Chi Xiaoqiu

Biography

Chi Xiaoqiu is one of China's most prominent Beijing opera artists. Born in October 1965 in Fushun, Liaoning, her original name was Chi Shuxin. She began her artistic journey in 1977 when she entered the opera school in Fushun, and after graduating in 1981, she moved to Shanghai to study the Cheng school of opera under master Wang Yinqiu, a direct disciple of Cheng Yanqiu, the founder of the Cheng school. In 1983, her master adopted her and gave her the name Chi Xiaoqiu. In 1984, at just 19 years old, she won the Plum Blossom Award, China's highest drama honor, for her performance of the opera "The Unicorn Purse." In 2005, she joined the Beijing Opera House in Beijing and became the leading figure of the Cheng school in Beijing opera. Special performances titled "Cheng Yanqiu Commemoration - Chi Xiaoqiu" were held to mark the 110th anniversary of Cheng Yanqiu's birth. She received numerous awards including the Best Performance Award at the First Liaoning Art Festival in 1989, Best Performance Award at the National Young Beijing Opera Troupes Festival in 1992, First Place in the Meilanfang Gold Award nominations in 1993, the Wenhua Award from China's Ministry of Culture in 1997, and the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the United States in 2011.