Guo Lanying, Voice of My Motherland, Dies at 97
AM730 · 2 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago1 MIN
Summary
Chinese opera and vocal artist Guo Lanying died in Guangzhou on Tuesday at the age of 97 after an illness, according to an obituary issued by the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater. She was widely known as the original singer of the patriotic classic My Motherland and as a defining figure in the development of Chinese national opera.
Key Points
- The China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater said Guo died at 5:14pm in Guangzhou on August 11, aged 97.
- Born in Shanxi, Guo entered an opera troupe at age four and had already stood out on the Jin opera stage by 13.
- She moved into revolutionary performance work in the late 1940s and became famous for playing Xi'er in The White-Haired Girl.
- Her singing of My Motherland for the 1956 film Battle on Shangganling made the song a lasting national classic
- After leaving the stage in 1982, she co-founded an arts school in Guangdong in 1986 and later donated copyrights of her performances to the state.
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong audiences, Guo's death revives memories of a repertoire that has long circulated across the city through concerts, broadcasts and visiting performances, including My Motherland at a 2004 Hong Kong gala. It also closes the career of an artist whose influence extended beyond performance into arts training in Guangdong, a region closely linked to Hong Kong's cultural exchange.