Eve-Ming Chao

Eve-Ming Chao (simplified Chinese: 赵玉明; traditional Chinese: 趙玉明; pinyin: Zhào Yù Míng), (March 2, 1929 – July 20, 2020) was an artist of the Chinese traditional storytelling called Dan Xian (單弦牌子曲 含岔曲) of Tan-style. She dedicated herself to the artistry during the Republic of China (ROC) and later in the People's Republic of China (PRC). 
==Bipgraphy==
Eve-Ming Chao was born in 1929 to an artist family as the oldest of five children in the south of Beijing. She learned the traditional art of storytelling as a child from her father. Since 1937, she began to perform on the streets to alleviate the economic burden on her family. 
She briefly studied the Fengdiao (奉调大鼓) and Laoting (乐亭大鼓) art of storytelling with Wei Baohua in 1941, but never performed in public after 1949. She formally became an apprentice to Wang Wenyu in 1942, and started the career as a full-fledged performer. 
In 1952, she passed the examination of the broadcasting team of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army's Broadcasting Station. Afterward she joined the music department of the Central People's Broadcasting Station and sang the New Plum Tune (新梅花調), the Xi He storytelling (西河大鼓), and the Dan Xian (單弦), etc. In 1956, she became student of Tan Fengyuan and specialized in the Tan School of the Dan Xian. In the late 1950s, she studied Suzhou pingtan (苏州評彈) with Ma Zenghui, and learned the pipa (琵琶) from Yang Zhenyan and Zhou Yunrui. She sang in Mandarin, which not only responded to the policy of popularization and pioneered the innovation of Chinese folk art, but also made an important contribution to the exchange of art between the north and the south. During the Cultural Revolution, she sentenced at the May 7 Cadre School. She was sent to the Tianjin Opera Troupe in 1972, where she stayed until her retirement in 1987. During her time in the troupe, she tutored Liu Xiumei and Cui Weili, who are now middle-generation opera singers. 
In 2002, she was appointed as a visiting professor at the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts. 
In 2003, she was awarded the “Lifetime Contribution Award for the Cause of Chinese storytelling art” by the Tianjin Opera Association and 天津曲艺促进会. 
2008, the 《单弦艺术家石慧儒、赵玉明演唱集》 was awarded the Sixth China Golden Record Award. . 
In July 2017, she was awarded the title of “Beijing Intangible Cultural Heritage Monochord Inheritor” . 
In 2018, she was awarded the title of “Lifetime Achievement Quartet Artist of the China Federation of Literary and Artistic Societies”. 
She died at 4 a.m. on 20 July at the age of 91 after an accidental fall at the end of May 2020.
==Legend==
Eve-Ming Chao had submitted her application to join the Communist Party of China in July 1964, but it was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution. In 2018, she submitted her application to join the party once again.
On 24 June 2019, the 12th Party Branch of Jinsong West Community, Jinsong Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, held a general meeting to approve her as a reserve member of the Communist Party of China (CPC). After a one-year investigation period, the party member's transfer was forced to be postponed due to the impact of the epidemic in Beijing. On 16 July, she was finally transformed into a full member of the party.
==Published works==
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Category:1929 births
Category:People from Beijing
Category:Chinese people
Category:Artists
Category:2020 deaths