Life Shared by a Writer and a Female Rock Star

By Ah Dai

Yan Lixiu, a rural writer from Changfeng, Anhui Province, rose to national fame when he began to serialize his biography at sina.com. The 500,000-word biography titled “A Drama-like Life” had 4.6 million hits. Each episode was followed by hundreds of comments from online readers. The autobiography has been printed and reprinted by Peoples Press, an important publisher of the country. The book depicts the dramatic life of the writer with only a two-year literacy course. The most dramatic part of his life is probably the 10-plus-year success as the manager and owner of a long-running show at the Big World, a major entertaining arena in Shanghai and his marriage with the female rock star Zhang Wei 26 years his junior.

In 1946, Yan Lixiu was born in a small village in Anhui Province. He became an orphan shortly after his birth and grew up as an Erhu player, the only instrumentalist with the communes Luju Opera troupe. In the early 1980s, Yan founded a Luju Opera troupe. The troupe became popular in the region after a few years. However, the entertainment market was soon dominated by television, discotheques, karaoke houses, video tapes and imported foreign movies. As his troupe was being rapidly marginalized, Yan found himself stare at the fate of survival.

Yan decided to stage modern dance and song shows to please his rural audience. It was during one of his road shows that he met Zhang Wei. The swarthy girl blushed before she timidly asked her little question: “Do you need a singer”? She said she did not want to continue working as a carpenter; she wanted to be a singer. Yan remarked cautiously that singing was a career that required both good looking and good voice. Zhang Wei sang a difficult pop song. Yan and his colleagues were amazed. Zhang joined the troupe.

At that time, Yan was a widower. He ran the troupe while taking care of his twin daughters. After joining the troupe, Zhang Wei seriously studied singing under the guidance of Yan Lixiu and took care of the two little girls. Yan taught Zhang Wei well and discovered that Zhang was the best when singing as a rock star. Singing was a big attraction in entertainment at that time. Gradually, Zhang grew into a rock & roll singer. The showbiz of the troupe began to pick up. Knowing that the road shows in rural areas did not have a big future, Yan turned his eyes to Shanghai, the largest entertainment market in eastern China.

Before leading his troupe into Shanghai, Yan did a field study. After watching a few shows in Shanghai, Yan became aware of the common imperfections. Some mediocre pop singers staged poor singing shows without good dancers in the background. Such performances drew little response from audiences. But the rock-&-roll performance at the end of each show inevitably touched off crazy waves of applauses. Yan had an idea and knew his troupe could do much better.

The Big World agreed to let his troupe try two shows with the condition that the troupe would leave if the house was less than half occupied. Yan Lixiu would never forget the sensation of his first night at the Big World. There was an audience of more than 10,000 at show. The audience became wild after only three items. Then Zhang Wei came onto the stage. Her wild and contagious singing of three hit songs brought down the full house. More than 100 people came onto the stage with flowers.

The Big World threw a celebration party that night. The show manager said it was a miracle. Tears in eyes, Zhang Wei proposed a toast to Yan Lixiu, expressing her gratitude to his full-hearted care and art direction. The next day, the local newspapers carried nice reviews of the show and commented that a little troupe got the hang of success on the big stage which was called Shanghai. The Big World signed a contract with Yan for 180 shows during a period of three months.

The next ten years saw Yan Lixiu and the troupe enjoy popularity and success in the Big World and the China Great Theater, two major entertainment venues in downtown Shanghai.

Marriage

Zhang Wei fell in love with Yan Lixiu, a little man with a legendary life. The twin daughters loved her and wanted her to be their mother. But Yan Lixiu had misgivings. He was 26 years senior. Zhang waited a long while for Yan to propose, but the proposal did not materialize. Zhang proposed. Yan Lixiu said no, citing the age. Zhang Wei persisted despite the fierce objection from her family. Zhang persuaded her family. In the spring of 1994, Yan and Zhang got married after taking a wedding picture in a blooming field in a suburb of Shanghai. They regarded this special picture as a symbol for their roots in rural areas.

Yan Lixiu wrote songs for Zhang Wei. Zhang Wei made a big name for herself. She worked together with some other big names in various shows.

After ten years in Shanghai, Yan Lixiu divided his troupe into two teams to better cater to the changing entertainment taste. The two teams tour the country regularly and have their shows in nightclubs in large and midsize cities. Zhang Wei now works alone as she has many show contracts. Yan is now back in his rural home in Anhui where he runs a new Lujue Opera troupe and takes care of his children.

When Yan Lixiu was about to retire to his home, he looked back at his life and was willing to write a memoir. In March 2001, Yan Lixiu decided to launch the biggest project in his twilight years. He was about to be 60 and he wanted to examine the ups and downs of his life. For three years he worked on the manuscript. The manuscript piled up for more than 1 meter thick. Yan Lixiu had written many plays in his lifetime while running his troupe. These plays had happy endings. He said emotionally that his marriage with Zhang Wei brought not only a happy ending but also continuous wonders to his life.□