Profiles

Veteran devotes life to art

By Yu Meng (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-15 15:25

He stood under the spotlight on the stage. He could feel the marching music seemingly running right through his body as he conducted the chorus with tremendous energy. In his nearly 40 years of career in the services, he had sung this song – Unity Is Strength – thousands of times and he remained inspired by the rhythm on every occasion.

A file photo of Wang Yanhui

As the song was drawing to a close he suddenly keeled over and his head hit the announcer's leg. People rushed from backstage to his aid, but it was too late. His wife recalled he was smiling in the last moments of his life as if he was satisfied with the performance.

He was a musician and a soldier in the art troupe of People's Liberation Arm (PLA) Jinan Military Region. His name was Wang Yanhui. He was born in Shandong in 1954 and recruited in 1970. On December 5, 2009, he was invited to attend a ceremony held by the PLA's Air force Engineering University and died on stage from sudden myocardial infarction while conducting a chorus.

In the 30 years of his performing career, Wang had received many honors, including China's highest accolade in modern drama, the "Wenhua Award" by the Ministry of Culture. In 1996 he starred in a play called The Veteran about the lives of nine soldiers living on an island. It was a dramatization of a true story, his partner Wu Wen recalled, and on the night before the troupe left the island where the veterans lived, the nine gave the last performance a tearful standing ovation. Wang was so excited that when the curtain fell he impetuously jumped off the stage and hugged the veterans tightly.

His colleague, who played the character's wife in the play, said: "Wang played Wang Bingcheng in the drama. We were in our 40s but the roles were meant to represent young people. In one scene, he was required to climb up 20 stairs and hug his girlfriend. During the rehearsal, I observed that his steps were not as light as an eager young lover's should be, so I told him and he started to practice climbing stairs at the nearby Hero Mountain Park every morning until he could run like a young man. The scene lasted less than one minute. I didn't expect him to take my advice so seriously."

From this tale it might seem he was a dedicated actor, a shining star. In fact, he was just an ordinary man who encountered a middle-age crisis when he was 50 years old. In 1993, after the art troupe reformed, there weren't many opportunities for actors. Despite being a thespian for many years and with extensive experience behind him, most of the time Wang saw young people often taking the best roles. He stepped away from center stage and used to sit in the playground smoking. But he never showed his disappointment to his family and maintained a hearty laugh, which now his wife and daughter deeply miss. His wife said that she never heard Wang complain about anything.

One day, one of his friends asked Wang to instruct a rehearsal for a soldiers' chorus. From then on he started a new career as an art director for soldiers and a local residents' league. His wife said once, after tutoring the soldiers' chorus, he was overwhelmed by their improvement and couldn't stop talking about it all night long. Although it was not what he had planned to do, he devoted himself with renewed passion to his new audience – his students.

It may seem that someone like Wang was a fictional character, but he was simply a veteran. He shouldered responsibility and was a good father to his family while maintaining a strong love of art and life. He died in his military uniform on stage. It was probably the best way to honor his 40 years in military service.