Guo Lanying

Guo Lanying was born in Pingyao, Shanxi, on 31 December 1929 (1930 in some sources). She began learning Shanxi bangzi opera at eight and toured Shanxi with opera troupes as a girl. Moving to the new national opera, she sang leading roles in The White-Haired Girl, Little Erhei's Marriage, The Injustice to Dou E, Spring Thunder and Red Clouds, bringing traditional-opera technique into operatic singing, and recorded songs such as Nanniwan, Shanxi Is a Fine Place, Embroidering a Golden Plaque and the film song My Motherland. After leaving the stage in 1982 she taught singing, and in 1987 she founded the Guo Lanying Art School in Panyu, Guangdong. She died of illness in Guangzhou on 11 August 2026.