On January 11, 2022, Hong Kong writer, poet, Kunqu researcher and screenwriter Gu Zhaoshen passed away at the age of 77. Gu Zhaoshen has long been committed to the research and promotion of Kunqu opera, and his death is considered a major loss to the Kunqu theoretical community.
Gu Zhaoshen, a native of Hehua Township, Gaozhou, Guangdong, was born in 1945 and moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Bachelor of Arts and M.A., Chinese University, Hong Kong, Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong. From 1968 to 1969, he co-hosted the "Poetry Workshop" with Dai Tianyu in the founding of the Academy. In 1970, he went to the United States to participate in the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. From 1981 to 1982, he studied philosophy and modern French literature at the Sorbonne University in France. He has co-founded and edited publications such as Pangu, Literature and Art, Wenmei Monthly, Bafang and Cultural Focus, and served as the editor-in-chief of Hong Kong's Ta Kung Pao Chinese Culture Weekly, the editor-in-chief of Taipei's Hansheng Magazine, the editor-in-chief of Hong Kong's Ming Pao Monthly and the academic director of the Program Department of The Hong Kong Chinese Culture Promotion Centre. He has published many literary and artistic creations and reviews, with pen names such as Gu Cangwu, Fu Yishi, Gu Er, Lin Yuan, Zuo Zhi and Lan shan Ju.
In the early days, his literary and artistic activities were mainly the creation of new Chinese poems and literary criticism, and in the 1970s, he began to study Chinese films and operas, and in recent years, he has focused on the promotion and research of Kunqu opera. He has adapted the Kun opera "Peony Pavilion" for Zhejiang Jingkun Art Theater and created the Kun opera "Dark Arrow". In 2000, Gu Zhaoshen adapted the Kun opera "Peony Pavilion" for the Zhejiang Jingkun Art Theatre. Later, Gu Zhaoshen invited Bai Xianyong to Hong Kong to teach Kunqu opera to middle school and college students, and the response was enthusiastic, and in 2004, Bai Xianyong invited Gu Zhaoshen to serve as a consultant for the youth version of "Peony Pavilion". Gu Cangwu also adapted "Butterfly Dream" for the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, which was jointly performed by famous Kunqu artists Liang Guyin, Ji Zhenhua and Liu Yilong. He also edited a variety of Kunqu works and papers, such as "Long Speech and Yayin On Kunqu Opera" and "Wei Liangfu 'Qu Law]".
Gu Zhaoshen (second from right) and Bai Xianyong (middle)
It is reported that Mr. Gu Zhaoshen donated the materials he wrote and collected in literary and artistic creation and criticism, literary translation, journal editing and Kunqu opera promotion to the library of Chinese University in Hong Kong.