Our hero today is Li Liansen, a Kunming senior born in 1933. Now he is 85.
今天故事的主人公叫李廉森，1933年出生，今年已经85岁了。
A master who has sung the Yunnan Opera for most his life, Li ranks among the rare few who are able to draw out more than 60 authentic faces in traditional Yunnan Opera all by virtue of memory.
这位唱了一辈子的滇剧名家，却是目前不多的可以画出60多个滇剧脸谱的老人！
Li Liansen has been in love with Yunnan Opera since childhood, for he followed his father’s step to learn the art at an early age.
李廉森从小就深爱滇剧。小时候他就跟着父亲一起学习滇剧。
However, Li did not limit himself to his home teaching. He also visited the Yunnan Opera masters from other clans, trying to learn about from them a diversity of performing skills and styles.
但他并不满足一家所长，他还去别家同行偷师学艺，学习别人的戏路、风格。
As time goes by, Li Liansen got increasingly familiar with the Yunnan Opera faces, and the vivid images of the characters were thus imprinted in his heart. By now, Li’s childhood memories are still fresh and alive.
看别人演戏多了，偷师的李廉森对滇剧脸谱越来越熟悉，这些滇剧人物的脸谱就深深印在他的心中，直到现在。
Before retiring, Li Liansen staged numerous performances of Yunnan Opera, growing to be a famed actor of the traditional Yunnan art and winning quite a few national awards.
在退休前，李廉森已经唱了数不清多少场的滇剧，成为了滇剧名角，获得国家大奖。现在李廉森已经从表演一线退下来。
Since retirement, Li ceased to sing at front stage, but he still watches the Yunnan art played by others from time to time. During the observation, Li noticed something strange: the Yunnan Opera players are dressed up in the faces of Peking Opera.
退休之后，李廉森也会去观看别人演的滇剧，但他经常发现，他们演着滇剧的人物，画的却是京剧的脸谱。
'Now many actors don't even aware the difference in the Peking and Yunnan operas, let alone the way in which the Yunnan Opera faces are drawn and painted,' lamented Li.
“现在许多演员，都不知道滇剧脸谱和京剧的区别，更不知道滇剧脸谱怎么画。”李廉森感到心很痛。
Li Liansen said the Yunnan Opera faces are quite different from those of Peking Opera. Faces in the Yunnan art shall be mapped out in accordance with the disposition and feat of each character.
李廉森说，滇剧脸谱和京剧脸谱有很大的不同。滇剧脸谱都是要根据人物的功绩、性格来进行勾画的。
In Yunnan Opera, the faces of ancient warriors and historic figures often show their feats. In making up Jiao Zan, a Northern Song (960-1127AD) dynasty general who was good at water warfare, for instance, aquatic plants and fish are to be drawn on his face. On the contrary, Meng Liang’s face should be painted with nine fire gourds because he was good at using fire... These are among the Yunnan Opera traditions to follow.
像古代大将焦赞的脸谱上有水草纹和鱼纹，表示其精通水战，孟良的脸谱上就画着九个火葫芦，表示他善于用火……这些都是古人画下来的，一直流传至今。
In painting Qin Shi Huang, the founder of the Qin dynasty (221-207BC) and the first emperor of a unified China, the azure-dragon horn, gourd, ancient coins and scrolls should be drawn the on the face, according to Chinese ballads.
像秦始皇这个人物，根据古谣，秦始皇滇剧脸谱面上会有青龙角、葫芦、钱币，还有书卷竹简，称为七星八宝脸。
At the same time, colors are used meticulously in the Yunnan Opera faces to indicate personal disposition. Red is loyal and black marks frankness, while pink means cunningness and yellow represents firmness and arrogance. Green is sharp-witted, blue chivalrous, and purple bold and powerful. The gold and silver colors signal the Buddha or gods.
同时，滇剧脸谱很有讲究，红忠黑直粉脸奸，黄色表示刚强蛮横，绿色表示机警凶狠，蓝色表示彪悍侠义，紫色表示勇猛，而金银两色表示神佛。
To pass on the unique and invaluable Yunnan Opera faces, Mr. Li Liansen, who should have enjoyed leisure after retirement, set down to figure out and draw all the faces in his memory.
为了将这独特而宝贵的滇剧脸谱传承下去， 本应安享天年的李廉森老先生开始着手整理记忆中能画出的所有滇剧脸谱。
Picking up a paper piece, Li first traces the frame of a character with a pencil. And then he details one by one the eyes, nose and mouth, as well as patterns on the face.
拿起一张纸，李廉森很小心地用铅笔勾出人物的轮廓，然后画出眼睛、鼻子和嘴，还有脸上不同的花纹。
On Li’s table lie three or four pencils in different sizes, each having a specific use. Li Liansen sketched out the details with great care, put down the pencil to watch for a while, thought it over, and then continued. It takes two to three days for Li to repeat such steps till a Yunnan Opera face is finished.
桌子上摆放着三四支不同的铅笔，有粗的有细的，不同的地方用不同的笔。李廉森一点一点小心地勾画，然后放下笔，看一看，想一想，然后继续。这样重复的画，需要两到三天。
In the past years, Li has drawn and painted, by virtue of his memory, more than 60 pieces of pure Yunnan Opera faces, which otherwise would get lost soon.
就这样，用了几年的时间，李廉森凭着记忆，画出了60多幅纯粹的滇剧脸谱。
Li’s drawings have become the only tangible materials to teach and pass down Yunnan Opera. The artistic skills he learned from differed families in his childhood have been turned into an asset to conserve the dying Yunnan art.
这些脸谱成为学习滇剧、传承滇剧，唯一一份绘制成稿的珍贵资料。当年他偷学来的手艺成了如今宝贵的艺术财富。
Through these faces, the audience is brought back to the old days, gazing at the distinctive characters on the stage.
通过这些脸谱，观众仿佛回到了过去，看到了舞台上一个个不同性格的角色。
Also, the Yunnan Opera faces present the audience vivid dispositions of historic figures, epitomizing the 5,000-year culture of China.
通过滇剧脸谱，你感受到的是一个个鲜活的个性，触摸到的是中国五千年的文化！
Now the artists who can draw the Yunnan Opera faces are getting fewer and fewer, and the traditional craft is on the verge of extinction. It is time to act to enliven the heritage.
目前学滇剧的人越来越少，而会画滇剧脸谱的人，已经少之又少。这份传承，这份积淀，已经面临失传的危机。
In 2016, Li donated to Yunnan Opera House all his 60 plus painting works, contributing greatly to preserving the traditional Yunnan art.
前年，李廉森将自己珍藏多年绘出的滇剧脸谱，捐给了云南省滇剧院，让这一云南滇剧珍贵的瑰宝得以更好地保存。
图文来源：澜湄趴
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