Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien (1887-21 September 1962), teacher, actor, playwright, and director whose career reflects the development of drama and cinema in twentieth-century China.

Liuyang, Hunan, was the birthplace of Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien. His paternal grandfather, Ou-yang Chung-ku, was provincial treasurer of Kwangsi during the last years of the Ch'ing dynasty, and his maternal grandfather, Liu Jen-hsi, was the military governor of Hunan during the early years of the Chinese republic. When Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien was ten, a family servant took him to a private Peking opera performance given in the house of one of his grandfathers for some festive occasion. Because the boy was intrigued by the performance, the family servant, an avid theater-goer, taught him a hua-tan [young woman] role from the play Mei-lung-chen. Thereafter, Ou-yang often amused himself by pretending to be an actor. About 1899 Ou-yang went to Peking to attend school for a year. He then spent one term in Changsha at the Ching Cheng Middle School before going to Japan to study military science at a Tokyo middle school. Except for a visit to his family in 1905, he remained in Japan until 1911. Ou-yang later recalled that during his school days in Peking he had seen the great T'an Hsin-p'ei (q.v.) in a traditional role, but the performance had made little impression on him. Not until he went to Tokyo was his interest in the theater aroused. In February 1907 he saw an adaptation of La Dame aux camelias entitled CKa-hua Nü, staged by the Ch'un-liu chü-she [spring willow dramatic society] to aid the Hsuchou Relief Fund. The Ch'un-liu chü-she had been founded by Chinese students under the strong influence of the Japanese modern drama movement (see Li Shu-t'ung), and this production gave Ou-yang his first experience of non-operatic drama. In the winter of 1907 Ou-yang was invited to become a member of the Ch'un-liu chü-she and was given a part in its second production, an adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin called Hei-nu yü-Cien lu [the black slave's cry to heaven]. He soon became a leading member of the dramatic group, and he began to study stage technique under the guidance of teachers. Women were not yet seen on the stage, and Ou-yang decided to specialize in hua-tan roles.

In 1911, having been graduated from the literature department of Waseda University in Tokyo, Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien returned to China. He went to Shanghai in 1912 and became a member ofthe Hsi-chu t'ung-hui [drama league] , newly organized by Lu Ching-jo to encourage hua-chü [spoken drama] . This group performed at the Chang Yuan, a well-known entertainment center of the period. Ou-yang spent 1913 at his family's home in Changsha, but he returned to Shanghai in 1914 to join the Ch'un-liu chü-ch'ang [spring willow drama company], established by Lu Ching-jo with the help of several former members of the Ch'un-liu chü-she. The troupe performed for nearly a year at a theater on Nanking Road in Shanghai, but it disbanded after Lu Ching-jo died. Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien gradually rose to prominence as an actor of hua-tan roles on the Shanghai stage. This achievement was particularly noteworthy because he was the first of his family to become an actor. At this time, many of the actors in Peking opera productions came from famous theatrical families. Like Mei Lan-fang (q.v.), Ou-yang experimented with traditional-style plays, incorporating new costumes and techniques. In 1918 Chang Chien (q.v.), who had created a model community in Nant'ung, Kiangsu, invited Ou-yang there to direct the Ling-kung hsueh-she, a school for actors. Ou-yang accepted, and he proceeded to modernize the school's curriculum and methods. Corporal punishment was abolished, and students were required to study a variety of subjects so that they would have a good general education in addition to training in stagecraft. The school came to have its own theater and a musical research department. After spending three years at Nant'ung, Ouyang returned to the Shanghai stage. In September 1923 Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien joined the Shanghai hsi-chu hsieh-she [Shanghai dramatic association], which had been established by Ku Chien-ch'en and others to present modern hua-chü dramas. The association staged two of Ou-yang's plays: P'o-fu [the shrew] and Hui-chia i-hou [after returning home]. In 1925 Ou-yang left Shanghai briefly to organize a modern drama group at Changsha. He left Shanghai again two years later, this time to take charge of the newly established Kuo-min hsi-ch'ang [national theater] at Nanking, working with T'ien Han (q.v.) and his associates. In 1929 he assumed direction of the Kuan-yueh hsi-chu yen-chiu-so [Kwangtung musical and dramatic institute]. By 1930 Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien had abandoned his career as an actor in traditional dramas. He traveled to Europe, and in 1933 he went to Russia twice and to Germany, where he met leading film-makers. After taking part in the Fukien revolt in the winter of 1933, he took refuge in Japan for six months. Upon his return to China in 1934 he became associated with the Hsin-hua ying-yeh kung-ssu, a Shanghai film company. In 1936 he joined the Star Motion Picture Company as head scriptwriter. He went to Hong Kong in 1938 to prepare the script for Mu-lan ts'ung-chün [Mu-lan enlists], a costume picture based on the adventures of a famous Chinese heroine. He also found time to edit editions ofancient plays and to organize a drama group in Hong Kong.

In the autumn of 1939 Ou-yang went to Kweilin, where he became director of the Kuang-hsi i-shu kuan [Kwangsi institute of art], and chairman of the Kweilin branch of the All- China Resistance to the Enemy Federation of Writers and Artists. He remained in Kweilin until the Sino-Japanese war ended and wrote several propaganda plays during his stay there. He returned to Shanghai in 1946, where he worked with the Hsin Chung chü-she [new China drama company] and wrote the script for a film entitled Kuan-pu-chu ti ch'un-kuang. In 1947 he accompanied the Hsin Chung chü-she on a tour of Taiwan, and in 1948 he went to live in Hong Kong.

Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien went to Peiping in April 1949 and immediately received membership on the Chinese delegation to the World Peace Conference in Paris. He became a member of the preparatory committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in June and a member of the standing committee of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles in July. After the Central People's Government was established, he served as director of the Central Institute of Drama, becoming its president when it was reorganized in 1950 in a merger with the Nanking National Drama School and the drama department of North China University. He also was vice chairman of the first national committee of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (1949-52), a member of the All-China Drama Workers Association (1953-61), a member of the culture and education committee of the Government Administration Council (1949-53), and a member of the cinema guidance and drama reform committees of the ministry of culture. In 1955 he was listed as a member of the Chinese Communist party. He accompanied Mei Lanfang's troupe to Japan in 1955, and he continued to devote much of his time to theatrical endeavors. On 21 September 1962, after a long illness, he died in Peking.

In the course of his career, Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien was actor and playwright in both the traditional opera and the modern hua-chü drama, a teacher of actors, a reformer, and an actor, director, and producer of motion pictures; his career reflects the development of drama and cinema in twentieth-century China. He consistently used his talents and knowledge to preserve the dignity of the old dramatic forms while working to develop new theatrical movements.