Former nurse becomes top Peking Opera performer

Wang Yige, left, discusses performing skills with Elyse Ribbons, an American graduate student of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts in Beijing, capital of China, April 11, 2012.

Wang Yige is a Peking Opera performer who specializes in acting Qingyi, a female role representing young or middle-aged woman with gentle and refined dispositions in Peking Opera. Wang inherits the arias developed by Zhang Junqiu (1920-1997), a top Peking Opera performer.

Wang, born in 1976 in Yantai of east China’s Shandong Province, began studying at Yantai nursing school in 1992. She came across an opportunity to be admitted to the Peking Opera department of Yantai school of art in 1994, when she was already 18.

Assiduous learning and training in the following five years made the former nurse into an outstanding Peking Opera performer. In 2002, she came out first in the exam to the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, to further her opera studies. In the academy, Wang had many chances to perform on the stage and she made a name for herself. She then joined the Mei Lanfang Opera Troupe of the Beijing Peking Opera Theater after her graduation.

In April 2011, two performances with Wang as leading role were staged in the Mei Lanfang Theater in Beijing, a recognition for her efforts and achievements. In August 2012, her first personal opera album won the 8th China Golden Record Award. <Xinhua/Zhang Ruiqi>

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