Niu Xiangling on Ying Ruocheng

Arts writer Niu tells us about her favourite Beijinger, a brilliant and multilingual actor

Niu Xiangling is a columnist for the People’s Daily Overseas edition who writes mainly on the arts and on the history of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre. She is the daughter of the actor Niu Xingli and the actress Jin Yaqin.

Both of my parents are actors from Beijing People’s Art Theatre (BPAT) and I was lucky enough to meet many interesting people through growing up in the BPAT apartments. My favourite Beijinger is Ying Ruocheng who was known as Ying Daxuewen - Profound Learning Ying. He got this name because he is not only because he is incredibly well read in so many fields but also because he mastered four languages. Even for BPAT, which is ranked as one of the highest Chinese art institutions, Ying was regarded as the ultimate.

I remember once there was a famous American comedian that came to the theatre to give art lectures and nearly every member of staff from BPAT came to the Capital Theatre to hear him talk, but instead of making people laugh people began getting up to leave. Uncle Ying stepped onto the stage to replace the awkward interpreter and in just a few minutes the audience relaxed and started laughing.

Without a deep cultural understanding it’s hard to translate slang and jokes. Uncle Ying was one of the few whose level of language and cultural awareness meant he was able to pull it off. Not only that, Ying could speak in American British, Australian and other English accents and use the slang of these countries too.

He translated over 20 plays in the last 50 years and published a collection of famous Chinese plays. They included Laoshe’s Tea House into English and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure as well as other works by Bernard Shaw and Arthur Miller into Chinese. In the introduction to this book he wrote: ‘Stage performances have their special requirements, audiences want to hear vivid, intelligent language, which witty repartee. You can find these factors everywhere in master’s piece like Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde. As translator, we are responsible to show their excellent language to our readers.’

Uncle Ying lived a very Western lifestyle, he liked reading English books, wore a suit, drank black coffee and imported wines and enjoyed Western food. He also loved drinking and smoking and seemed to have a limitless ability to drink. Even when he was in hospital he never stopped drinking and smoking. He was stubborn like a child causing his relatives to worry about him.

But Ying was of great strength of mind and had lived through a lot. During the Cultural Revolution posters with him name on covered the walls of BPAT, people criticized him and scolded him in the rehearsal room, but during that period even the Red Guards admired his knowledge. It was said he could repeat the entire works of Mao Zedong and when someone quoted a passage, he was able to tell which paragraph, page and volume it was from. However that was not enough to save him. He was sent to prison, along with his wife Wu Shiliang, leaving his children Ying Xiaole and Yingda home alone.

When he was finally released he did manage to get over those miserable times and whilst his colleagues never heard one complaint from him, the damage it did to his children still made him cry. The death of his wife in 1989 was a cruel blow to him which he struggled to cope with. He drank too much and his physical condition deteriorated but he never turned down work.

In his later life, Ying was unwell but he still accepted a role in a TV show by the actor Wen Xingyu in which he played an old Chinese man returning from overseas. Very ill, he took on the role and as soon as the director shouted action, Ying played the role of his life – his performance and dedication the art, moved people to tears.

The bare facts
1929 Born on June 21st in Beijing to Manchu parents
1945 Entered Qinghua University Foreign Language Department
1950 Enrolled in the Beijing People’s Art Theatre performing plays including Death of a Salesman and Tea House
1983 Appointed Vice Minister of Culture
2003 dies on December 27th aged 74 from respiratory failure