Li Xianbao
Lineage & School of Heritage
He entered the county troupe at fourteen to begin learning opera, studying under such artists as Zhao Yuanzhi and Jin Jianwen, and specializing in the chou (clown) roles.
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
His diction is humorous and his movements comic; building on traditional performance, he constantly absorbed the art of related genres and formed a distinctive style of his own. His portrayal of Lou Ashu in Fifteen Strings of Cash (Shi Wu Guan), in particular, with a facial mask designed specifically for the role and an acting style in which outward form and inner spirit are united, created a furtive, thievish villain that has become a classic of the stage. His representative works include The Civet Cat Exchanged for the Crown Prince (Li Mao Huan Tai Zi), The White-Haired Girl (Bai Mao Nü) and Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (Zhi Qu Wei Hu Shan).
Honors & Recognition
Born in February 1937 and deceased in April 2020, he was a man of Han ethnicity from Licheng County, Shanxi Province. He was a representative bearer of Shangdang Laozi, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In recent years he helped the troupe rehearse and vet its productions, passed on his experience to his many disciples, and took on the demanding task of bringing opera into schools, planting the roots of Shangdang Laozi art deep in children's hearts through precept and example.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
- Shangdanglaozi Ⅳ-98
- Shangdanglaozi Ⅳ-98
Profile
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。