Lei Ziwen

Lineage & School of Heritage

He studied successively under the renowned performing artists Li Shenghao, Hou Yushan and Shao Chuanyong.

Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire

Male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1943 in Jiahe County, Hunan Province. A National Class One actor. In 1957 he was admitted to the Jiahe Kunqu actors' training class and was later transferred to the Chenzhou Prefecture Xiangkun Opera Troupe, now the Hunan Kunqu Opera Troupe, where he worked until his retirement. He works in the jing (painted-face) role. His performance is vigorous and rather close to everyday life, his characterizations are vivid, and he has absorbed performing features of local opera. He became known at home and abroad for his appearance in Hu Nang Dan · Zui Da Shan Men (The Tiger-Skin Bullet: Drunk, Beating the Mountain Gate); his representative works include Lian Huan Ji (The Chain of Stratagems), Bao Gong Qian Lü (Lord Bao Leads the Donkey), Zui Da Shan Men (Drunk, Beating the Mountain Gate), Zhong Kui Jia Mei (Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister), Yu Jia Le (The Fisherman's Joy) and Feng Xiu Cai Duan An (The Mad Scholar Judges a Case). He has repeatedly taken part in exchange performances in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere on behalf of the Hunan Kunqu Opera Troupe, to high acclaim.

Honors & Recognition

National representative bearer of Kunqu Opera, a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 2002 he was conferred the title of “Artist with Outstanding Achievements in Long-Term Dedication to the Art of Kunqu Opera” by UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China.

References & Archival Sources

1. Lei Ziwen · National Representative Bearer Archive

Representative Items of This Bearer

• Kun Qu Opera Ⅳ-1
• Kun Qu Opera Ⅳ-1
• Kun Qu Opera Ⅳ-1
• Kun Qu Opera Ⅳ-1
• Kun Qu Opera Ⅳ-1
• Kun Qu Opera Ⅳ-1

Profile

Representative item

Kun Qu Opera

Item code

Ⅳ-1

Category

Traditional Opera

Region

Hunan

Born

1943.07

Batch

Batch 3 (2009)