Cheng Zhi

Zhi Cheng Zhi was born on February 3, 1926 in Wuchang, Hubei. Two years later he moved to Shanghai with his grandfather, tenth-ranking scholar. Grandfather was proficient in poetry, calligraphy, and seal engraving. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, he was the supervisor of the Yuelu Academy in Hunan. He has more than ten albums, and has compiled and published many representative works of the Tan School. He was employed as a librarian in the Shanghai Museum of Cultural History in the late 1950s.

Young Zhi Cheng has loved Peking Opera since he was young. He returned to La Jinghu without a teacher at the age of six. He broadcasted on the radio at the age of eight and sang Peking opera. At the age of eleven, he produced the Peking Opera record "Yu Guo Yuan". After graduating from high school in 1944, Cheng was admitted to the Fudan Department of Economics. Because of his passion for acting, he participated in a charity fundraising event sponsored by Shen Bao at the time during his studies in Fudan.

The repertoire for the free performance is "Rich Clouds", directed by Huang Zuolin. On January 1, 1945, Cheng Zhi dropped out of school to perform a drama. He joined the hard work troupe led by Huang Zuolin and has since embarked on an acting career that he has worked for all his life. In 1947, Cheng Zhi entered Mandarin Pictures.