Ying Ruocheng

Ying Ruocheng ( Chinese  英若诚 , Pinyin Yīng Ruòchéng ; born December 27, 1929 in Beijing , People's Republic of China ; † December 27, 2003 ibid) was a Chinese translator, film and theater actor and politician . His grandson Rudi Ying is a professional ice hockey player.

biography

Ying was born into an influential Chinese family. His grandfather, Vincentius Ying, was the founder of the daily Ta Kung Pao in 1902 and one of the numerous universities in Beijing in 1924. Ying's father was an English professor and taught in Beijing.

Ying grew up in a palace in Manchuria , and grew up with both Chinese and Western values. When China's war against Japan broke out in 1937 , the Ying family had to flee. His father was interned twice and had to raise a lot of money to buy himself out. Ying was thrown from both middle school and a missionary school in Tianjin during his youth ; acting was his only passion.

From 1946 to 1950, Ying studied Western Literature at Tsinghua University , where he was a member of a theater company. Here he also made the acquaintance of Wu Shiliang, whom he married in 1949.

In 1949 he saw his father for the last time, who was flown to Taiwan on a last plane because of the Taiwan conflict . Letters remained in contact until 1952, when they broke off. Ying later learned that his father had died in 1969.

In 1950, Ying and his wife joined the Beijing People's Theater , which was soon to become the most famous in China. In 1958, Ying premiered Lao She's play Teahouse , which would become his best-known play. In 1964, Ying made his actor debut in front of the camera. In Baiqiuen dai fu (English: Dr. Bethune ) he embodied the secretary of the Canadian doctor Norman Bethune . However, the film was censored by Jiang Qing ; therefore the premiere did not take place until 1977.

In 1968, the Ying couple were arrested. The two known victims of the Cultural Revolution had to spend three years in prison. Even their two children fell victim to the reprisals. Her daughter, Ying Xiaole, was sent to a forced labor camp in Inner Mongolia ; her son, Ying Da, then only eight years old, was left to his own devices and had to go begging.

It was not until 1976, after the end of the revolution, that the Ying's life began to normalize. With his piece Teahouse , which it premiered in 1978, he even began a world tour that took him to West Germany , France and Switzerland and most recently to Great Britain and the USA . The piece, although played in Chinese , was a tremendous success.

Ying, who spoke fluent English , began to translate Shakespeare plays into Chinese and made them known in his homeland. He also began to direct plays, for example at the University of Missouri in Kansas City , where he was a visiting professor in 1982.

In 1982, after 18-year break, he stood in Marco Polo a four-part miniseries as Kublai Khan again before the camera. He should help Ying to international fame. In 1987 he took part in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor .

In 1986, Ying was unexpectedly appointed vice minister of culture and held this position until 1990. Among other things, he decreed that politics could criticize, but never censor plays. During that time, in 1988, his wife died.

He was in front of the camera for the last time in 1993, as Norbu Lama in Little Buddha . What should be emphasized is the fact that as a Chinese he embodied a Tibetan and was himself praised by the Dalai Lama for his performance.

Ying, who had been living in seclusion for the past few years, died of liver failure on his 74th birthday.

Translations

English – Chinese

• Arthur Miller : Tuīxiāoyuán zhī sǐ推销员 之 死 (Death of a salesman and other plays).
• Alexej Surow : Mòsīkē shǔguāng 莫斯科曙光 (Down over Moscow / Рассвет над Москвой), 1951.
• William Shakespeare : 《请 君 入 瓮》 (Measure for Measure).
• George Bernard Shaw : 《芭巴拉 少校》 (Major Barbara).
• Peter Shaffer : 《上帝 的 宠儿》 (Amadeus).
• KS Stanislawski : Àosèluó dǎoyǎn jìhuà《奥瑟罗 导演 计划》 (Stanislavski Produces Othello).
• Herman Wouk : Huábiàn《哗变》 (The Caine Mutiny).

Chinese – English

• Ba Jin : The Family (Jiā 《家》).
• Jǐn Yún锦云: Uncle Doggie's Nirvana (Gǒu'éryé nièpán 《狗儿 爷 涅槃》).
• Lao She : Teahouse (Cháguǎn 《茶馆》).

Collective edition

• Yīng Ruòchéng míngjù yì cóng英若诚 名 剧 译丛. Zhōngguó duìwài fānyì chūbǎn gōngsī 中国 对外 翻译 出版 公司, Beijing 1999.

literature

• Ying Ruocheng, Claire Conceison: Voices Carry. Behind Bars and Backstage during China's Revolution and Reform . Rowman & Littlefield 2009, ISBN 978-0-7425-5555-6 / ISBN 978-0-7425-5554-9 .
• Yáo Jiāyú 姚家 余: Yīng Ruòchéng zhuàn《英若诚 传》. Chūnfēng wényì chūbǎnshè 春风 文艺 出版社, Shenyang 2008.
• Kē Wénhuī 柯文辉: Yīng Ruòchéng《英若诚》. Běijīng shíyuè wényì chūbǎnshè 北京 十月 文艺 出版社 1992.

Web links

• Ying ruocheng in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Patricia Mirrlees: Obituary: Ying Ruocheng, Chinese actor and politician The Guardian , Jan. 12, 2004

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ying ruocheng - Munzinger biography . Retrieved December 7, 2019