Yingpei, but Gao Yingpei believed that this matter must be done most appropriately by Zhao Peiru’s eldest disciple Li Boxiang. He asked Meng Fangui and Hou Yaowen to go to Tianjin to discuss it with Li Boxiang, and Li Boxiang heard that Immediately afterwards, he came to Beijing in person and finalized the matter in front of his hospital bed and on his deathbed.

The statement of Chang Guitian, another disciple of Zhao Peiru, is consistent with Meng Fangui.

Of course there is no problem with this statement, and it is not the first time that Hou Baolin has asked Gao Yingpei for help. As early as when he accepted Shi Shengjie as a closed disciple, he was worried that his peers would jump on Shi Shengjie. The matter was controversial, so he asked Gao Yingpei to inquire about the opinions of his colleagues and do some work.

However, what is interesting is that in addition to this most popular statement, there is also a version of Wang Ping.

3. Wang Ping and Hou Yaohua’s version

Wang Ping is Li Boxiang’s apprentice and is deeply liked by Li Boxiang. Moreover, he has a close relationship with the Hou family, so his statement is definitely not true. Unfounded.

Wang Ping recalled that he and Hou Yaohua acted in sketches together, so they lived in Hou's old house in East Sitoutiao. Hou Baolin had a gastrectomy at that time, and after he was discharged from the hospital, he lived in his new house in Muxidi . (This time should be around the beginning of 1992, one year before Hou Baolin's death, author's note)

One morning, Hou Yaohua asked Wang Ping to go to Muxidi to meet Hou Baolin, saying that he had something to do with him. Wang Ping went there in confusion.

When they arrived at Muxidi, Hou Baolin exchanged greetings with Wang Ping and told him that your third uncle (Hou Yaowen) was still a poor cross talker after so many years, which was his (Hou Baolin's) regret.

If your third uncle wants to become a disciple, he will be a master of arts and crafts. You can't let a living person take advantage of you. Do you understand?

Wang Ping nodded quickly: "I understand." In fact, he was still confused at the time. Then Hou Baolin told him: "I'll leave this matter to you."

On the way back, Wang Ping took Hou Baolin's words into account, and then he had an epiphany: "We can't let living people take advantage." It means that if you want to worship a deceased person as your master, you have to take over for your junior brother, and Wang Ping's master is Zhao Peiru's eldest disciple Li Boxiang. Let Wang Ping do this, undoubtedly because he wants Wang Ping to do Li Boxiang's work and let Li Boxiang take over. Take Hou Yaowen as his junior brother."

When Wang Ping returned to the Hou family's old house, Hou Yaohua asked him what he knew. Obviously this meant that Hou Yaohua also knew about it. Hou Yaohua then arranged for Wang Ping to return to Tianjin to report to Li Boxiang.

However, Li Boxiang was hesitant. He was worried that others would say that he was climbing the high branches of the Hou family. According to Wang Ping's recollection, he did Li Boxiang's work several times before Li Boxiang agreed.

Judging from Wang Ping’s version, Hou Baolin has actually already planned for Hou Yaowen to become a disciple of Zhao Peiru. First of all, Zhao Peiru has an undisputed reputation both in cross talk art and in the industry. Before Zhao Peiru passed away, Hou Baolin hoped that he would cooperate with him after he recovered. Not being able to partner with Zhao Peiru is also a regret for Hou Baolin.

Secondly, Zhao Peiru is also the head of the Bao family, and Hou Yaowen's worship of Zhao Peiru is also a "perfect match" for Hou Baolin.

At the same time, the reason why Hou Baolin said "You can't let living people take advantage" also reflects his confidence in his son. After all, Hou Yaowen was in the cross talk industry in all aspects at that time. A top-notch existence, no matter who he recruits as an art investment master, the other party will always take advantage of him. It can also be seen from Wang Ping's memories that the credibility of the rumor circulating on the Internet that "Hou Yaowen once wanted to become a disciple of Chang Baohua but was declined" is not very credible.

Then the question is, regarding Hou Yaowen’s apprenticeship, which one is true, the popular Meng Fangui version or the unpopular Wang Ping version?

The author believes that the two versions do not conflict and should complement each other.

Hou Baolin approached Wang Ping not directly but by hint. This is understandable. We can also think that this is Hou Baolin asking for directions. After all, with the status of the Hou family, if someone rejects someone for being too straightforward, it would be best if the other party proposes it first.

However, Li Boxiang has been hesitant and has not taken any further action. This delay lasted for a year. So before Hou Baolin died, he decided that he could not wait any longer and directly activated Plan B to find Gao Yingpei, thus "forcing" Li Boxiang to express his stance.

Li Boxiang realized at this time that he could no longer delay, so he came to Beijing in person to finalize the matter with Hou Baolin in front of the hospital bed, so that Master Hou could not leave with regrets.

This inference of the author can also be demonstrated from what Li Boxiang said in an interview more than ten years later. At that time, Li Boxiang said that Hou Baolin found him through his second son Hou Yaohua and his junior brother Gao Yingpei, and decided to marry Mr. Hou when he was dying. Come down on this matter.

The Gao Yingpei mentioned by Li Boxiang is the Meng Fangui version, while Hou Yaohua should be referring to the Wang Ping version.

On December 10, 1994, at the 80th anniversary performance of Zhao Peiru held by apprentices such as Li Boxiang, Gao Yingpei and Chang Guitian, Hou Yaowen specially came from out of town to participate. After the performance, an apprenticeship ceremony was held at the Dongfeng Hotel in Tianjin. Li Boxiang acted as the host, Li Jindou acted as the host, and the three apprentices were Sun Yuxiang, Zhu Yuliang, who is a Peking Opera artist, and Mr. Wang Shichen, a senior cross talk artist. Other Bao generation artists such as Chen Yongquan and Chang Baohua also came to congratulate.

In the end, Hou Yaowen did not let "anyone take advantage", but he later took advantage of others in the Railway Art Troupe.