Cheng Changgeng (22 November 1811 – 24 January 1880) was a

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Hui opera Anhui Opera, also known as Huiju ��剧 is a traditional Chinese opera form that originated in Anhui Province during the Ming Dynasty. It is a crucial part of Huizhou culture and significantly contributed to the development of Peking Opera.Tian, Y ...

and

Peking opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime, martial arts, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became ...

artist based in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, who specialized in ''

laosheng The is a role type in Chinese opera for dignified and respectable male characters such as Confucian scholars, nobles, or heads of households. They may be portrayed by actors of either sex. Subtypes The has numerous subtypes. The two major sub ...

'' roles, or old gentlemen. Sometimes called the "Father of Peking Opera", he was the leader of the Three Celebrations Company () as well as the leader of the actor's guild in Beijing. He was from

Qianshan, Anhui Qianshan() is a county-level city in the southwest of Anhui Province, China; it is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Anqing. It has a population of 570,000 and an area of . The government of Qianshan County is located in Meich ...

. His disciple

Tan Xinpei Tan Xinpei (23 April 1847 – 10 May 1917) was a Chinese Peking opera artist who specialized in ''sheng'' roles. A disciple of Cheng Changgeng, Tan Xinpei was undoubtedly the most important Peking opera performer of his generation. Some of his ...

was also a famous Peking opera performer.

In popular culture

Actor

Ji Qilin Ji Qilin (born 27 May 1947) is a Chinese actor. Biography Ji Qilin was born in 1947 to two deployed soldiers on their way south during the Chinese Civil War. Because of the war, he grew up in his grandmother's house in Liaocheng, Shandong until ...

starred as Cheng Changgeng in the 1994 TV series ''Big Boss Cheng Changgeng'' (). ''

Kunqu Kunqu (), also known as Kunju (), K'un-ch'ü, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from a music style local to Kunshan, part of the Wu (region), Wu cultural area, and later came to dominate ...

'' master Cong Zhaohuan () portrayed Cheng Changgeng in the 1996 TV series ''The Incredible Injustice to an Opera Actor'' (). Peking opera performer Li Haotian () played Cheng Changgeng in the 2002 comedy TV series ''The Best Clown Under Heaven'' ().

References

* * Chinese male Peking opera actors Male actors from Anhui Singers from Anhui People from Qianshan, Anhui 19th-century Chinese male actors 19th-century Chinese male singers 1811 births 1880 deaths {{China-actor-stub