Performers › Dramatists and Directors
Chen Xianzhang
Yu opera writer and director from Zhengzhou, Henan, husband of Chang Xiangyu, who co-adapted the Yu opera Hua Mulan with Wang Jingzhong.
In a workshop, one person sits with their back turned at a long table, pointing a thin rod at a model stage with painted scenery; scripts bound in cord and a brush pot lie in the foreground, a ring of white dots marks the floor, and two drums and hanging cloths stand at the right.
Chen Xianzhang was born in Zhengzhou, Henan, on 16 September 1917 and as a young man attended the Henan Provincial Luoyang Normal School, where he began acting on stage. Husband of the Yu opera star Chang Xiangyu, he founded the Xiangyu drama school and the Xiangyu troupe with her and took part in writing or staging almost every classic of her Chang school. With Wang Jingzhong he adapted the Peking opera Mulan Joins the Army into the Yu opera Hua Mulan, starring Chang Xiangyu; it won a script award at the first national opera festival and was filmed by the Changchun Film Studio in 1956. His other adaptations include Kao Hong, Da Ji Zhuang and Po Hongzhou. He died in July 2000.
Life and times
Dates 1917–2000