Wang Ping (filmmaker)
| Wang Ping | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | 王蘋 (traditional) |
| Chinese name | 王苹 (simplified) |
| Birth name | Wang Guangzhen |
| Born | September 2, 1916 Nanjing, China |
| Died | December 2, 1990 |
| Occupation | Film director, actress |
Wang Ping (simplified Chinese: 王苹; traditional Chinese: 王蘋; pinyin: Wáng Píng; September 2, 1916 - December 1, 1990) was a Chinese film director and actress. She is considered to be the first female director in the People’s Republic of China.
Wang Ping was born and grew up in Nanjing, China. She moved to Taiyuan in 1935. Wang moved again in 1937 following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which motivated her to engage in leftist activism. She toured the country performing in politically oriented plays that supported Chinese resistance before settling in Shanghai after the war ended in 1945. Leftist liberal feminism became a major influence for Wang early in her life and she was a long time supporter of the communist revolution. She worked closely with the Communist Party both leading up to the revolution and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
Wang first became interested in the theatre and acting while working as a teacher in her hometown of Nanjing. Her first prominent role as an actress came in 1935 when she took on the leading role in a Chinese adaption of the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. Wang’s involvement in the play was controversial as the play’s major themes clashed with the conservative values of the New Life Movement, which had been launched a year earlier. The New Life Movement, which was created in support by the Chinese Nationalist Party, advocated for the renewal of li, I, Lien, and Chih, the ancient Chinese virtues that guided regular life. The movement rejected individualism, liberalism, socialism and communism.A Doll’s House, which ultimately ends with the lead woman leaving her husband and children to find herself, was considered to be antagonistic to the virtues that the New Life Movement was promoting. Wang was subsequently fired from teaching in 1935 by the Education Bureau of Nanjing Municipal Government and was banned from teaching anywhere in Nanjing.
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