Li Runjie

Also known as Born Li Yukui

Li Runjie, born Li Yukui in Wuqing, Zhili, in 1917, learned pingju opera as a boy, worked in Tianjin and for a time lived on the streets. Taking the clapper-chant shulaibao as his base and drawing on Shandong kuaishu, Xihe drum-song, pingshu storytelling and xiangsheng, he created kuaibanshu, a narrative clapper-talk form, and from 1953 performed it full time with the Tianjin broadcasting quyi troupe, writing much of his own material. His Li school stands with the Wang and Gao schools as the three styles of the form. His pieces include Jie Xingche and Yinshen Cao, and performers such as Liang Houmin came to learn from him. Illness ended his stage career in 1984, and he died in Tianjin in October 1990.