Actors of Kunqu opera are critical in the history of Kunqu opera. Personalities and styles shown by Kunqu opera performing artists on the stages were mostly inherited and imitated from their masters. In the development of Kunqu opera, the performing artists with different talents were constantly cultivated. Since there are numerous actors, we introduce the representative ones below.

﹝.Chen-Fei Yu│.Shih-Chang Han│.Chuan-Ying Chou│.Ji-Qing Zhang﹞

■Chen-Fei Yu(1902一1993)

The performing artist of Beijing opera and Kunqu opera, born in Songjiang, Jiangsu and the family of Kunqu opera. Chen-Fei Yu was inborn with remarkable voice. When singing, he emphasized “words, sound, breath and section” and created the technique upon melody and charm and “Yu” style. Chen-Fei Yu played the role as young man, particularly the gentleman. Yu was called “elegant young man”.

 

■Shih-Chang Han(1897∼1977)

Actor of Kunqu opera and born in Gaoyang County, Hebei Province. Han was good at the role of young females. Han first learned the role of martial arts and later turned to starring female role, secondary young female role and minor female role. In 1917, Han founded Rong Ching troupe in Beijing and followed Mei Wu and Tzu-Ching Chao as the masters to improve tuning, singing and performance. In 1928, Han performed in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka of Japan and watched Japanese classical opera. His performing range was wide and he was good at showing the characters’ inner feelings by gestures, eyesight and facial expression.

■Chuan-Ying Chou（1912－1988）

Actor of Kunqu opera, young male role and born in Suzhou, Jiangsu. Chou learned the technique at the age of 4. He followed Yueh　-Chuan　Shen to learn the young male role at the age of 9 in Suzhou Kunqu opera school. After the study, Chou was one of the leading actors in Xin Yue Fu and Xian Ni She Kunqu opera troupes and the teacher of Kunqu opera.
Vocal music of Chuan-Ying Chou was powerful and the performance was vivid. Chou was good at interpreting the characters, particularly male role. Since Chou’s skills were remarkable, there was the saying “master San Zi (pleat, peacock feather and fan) of was Chuan-Ying Chou”. Chou has been well-known in the circle of Kunqu opera.

■Ji-Qing Zhang(1938~)

Actress of Kunqu opera, born in Shanghai. Zhang was remarkable in young female role. Zhang learned from renowned Kunqu opera actors such as Chen-Fei Yu and Chuan-Chih Shen, acquired the vocal techniques of Mei School and Cheng School of Beijing opera and received western stage art training which were the base for her following performance of Kunqu opera. Her acting was profound, her voice was appealing and her dance was superb.

 

Reference:
Chinese Encyclopedia Onlinehttp://www.zwbk.org/MyLemmaShow.aspx?zh=zh-tw&lid=105690
Encyclopedia of Famous Quotes and Quoteshttp://www.trytohear.com/content/id/39037
Kunqu Opera Celebrity Listhttps://www.chiculture.net/0520/html/c01/0520c29.html

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Writer's Lifehttps://showwe.tw/books/choice.aspx?c=463
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