Guan Xuezeng

Also known as Born Guan Shiqing

Guan Xuezeng, born Guan Shiqing to a Manchu family in Beijing in 1922, learned the single-dulcimer drum-song as a teenager and also studied Laoting drum-song. From the 1940s he sang it in Beijing speech and, with his dulcimer player Wu Changbao, reworked the form, drawing on danxian suites and Laoting tunes; in 1951 they named it Beijing qinshu. He sang over a thousand pieces in his career; his staples included Bian Da Luhua, Yang Bajie You Chun and Changshou Cun, and in 1996 he wrote and sang a qinshu interlude for Zhang Yimou's film Keep Cool. He received the lifetime achievement award of the Peony Awards for quyi and died in Beijing on 27 September 2006.