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 in the 1982 miniseries ''

Marco Polo Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, 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 a ...

''. He is best known for playing the part of the governor of the detention camp in the Bernardo Bertolucci's film '' The Last Emperor'', and the role of the Tibetan Buddhist Lama Norbu in '' Little Buddha''. 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, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

into a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

family. He studied in a church school in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

in his early years, and later graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of Tsinghua University. 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 Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. Ying's autobiography, co-authored by Claire Conceison, "Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage During China's Revolution and

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

" was published posthumously (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, is also a noted actor. His grandson Ying Rudi 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 (英敛之; 1867–1926) was the founder of '' Takungpao'' and

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

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

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

royal family and therefore related to Puyi 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ying, Ruocheng 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 Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China