Quick Answer: Who Was Yan Fengying?
Yan Fengying (严凤英, Yán Fèngyīng, 1930–1968) was a performer of Huangmei opera (黄梅戏, Huángméixì) whose films introduced many viewers to the Anhui stage tradition. Her film roles include a fairy and a woman who takes a male scholar’s place.[1][2][3][4]
- Career: Yan developed her repertory in Anhui and performed with the provincial troupe.[1][2]
- Voice: Listen to how a character addresses a partner or an official.[3][4]
- First viewing: Two films preserve her work in roles with very different situations.[3][4][5]
Compare the two films to hear what changes when a character moves from a private exchange to public speech.
One role lets Yan sing directly to a partner. The other puts a woman in a disguise she has to maintain when she answers people at court.
From Local Stages to the Anhui Troupe
Yan learned the form in the Anqing area and became known through short works such as Gathering Pigweed (打猪草, Dǎ Zhūcǎo). When the Anhui provincial troupe formed in Hefei in 1953, Yan and Wang Shaofang were among its leading performers.[1][2]
Two Film Roles to Compare
In the 1955 film The Heavenly Match (天仙配, Tiānxiān Pèi), Yan plays the Seventh Fairy and Wang plays Dong Yong. The story follows a fairy who comes down to earth and joins her life with a mortal’s. Listen to how one voice takes over from the other in a shared passage.[2][3][5]
In The Female Prince Consort (女驸马, Nǚ Fùmǎ), Yan plays Feng Suzhen (冯素珍, Féng Sùzhēn). The character disguises herself as a man, sits an examination under another name and is chosen as a prince consort. Anqing archival reporting dates Yan’s revised stage production and the filming to 1959.[4][5]
What to Listen For in a Scene
The national heritage entry identifies folk-like tunes used in short works and a separate group of melodies used in full-length plays. Listen to the end of a phrase in a duet and in a solo. In the duet, the first singer’s ending can leave space for the partner to pick up the thought. In the disguise story, the conventions of Chinese opera roles help distinguish the performer’s part from the identity assumed inside the plot.[3][4][6]
FAQs About Yan Fengying
Which role does Yan play in The Heavenly Match?
She plays the Seventh Fairy. The film pairs her with Wang Shaofang as Dong Yong.[2][3]
What should I look for in The Female Prince Consort credits?
Look for Yan credited as Feng Suzhen and Pan Jingli as the princess. Those are the cast credits in CCTV’s listing of the Huangmei opera film.[4]
Источники
[1] CCTV. Yan Fengying
[2] CCTV. The Anhui Huangmei Opera Theatre at Fifty
[3] CCTV. Yan Fengying in The Heavenly Match
[4] CCTV. The Female Prince Consort Film
[5] Anqing Municipal Archives and Anqing Evening News. Huangmei Opera in the Archives
[6] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Huangmei Opera