Zhang Miaoling (later Chang Xiangyu), who's father was a popular Yuju Opera actor in their hometown who left the stage due to a throat complication, was born to a poor farming family in Henan Province's Gongxian County in September 1923.When Zhang was nine years old she was spared from becoming a child-bride, which would have secured her own family a life with her future husband's relatives. Having seen so many child brides living miserable lives, Zhang's father encouraged his daughter to learn opera instead. Zhang changed her name to Chang Xiangyu when she began learning Yuju Opera since opera performers had a very low social status in feudal China.
Chang first learned Yuju Opera from her father and achieved fame at 12 years of age in her role as a lively maid in the Romance of the West Chamber ("Xixiang Ji").
"I liked to watch Yuju Opera when I was very young, but I had to learn to be an actress because of poverty," Chang said in an interview two years ago. "My family was so poor that sometimes we had nothing to eat for one or two days when I was young. And I started to follow my mother to beg in the streets when I was six."
To gain stage experience, Chang's father insisted she perform various roles from a young age, which contributed significantly to her later innovations. According to Chang, learning opera was a path "full of tears." Beatings were seen as the simplest and fastest way to teach opera techniques.
"Although my father loved me dearly, he was very strict with me because it was the only way he knew how to help me master more skills. I understood him and I tried hard," she recalls.
When Chang was 19 years old she met her future husband, Chen Xianzhang, who also made great contributions to Chang's artistic achievements. Chen had written a number of scripts for Chang, among which the most famous one is Hua Mulan. With Chen's help, Chang enriched Yuju Opera and expanded its appeal by adapting performance skills and vocal techniques from other local Chinese operas. Chang also created a Yuju school of her own. In 1948, she established the Xiangyu Opera Troupe in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and worked very hard on training young opera students.
People remember and adore Chang not only for her superb Yuju Opera performances but also for her devotion to the art and her great contributions to China.
In 1951, when China entered the Korean War, Chang donated a fighter plane to the Chinese volunteers on behalf of her drama troupe. She raised funds by performing Hua Mulan all over the country in more than 180 performances; after two years, Chang had fulfilled her promise.
Over the past decades, every time a disaster struck the country, Chang would always donate money and lend a helping hand. She had always regarded the people's concerns as her own.
Chang's outstanding achievements both in art and daily life are highly praised by both the nation and her fans. She was also elected as a deputy of the National People's Congress from the 1st to the 7th sessions, except the 4th.
Chang passed away June 1, leaving two of her wishes unfulfilled. One was for her school to be kept alive by her children, which, unfortunately, was not the case; and the other was to have time to look after her family. "I gave all my life to my career and I owe too much to my husband and children," Chang often said in her last days.
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