张元贞 (1946年)

简介

Zhang Yuanzhen was born in 1946 in Beiping as Li Zupei, the third daughter of renowned Peking opera performer Li Shifang, a disciple of Mei Lanfang. After her father died in a plane crash in 1947, she was raised by her grandparents, then placed with their disciple Li Bilan, who moved with the Nationalist military to Taiwan in 1949. At age ten, she was sold to Zhang Qichao, leader of the Great China Acrobatic Troupe, who adopted her and trained her in acrobatics. In 1959, the troupe joined the Army's entertainment music troupe, performing at military camps where she mastered pole balancing, foot techniques, double bicycles, and springboard jumping. In 1965, the troupe toured Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Ryukyus with the Oriental Grand Circus. In 1967, she became leader of the Magnolia Acrobatic Troupe, an all-female ensemble. From 1983 onward, she taught at the National Academy of Traditional Arts Experimental School, which later became the National Taiwan Academy of Chinese Opera and Music.