Lu Shuming (; 15 August 1956 – 1 November 2022) was a Chinese actor best known for his role as Guan Yu on the 1994 television series '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', and also garnered recognition for his roles as

Bull Demon King Bull Demon King (), also translated as the Ox King and known as his self-proclaimed title the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven (), is a fictional character from the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West''. He is the husband of the Princess Iro ...

and Li Guang on '' A Chinese Odyssey'' (1995) and '' The Emperor in Han Dynasty'' (2005), respectively.

Biography

Lu was born in

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, on 15 August 1956, while his ancestral home is in Yantai. Due to his father having participated in supporting the construction of the northwest China, they relocated to Weinan and then Xi'an in Shaanxi province, where he attended Xi'an Road Primary School and Jiefang Road Middle School. At school, he loved basketball and

Beijing Opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

. Lu began his acting career in 1980, when he was accepted to Shaanxi Provincial Drama Troupe, but soon he was forced to leave the stage for falling in love with an actress. In 1983, Lu was cast as Li Hu in ''Man in the Desert'', making his television debut. In the same year, the Communist government began to crack down on people with "Bad Style" (). Lu was jailed for 16 months for "mental pollution" (), a "crime" originated from when he danced seven or eight times at his friend's uncle's house. He went on to appear in other works, including ''Sing a Romantic Song for You'' (1986), ''Exterminate the Banditi in Western Hunan'' (1986), and ''Bleak Youth'' (1988). In 1989, he was cast as Qin Shi Huang in '' A Terra-Cotta Warrior'', opposite Zhang Yimou and Gong Li. Lu gained national fame for his starring role as Guan Yu in the 1994 television series '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', adapted from

Luo Guanzhong Luo Ben (c. 1330–1400, or c.1280–1360), better known by his courtesy name Guanzhong (Mandarin pronunciation: ), was a Chinese writer who lived during the Ming dynasty. He was also known by his pseudonym Huhai Sanren (). Luo was attri ...

's classical novel of the same title. He co-starred with

Stephen Chow Stephen Chow Sing-chi (, born 22 June 1962), known professionally as Stephen Chow, is a Hong Kong filmmaker, former actor and comedian, known for ''Shaolin Soccer'' and ''Kung Fu Hustle''. Early life and education Stephen Chow was born in British ...

and

Ng Man-tat Richard Ng Man-tat (, 2 January 1952 – 27 February 2021) was a Hong Kong actor originally from Fujian. He was a veteran actor in the Hong Kong film industry, with dozens of awards, including Best Supporting Actor at the 10th Hong Kong Fi ...

in the 1995 film '' A Chinese Odyssey'' as

. In 1997, he co-starred with

Li Jingfei Li Jingfei (; 13 October 1957 – 24 November 2022) was a Chinese actor noted for his role as Zhang Fei in the television series ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms (TV series), Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' (1994). Biography Li was born in Shi ...

and in the historical television series ' as general Wu Zixu. In 2005, he acted in the historical television series '' The Emperor in Han Dynasty'', playing the role of general Li Guang. That same year, he starred with

Du Yulu Du Yulu (; January 1, 1941 – February 21, 2020) was a Chinese actor best known for portraying historical figures in several films and television series. Biography Du graduated from the Harbin Arts Academy. During the Cultural Revolution, Du w ...

in ''The Rice is Ripe''. In 2019, he appeared in ''Battle Between Song and Liao Dynastles'', a historical war film starring

Siqin Gaowa Siqin Gaowa (, Mongolian Cyrillic ''Цэцэнгуа'', born 19 January 1950), born Duan Anlin, is a Chinese-born Swiss actress. She was born in Guangzhou to a Han Chinese father and a Mongol Chinese mother. Her father died when she was 4, she was ...

. Lu played a supporting role in the comedy film ''Stop! Thieves'', starring Bruce Leung, Lawrence Ng and

Rain Lee Rain Lee Choi-wah (; born 11 November 1983) is a Hong Kong actress and singer. Filmography * ''Stolen Love'' (2001) * ''Goodbye Mr Cool'' (2001) * ''2002 (film), 2002'' (2001) * ''If U Care ...'' (2002) * ''My Lucky Star (2003 film), My Lucky St ...

and directed by Jacky Zheng. In 2021, he played the male lead role of Guan Yu in the historical war film ''Green Dragon Crescent Blade'', alongside Kenny Kwan and .

Personal life and death

Lu married opera singer Gao Lan (), with whom he had a son and a daughter. On 1 November 2022, Lu died due to sudden illness in Xi'an, Shaanxi, at the age of 66.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stages

Song

* ''A Pot of Old Wine'' () (2015)

Book

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuming, Lu 1956 births 2022 deaths People from Qingdao Chinese film actors Chinese male singers Chinese television actors