Xiaomei CHEN (University of California-Davis)

Examining half a century of his personal history in ten-years-steps, this lecture begins to trace the year 1911 when Ouyang returned from Japan to embark on his professional career; the year 1921, at the end of his experiments with establishing Nantong Acting School, where he combined Western arts with traditional xiqu in training new actors; the year 1931, when he concluded his leadership of Guangdong Drama Institute, where he built a theater, educated actors, scripted plays, and published theater journals; the year 1941, when his influential history drama The Loyal King of Li Xiucheng was performed to resounding success during the war period, and the year 1951, when he led and participated in the Rectification Campaign in the art circles.