Chang Shutian

Also known as Born Chang Hai · Courtesy name Yupei

Chang Shutian, born Chang Hai into a Manchu family of bajiaogu performers in Beijing, learned drum-song, sanxian and danxian suite-singing from his uncles and turned professional after 1910, long sharing the stage with Liu Baoquan and others. In 1926 he became the only direct pupil of the danxian master De Shoushan and, on Quan Yueru's advice, gave up singing seated to his own accompaniment for standing performance with stage movement. Famous for singing high over a low-pitched string, bold, clear and crisp in diction, he founded the Chang school, which stood with those of Rong Jianchen and Xie Ruizhi as the three schools of danxian, and performed mainly in Beijing and Tianjin. His pieces include Tiaolian Caiyi, Yanzhi and Xu Huangliang; his pupils included Wang Jianyun and Zhang Jianping. He died in 1945.