Cheng Yanqiu (1 January 1904 – 9 March 1958) was a Chinese

Peking } 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 ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

singer. He is remembered as one of the 20th-century's great female impersonators, having specialized in Peking opera's female roles (''dan'').

Life

Cheng was born in

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 ...

. Cheng was also the creator of several original Peking opera productions in the 1920s and '30s. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, he refused to perform and instead worked as a farmer in Beijing. After the war, he was appointed vice president of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Opera. He died of a heart attack in Beijing at on 9 March 1958.

References

1904 births 1958 deaths Chinese male Peking opera actors Singers from Beijing Male actors from Beijing 20th-century Chinese male actors 20th-century Chinese male singers Female impersonators in Peking opera Chinese dramatists and playwrights Manchu male actors Manchu singers Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery {{China-singer-stub

Life

See also

References