Performers › Dramatists and Directors
Cheng Zhaocai
Lianhualuo performer from Luannan who turned a street ballad form into the Ping opera of Tangshan and wrote Yang Sanjie Goes to Court
In a workshop, one person sits with their back turned at a long table, pointing a thin rod at a model stage with painted scenery; scripts bound in cord and a brush pot lie in the foreground, a ring of white dots marks the floor, and two drums and hanging cloths stand at the right.
Also known as Zi Jiesan · Donglaishun (stage name)
Cheng Zhaocai, courtesy name Jiesan and stage name Donglaishun, came from a poor family in Luannan, Hebei, and earned his living singing lianhualuo ballads. Late in the Qing he and fellow performers formed the Qingchun troupe, which from about 1909 played at the Yongsheng teahouse in Tangshan. Borrowing the band and banhu fiddle of Hebei bangzi, they replaced third-person narration with actors playing roles in the first person, creating the form first called Tangshan laozi and later Ping opera. Around 1915 he helped found the Jingshi troupe. Among the many plays he wrote or adapted are Yang Sanjie Goes to Court, based on a real 1918 case in Luan county, and The Matchmaker Flower, drawn from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
Life and times
Dates 1874 CE–1929 CE