Zhao Yanxia

Zhao Yanxia was born in 1928 in Shenjiatai town, within the Chinese city of Linghai.^[1][2][3]

Under the direction of her father, Zhao Xiaolou, who was a famous actor, Zhao Yanxia began learning Beijing opera at age 8.^[4] Her grandfather and eight of her aunts were also Peking opera performers.^[1] She began training for her own opera career at age 7 or 8, in 1935, and began performing in lead roles around age 16.^[1][2][5][3]

In the 1950s, Zhao was targeted with criticism of her allegedly "erotic" performances.^[6][7] Then, alongside other actors, she was not allowed to perform from 1966 to 1977 due to China's Cultural Revolution.^[1] During that period, she spent five years working on a reform farm, planting wheat.^[1][8]

However, by the 1980s, she was back onstage and had become "China's leading female opera star," according to The New York Times.^[1] She performed in China and abroad with the first troupe of the National Peking Opera Company.^[1][8] In 1980, she led a three-month tour to 10 cities in the United States from late August to early November alongside director Zhang Menggeng.^[4]

In the early 1980s, Zhao took a pioneering role in reforming China's theatrical management system. In March 1981, she established a restructured opera troupe of 71 members from the original 170-member First Troupe of the Beijing Opera Theatre of Beijing. This new system, sometimes called a "production responsibility system," moved away from the fixed salary model where performers were paid regardless of how often they performed. Her reformed troupe gave 340 performances across China in a 16-month period, far more than was typical under the previous system.^[4] As an actress, she portrayed a wide variety of roles, some of which she originated.^[2][9][10]

Zhao retired from the stage in 1996.^[2] She died in Beijing on March 19, 2025, at the age of 97.^[2][3]