Ouyang Yuqian

Ouyang Yuqian (Chinese: 欧阳予倩; 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 the modern Chinese spoken drama, together with Tian Han and Hong Shen.^[1] He was also one of the top Peking opera performers, regarded as a southern counterpart of Mei Lanfang.

Ouyang Yuqian was the founding president of the

Ouyang Yuqian's name at birth was Ouyang Liyuan (欧阳立袁), and his hao was Nanjie (南杰). He also used the stage names and pen names including Lanrong (兰容), Liansheng (莲笙), and Taohua Buyi'an Zhu (桃花不疑庵主).^[2]

Early life and education

Ouyang Yuqian born on 12 May 1889 into a wealthy and highly educated family in Liuyang, Hunan Province. His father was Ouyang Ligeng (Chinese: 欧阳力耕), and mother Liu Yixia (Chinese: 刘倚霞). His grandfather Ouyang Zhonghu (Chinese: 欧阳中鹄) was a scholar who served as governor of Guilin Prefecture during the Qing dynasty.^[2][3]

When he was 15, Ouyang went to study in Japan.^[4] He graduated from Seijo School (成城学校) in Tokyo, and then studied business at Meiji University and literature at Waseda University.^[3] In 1906, Ouyang and other Chinese students in Japan co-founded the Spring Willow Society (春柳社, Chunliu She), which marked the beginning of modern Chinese theatre.^[5]

Career

Early career — Peking opera and drama

He returned to China in 1911 and founded the New Play Comrade Society (新剧同志会) with his Spring Willow colleague Lu Jingruo (陆镜若). They later established the Spring Willow Theatre in Shanghai, but it went out of business when Lu died in 1915.^[2]

In 1914, Ouyang Yuqian began to write and act in

Although a famous Peking opera performer, Ouyang was also active in promoting the "New Play" (spoken drama). He joined several New Play societies in the 1910s and co-founded several pioneering drama troupes, including the Masses Theatre Society, the Drama Cooperative Society (戏剧协社), and the Southern Drama Society.[5] During this period, he collaborated with like-minded dramatists and directors Hong Shen, Ying Yunwei, Zhang Shichuan, Zheng Zhengqiu, and Zhou Jianyun.^[2][6] In 1922, he wrote the play After Returning Home (回家以后), considered one of the earliest satirical comedies in China.^[1] In his 1928 play Pan Jinlian, he depicted Pan Jinlian, the archetypal femme fatale of classical Chinese culture, as a free-spirited woman victimized by a male-dominated traditional society.^[7] He played the title role himself.^[2]

1920s and 1930s — film and drama

After Zhang, Zheng, and Zhou started the

After returning to Shanghai in 1934, Ouyang Yuqian joined Xinhua Film Company and wrote his first sound film New Peach Blossom Fan (新桃花扇).^[2] In 1935, he joined Mingxing, by then one of the largest Chinese film studios, and helped the studio secure a crucial bank loan using his own family resources.^[6] He made three films with Mingxing: Qingming Festival (清明时节), Xiao Lingzi (小玲子), and Red Haitang (海棠红).^[2]

Japanese invasion and Civil War

Ouyang Yuqian joined

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ouyang Yuqian spent most of his time in Guilin, Guangxi in southwest China, which was largely free from Japanese occupation. He studied Guilin opera and established a school for the art. He established Guangxi Provincial Art Museum in 1940, and an art theatre 1944. In 1944, he and Tian Han organized the First Southwest Opera Expo in Guilin, which lasted three months and attracted almost a thousand performers.^[2]

After the

In March 1949, he was invited by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to attend the first Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was elected director of the Chinese National Opera Improvement Committee and a Standing Committee member of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.^[2]

Ouyang Yuqian became the founding president of

In his later years, he published several memoirs and books on film and drama theory, and a book on Tang dynasty dances. On 21 September 1962, Ouyang Yuqian died of an illness in Beijing.^[2]

Personal life

Ouyang Yuqian married Liu Yunqiu (Chinese: 刘韵秋), also known as Liu Wenqiu (Chinese: 刘问秋), in 1906.^[2] They had a daughter, Ouyang Jingru (Chinese: 欧阳敬如; 13 September 1928–2013) and an adopted son Ouyang Shanzun (Chinese: 欧阳山尊; 24 May 1914–2 July 2009), who was also a dramatist.

See also

• Ouyang Yuqian Grand Theater, in Liuyang, Hunan

References

Bibliography

• Chen, Xiaomei (1 April 2014). The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Drama. Columbia University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-231-16502-0
  .
• Cody, Gabrielle H. (2007). The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama. Columbia University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-231-14424-7
  .
• Huang, Xuelei (12 August 2014). Shanghai Filmmaking: Crossing Borders, Connecting to the Globe, 1922-1938. BRILL.
  ISBN 978-90-04-27934-6
  .
• Yeh, Wen-Hsin (2000). Becoming Chinese: Passages to Modernity and Beyond. University of California Press.
  ISBN 978-0-520-22218-2
  .