Ma Dong: My father Ma Ji

I called home in Beijing at the end of October and heard that my father might come to Australia with a performance troupe to perform in Australia in December. After a while of panic excitement, I thought I would definitely be able to see him in Australia. It wasn't until the past few days that I heard that this matter was on the rocks again. When I was thinking about the words "good things come in vain" to comfort myself, an editor from the Hualian Times called me and asked me to write an article about my father. . I agreed, but I knew in my heart that this was not an easy word to write. China has a tradition of avoiding taboos since ancient times. Li He, a genius poet of the Tang Dynasty, did not even dare to take the exam to be a "Jinshi" in order to avoid his father's taboo of "Jinsu". Although people are not like this today, it is always not easy for a son to evaluate his father completely objectively.

My father Ma Ji, formerly known as Ma Shuhuai, was born in Beijing in 1933. He married my mother at the age of thirty-five. I was born in Harbin at the end of 1968.

My father was fighting when I was born, so my mother had to go back to my grandma’s house to give birth to me. When I was sixty days old, my mother brought me to Beijing wrapped in more than a dozen layers of felt blankets. When my father first saw it, he was shocked by how huge it was. Later, he peeled off the cocoon and pulled out the silk, deciphering it layer by layer. When I saw the picture, his first comment to me was: "Why is it as big as a jujube stone!" Not long after, he went to the Nenjiang Cadre School in Northeast China. Because my mother was an art soldier in the army, she traveled around performing with the team, so I had no choice but to be fostered in other people's homes until I was more than two years old. When I saw my father again, I was already able to call people, but I was so scared that I would hide behind other people's legs and call him "uncle." When I grew up, I heard people say that my "uncle" almost made him cry. I was dubious and didn't ask - didn't dare to ask.

Although I am an only child, I did not spend much time with my father during my childhood. In my impression, he is always away from home for ten months a year, and it is even more common for him to be away from home during holidays. Everyone in the family is used to it, and he himself enjoys it, because performing in other places, writing, getting into life, etc. are his career and his fun.

My father’s family background was not good since he was a child. My grandfather died young, and the lives of the four brothers and sisters depended on grandma alone. As a last resort, my uncle and my father went out to be apprentices after finishing high school. The uncle went to Tianjin, later married a wife and had children, and then "rooted" in Tianjin. My father had been in Shanghai for five years. Although he didn't learn anything as an apprentice, his independent life began from then on. When he returned to Beijing during the liberation period, he re-entered school and completed junior high school. In 1951, he was admitted to Beijing Xinhua Bookstore and worked in several branches including Wangfujing and Haidian. It was from then on that his talent in literature and art gradually emerged in his spare time.

Crosstalk had just entered the regular theater from the taverns and tea sheds in Tianqiao. The artists of the old era also ended their long and unstable career as a busker after the government's "reorganization". Among them, the outstanding ones such as Mr. Bai Fengming, Mr. Hou Baolin, Mr. Liu Baorui, Mr. Guo Qiru, Mr. Guo Quanbao, etc. have all joined the radio art troupe and rap troupe. The art troupe was affiliated to the Central Broadcasting Administration at that time, and its main job was to provide radio programs for radio stations. Crosstalk, as a traditional northern folk art form, has made a leap from being unpopular to being broadcast nationwide through radio. The work of rearranging traditional programs, removing the dross and extracting the essence is very arduous. The aforementioned art masters played a key role in this aspect, making cross talk a popular entertainment program suitable for all ages and has rapidly spread across the country.

I am not sure whether it is due to the influence of this popularity or whether my father was "in love" with cross talk before, but his talent in this area is undeniable. After working at Xinhua Bookstore, he started trying to write and perform cross talk. The National Amateur Art Performance in 1956 was an important turning point in my father's life. He won the first prize in that performance. At the same time, his talent was discovered by many experts, the most important of which was the late master of cross talk performance Mr. Hou Baolin. Mr. Hou's high praise and desire to recruit apprentices paved the way for his father to enter the radio rap group, the first-class professional group in the folk art world. But according to his father, he had a choice at the time.

In fact, everyone is out of curiosity and liking-does this Ma Ji look the same as on TV? But no one wants to think that when all these "good intentions" are concentrated on one person, it will be enough for him. A few days before I came to Australia, my father wanted to take me to Xidan to buy clothes. The car was parked in an alley. As soon as he walked out of the alley, people surrounded him within ten meters. He didn’t buy anything. When he got back to the car, he said to me: This is his first time in Xidan in fifteen years. Not to mention our family, as long as my father is at home, there is always a constant flow of people, from ten o'clock in the morning to twelve o'clock in the evening. Among them are friends, colleagues, his students, colleagues, people I know and people I don’t know, everyone is included, and many of them came to Beijing from other places to learn cross talk from their father. Even the armed police on duty at the radio and television department knew our home address. Whenever someone comes looking for Ma Ji, he immediately rushes to our house. There is often a large table full of people for lunch and dinner. Speaking of this, I think my mother is amazing. She is a music editor for a Chinese record company. While taking care of her own career, she also has to help my father take care of everything. In addition, there are various rumors circulating in the society. Today Ma Ji is reselling gold, and tomorrow someone will arrest him for smuggling... At the beginning, the family was really anxious, but as time went by, everyone became accustomed to it. Maybe these are the price of celebrity.

Many people asked me: "Have you learned cross talk from your father?" I replied: "No." Indeed not. My parents have not allowed me to enter this industry since I was a child, and they never wanted me to do this. But living in such a family, I have been influenced by it through my ears and eyes, and I have been somewhat influenced by it. Feng Gong once said to me: Sooner or later you have to do this. Will he unfortunately tell the truth? Only God knows.

An old Chinese saying goes: When parents are here, they don’t need to travel far. I am not a filial son. As an only child, I cannot stay with my parents. I came to Australia alone seven years ago. On the eve of my departure, my father told me his experience of going to Shanghai as an apprentice when he was thirteen as a parting message. I understand his good intentions. I have accomplished nothing in Australia for the past seven years. Every time I think about this, I feel ashamed to be a son of man.

The cold night is coming to an end and the east is white. Regardless of whether my father can make it to Australia this time, I believe I will be able to see him soon