In fact, women have always been able to enter theaters and perform. China has been dominated by female musicians since ancient times. It was only in the Qing Dynasty that women were banned from performing on stage in the name of immorality.
Even during the Jiaqing period, Lang Baochen, editor of the Hanlin Academy, submitted a memorial that it was offensive for women in the capital to enter and leave the theater. The Emperor Jiaqing actually agreed, and from then on the theater did not sell female seats.
But now it's 1903, and foreigners have arrived at home, so many rules have been relaxed. After all, foreign wives don't care about these inexplicable rules.
Because this civilized tea garden is newly built, the layout is slightly different from the many other theater tea gardens on Qianmen Nei Street.
Li Yu arrived at the tea garden with Lu Bicheng early. Lu Bicheng paid special attention to how many women came to watch the show. She found that although there were many people in the women's seat upstairs, they were basically the wives and maids of some dignitaries. They seemed to be ordinary women among moviegoers.
Still less.
The two of them sat down at a table in the pool under the stage.
The waiter then ran over and asked, "Do you two guests have theater tickets?"
Li Yu took out two pool tickets marked with one tael of silver at face value: "Of course."
The price is very expensive, and it seems to be about the same as attending some concerts in later generations.
Of course, not all ticket prices are so high. A simple "wall seat" against the wall at the back only costs 200 coins; and a "balcony seat" upstairs costs 400 coins.
Even compared to the same period, the fees charged by Wenming Tea Garden today are very high. For an ordinary theater, you can usually attend a theater for only 120 to 30 cents for a day, and some even provide free tea, melons and fruits.
The waiter picked up the ticket and took a look at it, then said: "Sir, in addition, you have to pay another 100 Wen for the waiter's change and 40 Wen for tea money."
Li Yu asked: "If the note says 'no other expenses', why do you have to charge money?"
The waiter said: "Sir, after all, famous actors are on stage today. There are too many people watching the show, so we have no choice but to increase the ticket price. Please understand."
Li Yu didn't want to talk nonsense with him and paid the money in full.
Li Yu was easy to talk to, but many theatergoers later complained. Someone even wrote an article in the newspaper the next day complaining: "With the additional fee, a civilized tea garden is really uncivilized at all!"
Civilized Tea Garden is interested in improving the current custom of collecting "tea money" instead of "fare" in tea gardens. Unfortunately, the tea garden owners do not understand the new management ideas and models.
This chaotic charging situation will continue for at least two years. Around 1905, the tea gardens in Beijing gradually changed from "tea capital" to "fare", and gradually stabilized the charges. However, the tea gardens in Tianjin still continued to use the traditional method.
The long-standing old system of "tea capital".
After paying for the tea, the waiter quickly brought tea and melon seeds.
More and more people came later, and many people had no seats and had to stand in the back row, but even so, their ticket price was 200 Wen.
Today Wenming Tea Garden has made a lot of money.
But although there were already a lot of people, no one came to the best seat under the stage, and no one dared to sit down.
It wasn't until the troupe was almost ready that a few people walked in swaggeringly.
The tea garden owner immediately came over and bowed his head: "Prince Su, you are here!"
Prince Su Shanqi brought a concubine who was seventeen or eighteen years old, and a Japanese who was about forty years old and wearing glasses. It was Li Yu who bumped into him that day.
Prince Su said: "Are you all ready?"
The owner of the garden nodded and bowed and said: "Everything is done, we are just waiting for the prince."
Several people sat down at the best table, and the two people following behind them took a look at the table where Li Yu was sitting, and came over. One of them was Xu Shiying, the sixth-rank chief of the Criminal Department who originally asked about Lin Binghua's case.
Xu Shiying said politely to the other person: "Sit on the Yidaotai."
After the two sat down, Xu Shiying said to Li Yu: "Mr. Li Yu also likes to listen to operas?"
Li Yu said: "Just listen to it casually."
Yi Daotai was surprised: "So you are Li Yu?"
"It's you," Li Yu asked, "Who is your Excellency?"
"I am Yi Shunting, under the command of Zhang Zhitai, the governor of Huguang."
It turned out to be Zhang Zhidong's staff. Li Yu said: "Nice to meet him."
In fact, Yi Shunding already had an official rank, but he always regarded Zhang Zhidong as his mentor and always said that he was Zhang Zhidong's subordinate when he met everyone.
Yi Shunding said: "Zhang Zhitai has also heard about you and is very interested in you. He has always said that he wants to invite you to Wuhan to meet him."
Zhang Zhidong valued all kinds of Western talents very much and would definitely not "let go" of Li Yu.
Li Yu said: "That is a great honor for me."
Yi Shunding said: "Now that we have just resumed work after the new year, Taipei is busy with railway matters. When he is finished, I think you will receive the invitation."
"Railway? Lu-Han Railway?" Li Yu asked.
"Yes," Yi Shunding said, "A lot of main railway lines have been repaired now, but several bridges have never been completed."
Li Yu nodded, "Building a bridge is naturally much more difficult."
The construction of the Lu-Han Railway started five years ago. At that time, Zhang Zhidong felt that Britain, France and other countries were too powerful, so he let a Belgian company that "had no ambition in China" undertake the construction. The money for the road construction was also borrowed from the Belgian company.
The price is that during the loan period of 30 years, all driving management rights will be controlled by the Belgian company.
When I met Zhan Tianyou before to build the Xiling Railway, he also used part of the Lu-Han Railway that had already been repaired.
Yi Shunding never thought that building a road or a bridge was a big deal. He said: "What's so difficult? Foreigners know everything. Just leave it to them. These are just troublesome things. It's so convenient if you have money to buy them."
Li Yu was stunned, but this was the thinking of many people at the time. Even Li Hongzhang's main idea was to buy, buy, buy. But it was really not easy to explain them, so after thinking about it, he decided not to talk about it anymore.
At this time, Li Yu heard Prince Su Shanqi in front of him saying to the Japanese: "Mr. Kawashima, have you heard of opera?"
Li Yu was shocked, Mr. Kawashima?
Looking back at the age in history, among the Japanese who have come to China now, the surname is Kawashima. Who else can be Kawashima Yoshiko’s adoptive father, Kawashima Naniwa!
And Kawashima Yoshiko's biological father was none other than Prince Su Shanqi, the ninth grandson of Hauge, one of the Qing emperors.
Kawashima Naniwa said: "Of course I have heard of opera, and I also love Chinese opera. One day, I hope to bring opera to Japan."
Prince Su Shanqi said: "If Mr. Kawashima builds a theater in Japan in the future, I will definitely go and see it."
"That's natural. Your Majesty is proficient in opera, so it would be great to have your guidance." Kawashima Naniwa said.
When Prince Su Shanqi heard Kawashima's praise, he said without shame: "I can't say I'm proficient, but I'm afraid there aren't many people who know opera better than me."
Kawashima Naniwa said: "Of course! It is said that in the whole city of Beijing, Prince Su's Mansion is the place with the most opera performances. I heard that you have your own opera troupe, and you can even sing a song on stage. You are really an artistic genius.
!”
Prince Su smiled and said, "If you come to my house again one day, I will show you what I am capable of."
Li Yu sounded a little helpless. These princes only wanted to eat, drink and have fun all day long, competing to see who could sing better songs and whose myna could talk better.
Kawashima Naniwa just followed his words: "I must appreciate it!"
The two would become sworn brothers in the future. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Prince Su joined the Zongshe Party and sought help from Japan for restoration, so he adopted his daughter Xianyu to his sworn brother Kawashima Naniwa, also known as Kawashima Naniwa.
The famous Yoshiko Kawashima.
But he never expected that not long after his death, 17-year-old Yoshiko Kawashima would be defiled by her adoptive father Kawashima Naniwa.
What is even more unexpected is that even so, Yoshiko Kawashima actually became a loyal spy for the Japanese.
But these are all things for later.
Prince Su's concubine said: "Can't you be a little decent? How can a prince come on stage to sing in an opera?"
"That's what Madam said." Prince Su did not refute her.
Yi Shunding from behind saw it and said a little curiously: "Your Majesty's Fujin really dares to say that."
Xu Shiying explained to him: "Zhang Jia's family in Sifu Jin is now the most favored in Prince Su's palace. If you want to find the prince for anything in the future, it is better to go to her than anyone else."
This was pointing the way. Yi Shunding quickly raised his hand and said, "Thank you, brother Xu, for informing me."
After listening to what the two of them said, Li Yu felt even more incredible.
He had read an introduction about Kawashima Yoshiko before, after all, she was so famous. Kawashima Yoshiko's biological mother was Zhang Jia, the fourth son of Prince Su.
Speaking of which, there were many shameful things in the feudal prince's palace.
Zhang Jia's family was originally just a maid bought by Prince Su from the suburbs of Beijing. Her real name was Miss Lan. When she was a maid, she was defiled by Prince Su's son... Later, when she was fifteen years old, she was adopted by Prince Su as her fourth wife. Then she was not allowed to
Well, she gave birth to ten children in succession to Prince Su, the first daughter of which was Yoshiko Kawashima.
Unexpectedly, Yoshiko Kawashima's biological father, biological mother, and adoptive father were all here today.
Prince Su said to Kawashima Naniwa: "I learned that Mr. Kawashima was here today. In order to express my gratitude for your hard work as the general supervisor of the Beijing Police Department, I specially invited Yang Xiaolou, a member of the Tongqing troupe who is currently popular in the capital, to perform for the Queen Mother.
I have been praised for my acting."
Kawashima Naniwa sat upright: "Such excellent art should be appreciated with all your heart."
Prince Su, however, still just sat there with a carefree attitude, eating melon seeds and listening to the opera.
Yang Xiaolou sang very well in today's opera, but it's a pity that Li Yu doesn't understand opera. He just heard everyone around him cheering, and the atmosphere was indeed full.
Yi Shunding suddenly said with emotion: "When will a female actress take the stage? Then I can become a real treasure. I will be happy just thinking about raising several beautiful actresses who can sing and act at home."
Xu Shiying said with a smile: "Yidaotai is indeed unique. I heard that you were a monk and took two beautiful concubines with you."
Yi Shunding has always been proud of this and laughed loudly: "What's the point of becoming a monk without a beautiful woman to accompany you?"
This protagonist really pursued several major actresses in the early years of the Republic of China. He even wrote poems that were very, very difficult to read. They were so unique that they would be banned if they were written.
At that critical moment, Liu Xikui, the king of the acting world, who received the poem, was still a young girl, and she couldn't laugh or cry when she saw such a vulgar poem.
Xu Shiying added: "If you want female actors to appear on the stage, it may be more difficult than building a railway bridge."
"It's difficult!" Yi Shunding also sighed, "After all, foreigners are good at learning things, but how can they compare with our vast knowledge."
Yi Shunding has been conceited and smart since he was a child, claiming to be the descendant of Zhang Mengjin, a great talent of the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Bicheng listened to what they said for a long time. He took his beautiful concubine to become a monk, but he was not enterprising and arrogant. He couldn't stand it anymore: "Sir, if you think it's easy, you can try it yourself. Don't imitate the empty talk of the predecessors and ruin the country."
Yi Shunting looked at Lu Bicheng and said, "Young lady, you have a very sharp tongue. Don't talk nonsense if you haven't read a book. No, it's not a question of whether you can read or not. You should first learn what female virtue is."
Lu Bicheng said disdainfully: "I'm afraid women are not necessarily worse at studying than men."
Yi Shunding felt as if he had heard the funniest joke: "Stop joking! Most women are too stupid and cannot use their brains. Even if they are reading, how many books can they understand?"
"If women are said to be stupid, are you smart?" Lu Bicheng asked.
Yi Shunding said proudly: "I'm afraid there are not many smarter than me."
Li Yu was also very unhappy when he saw him, so he whispered to Lu Bicheng: "Didn't Mr. Yan Fu just teach you a few logic questions today, so you can test him."
Lu Bicheng smiled knowingly and understood what Li Yu meant, so he said to Yi Shunting: "Do you dare to compete with others to see who is smarter?"
Yi Shunding was not afraid at all and asked: "How to compare?"
Lu Bicheng said: "I will give you a logical thinking question, which tests whether your brain is smart enough."
"Hey! You dare to give me a question, go ahead! I'll tell you in advance, don't humiliate yourself." Yi Shunding is quite conceited about his intelligence, mainly because he looks down on women and doesn't think they can understand at all.
What knowledge.
Lu Bicheng said: "Listen carefully! The question is like this. Five extremely smart and extremely cruel pirates got a hundred gold coins, and then they decided how to divide the gold coins at sea. The five pirates were numbered one in turn.
, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5. From the first sea
The pirate begins to propose a distribution plan, and then everyone votes together. Only when more than half of the people agree can it be adopted, otherwise he will be thrown into the sea. It is the next pirate's turn to propose a plan. The question is who is the pirate who benefits the most and
How many gold coins can he get at most?"
After Yi Shunding listened, he opened his mouth and said, "Of course it's the last one! As for the gold coins, I haven't figured it out yet."
Lu Bicheng smiled and said, "You don't have to think about it anymore, the answer is already wrong."
Yi Shunding was dissatisfied: "How could it be wrong?"
Lu Bicheng also followed his example and said proudly: "I advise you to go back and think about it carefully. If you really can't think of anything, please ask me to tell you again. You can't be stupider than me, a female generation, right?"
Yi Shunding felt that he really couldn't understand the idea for a while, so he said: "Okay! I can solve this problem for you tomorrow."
"You don't need to be so fast. You will win in three days." Lu Bicheng said.
Xu Shiying looked funny from the side: "Yidaotai, don't lose."
Such an excitement made Yi Shunding even more enthusiastic: "You all just wait and see."
Li Yu smiled secretly in his heart, yes, wait and see.