A Peking Opera LP Record at the Princeton University Library

1 Introduction

In September 2017, the Shanghai Peking Opera Company (SPOC) artists Shi Yihong and Shang Changrong performed in the United States, including a performance of “Farewell My Concubine” (Shi, 2017) at Princeton University. When Shi Yihong visited the university’s East Asian Library, I showed her a Peking Opera LP record, Ruse of the Empty City (空城计), collected by the University’s music library. In the summer of 2018 and 2019, Princeton students went to Shanghai to learn Peking Opera, taught by actors from Shanghai Peking Opera Company and the Shanghai Hongyimei Peking Opera Company (SHPOC).^[1]

At the end of 2020, I began learning an excerpt from Ruse of the Empty City. Somehow I had the impression that the Princeton LP record was performed by Ma Lianliang. During the pandemic, it was inconvenient to listen to records in the library, so I just learned through YouTube. I sent my singing video with a brief introduction of the Princeton LP record to my brother (Cao, n.d.), he sent me an online article regarding the same LP record as Princeton, which mentioned the performer was Yang Baosen (Pingshasheng, 2019). When I saw it, I was shoked by my mistake. A library cataloger should not provide a description (i.e. Ma Lianliang) without evidence from the item. In order to find the correct answer, I began to search for the record and related information.

2 Ruse of the Empty City LP Record at the Princeton University Library

Ruse of the Empty City LP record held at the Princeton University Music Library is rare in China, but not uncommon in the West. There are at least 90 holdings of 1960 edition or its reproductions in the OCLC system. This is a 12-inch diameter playing non-breakable micro groove at 33⅓ revolutions per minute (rpm). There are no Chinese characters, only English and pinyin names. The information includes: Ruse of the Empty City, a traditional Peking Opera recorded in China. The record has two jackets, a hard and soft case, with 8 pages of unnumbered English plot introduction and script, translated by C.K. Huang and Soo Yong Huang. Folkways Records number FW 8882. Copyright 1960 by Folkways Records and Service Corp., USA, 117 West 46th Street, New York City, cover design by Ronald Clyne (1925–2006).

Folkways Records and Service Corp. (also Folkways Records) was founded in 1948 by Moses Asch (1905–1986), who was born in Poland and moved to New York when he was young (Smithsonian Legacy Honorees, n.d.). His father, Sholem Asch, was an acquaintance of Albert Einstein. Moses met Einstein at his father’s house and talked about recording work. He was inspired to document the world’s sounds (Olmsted, 2003).

Moses produced over 2100 Folkways recordings—an average of one per week for 38 years. In 1987, Folkways Recordings was acquired by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, on the condition that every record, regardless of sales, remain “in print” forever. The aim was “to strengthen people’s engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others” (Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, n.d.).

According to Guo Mingmu, Folkways Records had published at least 12 Chinese records since 1950, including ancient music, folk music, poetry recitation, and Zhao Yuanren’s “Introduction to Mandarin Chinese” (Guo, n.d.).

3 The Actor of Zhuge Liang

No actors are listed on the disc label, outer jacket, nor English text. I checked the OCLC system, and none of the bibliographical records provided information on who played Zhuge Liang in Ruse of the Empty City in 1960. I checked the attached English lyrics and found:

“First, Ma Su lacks knowledge and ability. Second, the discord of the commanders caused the lost of Chieh T’ing (Jieting)”. When I saw “First” and “Second,” I could rule out that Ma Lianliang sang it, because I have noticed that Ma Lianliang’s lyrics were more reasonable: “It is not Ma Su lacks knowledge and ability, it is because the generals are not in harmony that they lost of Jieting.”

Excluding Ma Lianliang as the actor does not mean that it is Yang Baosen. My brother suggested me to record 20 seconds for him to listen to and he immediately identified it was Yang Baosen. By listening to the 1960 version from OCLC and the other version of Yang Baosen’s Ruse of the Empty City from the Internet, I was sure that the actor of Zhuge Liang in Princeton LP record is Yang Baosen.

In the late 1930s, together with Ma Lianliang, Tan Fuying, and Xi Xiaobo, Yang Baosen was one of the “Si Da Xu Sheng” (Four Great Male Roles). Yang Baosen was the head of the Tianjin Peking Opera Troupe. His performances, including Ruse of the Empty City, reached “high peaks” no one has ever surpassed. Yang’s style became popular after his passing and Yang fans spread all over in China (Liu, 2016, p. 77).

4 Original Edition

The 1960 Folkways LP record, Ruse of the Empty City, has no performance time, no original producer, and no original production year—all need to be searched and identified. Pingshasheng’s article mentioned the recording year as 1953. Yang Baosen died in 1958. I limited the date search to 1953–1958, excluding live events, and searched studio recordings only.

The website of the National Centre for the Performing Arts listed Yang Baosen “Recording Ruse of the Empty City · Ma Su’s Execution in China Record” in 1953 (Website chncpa, 2019). The Shanghai Library emailed me Ruse of the Empty City disc label of the 1954 edition by the People Record.

Both disc labels have the same cast list: “Actors Yang Baosen, Jin Shaochen, Shi Longmao, Wu Shiheng; accompanied by the Baohua Peking Opera Troupe.” The band numbers are also the same, such as: Band 12, 4-0145B (53666-1). People Record had changed its company name to China Record since January 1955 and its disc label had changed accordingly (China Record, 1955, p. 2). The band numbers on both disc labels are consistent with 4-0140 to 4-0145 in “Zhongguo chang pian xi qu xuan” (Selections of Chinese opera records). “4” means opera, “0145” means the 145th number of the opera category. The number “(53666-1)” means the number 1 disc of 666th record produced in 1953 (Huangyangjushi, n.d.).

The table of contents in Selections of Chinese opera records listed Ruse of the Empty City and Ma Su’s Execution together with consecutive numbers. The People Record produced Ma Su’s Execution (4-0138 to 4-0139) first, then Ruse of the Empty City (4-0140 to 4-0145) later. The National Centre for the Performing Arts listed Yang Baosen as recording Ruse of the Empty City and Ma Su’s Execution in 1953. The 1960 Folkways record Ruse of the Empty City also includes Ma Su’s Execution in band 5–8 side B, which is consistent with People’s Records/China Records in content.

Based on the above, it can be inferred that the original recording year, original publisher and year for Princeton holding LP record are:

The original recording year was 1953, and the People Record produced it in 1954 under the numbers “4-0138” to “4-0145”. After the People Record changed its name to China Record in 1955, the same recording was reproduced under the new name China Record. The 1960 editon of Folkways, whether the original is from the People Record 1954 or the China Record 1955, is from the same 1953 original recording.

5 Actors and Accompaniments

The 1960 edition lists the cast in English, not the actors but the characters in the opera, including: Zhuge Liang, Ma Su, Wang Ping, Sima Yi, Zhao Yun, Attendants, Scouts, Executioners, Young and old soldiers.

For Ruse of the Empty City, People Record and China Record listed the same actors: Yang Baosen, Jin Shaochen, Shi Longmao, Wu Shiheng. For Ma Su’s Execution, although the disc numbers are the same, the original record is the same, the actors listed on the disc labels are not same. People Record includs Guo Shien, China Record includes Ha Baoshan. Two Chinese Records Catalog includes Ha Baoshan (China Record, 1955, p. 30; China Record Society, 1960, p. 7). According to Nan Hao, editor of The Complete Recordings of Yang Baosen and Yang Baozhong, he interviewed experts who are familiar with Ha Baoshan. By listening to the record, they clearly identified the actor as Ha Baoshan, not Guo Shien.

Regarding the accompaniment, the original disc labels of the People Record and the China Record only wrote “Baohua Peking Opera Troupe Band Accompaniment,” without specifying the accompanist. The 1978 reproduced disc has “Drummer: Hang Zihe; Qin player: Huang Jinlu.” Shanghai TV program “Jue ban shang xi = Enjoy Rare Opera record” listed Yang Baozhong as Qin player (Shanghai TV, n.d.). Which of them is Qin Player, Huang or Yang?

I found information that Huang Jinlu played Qin for Yang Baozhong in 1953, but did not specifically mention Ruse of the Empty City. Yang Baozhong was the chief Qin player in the Baohua Peking Opera Troupe, but when he joined the army in the winter of 1953, he got injured in an accident on the way to the Northwest China with performers in the army (Liu & Wang, 2020). I prefer to describe Huang Jinlu as the Qin player.

The People Record and the China Record are located in Shanghai and the related TV program is also in Shanghai. My colleague Chen Minjie helped me seek more information from Shanghai. Zhuang Leibo from the Shanghai Library soon emailed the picture of the reproduction from People Record Ruse of the Empty City. According to the Shanghai Library description, [1954] is written in square brackets, and the number on the disc label is the same as that of China Record. This can help confirm that the reprints and Shanghai TV Program use 1954, which is actually a 1953 recording produced by the People Record in 1954.

Chen Minjie also took screenshots of the advertisement of The Complete Recordings of Yang Baosen and Yang Baozhong, which included cast list of Ruse of the Empty City and Ma Su’s Execution. This list surprised me and helped greatly with the cast list I am working on. For the Qin players, the list does not choose between Yang Baozhong and Huang Jinlu and treats it as remaining issue. Editor Nan Hao emailed later saying, if they knew that the 1978 reproduction clearly listed Huang Jinlu, the The Complete Recordings of Yang Baosen and Yang Baozhong would also list Huang Jinlu as Qin player.

So, the actors and accompaniments of the 1960 version can list as the following:

Yang Baosen as Zhuge Liang, Liu Yanting as Ma Su, Jin Shaochen as Sima Yi, Ha Baoshan as Wang Ping, Wu Shiheng as Attendant A and Shu Scout, Shi Longmao as Attendant B and Wei Scout, Liu Shengtong as Zhao Yun, accompanied by the Baohua Peking Opera troupe band, drummer Hang Zihe, Qin player Huang Jinlu.

6 English Translators and Linked Person

On the back of the outer jacket of the 1960 edition, it states: “Comlete English text translated by C. K. Huang and Soo Yong Huang”. C. K. Huang is abbreviated and it is not easy to find. I started to search Soo Yong Huang.

Soo Yong (1903–1984), Chinese name Yang Xiu（杨秀）,^[2] was born in Hawaii and her ancestral home was Zhongshan County, Guangdong. Her father was a friend and frequent host to Sun Yat-sen in Hawaii. She earned a master degree in education from Columbia University in 1927 (Wikipedia, n.d.).

In Mei Lanfang’s performing tour in the United States in 1930, Yang Xiu served as translator and the masters of ceremony (Wu, 2013). Her smile and charming explaination of every number made the performance “easy to follow and enjoy (“Mei Lanfang Gives a New Program,” 1930).” The resoundingly successful visit lasted 72 days. Princeton actively engaged in Mei Lanfang’s visit.

In 1930, Princeton awarded John Leighton Stuart (司徒雷登) an honorary doctorate. Stuart was the first president of Yenching University and later the U.S. ambassador to China. He strongly promoted and sponsored Mei Lanfang’s visit and recommended Mei to the President of Princeton University, Hiben. Princeton wanted to invite Mei Lanfang to come to the university, but he was too busy.

John Van A MacMurray (马穆瑞/马克谟) was listed among Mei Lanfang’s New York performance sponsors. MacMurray was a Princeton alumnus and US Minister to China. A few days before leaving Peking, MacMurray and Mr. Mei had a special dinner to discussed the visit, MacMurray committed to do his best for Mei’s visit (Qi, 1985, pp. 1, 87, 111–112, 48, 14). Princeton University Library has a Mei Lanfang autographed photo to MacMurray in 1926.

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson lead the sponsorship committee for Mei Lanfang’s visit (“Sponsors of Mei Lan-Fang: Mrs. Woodrow Wilson Heads Committee for Chinese Actor,” 1930). She was wife of Woodrow Wilson, the 13th president of Princeton University and the 28th President of the United States.

Mei Lanfang was invited by the China Institute in America, which initiators inclued Hu Shi (Li, 2007, p. 143). Hu Shi selected plays and wrote introductions for Mei Lanfang’s visit (Su, 2017, p. 138). Hu Shi was the president of my alma mater Peking University, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, and the curator of the East Asian Library at Princeton University.

Mei Lanfang’s Qin player in the US tour was Xu Lanyuan, whose granddaughter is Xu Peiling. In 1997, my daughter participated in CCTV program Little enthusiast on Peking Opera (京剧小票友) with her cousin. Teacher Xu Peiling was the one who put makeup on my daughter. This can be regarded as an example of how the art of Peking Opera attracts generations of ordinary audiences.

Yang Xiu toured with Mei Lanfang for six months. She explained the plot, gave interviews, got in touch with celebrities, and showed her talents. As a Hollywood, Broadway and TV actor, Yang Xiu raised funds for the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression showing an international Chinese woman at her best (Gao, 2010, p. 399).

In 1941, Yang Xiu married Huang Chungu (黄春谷 C.K. Huang, 1895–1980).^[3] Huang Chungu was a fan of Peking Opera. He was classmates with Premier Zhou Enlai at Nankai Middle School (Gao, 2020).

In 1979, Huang Chungu visited his alma mater, Nankai Middle School. Yang Xiu and Huang Chungu visited the Mei family, “Yang Xiu presented a photo of her and my father [Mei Lanfang] in the United States as a souvenir for our family. They bowed three times to the portraits of our parents very reverently, and it had been their wish for many years to go to China to see Mr. Mei. She held Baojiu’s [son of Mei Lanfang] hand tightly and said, ‘You come to the United States to perform, and I will be the announcer and explain the plot for you (Mei, 1984, pp. 66–76)!’”

Huang Chungu died in 1980, and Yang Xiu died in 1984. They set up a scholarship at the University of Hawaii (UH) with $550,000 to study Chinese culture and hoped that the scholarship recipients would have time to teach in China (Gao, 2010, pp. 398–399). Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak (魏丽莎) was a professor at UH. She was a student of Mei Lanfang’s disciple Shen Xiaomei (沈小梅), and became the first non-Chinese to perform Peking Opera in China.

7 Epilogue

Based on my findings, I have created a new full level library bibliographical record for Princeton’s 1960 Ruse of the Empty City.^[4] The record brings up issues for further consideration: Required original specifications for reproduction; Audio record edition idendification; Establishing Peking Opera related subject/name headings in Library of Congress authority file; Best ways to connect users with accurate information. These are omitted from this paper due to article word limitation.

In exploring this LP record, I got tremendous help from experts such as Wang Yang, Joshua Seufert, Wang Chengzhi, Cao Shuyuan, Zhu Tiefang, Chen Minjie, Zhuang Leibo, Zhang Guifang, Nan Hao, Gao Yunxiang, Sara Hagenbuch, Daniel Shurman, Ni Dongyun, Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak etc. I would like to express my sincere thanks to them. Thanks to Princeton University, Columbia University, University of North Carolina, University of Pittsburgh, Hong Kong Baptist University, Beijing Zhenben Technology, Shanghai Library, National Centre for the Performing Arts, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Musicslug, World of Books, Metro Record, Zweischeiben, AcademyLPs, etc. for their timely and thoughtful help.

During the Covid-19 epidemic, the Internet has played a special role in finding information. This article has benefited mainly from the following websites: Baidu, Duxiu, HowNet, Confucius Books, 8899 Auction, eBay, Discogs, OCLC, Google, Wiki, YouTube.

Nan Hao of the National Centre for the Performing Arts has reserched Yang Baosen for 20 years. If I had read his The Complete Recordings of Yang Baosen and Yang Baozhong and contacted him earlier, I could avoid many detours. Nan Hao donated a set of the “Complete Recordings” to Princeton to interconnect 1953, 1960 and 2018 editions.

I collected a few records of Folkways Ruse of the Empty City and bought a LP player for them. On eBay and Discogs websites, sellers who claimed to have the 1960 editon are located in the United States, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany. The Folkways customer brochure was included in the record from Germany. Only one record I received was the original 1960 edition, the others were reissued in the 1960s. I distinguished them by different Folkways addresses on the front page of the text. The 1968 edition has “Library of Congress card No” printed on the back of the outer cover. The record is still being published today, following Moses’ always “in print” mission for the people.

I learned that the previous owner of the LP after purchasing was the chief of an Indian tribe who collected the world records. Director Zhang Yimou explained the record player in the closing ceremony of the 2022 Paralympic Games, “It is a symbol for human beings to preserve memory and connect with common humanity.” The stories behind the Princeton Folkways record interprets Moses’ “world music” vision encouraged by Einstein. Thanks to the Society for Cultural Interaction in East Asia for offering the opportunity to tell the stories.

The Princeton LP record linked persons including Einstein, Sun Yat-sen, Zhou Enlai, Woodrow Wilson; Chinese and American ambassadors John Leighton Stuart, Hu Shi and John Van MacMurray. Artist like Yang Baosen, Baohua Peking Opera Troupe Band, Mei Lanfang, Shi Yihong, Shang Changrong perform art to people. Translators like Yang Xiu and Huang Chungu build language bridges for understanding. Libraries, record collectors and distributors provide sercive for people to use. Professor Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, Shen Xiaomei, Xu Peiling help nurture and influence young generations. Everyone in the world is a direct or indirect participant in human being art process. The Princeton LP record is an example showing that art has universal appeal to transcend barriers.