Luo Yusheng

Also known as Stage name Xiao Caiwu

Luo Yusheng, stage name Xiao Caiwu, was born in Shanghai in 1914 to a family from Tianjin and as an infant was sold to the performer Luo Caiwu, who raised her. At nine she studied laosheng roles of Peking opera with Su Huanting; at seventeen she switched to Jingyun drum-song, and in 1934 she became a pupil of Han Yonglu in the Liu Baoquan style. She made her name on the Beijing and Tianjin stages in 1936 and, building on the Liu school with elements from Bai Yunpeng and Bai Fengming, created the ornate, lyrical Luo school, earning the title Golden-Voiced Queen of Song. Her best-known pieces include Jian'ge Wen Ling, Yu Boya Shuai Qin and Hongmei Ge, and in 1985 she sang Chongzheng Heshan Dai Housheng, the theme song of the television series Four Generations Under One Roof. She died in Tianjin on 5 May 2002.