Writers › Writer / Poet

Ding Yi

Playwright from Jinan who co-wrote, with He Jingzhi, the libretto of the opera The White-Haired Girl, often called the first modern Chinese national opera.

Also known as Born Gu Kang

Ding Yi, born Gu Kang in Jinan, Shandong, in 1921, was a playwright. In 1944–45 the Lu Xun Academy of Arts in Yan'an built a new opera on the folk legend of the 'white-haired immortal'; He Jingzhi and Ding Yi wrote the libretto and Ma Ke, Zhang Lu, Qu Wei and others the music, and The White-Haired Girl opened in Yan'an in 1945. Blending northern folk song with traditional opera melody, it is often called the first national opera, and was later adapted as a film and a ballet. Ding Yi served on the councils of the writers' and dramatists' associations and died in 1998.

Life and times

  1. 1921 CEBornRepublican EraModern Era
  2. 1998 CEDied

Works

  1. Stage · Plays1
    1. The White-Haired GirlApril 1945 (first performed in Yan'an)Libretto by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi, music by Ma Ke and others, first staged in Yan'an in 1945