Performers › Stage Performers
Hong Xiannu
Cantonese opera dan performer, born Kuang Jianlian, whose 'Hong style' of singing became the Hong school; known for Zhaojun Leaves the Frontier, Searching the Study and Guan Hanqing
Backstage of a theatre troupe, an open trunk spills embroidered red and blue robes, one worked with a phoenix, beneath a jewelled headdress with long plumes; a mirror stand, a stool and a row of painted drums stand beside it, with a red curtain hanging at the right.
Also known as Born Kuang Jianlian · Early stage name Xiao Yanhong
- Roles
- Stage Performers
Hong Xiannu, born Kuang Jianlian to a family from Kaiping, was born in the Xiguan quarter of Guangzhou in 1924. She trained under her aunt He Fulian and first performed as Xiao Yanhong, taking the name Hong Xiannu in 1940 from the Tang tale of the swordswoman Hongxian; for years she shared the stage with Ma Shizeng. In Hong Kong in the early 1950s she developed the 'Hong style' of singing, which drew on Peking opera and Kunqu diction and Western vocal technique and became known as the Hong school. She returned to Guangzhou in 1955, performing Searching the Study, Guan Hanqing and Zhaojun Leaves the Frontier, and starred in film versions of Searching the Study and Guan Hanqing. She died in Guangzhou in December 2013.
Life and times
Dates 1924 CE–2013 CE