Li Guizhen p ''Lǐ Guìzhēn''; 1907–1942), better known by her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Bai Yushuang ''Yùshuāng'', Jade Frost"), was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Ping Opera Pingju or Ping opera () is a form of Chinese opera from northern China. History Pingju originated in Tangshan, Hebei, near the city of Tianjin.. Among all China's regional operas, it was the most famous in the Republican period for its passiona ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. She was one of "The Four Famous '' Dans''" ''Sì Dàmíng Dàn'') and remains known as the "Queen of

Pingju Pingju or Ping opera () is a form of Chinese opera from northern China. History Pingju originated in Tangshan, Hebei, near the city of Tianjin.. Among all China's regional operas, it was the most famous in the Republican period for its passiona ...

" ''Píngjù Huánghòu'').

Life

Li Guizhen was born in Guye,

Luan County Luanzhou (), formerly Luan County (), is a county-level city in the east of Hebei province, China. It is under the administration of the Tangshan city. Administrative divisions Subdistricts: *Luanhe Subdistrict (), Gucheng Subdistrict (), Luanchen ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

. As a child, she was sold to the wandering entertainer Li Jingchun and his wife Mrs Bian, who renamed her Li Huimin ''Lǐ Huìmǐn''). Her status within the family was reduced when Mrs Bian gave birth to a son, Li Guozhang. She was then forced to earn money on the street by singing stories accompanied by a small drum or other instrument. At fourteen, she began learning

pingju Pingju or Ping opera () is a form of Chinese opera from northern China. History Pingju originated in Tangshan, Hebei, near the city of Tianjin.. Among all China's regional operas, it was the most famous in the Republican period for its passiona ...

from Dong Faliang, taking

supporting role A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo ap ...

s under the stage name "Bai Yushuang". She became celebrated in

Beiping "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

(now

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

) and

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

for her extreme

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

, from very high notes to lower than lowest note of the ''

erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...

''. Upon Li Jingchun's death, his widow Mrs Bian purchased more girls from poor families. The 4-year-old Xiaodezi was renamed Fuzi and instructed to refer to Li Guizhen as her mother. Bai Yushuang began to perform

lead role A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typic ...

s for the Yushun Opera Troupe. This company was owned by Mrs Bian, managed by her brother, and accompanied by her son on the ''

'', a situation which led to its being generally known as the Li Troupe (''Lijia Ban''). Bai Yushuang eventually changed its name to the North China Opera Troupe ''Huáběi Xìshè''). She became notorious as a "slutty performer" (, ''yínlíng'') and "contaminant" following her performance as a fly spirit in the 1933 ''

Catching Flies Catching Flies (born 1991) is an English musician, DJ and record producer from London, England. His sound has been described as sitting on the "smooth, mellow side of electronic music" somewhere "between Flying Lotus and Bonobo" and "contains s ...

'' ''Zhuō Cāngying''), when her costume consisted of a red

dudou A ''dudou'' (; also known by other names) is a traditional Chinese form of the bodice, originally worn as an undershirt with medicinal properties. With the opening of China, it is sometimes encountered in Western and modern Chinese fashion as a ...

and tight white clothes under some long scarves, and was expelled from

by its mayor for performing "obscene lyrics". The Chinese periodical ''

Women's Lives ''Women's Lives'' ''Fùnǚ Shēnghuó'') was a monthly Chinese periodical which was published from July 1935 to January 1941. It began in Shanghai as the house journal of the Shanghai Women's National Salvation Society ''Shànghǎi Fùnǚjiè ...

'' reported icily that "thousands of square miles of Chinese territory have been occupied by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

without any resistance, but if a woman offends public decency, she must be expelled." Relocating to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

in 1935, Li Guizhen performed

alongside

Ai Lianjun AI is artificial intelligence, intellectual ability in machines and robots. Ai, AI or A.I. may also refer to: Animals * Ai (chimpanzee), an individual experimental subject in Japan * Ai (sloth) or the pale-throated sloth, northern Amazonian mam ...

, Yu Lingzhi, and Zhao Ruquan to large audiences at the Enpaiya Theater and on tour through

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city ar ...

, and

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

. The repertoire included ''

Pan Jinlian Pan Jinlian () is a fictional character in the 17th-century Chinese novel ''Jin Ping Mei'' (''The Plum in the Golden Vase)'', and a minor character in ''Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. She is an arch ...

'', '' Spring in the Jade Hall'' (, ''Yù Táng Chūn''), '' The Little Matchmaker'' ''Hóngniáng''), ''

Yan Poxi Yan Poxi () is a fictional Song dynasty woman from the Chinese novel ''Water Margin''. She is usually called Yan Xijiao (), a Hua Dan, in Chinese opera. Originally from the national capital Kaifeng, Yan Poxi is a beautiful young girl who came ...

'', and '' The Lioness's Roar'' ''Hédōng Shīhǒu''). She was arrested and accused of murder but Mrs Bian was able to extricate her from the charges. Her character was attacked by conservatives but defended by Zhao Jinshen and A Ying in the press and the

reformers A reformer is someone who works for reform. Reformer may also refer to: *Catalytic reformer, in an oil refinery *Methane reformer, producing hydrogen * Steam reformer *Hydrogen reformer, extracting hydrogen *Methanol reformer, producing hydrogen f ...

Tian Han Tian Han ( zh, 田汉; 12 March 1898 – 10 December 1968), formerly romanized as T'ien Han, was a Chinese drama activist, playwright, a leader of revolutionary music and films, as well as a translator and poet. He emerged at the time of the ...

Hong Shen Hong Shen (; 31 December 1894 – 29 August 1955) was a Chinese playwright, film director and screenwriter, film and drama theorist, and educator. He is considered by drama historians as one of the three founders of Chinese spoken drama, togethe ...

, and

Ouyang Yuqian Ouyang Yuqian (; May 12, 1889 – September 21, 1962) was a Chinese playwright, Peking opera actor and writer, film screenwriter and director, and drama educator. He is considered by drama historians as one of the three founders of Chinese spoken ...

worked with her to work "anti-feudalist" messages into her historical dramas. She became a movie star following her role in

Zhang Shichuan Zhang Shichuan (; 1889–1953 or 1890–1954), also credited as S. C. Chang, was a Chinese entrepreneur, film director, and film producer, who is considered a founding father of Chinese cinema. He and Zheng Zhengqiu made the first Chinese feature ...

's 1936 ''

Red Begonia Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

'' ''Hǎitáng Hóng'') and was considered one of "The Four Famous '' Dans''", alongside Liu Cuixia,

, and Xi Cailian. She fell in love with the cymbal player Li Yongqi, but Mrs Bian prevented their

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

to protect the profits she was deriving from her "money tree" (''yaoqianshu''). The pair eloped to his hometown in Ba County,

, in February 1937. She dressed and lived as a peasant for six months before Mrs Bian ultimately negotiated for her return and the troupe's return to Tianjin and Beiping. Around the time of the

occupation of the city, Bai Yushuang was diagnosed with

uterine cancer Uterine cancer, also known as womb cancer, includes two types of cancer that develop from the tissues of the uterus. Endometrial cancer forms from the lining of the uterus, and uterine sarcoma forms from the muscles or support tissue of the uteru ...

. She received treatment at Beiping's German hospital and her understudy Fuzi—under the name Little Bai Yushuang ''Bái Yùshuāng'')—only replaced her once she was too ill to take the stage. In Spring of 1942, Li Guizhen returned to Tianjin to find that her bank accounts and property had been transferred to Mrs Bian's son. She collapsed on stage during a performance of '' Understanding after Death'' ''Sǐ Hòu Míngbai'') with Li Yifen in July 1942 and subsequently died.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * . * .

External links

*
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