Ying Ruocheng (; June 21, 1929 - December 27, 2003) was a Chinese actor, director, playwright and vice minister of culture from 1986 to 1990. He first came to the attention of Western audiences for his portrayal of

Kublai Khan Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of ...

in the 1982 miniseries ''

Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in '' The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...

''. He is best known for playing the part of the governor of the detention camp in the

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

's film ''

The Last Emperor ''The Last Emperor'' ( it, L'ultimo imperatore) is a 1987 epic biographical drama film about the life of Puyi, the final Emperor of China. It is directed by Bernardo Bertolucci from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mark Peploe, which was adapted ...

'', and the role of the Tibetan Buddhist Lama Norbu in ''

Little Buddha ''Little Buddha'' is a 1993 drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, written by Rudy Wurlitzer and Mark Peploe, and produced by usual Bertolucci collaborator Jeremy Thomas. An international co-production of Italy, France, and the United Kingdom ...

''. He also worked as a theater translator, director, and actor for the Beijing People's Art Theatre, particularly for his role as Pockmark Liu in Lao She's ''Teahouse'' and as Willy Loman in ''Death of a Salesman'' in 1983, directed by Arthur Miller (Ying also translated the script).

Biography

Ying was born in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

into a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...

family. He studied in a church school in

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 popu ...

in his early years, and later graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

. He was forced into the provinces to perform manual labor during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. Ying is the author of a memoir, co-authored by Claire Conceison, "Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage During China's Revolution and Reform" (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009). Ying died on December 27, 2003, at the age of 74.

Personal life

His wife, Wu Shiliang (1928-1987), was a translator, and his son,

Ying Da Ying Da (; born July 7, 1960) is a Chinese actor and director, best known in film for portraying Louie Wang in ''Big Shot's Funeral'' (2001), Ni Zhengyu in '' The Tokyo Trial'' (2006) and Jin Shenghuo in '' The Message'' (2009), and has received c ...

, is also a noted actor. His grandson

Ying Rudi Ying Rudi (; born August 16, 1998) is a Chinese professional ice hockey player currently with HC Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Born in China, Ying first played hockey in Beijing, moving to the United States at age 9 to ...

is a noted ice hockey player.

Ancestry

His father Ying Qianli (; 1900–1969) was a professor at National Taiwan University and Fu Jen Catholic University. His mother Cai Baozhen () was president of Beijing Children's Library. His grandfather

Ying Lianzhi Ying Lianzhi (; November 23, 1867 – January 10, 1926), also known as Ying Hua (), was a Manchu Bannerman, a prominent Catholic layman who agitated for church reform, founder of the prominent newspaper ''Ta Kung Pao'', and instrumental in foundi ...

(英敛之; 1867–1926) was the founder of ''

Takungpao ''Ta Kung Pao'' (; formerly ''L'Impartial'') is the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is state-owned, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government after the Chinese Civil War ...

'' and

Fu Jen Catholic University Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU, FJCU or Fu Jen; or ) is a private Catholic university in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1925 in Beijing at the request of Pope Pius XI and re-established in Taiwan in 1961 a ...

. His grandmother Aisin Gioro Shuzhong () was a member of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

royal family and therefore related to

Puyi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...

the last Emperor of China. His maternal grandfather Cai Rukai (蔡儒楷; 1867–1923) was president of National Beiyang University.

Autobiography

* *

Filmography

References

External links

* *Patricia Mirrlees (2004-01-12)
"Obituary: Ying Ruocheng - Chinese actor and politician"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''. People's Republic of China politicians from Beijing 1929 births 2003 deaths Male actors from Beijing Tsinghua University alumni Chinese male stage actors Victims of the Cultural Revolution Manchu male actors Chinese male film actors Chinese male television actors {{China-actor-stub