Yang Lanchun

Yang Lanchun was born in Wu'an, Hebei, in 1920 and as a boy joined a troupe singing Wu'an luozi. In 1952–53 he studied in the opera department of the Central Academy of Drama and, with Tian Chuan, Hu Sha and others, adapted the opera Xiao Erhei's Marriage. He then spent his career writing and directing Yu opera in Henan; his 1958 Zhaoyang Gou became a classic of the genre, and he also created Li Shuangshuang and Tang Zhixian Shen Gaoming, while Zhaoyang Gou Neizhuan won a national script award in 1984. He died in Zhengzhou in June 2009, his ashes scattered at Dengfeng and Wu'an.