Li Youbin, born in 1938, is a native of Beijing, a national first-class director and a famous martial arts performance artist. He is the winner of the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of the Chinese Opera Performance Society, the winner of the "Outstanding Contribution Award" of the Fujian Peking Opera Company, a member of the Chinese Opera Directors Association, a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, a visiting professor of the Shanghai Academy of Drama, and a graduate tutor of the China Academy of Drama.
Mr. Li Youbin practiced with his father Li Shengbin at the age of 10, and acted on stage at the age of 12. In June 1949, he joined the Peking Opera Troupe of the Political Department of the 10th Corps of the Third Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army with his father as a soldier actor, transferred to the Fujian Peking Opera Troupe as a martial arts actor in 1953, and performed "Jiepai Pass", "Baishui Beach" and "Sijie Village" in Shanghai in 1959, with excellent results, and then went to Nanjing to perform "Flaming Mountain" for more than 20 performances. In 1965, he was seconded to the Shanghai Youth Jingkun Opera Troupe to co-star in "The Great Wall of the South China Sea" with Li Bingshu, Qi Shufang, Zhu Wenhu, etc., starring in "Ou Yingcai".
In 1971, he began to become an actor and opera director, and has written and directed dramas such as "The Hate of the King", "Flaming Mountain", "Little Wuyi", "True and False Monkey King", and was hired by various local drama art groups to teach and direct. In 1980, the play "True and False Monkey King" was written and directed by more than 500 performances in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Fujian, and the venue was full and had a great impact. In 1982, "The True and False Monkey King" was filmed by Zhujiang Film Studio as a Peking Opera film, with excellent box office, huge response at home and abroad, and was frequently broadcast on CCTV Opera Channel as an excellent opera film.
In 1995, he choreographed and directed "Mu Guiying's Great Breaking the Liao Soldiers" and "Wukong Eight Rings Fighting the Strongman" which caused a sensation in Japan; in 1999, he was invited by Mr. Tadahiko Tsuda of Japan and the China International Performance Company to go to Shandong Province to direct "The Female General of Yangmen" to perform in Japan; in 2002, he wrote and directed "Zhang Sijie Descends to Earth" and other plays to perform in Japan again, which was highly praised by Japanese friends and audiences.
After his retirement in 2000, Mr. Li Youbin still insisted on teaching Chinese opera, and with his dedication to the art of Peking Opera, he unreservedly passed on his performance experience and experience to younger generations, and was hired by the China Academy of Drama as a graduate tutor to teach repertoire to major Peking Opera troupes across the country. Teach the third-generation martial arts actor Ruan Xuedong "Fa Zidu" and the fourth-generation martial arts actor Li Zhe "Wu Song Fights the Tiger" and "Baishuitan". He was hired to teach in Taiwan and taught Taiwanese martial arts actor Dai Liwu "Fa Zidu", "Jiepai Guan", "Wu Song Fights Tiger" and other dramas. He served as the art director of the Peking Opera film project "Havoc in the Heavenly Palace", the director of the youth version of "The True and False Monkey King", taught the fifth-generation martial arts actor Li Xianke "Fa Zidu", was selected into the Fujian Provincial Famous Old Artist Salary Program, taught the fifth-generation young actor Sun Fengkun "Zhan Jizhou", and taught Li Xianke "Jiepai Guan".
Mr. Li Youbin is a witness to the establishment and development of Fujian Peking Opera Company, and has contributed many outstanding works of art to the development of Fujian Peking Opera, dedicated his life to the inheritance and development of Peking Opera art, and made outstanding contributions to the promotion of excellent traditional Chinese culture. Generations of Fujian opera workers have grown up under his guidance, and the world is full of peach and plums. For the passing away of Mr. Li Youbin, all the colleagues of Fujian Peking Opera Company express their deep condolences!