Luo Pinchao


Luo Pinchao was a Cantonese opera stage actor who started to perform in 1930. He was eventually recognized as the world's oldest opera singer by the Guinness World Records.
Pinchao died in Guangzhou on July 15, 2010, at age 98.

Career

Returned to mainland China upon the birth of PRC, bringing along fellow convinced performers. Joined Communist Party and eventually became intellectual property of the State. Front and center on stage only when first returned to perform in Hong Kong with peer performers in the late 1970s. Shared stage and spotlight with PRC troupes of up-and-coming performers all over the world after those few performances.
By 1988, planned succession for offices was already in full force. Through communal spirit among the Pinchao generation, the Cultural Revolution and various other events, gone in this arena was life tenure. Collusion among the elders found in some other mainland Chinese Opera genre still, Hong Kong and all over the world generally in Cantonese opera, The Dog in the Manger, didn't survive in PRC.
True to his motto "life-long learning approach" Pinchao continued the journey in the US, learning a new language - English as a Second Language. Gave lessons in Chinatown while living in New York, USA since 1988 for citizenship. Bookends of his time spent teaching in State training school are:-
Lost count how many he groomed over decades of teaching when performed with six generations of students at one point. Performance on stage had been few and far between.
Very late in life, took under his wing a young student, grand-kid of an old friend. This is his only known opera or professional offspring. Also, he looked over the shoulders of his former students who held offices, gave lessons and took-up various responsibilities he left behind during his yearly returns to mainland while his speech always remained clear and diction was still good all along.

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