Ma Jinfeng, the Great Master of Henan Opera

　　Ma Jinfeng is one of the four famous heroines in Henan Opera, the founder of Ma school of Henan Opera, the founder of the "lady general" profession, the excellent inheritor of Chinese intangible cultural heritage and the outstanding expert who enjoys the special contribution allowance of the State Council.

　　Ma was born in Caoxian County of Shandong Province in 1922. She began to learn opera from her father when she was 3 years old, went on the stage at 6 and rose to fame at 7. She has followed famous artists Ma Shuangzhi and Yan Changgeng. In 1953, she performed in Shanghai. Mei Lanfang appreciated her performance and became her teacher.

　　Performers of "Ma school" have bright, crisp, pure, mellow and solid voice. Falsetto is often used in their performance. They are good at narration of very long passages in "Yudong Tune" and "Erba-rhythms". The opera itself has rigorous structure, concise melody and bright rhythm to give an energetic and great-hearted image.

　　Ma's masterpiece includes Lady General Mu Takes Command, Cheng Yaojin's Wife and Luo Yi's Marriage. These three operas are widely known in China and have been adapted into movies.

　　Ma began to perform on stage when she was 6 and up to now, 90 years have passed. She successfully created a lot of classic images in this period, which were loved by audiences.

　　In 1980s, Ma Jinfeng played the part of Mu Guiying in Henan Opera Lady General Mu Takes Command

　　Because of poverty, Ma began to learn Hebei Clapper Opera from her father when she was 3 years old and she performed Sanyi Record and Liu Erjie Goes to Fair with him from 6 years old. Ma's father was a Hebei Clapper Opera actor who was a little famous and people called him "Gaijiuzhou". But before the founding of new China, there were few people to buy tickets for opera because they even had no food. Artists lived a life without guarantee. Ma changed to sing Henan Opera at last.

　　The stage photo of Ma Jinfeng in the Little Garden at 12 years old

　　Ma devoted serious efforts to practice her voice when she was small. She must have a content-rich voice if she wanted to successfully graduate and began to perform. At that time, she was in Lankao, a county of Henan Province which is famous for its sandy and saline land. Her mother found a pot and filled it with water by half. Every day, she was woken up by her mother when the cock crowed for the first time at midnight. They went to the wilderness outside of the village, carrying the water pot. Ma put her forehead on the water pot to exercise her voice until dawn. She never stopped practicing her voice, regardless of the weather. In the summer, her mother held a broken umbrella for her if it rained; in the winter, her mother took a sack to protect her from wind and snow. After nine years, a scar was left on her forehead because she had been always putting her forehead on the edge of the water pot.

　　Hard work pays off. She finally obtained good voice. In order to protect her voice and give the audience a beautiful artistic enjoyment, Ma has strict demands on herself for decades. She never smokes or drinks, never eats unctuous, sour, spicy or too salty food and never drinks cold drinks. She eats simply every day and the main food is soup. Perhaps because she concentrates on performance and protecting her voice, her body benefits from this. Even though she is 96 now, she has no presbyopia, her listening is good and her hair is just slightly gray. She never dyes her hair.

　　The stage photo of Ma Jinfeng in Cheng Yaojin's Wife

　　She also performed in over 200 traditional operas such as Yang Bajie Goes on a Spring Outing, Twelve Widows Conquer the West, Snow in Midsummer, The Butterfly Cup, The Leper Girl, Sanshangguan, Three Crying in the Audience Hall, Fan Lihua Conquers the West, Luo Huan Kneels Down, The Tale of the White Serpent and Lady General Hua Mulan as well as many modern plays such as Struggles in the Old-Line City, Mother, Lady Hong, Li Shuangshuang, Dapaifang, Lei Feng, Little Sisters on the Grassland, Open the Watermelon Park, Love to Xiaolangdi and Devote One's Remaining Years to the Services of the People and so on, which praised great achievements of Chinese Communist Party and enriched people's cultural life.

　　Ma led her opera troupe to perform across the country throughout the year. They performed over 200 times each year on average. They went to Beijing 12 times and performed in the Huairen Hall of Zhongnanhai 5 times. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other Party and state leaders watched the show and gave high evaluation. Ma went to Taiwan to perform and give lectures twice, which promoted cross-strait cultural exchanges.

　　Because of Lady General Mu Takes Command, she was tightly bound to Mei Lanfang, the greater master of Peking Opera. Ma properly reformed the traditional Henan Opera art and gradually formed her own artistic style, thereby forming Ma School of Henan Opera.

　　The stage photo of Luo Yi's Marriage in 1984

　　In 1953, Ma took her team to perform Lady General Mu Takes Command in Shanghai. Mei Lanfang watched it for three times and was deeply moved by Mu Guiying's spirit. He deliberately rushed to the backstage to send his congratulation after the end of the last play and asked Ma to his home.

　　Mei Lanfang told Ma that he had watched a lot of operas about Mu Guiying, but he did not know Henan Opera had an old Mu Guiying, and he liked this character very much (in 1959, at the tenth anniversary of new China, 65-year-old Mei Lanfang performed the old Mu Guiying which was adapted based on the Henan Opera version). Later, Mei Lanfang invited Ma to watch his show, the Drunken Beauty, etc. He also asked Ma to see his makeup process and suggested that she should learn Cheng Yanqiu's long sleeves and Gai Jiaotian's stomping.

　　Ma Jinfeng and her teacher Mr. Mei Lanfang in 1958

　　With these instructions, Lady General Mu Takes Command got a new breakthrough. In 1956, Ma went to Beijing to perform Lady General Mu Takes Command, which caused a sensation in the opera circle of this capital city. Wu Zuguang praised her as "Luoyang peony" which is the true treasure of China. Lao She wrote a poem for her: “Ma Jinfeng comes to Beijing from Luoyang and people light up with pleasure. She is good at singing and dancing. She has created a lot of images and all are humorous or brave women who act and talk like a man. Excellent skill comes from severe training and hammering. In this beautiful spring night, she acts in the opera on stage, like a blooming wintersweet."

　　After Lady General Mu Takes Command made a hit, someone asked Ma at a drama critics forum that to which profession this drama belonged. "Xiaodan (the little girl character type in the opera) is too small for this character, Daomadan (a female character type versed in shadowboxing) is too young and Laodan (an old female character type in Chinese operas) is too old. Mu Guiying takes command at about 50. We can call her 'lady general character'", said Ma after thinking for a while. Experts attending the forum burst into simultaneous applause. In this way, a new profession of opera was produced. This lady general character integrates performance programs of Qingyi (chaste women and faithful wives), Wudan (a female character type versed in Wushu in Chinese operas) and Daomadan, successfully shaping the artistic image of the imposing and graceful heroine, Mu Guiying. Deng Tuo published an article on Guangming Daily in February 1963 and pointed out that:"... It should be noted that lady general character has established a glorious position in China's traditional drama stage art. There is no doubt that this profession is established because of Ma Jinfeng's successful performance in Lady General Mu Takes Command.

　　In 1958, the Working Conference of CPC Central Committee was held in Zhengzhou. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De and other Party and state leaders asked to watch Lady General Mu Takes Command. Since then, this play became well known and is enduring so far. It also has become the representative play of Ma School.

　　From The Old Lady Conquers the East to Lady General Mu Takes Command, Henan Opera has gone through numerous changes. In this process, the dross was rejected and the essence was assimilated. It is innovated based on the main theme of today's society. From the story to the singing tune, from the stage lighting to clothing and props, Henan Opera has experienced countless reforms and innovations. In particular, symphony, modern choreography, lighting, dance and other elements were introduced into the classic play Lady General Mu Takes Command in 2000, which accumulated experience for reform and innovation of Henan Opera. In 2003, Ma Jinfeng cooperated with Mei Baojiu to play the part of Mu Guiying on the same stage, making a bold attempt to enrich the form of performance.

　　Although Ma is over 90 years old, she does not stay at home to idle away her life. Instead, she often participates in a variety of social activities and still teaches students. Old as she is, she still commits herself to the inheritance and promotion of Henan Opera.

　　Ma Jinfeng said that opera art is a treasure of the Chinese nation and it is her responsibility to teach student and hand down this kind of art. Ma has disciples in over 20 provinces and regions, including Taiwan, Gansu and Xinjiang and so on. In 2010, Ma was hired by National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts and was appointed as the honorary professor. She insisted on giving lessons to undergraduates of Henan Opera each semester. Even now, she still works as the tutor of graduate students of National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts. Hundreds of opera fans visit her at home each year. She gives patient guidance to them if they ask for advice.

　　Giving lessons to students and taking them to rehearsal

　　She never stops teaching apprentices and accepted new apprentices lately. As long as they really love Henan Opera and Ma School art and are willing to contribute to Henan Opera no matter how tough it is, Ma would teach them.

　　Ma has a profound affection for Zhengzhou. During the anti-Japanese war period, Ma came to Zhengzhou as a refugee and hid in a broken temple in Duling Street. Later, she joined some theatrical troupes to perform opera in coal pits in mountain areas of Mixian County, Gongxian County and Dengfeng and so on. She spent her youth in this way. Now, she lives with her children and grandchildren in Zhengzhou, spending her remaining years in comfort. She witnesses the changes in Zhengzhou. "Zhengzhou previously consisted of several small roads near Dehua Street. It was desolate and was surrounded by wilderness. The dust was blowing all the year round. The stage we used to perform was made of soil and the oil lamp was put near the stage for illumination. Now, the road is widened, the city is greener, the building is higher and there are more people here. Zhengzhou is now an international metropolis."