{{Short description|Chinese qinqiang actor of the Qing dynasty}} '''Wei Changsheng''' ({{zh|c=魏長生|p=Wèi Chángshēng}}, 1744–1802), courtesy name '''Wanqing''' ({{lang|zh-hant|婉卿}}), also known as '''Wei San''' ({{zh|c=魏三|p=Wèi Sān|l=Wei Three}}), was a Chinese ''qinqiang'' (''bangzi'' opera) actor of the Qing dynasty who played ''huadan'' roles (i.e. he impersonated bubbly young women). In 1779, during his second trip to Beijing, he created such a sensation that theatregoers flocked to his performances away from ''gaoqiang'' (preferred by commoners) and ''kunqu'' (preferred by Qing emperors), thereby permanently changing the landscape of Chinese opera. In order to curb the craze (and also because Wei's performances were often obscene<ref>{{cite book|title=Opera, Society, and Politics in Modern China|year=2019|publisher=Harvard-Yenching Institute|last=Li Xiaoti|isbn=9780674987166|page=180}}</ref>) the Qing government expelled him and ''qinqiang'' from Beijing in 1785.<ref name=brandon>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre|editor-last=Brandon|editor-first=James R.|editor-link=James Rodger Brandon|year=1993|page=32|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-58822-7}}</ref> He went south to perform ''kunqu'' in Yangzhou,<ref>{{cite book|title=Women Playing Men: Yue Opera and Social Change in Twentieth-century Shanghai|last=Jiang|first=Jin|year=2011|page=28|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98843-6}}</ref> but many of his innovations and art remained in the capital and were absorbed by Peking opera several decades later.<ref name=brandon/>
Wei Changsheng had a reputation for being immoral, and likely had a homosexual relationship with Heshen, the most influential politician of the time.<ref>{{cite book|title=Lifestyle and Entertainment in Yangzhou|page=214–16|last=Mackerras|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Mackerras|chapter=Yangzhou Local Theatre in the Second Half of the Qing|year=2009 |editor-last=Olivová|editor-first=Lucie B.|editor2-last=Børdahl|editor2-first=Vibeke|publisher=NIAS Press|isbn=978-87-7694-035-5}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} {{China-actor-stub}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Changsheng}} Category:18th-century Chinese male actors
Category:Qinqiang Category:1744 births Category:1802 deaths Category:People from Jintang County Category:Singers from Chengdu Category:Male actors from Chengdu Category:18th-century Chinese LGBTQ people Category:Female impersonators in Chinese opera Category:Male Kunqu actors Category:Chinese gay actors Category:18th-century Chinese male singers