Why become a star nurse in a maternity and baby hospital?, Shanghai Song ⑤ | 95s Boys Who Love to Sing Beijing Opera

Entering the training class for novice parents covered in cartoon patterns, Wang Ke could feel the heated discussion suddenly come to a halt. Everyone stared at him, "Can he guide?" The middle-aged nannies who came with their novice parents couldn't help but question, "It looks like a newly graduated boy, teaching people to take care of babies?"

At this moment, Wang Ke always silently recites in her heart, "You can only deal with four or five babies a year, and I take care of 20 newborns in a night. Practice brings true knowledge!" As a nurse at the First Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Shanghai, Wang Ke, born in 1995, has been working for 6 years and is currently pursuing a master's degree in nursing. This year's Nurse's Day, he was awarded the title of "Star Nurse in Jing'an District".

The award certificate records Wang Ke's efforts

The award certificate records Wang Ke's efforts

After work, Wang Ke was a member of the "Follow Me Peking Opera Learn from Me" class at the Shanghai Peking Opera Theater. She changed into costumes and forgot about the hustle and bustle of work. "One time during class, I was in a hurry and forgot to bring my soft soled shoes. I ended up barefoot and the floor was a bit cold. Suddenly, I found the feeling of the character's sadness."

"Follow Me Beijing Opera" was born 16 years ago, with nearly 10000 students. Last year, nearly a thousand people signed up, with over 85% being beginners. Another popular group is the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe "Follow Me Kunqu Opera Learn from Me", which was born in the same year as "Follow Me Peking Opera Learn from Me" and has grown from one class to 21 classes in 16 years. Wang Ke is one of these young people who love opera.

The "First Choice" Actor at the Annual Meeting of the First Maternal and Child Health Hospital

"Pear blossoms bloom, spring brings rain; pear blossoms fall, spring enters the mud..." The clear "Ode to Pear Blossoms" sounded, and the new colleagues in the audience were first surprised, then took out their phones to shoot. Wang Ke looked around with the microphone, once again confirming that the killer weapon of his student days still worked even after work.

From high school to university, Wang Ke has always been an active figure in the class's literature and art. "College students all know that there is a Wang Ke in the nursing school who can sing opera." Wang Ke's initial reason for being exposed to opera was related to the entrance examination. When he was in high school, he once wanted to apply for the broadcasting and hosting major. "Art exams require performance skills, and everyone practices singing. Learning to sing opera is unique, and only by doing so can one score high in front of examiners."

Wang Ke repeatedly listened to the recording of Liu Changyu, a renowned figure from the Xunzi school, and learned how to use selected passages from "Selling Water" for art exams. "To be honest, I didn't really understand drama at that time and didn't really enjoy it. My classmates encouraged me to come on stage and sing, applauding and cheering warmly. I was very happy. Their reaction prompted me to continue learning drama and come up with a new program."

In the 2013 college entrance examination, Wang Ke did not become a broadcaster. He was admitted to a nursing major that he knew nothing about. "My mom doesn't like nursing, but my dad thinks it's okay. My family has relatives at school, and his words are firm: high nursing majors definitely don't worry about finding a job." That year, Wang Ke bid farewell to his hometown of Sanmenxia City in Henan Province and enrolled in the nursing major at Haishanda College, with a total of 30 students and 4 boys in the class. "I studied humanities in high school, but in my freshman year, I relearned medical biology, biochemistry, etc. It was too difficult."

Wang Ke pondered every day on how to switch majors, but this idea came to an abrupt end the following year. "Since my sophomore year, we have been studying clinical practice courses. Two classmates practice in pairs, working in groups of ten. I have strong hands-on abilities and finally see my shining point."

After graduating from nursing, Wang Ke entered the First Maternal and Child Health Hospital and quickly became a "star" - he became famous for his singing in the new staff performance of the entire hospital. That time, Wang Ke chose "Ode to Pear Blossom" from the newly edited Peking Opera "Grand Concubine of the Tang Dynasty"

As soon as she stepped off the stage of the new employee performance, Wang Ke, who knew how to sing, was immediately taken in by the hospital's labor union cadres and quickly recruited as an actor for the New Year's annual meeting a few months later.

"At the annual meeting, my colleagues in the laboratory and I collaborated to sing 'You Long Xi Feng'. She was dressed in green clothes from elementary school and had a well-organized singing, speaking, and acting style, which was more impressive than me. She played the role of Emperor Zhengde in reverse, and I played the role of Sister Li Feng in reverse. The union hired teachers from the Shanghai Peking Opera Academy for us, and the Beijing Hu accompaniment was invited from the Shanghai Academy of Drama." Wang Ke believes that this may be the characteristic of hospital work - seriousness. ". Whether it's medical care or hobbies.

Wang Ke and colleagues cross star in "Playing with the Phoenix and the Dragon"

Wang Ke Crossdressing with Li Fengjie

Wandering in the world of reality and opera

Upon entering the First Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Wang Ke faced immense pressure as a new nurse in the neonatology department. A senior nurse injected a newborn baby with a sharp shot. He widened his eyes and said, "The child is only 50 centimeters long, and I can't even see blood vessels."

During his internship in the cardiovascular intensive care unit, Wang Ke's confidence was shattered. "Injecting elderly patients with heart disease is completely different from administering injections to infants." He spent two years practicing hand feel, "Every nurse has their own 'comfort zone' for injections, and my expertise is in full-term newborns. The injection angle is slightly larger and can be inserted at once. Some colleagues are good at premature infants."

Wang Ke administered intravenous infusion to the newborn child

Walking into a maternity and infant neonatology department, there was no imagined crying of the children. Among the six wards, the second and third are rooms for critically ill patients, which sound like a cardiovascular intensive care unit with ticking instrument sounds, occasionally disrupted by one or two cries. The brightness of the lighting here has been carefully adjusted. "The light cannot be sufficient, it should be slightly dim, simulate the uterine environment, help children grow up, and reunite with their parents as soon as possible." Wang Ke quietly told reporters as she walked out of the department.

In the neonatology department, Wang Ke works 12 hours a day, taking care of more than 20 babies, and at least 14. Each newborn wears an identity bracelet, but according to the regulations of one mother and baby, medical staff can only hold one child at a time, and two children must have two nurses at the same time on the operating table. "Every day when I handed over the shift, I knew the situation of every child I cared for on duty, at the cost of being busy with lumbar disc herniation and going to acupuncture and moxibustion."

He put on a waist brace and said, "Tie it tightly around your waist, it feels like a banner for singing. Thinking about it this way, the pain is also reduced."

Wang Ke learns the key points of venous puncture from senior nurses

Work occupies the vast majority of time, and Wang Ke's desire to learn drama becomes even stronger - because "it feels like floating in a world filled with strong love and hate, blocking the mundane reality."

He snatched up the "Follow Me Beijing Opera Learn from Me" course on "Drunken Consort", changed shifts with colleagues, studied drama during the day on Sundays, and went to work at night. In the class of "Drunken Concubine", there are children aged six or seven, as well as elderly people aged six or seventy, most of whom are the same age as Wang Ke. "My best 'desk mate' works at customs and TV stations respectively."

Wang Ke is studying "Drunken Consort" in the "Follow Me Peking Opera" classroom at the Shanghai Peking Opera Theater

The teacher praised him as a talented player with a good tone. Wang Ke couldn't conceal his pride. "For the art exam, I prepared well for singing." He had a clear goal in studying "Drunken Concubine" - to correct his figure. The "Empress Dowager" appeared, first slapping her right hand to her left hand, then folding her sleeves, making floral arrangements, shaking her sleeves, and then slapping her left hand to her right hand, repeating a series of actions such as folding her sleeves, and finally making a full crown appearance. "In just a few seconds of action, the teacher demonstrated the skill of 'flowing clouds and flowing water'. Beginners have their own strange ways of doing it, not to mention the techniques of lying down and holding a cup."

Wang Ke and her classmates love to practice, take photos, record videos of various forms, and post them to WeChat groups. "Everyone points at each other's mistakes, like giving a lecture on the college entrance exam. One student was lying on a fish, unable to bend down, and became a 'lying Buddha drunk'."

"I didn't expect you to keep doing it now"

Hospitals are like stages, with ups and downs. Sometimes, work is enjoyable. After all the children are born, they first go to the neonatology department for observation for 1 to 2 hours. After confirming their safety, Wang Ke pushes a small car to send the newborns back to the obstetrics one by one. "Everyone calls me 'Sending Children Guanyin'."

At night, the hospital hallway was empty. He pushed an empty cart from the obstetrics department back to the neonatology department and began practicing small steps. "Mei Pai is easy to get started with, but it's difficult to master and refine. For example, small steps need to be both light and fast," he said

Wang Ke's first time practicing short steps, the hallway of the department that she usually walks for 10 minutes suddenly became longer. "It's like exercising, but I didn't expect it to be tiring. I can't see how strong the legs of a Peking Opera actor are. I walked a lot before I found the feeling. In fact, learning drama and learning techniques are similar, like getting injections, practicing repeatedly, practice makes perfect."

Sometimes, work is more thrilling than a script. In August 2020, the Asian Pet Expo was held at the Pudong New International Expo Center. The closest woman and baby to the Expo Center received a 32 week pregnant exhibitor who said, "She can't feel fetal movement. We found it to be placental abruption, and before anesthesia takes effect, she immediately underwent an emergency operating room cesarean section." The child was born at only 1500 grams, with transparent lips resembling a prop doll, and hemoglobin concentration less than one tenth of that of a typical premature baby. Wang Ke quickly adjusted the instruments, dispensed medication, and expanded the blood volume through veins. "The entire operating room was like a war," he said

Such thrilling scenes often occur. On the first working day after May Day last year, the neonatal department delivered 5 premature infants and 1 case of congenital complex heart disease... Tracheal intubation and emergency treatment for critically ill children were performed an average of 3 times a day. When encountering severe asphyxia in newborns, medical staff collaborated to complete treatment such as hypothermia, video EEG assessment, and high-frequency ventilation.

Wang Ke Popularizes Medical First Aid Knowledge to Students

Sometimes, work is a source of pride. The distrust of novice parents and nannies dissipated in the moment Wang Ke took action. Demonstration of bathing, touching and other care techniques, everyone's process is the same, but Wang Ke's techniques are standard, fast, and gentle, making the postpartum women willingly bow down.

The training for novice parents has been conducted in temporary makeshift houses and classes have also been held near outpatient clinics. No matter how difficult the conditions are, Wang Ke said, "After class, I just want to hum 'Mu Guiying Takes Command': I can block a million soldiers with just one sword. Whoever doesn't take command will take command, whoever doesn't take command will lead..."

In the year of her senior year when she was looking for a job, Wang Ke was the last candidate to interview at the First Maternal and Child Health Hospital. "Later on, I found out that there were enough male nurses for women and babies, so there was no need to hire more male nurses. The interviewer thought I had good qualifications, spoke fluently, and was professional, which gave me the opportunity."

Years later, Wang Ke ran into an interviewer in the elevator. The other person exclaimed, "I didn't expect that you, a boy, have been doing this all along."

When opera once again becomes the background sound

The babbling local opera sounds of his youth became particularly friendly after Wang Ke started working. "When I was a child, my whole family would sit around every Sunday evening at 8 o'clock, watching Henan TV's" Spring in the Pear Garden ". I would do my homework, and the opera would be the background sound. In the past, I thought it was rustic, but now when I listen to Henan Opera, the image of watching TV in the summer immediately comes to mind - there is no air conditioning, the electric fan is blowing on the cool mat, my grandparents are shaking the fan, and I enjoy watching it."

Wang Ke, who has been listening to "Li Yuan Chun" for many years, later met Kong Ying, a child star who performed the Yu Opera "Hua Da Chao" at the Sydney Opera House, and met Ma Jinfeng, the founder of the "Ma School" of Yu Opera. "Kong Ying is my grandparents' dream child. She can sing and act, it's just ridiculous. Ma Jinfeng is my grandparents' idol, and I listen to her singing repeatedly, never getting tired of it, just like Shanghai Yue Opera audiences like Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan."

On her 10-year journey to learn opera, Wang Ke made various friends, some of whom came from Fujian specifically to Shanghai to watch and learn opera. "Arrive on Friday night and leave on Sunday afternoon, just as punctual as going to work."

Many people have been learning Kunqu Opera from Follow Me for several years. Yuling first learned from the female students, then from the younger ones, and this year she participated in the first class for the elderly students. Yao Jiaying, a young lady from the working class, brought her 3-year-old child to the classroom. She didn't expect her child to fall in love with traditional Chinese opera. "Every time I attend class, the girl comes to listen, stands at the end and follows us to shake our sleeves, shake our sleeves, and turn around," she said

From Yu Opera's "Mu Guiying Takes Command" to Beijing Opera's "Mu Guiying Takes Command", Wang Ke, who performed as a young actress in the art exam, fell in love with the plum blossom school, which is known for its green clothes. She self-taught "Ode to Pear Blossoms" and won "Drunken Consort". Cheng Pai's famous works such as "Lock Lin Bag" also have their own style.

My colleagues at the hospital saw that Wang Ke had achieved success in learning opera and were eager to give it a try. They planned to form a group to participate in "Follow Me Beijing Opera Learn from Me".

"Listening to opera, singing opera, practicing voice, and tidying up, Wang Ke has a small world of her own." After transferring from the Department of Neonatology to the Department of Assisted Reproductive Medicine, she was admitted to the Graduate School of Nursing at Tongji University.

When taking the postgraduate entrance examination, Wang Ke did not ask for a day off

At noon, the reporter arrived at the assisted reproductive medicine department, but it was still crowded. The door of the operating room opened and closed, continuing until dusk fell. Wang Ke, who was walking on the hospital road, has been recognized by patients more than once. "The expectant mother who underwent in vitro fertilization is 35 weeks pregnant, and during the prenatal examination, she thanked me for helping her with the surgery. There is also a second child mother, whose eldest child has jaundice, whom I am responsible for taking care of in the neonatology department. Now that she has given birth to a second child, she still remembers me."

Wang Ke is even busier with work, postgraduate studies, and internships. When he comes home from work, his pace is as fast as when he was in the hospital, gnawing on bread, reading literature, writing papers, and doing PPTs. Learning how to "tie knots" in her brain, Wang Ke opened her phone, clicked on a row of Meipai singing repertoire, and began mopping the floor. Half an hour later, he turned back to his desk to continue polishing his PPT, and the scene on his phone turned into pure Jinghu music.

Once again, traditional Chinese opera has become the background sound, and the sound must resonate with the ears.