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Su Kunsheng
Late Ming–early Qing master of Kunqu singing from Gushi in Henan, renowned alongside storyteller Liu Jingting and portrayed in The Peach Blossom Fan.
On a flat rock above a waterfall, a seven-string zither and a bamboo flute lie on a spread of blue-green cloth; beyond, a waterfall pours into a churning teal pool among misty peaks, with pine branches arching at the top left.
Also known as Born Zhou Rusong
- Roles
- Musicians
Su Kunsheng, born Zhou Rusong, came from Gushi in Henan and settled in Nanjing in the late Ming, where his Kunqu singing was rated the finest of the southern style. He joined the entourage of the general Zuo Liangyu and was paired in fame with the storyteller Liu Jingting; Wu Weiye's 'Ballad of the Two Men of Chu' celebrates both. Kong Shangren's The Peach Blossom Fan makes him Li Xiangjun's singing teacher, and in its closing scene 'Lingering Echoes' he returns to Nanjing as a fisherman and sings the suite 'Lament for the South'.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the late Ming and early Qing