Ye Shenglan

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Ye Shenglan (1914-1978) was a well-known Peking Opera artist.

His forebears came from Taihu Lake, a large lake by Wuxi City, to sell tea in Beijing, and subsequently settled there. His father Ye Chunshan, an outstanding teacher of opera, opened the country's largest and longest-running Peking Opera school – Fu-Lian-Cheng – where Ye Shenglan was trained from 1923. First cast in female roles, he was soon retrained to play young males, known as "Xiaosheng" – a category in which he became famous.

After graduation he became a disciple of Cheng Jixian for further training in 1930.

Ye Shenglan


In 1931, invited by Ma Lianliang, he co-performed Meeting of Heroes and Eight Big Hammers with Ma, where he produced his greatest performances.

Ye Shanglan possessed all the necessary attributes – good looks, medium height, a powerful, finely-timbered voice, and most importantly, a natural understanding of the art. He was well versed in singing, recitation, acting and acrobatics. He was a master of the art of uniform motion and gesture. Today, the style that he once championed, characterized by powerful vocals, has been canonized as the Ye School.

His masterpieces included Meeting of Heroes, Borrowing Zhao Yun, Eight Big Hammers, General Luo Cheng, White Gate Tower, The Peach Blossom Fan, The Battle of Red Cliff, Peony Pavilion, Butterfly Lovers, and the Romance of West Chamber etc.