Early career — Peking opera and drama in a Peking opera He returned to China in 1911 and founded the New Play Comrade Society () with his Spring Willow colleague Lu Jingruo (). They later established the Spring Willow Theatre in
Shanghai, but it went out of business when Lu died in 1915. In 1914, Ouyang Yuqian began to write and act in
Peking operas. From 1914 to 1928, he wrote 18 operas, and directed and performed in 29. He also adapted more than 50 traditional stories into Peking opera, including many from the classic novel
Dream of the Red Chamber. His acting was so highly acclaimed that he was considered the southern counterpart of the master
Mei Lanfang. In 1918, he was invited by
Zhang Jian to establish an actors' school and the Gengsu Theatre () in
Nantong,
Jiangsu. Although a famous Peking opera performer, Ouyang was also active in promoting the "New Play" (spoken drama). He joined several New Play societies in the 1910s and co-founded several pioneering drama troupes, including the Masses Theatre Society, the Drama Cooperative Society (), and the Southern Drama Society. During this period, he collaborated with like-minded dramatists and directors
Hong Shen,
Ying Yunwei,
Zhang Shichuan,
Zheng Zhengqiu, and
Zhou Jianyun. In 1922, he wrote the play
After Returning Home (), considered one of the earliest satirical comedies in China. In his 1928 play
Pan Jinlian, he depicted
Pan Jinlian, the archetypal
femme fatale of classical Chinese culture, as a free-spirited woman victimized by a male-dominated traditional society. He played the title role himself.
1920s and 1930s — film and drama After Zhang, Zheng, and Zhou started the
Mingxing Film Company in 1922, they invited Ouyang Yuqian to join their studio, but Ouyang declined because, according to himself, he was earning a "substantial salary" as a Peking opera performer. He did help out on several occasions, but at the same time wrote three films for the rival
China Sun Motion Picture Company from 1926 to 1928. He acted in two of the three films,
Why Not Her? () and
A Wandering Songstress (), and directed the third,
Three Years Later (). In 1929, Ouyang Yuqian was invited by
Chen Mingshu, chairman of
Guangdong Province, to establish the Guangdong Drama Research Institute in
Guangzhou. His political view turned increasingly left-wing, especially after the
1932 Japanese attack of Shanghai. He joined the Left-Wing Dramatist League in Guangzhou and participated in the first drama festival in the
Soviet Union. In 1933, he joined Chen Mingshu's
Fujian Rebellion, and was forced to escape to Japan after its failure. After returning to Shanghai in 1934, Ouyang Yuqian joined
Xinhua Film Company and wrote his first
sound film New Peach Blossom Fan (). In 1935, he joined Mingxing, by then one of the largest Chinese film studios, and helped the studio secure a crucial bank loan using his own family resources. He made three films with Mingxing:
Qingming Festival (),
Xiao Lingzi (), and
Red Haitang ().
Japanese invasion and Civil War Ouyang Yuqian joined
Lianhua Film Company in 1937. While he was shooting the film
So Busy (), the
Empire of Japan launched a full-scale
invasion of Shanghai, which destroyed most of the city's film studios. After Japan occupied the Chinese sections of Shanghai, Ouyang made several anti-Japanese plays in the
Shanghai International Settlement, before fleeing to
British Hong Kong, where he wrote the screenplay for the patriotic film
Mulan Joins the Army. During the
Second Sino-Japanese War, Ouyang Yuqian spent most of his time in
Guilin,
Guangxi in southwest China, which was largely free from Japanese occupation. He studied
Guilin opera and established a school for the art. He established Guangxi Provincial Art Museum in 1940, and an art theatre 1944. In 1944, he and
Tian Han organized the First Southwest Opera Expo in Guilin, which lasted three months and attracted almost a thousand performers. After the
surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, he returned to
Shanghai in 1946 and served as the playwright-director of New China Drama Society (). He also taught at Shanghai Experimental School of Drama. In January 1947, he led a delegation to perform in
Taiwan, but had to leave when the
February 28 Incident broken out. Because of the
Chinese Civil War, Ouyang left again for Hong Kong, and worked as the screenwriter-director of Yonghua Film Company.
People's Republic of China in 1956 In March 1949, he was invited by the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to attend the first
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was elected director of the Chinese National Opera Improvement Committee and a Standing Committee member of the
China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Ouyang Yuqian became the founding president of
Central Academy of Drama in April 1950. He joined the
Chinese Communist Party in 1955. He also served as vice chairman of the
China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, vice chairman of the
Chinese Dramatists Association, and chairman of the
Chinese Dancers Association. He was a member of the first National Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the first and second
National People's Congress. In his later years, he published several memoirs and books on film and drama theory, and a book on
Tang dynasty dances. On 21 September 1962, Ouyang Yuqian died of an illness in
Beijing. ==Personal life==