Hao Yingji

Hao Yingji was born into a farming family in Gaoyang, Hebei, in 1887. In 1897 he became a pupil of the Xihe dagu singer Ma Xiaofeng and, after Ma's death, of Wang Dianbang. From about 1914 he performed in Tianjin's Nanshi district, admired for a ringing voice and clear diction, and expanded mid-length pieces into long-form epics such as Qianhou Qiguo, Donghan, Sui Tang, Yangjia Jiang, Hujia Jiang and Peng Gong An. He moved his family to Dalian and Shenyang in 1934 and returned to Tianjin in 1948. The Hao school of Tianjin Xihe dagu, known for long, tightly paced storytelling, is named after him, and most of his children became performers.