Performers › Dramatists and Directors
Tang Disheng
Cantonese opera playwright, born Tang Kangnian, who wrote more than four hundred scripts, among them The Flower Princess, The Purple Hairpin and Reincarnation of the Red Plum
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 Born Tang Kangnian
Tang Disheng, born Tang Kangnian to a family from Xiangshan in Guangdong, was born in 1917. After studying in Shanghai he joined the company of Xue Juexian in 1937 through his cousin Tang Xueqing, Xue's wife, and the next year wrote his first script, Jiangcheng jieyu hua. Between 1938 and 1959 he wrote more than four hundred Cantonese opera scripts. From 1956 he was resident playwright of the Sin Fung Ming troupe led by Ren Jianhui and Bai Xuexian, writing for them The Peony Pavilion, Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom, The Flower Princess, The Purple Hairpin and Reincarnation of the Red Plum. On 14 September 1959 he collapsed at the Lee Theatre in Hong Kong during the premiere of Reincarnation of the Red Plum and died the following day.
Life and times
Dates 1917 CE–1959 CE