Shan Tianfang

Shan Tianfang was born on December 17, 1934, to a merchant family in Xishi District, Yingkou, Manchukuo. He was introduced to folk arts by his family and began learning pingshu, a traditional Chinese storytelling art form, when he was 19. He became an apprentice of Li Qinghai, a famous pingshu master, and later joined the Anshan Quyi Tuan, where he learned from other renowned performers. He went on stage at 24 and performed both classical and modern stories. He was known for his vivid and energetic narration, his use of sound effects and his ability to improvise. He was also proficient in various dialects and languages, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Japanese. During the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted for his art and was detained for two years. He resumed his career after the end of the turmoil and became a popular radio voice in the 1980s. He also appeared on television and published books and audio recordings of his works. He performed not only in China, but also in many other countries, such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Australia. He was widely regarded as one of the best pingshu performers of his generation and a cultural icon of China. He was also a member of the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage inheritors, a member of Chinese Ballad Singers Association and a member of China Society for Literature Popular Research. He died of illness on September 11, 2018, at the age of 83, in Beijing.