Ru Xingli

Also known as Stage name Xiao Waibianr

Ru Xingli, stage name Xiao Waibianr, came from Jining, Shandong, and herded cattle as a poor child. At sixteen he began studying Shandong qinshu with the blind singer Lü Xingcan, and long partnerships with He Jincheng and Zhang Jianting refined his art. In 1941 he joined Yin Tianchang and He Jincheng in founding the Yin-He-Ru lineage and took pupils. He was admired for all-round technique, clear diction and rapid off-beat singing in plain country speech, earning the nickname Zhuanghu Lun, and broke with seated tradition by singing on his feet while playing a soft-bow jinghu. His pieces include Daoxiu, Kongguan Ji and San Shang Shou, and the Ru school he founded is the leading style of southern-branch Shandong qinshu. He died in 1960.