Zhou Xinfang

Zhou Xinfang (14 January 1895 – 8 March 1975), also known by his stage name (meaning "Qilin Boy") was a Chinese actor and musician who was a Peking opera actor who specialized in its "old male" (, laosheng) roles. He is considered one of the greatest grand masters of Peking Opera of the 20th century and the best known and leading member of the Shanghai school of Peking opera. He was the first director of the Shanghai Peking Opera Company. Over 650 Peking Operas performed by Zhou have been identified by the Zhou Xinfang Arts Research Centre in China by 2015, topping all actors in recorded Chinese performing arts history in terms of known number of repertoire titles. One of his operas, Hai Rui Submits His Memorial, was regarded as an attack on Chairman Mao Zedong, for which he was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. Early life Zhou, a native of Cixi, Ningbo, Zhejiang, was born on January 14, 1895, in Qingjiangpu, Jiangsu into a family with a tradition of opera performances. He started learning Peking Opera when he was six, and made his debut in a child role in Hangzhou at the age of seven, thus acquiring the stage name "Qi Ling Tong" or "Age-Seven Boy". When he was twelve, this stage name was changed to "Qilin (Unicorn) Boy" as "age-seven" and qilin sound similar in Chinese. Career