Yu Qian, Guo Degang’s admired genius, is as wise as a fool and has an easy-going temper. He is often teased for having three major hobbies: smoking, drinking and perming his hair.

However, in addition to talking about cross talk, he also has a well-known name: the number one player in the cross talk world. He has a 60-acre zoo on the outskirts of Beijing and has raised thousands of animals, large and small. When it comes to playing, he never loses his arrogance and carries a "grandfather" style wherever he goes. Such Yu Qian , do you know it?

Through Yu Qian's book "Play", I met Yu Qian, the owner of the game.

As an authentic old Beijinger, Yu Qian has the inherent advantage of having the right time, place and people when it comes to cultivating his hobby.

When I was a child, Yu Qian’s family lived next to the Guanyuan Flower, Bird, Fish and Insect Market. Especially in the spring and autumn, the Guanyuan Bird Market stretches for a mile or two on both sides of the street, and is full of bird lovers. It was attracted by such lively scenes that Yu Qian, who was in the first grade of primary school, heard and got to know Huangqueer, Huamei, Bailing, and Hongzi for the first time... Then he grabbed the 50 cents he usually saved and bought them as if he had found a treasure. Two pink eyes, but this is not the beginning of Yu Qian’s bird-raising career, because “I know very little about bird culture, and I know nothing about appreciating and criticizing birds. I am just purely raising birds, and my interest faded away after a while.” .

Therefore, playing with birds is not just a matter of raising them, it involves a lot of knowledge. According to Yu Qian, “The process of playing with birds is actually a learning process. You must be willing to make friends and be open-minded to others. Please tell me how to tame birds. There are also many experiences that can only be understood and cannot be expressed in the process of learning cross talk, which require understanding and careful observation. ”

During that time, cross talk was in full swing. At a low point, Yu Qian also happened to have a lot of free time. Yu Qian, who was 17 or 18 years old, spent all day in the bird market. Many people said: "Fish and shrimp, delaying crops; young age, playing with things to lose one's ambition; carrying cages and carrying birds, Not doing his job properly; a son of the Eight Banners, a young master; a legacy of the Qing Dynasty, aging before he gets old..."

However, Yu Qian leisurely "fooled around" for two or three years, and his bird training skills were basically passable. The raw bird in his hand is less than two weeks old. It eats flying food, calls far away, opens boxes, holds gossip and colorful flags, shoots missiles, and can be picked up proudly. Through this craft, Yu Qian can sometimes earn some pocket money. He can buy a bird for thirty to fifty cents, and after taming it for a few days, the bird he likes will buy it for ten or eight dollars.

Yu Qian also has a small team specializing in eating, drinking and having fun, with four fixed members: the leader, the third brother, the sixth brother and Qian'er. The four of us got together and occasionally some fun-loving friends joined temporarily to form a small circle. “We started fishing as soon as the water surface thawed in spring.” “At the end of October, when strong winds came, fishing was suspended and we went into the mountains to catch birds.” “It wasn’t until the weather was too cold and the water surface was frozen that we returned home and started raising fish again. Taming birds, living a life of eating and drinking.”

Yu Qian and his friends played this way almost once a week for two or three years, until the country promulgated a forest law banning bird hunting. The greatest significance of that period was that Yu Qian "escaped the depressing atmosphere of the cross talk industry, forgot about the ups and downs of his career, made friends, learned about justice, got to know nature, and experienced friendship."

In Yu Qian’s opinion, “In terms of play, today’s children are very pitiful and too monotonous. In addition to going to the mall to buy toys, they just play games on the computer.”

And Yu Qian’s When I was a child, "That is the childhood life that children should live. There are no such high-end toys, but children are never short of games, such as shooting fangbao, fanning ingots, rolling hoops, whipping traitors, playing with magnets, playing marbles, Throwing sandbags, jumping rubber bands... toys can be found everywhere, and they are all made by children using their own brains and hands. Groups of them are chasing each other lively in the streets and alleys, innocent and carefree, and childhood play. My companion will be your lifelong friend when he grows up."

Yu Qian also has days when he can't afford to play. That was when he was in his thirties. "Now that I have a family, I have responsibilities, and it's time to think about things. I can't just eat, sleep, and play around all day long." In addition, the cross talk art that he loved since he was a child, "his social status has dropped to the level of a stinking ditch." , the market share is almost non-existent.”

Without performances, there is no income. Yu Qian, who had just started a family in 2000, nominally earned a salary of more than 400 yuan from the state, deducting fines for being late, asking for leave, etc. The salary earned is only one yuan and two per month."

Only when you have food and clothing can you think about lust. In the days when he had nothing to eat, Yu Qian had no intention of playing anymore. He spent a period of anxious, busy and tiring days in order to support his family: "Besides cross talk, I did everything, including sketches, dramas, hosting, emceeing, and movies. , TV, radio, and advertising, I travel between various production crews and home every day. During some breaks, I have to go out to eat, drink, build relationships, and make connections."

It was not until the end of 2004, when he was invited by Guo Degang to officially join Deyun Club that Yu Qian earned a stable income. And because "the profession that I have loved and studied since I was young is rejuvenated, my career of nearly thirty years has finally seen the light of day." Although he is busy with performances all over the country, he is "drowsy all day long and his face is gray and gloomy. The body is weak and swollen, and the spirit is depressed." But Yu Qian's mood is infinitely happy. During those days, let alone playing, I didn’t even think about playing.

It wasn’t until Deyun Club retreated from the cusp of the storm and transitioned safely from the peak period to a stable period that Yu Qian had a slight chance to breathe, have time to rest, and have time to entertain himself, and the first thing Yu Qian thought of was... One thing is play.

In his words, "It's all about playing with hatred and revenge." And because he has his own career and financial foundation, he has the time and energy to play, and he has the capital and mentality to play, he is no longer afraid of others saying that he is not doing his job properly, is idle, loses his ambition by playing with things, and is a legacy of the Eight Banners!

Yu Qian rented a small courtyard with three acres of land, "built doghouses, pigeonhouses, chicken coops, dug fish ponds, planted flowers, grass, trees, and fences" and started a large-scale project. Have fun. Later, he generously signed a 30-year land use right for a piece of nearly 60 acres of land in the suburbs of Beijing, filled with all kinds of favorite pets, including dogs, cats, monkeys, pigeons, rabbits, birds, chickens, ducks, geese, and horses. , ponies, cows, sheep, sika deer, and even a white fox given by a friend, it is like a small zoo.

At this time, Yu Qian seemed to have achieved the grand goal he had planned before: owning his own place for leisure and entertainment, raising a group of his favorite animals, and being able to take his wife and children with him after work. Invite friends to this pure land far away from the hustle and bustle of the city to enjoy your own happiness: "Watching birds, watching monkeys, flying pigeons, fishing, feeding sheep, playing with dogs, chasing deer, riding horses, eating and drinking, and having fun , Come with joy and leave with satisfaction.”

The more you play, the bigger the stall becomes.

Just as Mr. Jiuye, a veteran player in the capital, said, "Not to mention spending 1.8 million a year to maintain it," for such a big place and the nature of a breeding company, the annual industrial, commercial, and Taxation, sanitation, inspections, food for people, feeding horses, deworming, epidemic prevention, cooling in summer, heating in winter, etc. all involve energy. If you are just satisfied with playing with dogs and riding horses once or twice a week, it will be inevitable after a long time. I feel like it's a burden. When it gets really boring, my interest is gone. It's a pity that such a hobby is gone.

Jiuye suggested that Yu Qian open the racecourse to the outside world and form a complete operating system. All aspects should be run by dedicated and professional people, so that he can free up time and energy to develop and delve into his own hobbies. To put it bluntly, Only then can you play in a down-to-earth manner! And the key thing is that "only by opening up to the outside world can we attract many people with the same hobbies, and this circle can grow bigger and bigger as we play, making more and more friends, and having more and more interests. The most important thing is how much subsidy is the operating income?" The sense of accomplishment is the most exciting and the most direct reflection of the hard work you put in every year. In the end, it is this process that supports the pursuit of your hobby to the end."

Living up to Master Jiu’s advice, Yu Qian turned the racecourse into a children’s equestrian club. Yu Qian finally turned play into a career, and this career also made him "play more happily, become more addictive, and more meaningful."