Gao Feng is recognized as an all-round musical talent, graduating from the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts. Though not a graduate of the school, Gao Feng's musical accomplishments were beyond the reach of many professional singers.
He composed and sang songs such as "Big China", "Love on the Other Side of the Sky", "Remember You Forever", and "Harvest", which were well received by his fans.
His songs "Spring Water Flow" for Huang Ge Xuan and "Stupid Kid" for Andy Lau are also household names. Gao Feng has also composed theme songs for dozens of movies and TV dramas, including "The Story of Qianlong", "The Roots of the Imperial City", "Moment of Crisis", and "The Prodigal Son of the Mansion".
Gao Feng's parents were both literary artists, and he was the only boy in the family. Gao Feng's early death pushed his parents into great grief. How did they survive the heartbreaking loss of their son? What is their life situation now?
Gao Feng (formerly known as Zeng Yanchi) was born on July 24, 1968, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, and has a younger sister.
Gao Feng's mother, Lian Qiusheng, was a singing actress at the Wuhan Opera and Dance Drama Theater, and his father, Zeng Lingpeng, was the unit's lyricist and composer of the song, "Putting on Platoon in the Qingjiang River," which has had an impact across the country.
Under the influence of his family, Gao Feng has loved arts and culture since he was a child, especially music and art.
When he was in the second grade of elementary school, he created a crayon drawing reflecting the life of ethnic minorities, which was introduced and exhibited on CCTV. His parents took it for granted that their son should take up painting.
After graduating from junior high school, Gao Feng was enrolled in the art vocational class of Wuhan 18th Middle School, and was awarded as the third best student every year.
In 1986, Gao Feng graduated from high school and entered the sculpture department of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts with honors.
During his college years, Gao Feng realized that his love of music went beyond art. So while his classmates were working on their sculptures, Gao Feng started to get into pop music.
Over the course of several years, Gao Feng participated in a number of music competitions and sang for many famous singers. At the time, his parents were worried about Gao Feng's future. They had been performing for decades, and they knew how hard it was.
The parents had a conversation with Gao Feng, hoping that his son would seriously consider his future. Gao Feng said, "I have confidence in myself and feel better about music than sculpture." The parents were enlightened and did not interfere with Gao Feng.
On the eve of his graduation from college, Gao Feng composed theme songs for films and TV dramas such as Miss Zhao and Zhang Xueliang, The Year of the Dragon, The Boxer, Lucky Star, and The Roots of the Imperial City.
In 1990, Gao Feng graduated from college, and because of his musical skills, he ended up being hired by the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe as an artisan. Many of his classmates couldn't be assigned because the sculpture program was high-end and niche.
The sculpture is generally 40 years old to mature, and it is difficult for young people in their early 20s to create a significant sculpture.
When Gao Feng was interviewed before his death, he restored the mood when he first graduated from college. He said he was living on borrowed time in the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe, with no establishment and no welfare benefits, living in the basement. At that time, his mood was not sunny, do not know where to go.
In 1991, the songwriter of "Yellow Earth High Slope" recognized Gao Feng as an all-around musical talent and introduced him to the Hong Kong-based Puan Music Company.
Gao Feng thus became one of the first singers to be signed on the mainland, and the company created his first album, The Night After You Left, which was generally well received.
This made Gao Feng realize that singers must have good works in order to gain a foothold in the singing world. So he began to dive into music creation.
During his lifetime, Gao Feng **** created more than 400 songs, more than 100 of which were sung by himself and other singers, and more than 300 of which still lie dormant on the sheet music.
Because of the company's many rules and regulations, and because musicians generally lead a morning and evening life, Gao Feng took the initiative to terminate his contract with Puan in 1993, and became a freelance musician.
At the time, Gao Feng was mainly a behind-the-scenes songwriter, and his pay for writing a song was limited, so he was struggling to make ends meet for a while. He couldn't afford a decent suit, his leather shoes were cracked and still wearing them, and he had to count on eating a meat fried rice.
Once his parents came to Beijing to see his son, they were very sad.
When he sent his parents to the train, his mother said to him with tears in her eyes, "You go home and look under your pillow, and be kind to yourself."
Returning to the basement, Gao Feng opened the pillow and found the money left by his mother. The first time I saw this was when I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley.
At that time, Gao Feng made a grand wish: to buy a house in Beijing in the future, so that his parents can retire to Beijing.
In order to realize this dream, Gao Feng frantically writing songs, has created for Huang Gexuan "spring water flow", for Li Lingyu created "spring", for Xie Xiaodong created "hooks on the hangman", for the old wolf created "beauty", Si Nong Si Yu "double double fly" and other popular songs.
In 1994, Gao Feng went to visit a friend and took a bus past the Beijing train station. At this time, the station clock struck the time to the travelers, and then the big clock sounded the melodious music of "The East is Red".
At that moment, Gao Feng's heart surged with the grandeur of "Great China" and "Great China".
Gao Feng rushed to get off at the next stop, took a cab back to the rental house, and created the song "Big China" in one fell swoop.
The song is a mix of folk tunes from the north and south, as well as elements of traditional music such as the Red Silk Dance, Jasmine, and Liang Zhu, and is both festive and catchy.
On New Year's Eve 1996, Gao Feng sang "Big China" at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, and the song became a national hit overnight.
Since then, Gao Feng has been performing constantly, more than 20 days a month. He has also released two music albums, "Harvest" and "The Best Gift".
At the same time, he also created theme songs for TV dramas such as "Moment of Danger", "The Legend of the Beggar Emperor" and "The Prodigal Son of the Mansion", making him one of the most popular singers of the 1990s.
At the time, Gao Feng was a singer signed by Starworks, and the label's president, Jiang Hong, was a good friend of Gao Feng's. In 1999, Gao Feng felt that after so many years of writing and singing, he felt emptied out and wanted to go abroad to study and recharge his batteries.
Starworks sent Gao Feng to study in England for one year. In a foreign country, Gao Feng studied jazz and stage performance, and released the single "Return", as well as creating the theme song for the TV series "Can't Find the North".
In 2000, Gao Feng returned home after his studies and released his fifth solo album, London Words.
In 2001, Gao Feng bought a house in Wangjing, a neighborhood in Beijing's Chaoyang District. By this time, his parents had retired and were living with his sister in the US.
Gao Feng's uncle worked in the United States, and his sister studied in the United States after graduating from college, and then got married and started a family there. The first time I saw this was when I was in the middle of a movie, and it was the first time I saw a movie.
Gao Feng feels that he is the son, according to the traditional Chinese custom, he should take the responsibility for his parents' old age.
On New Year's Day 2002, Gao Feng brought his parents from the United States back to Beijing to live with him.
Gao Feng left Wuhan at the age of 18, and for more than a decade, he and his parents have been together for a long time, and now that the three of them are together, Gao Feng is enjoying this kind of love and warmth.
The parents want Gao Feng to get married and have a baby in two or three years, and they are responsible for bringing up the baby. Gao Feng told his parents with a smile, "Maybe we can't wait three years, maybe we can get you what you want in two years." The parents were immersed in a beautiful vision.
A disaster struck without warning.
After the Spring Festival in 2002, Gao Feng was working on his new album "Beautiful New World", during which he often coughed, had a fever, and rapidly lost weight.
His parents urged him to go to the hospital, but Gao Feng thought he was overworked and didn't take it seriously. Later, his parents forced him to accompany Gao Feng to two hospitals in Chaoyang District to do a checkup, and both hospitals said he was a common cold.
If Gao Feng's disease can be found early early treatment, perhaps it will not cause the final tragedy.
On August 31st, Gao Feng's new album "Beautiful New World" was premiered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with his parents by his side.
Gao Feng, who has just endorsed a clothing brand, was dressed in a smart suit and looked handsome, though a little thin. His parents are holding one of Gao Feng's hands, full of love.
On September 6, Gao Feng's health became worse and worse, and he was admitted to the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, where he was diagnosed with advanced PCP pneumonia, and the situation was not optimistic.
Gao Feng's sister learned the news and rushed back to Beijing from the United States in tears, bringing her brother's medical records to the United States. She consulted expert friends, this disease in the United States also sentenced to death, sister heartbroken. Gao Feng's parents and uncle have been in the hospital to guard him.
After his life entered the countdown, Gao Feng wanted to see 3 people the most, that is, Huang An, Tian Zhen and Jin Ming.
Gao Feng's agent called them one by one, and Huang An rushed over from Taiwan in a sad mood.
Tian Zhen and her husband Zhang Weining rushed to the hospital from Ningbo, Tian Zhen was crying all the time, and Jin Ming's eyes were also full of tears.
September 19, 2002, Gao Feng due to rescue, unfortunately passed away sadly, this year he was 34 years old.
Gao Feng's sister was pregnant and did not come back to see her brother off. Gao Feng's parents, uncle guarded his side, watched him pass away. Their hearts were torn apart as the gray hairs sent the black hairs away.
Gao Feng was buried in a cemetery in the western suburbs of Beijing, adjacent to Zhao Lirong's grave.
After their son left, Zeng Lingpeng and his wife were plunged into great grief and heartbreak. The couple locked themselves in their home and washed their faces with tears every day. They listened to their son's songs, looked at his portrait, and conversed with him in their hallucinations.
Gao Feng's sister, who was in the United States for a month after giving birth to her baby, had to get up late at night every day to call her parents, talking about how hard it was for her to suppress her grief.
Parents know that their daughter is sitting in the moonlight, emotions can not fluctuate dramatically, they forced themselves to be strong. 20 days later, Zeng Lingpeng couple rushed to the United States to take care of their daughter.
In order not to let the sadness affect the daughter and her family, Zeng Lingpeng and his wife will be buried in tears and pain in the bottom of the heart, they look very calm, but the inner sadness of the reverse flow into the river. There is a kind of pain that can't be talked about, and that's called tearing up the heart and lungs.
After the baby was 3 months old, Zeng Linpeng and his wife told their daughter that they wanted to go back to Beijing so that they could be closer to their son and feel better.
The sister understood her parents' grief, and the family said goodbye in tears.
Zeng Lingpeng and his wife could not get out of the thoughts of his son, they often dream of his son. The couple woke up in the middle of the night with tears in their eyes.
In the morning, the couple did not have the stomach to eat, they rushed to their son's grave. They sat in front of the tombstone, and with tears in their eyes, they talked about their longing for their son and the pain in their hearts.
The couple sat in front of the tombstone for two to three hours, and then embraced each other in tears and went back.
Zeng Lingpeng and his wife had been struggling with grief for five years before their emotions calmed down. 2008, in order to express their nostalgia for their son, Zeng Lingpeng and his wife began to write articles in memory of their son.
They used words to recall their son's short and brilliant life, and the pride and grief he brought to them.
In the article, the couple told their son: "Don't worry about us over there, we will be strong. If there is an afterlife, we would still like to be a family with you.
In November 2013, Mr. and Mrs. Zeng Lingpeng published a collection of articles in memory of their son, with photos of Gao Feng and the score of a song he composed, in a book called Singing Great China.
They wrote the book not for profit, but purely out of nostalgia for their son, and gave the book away for free to friends, family and fans of their son.
After Gao Feng's death, Zeng Lingpeng and his wife lived in Beijing most of the time, sometimes visiting their daughter in the United States.
Every year on Ching Ming Festival and the anniversary of their son's death, they go to his grave and offer him flowers.
When they got older, their daughter took Mr. and Mrs. Zeng Lingpeng to her side, but they came back every year to pay tribute to their son.
March 2022, Gao Feng has been dead for 20 years, Zeng Lingpeng and his partner's life seems to return to normal, but in fact, there is pain. They often think: If his son is alive, he should have gotten married and started a family, and they also became grandparents.
Gao Feng's early death brought his parents a lifetime of pain!
The "Tiny Taste of Fame" comment:
The untimely death of Gao Feng has not only pushed his parents and loved ones into an abyss of grief, but has also made his fans choke on his words.
This is the greatest grief on earth, and if Gao Feng hadn't been misdiagnosed by the hospital, he would've been in the same boat. If Gao Feng hadn't been misdiagnosed by the hospital, and had been found and treated early, this might not have been the end.
It should be said that the two hospitals that misdiagnosed Gao Feng have some responsibility. I hope that doctors and hospitals will take more responsibility for each patient and try to stop the tragedy from happening.
The way to remember the loved ones is not only tears and grief, in fact, strong life, to face life with a smile, is more in heaven Gao Feng hope to see!
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This is the first time I've seen a movie that I've ever seen.