Background
Mr. Liang was native of Hsin Hui District, Guangdong, China. He was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.A., on July 17, 1889.
Mr. Liang was native of Hsin Hui District, Guangdong, China. He was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.A., on July 17, 1889.
He graduated from the Atlantic City High School on June 1918. He studied the work of leading singers, actors, musicians, lecturers and artists in New York City.
On his return to China, Liang Shi-chien had resided in Peking, Shanghai, Canton, and Hangzhou. He translated two novelettes from the Chinese into English: The Lone Swan and The True Story of Ah Q. (published by the Commercial Press, Shanghai). Since 1926 he devoted himself to the Chinese theatre, specializing in the living classic drama of Peking, although he wrote on various phases such as Cantonese plays, the modern spoken drama, the Chinese talking picture, amusements of the poor, life in Peking, etc. The two books: Mei Lan-fang and Repertoire for the American Tour of Mei Lartrfang, which were instrumental in introducing the art of the actor to the American public on his tour and which aroused a wide interest in the Chinese theatre, were prepared by him in 1929. His third book The Chinese Theatre Today was in course of preparation. Mr. Laing contributed articles to The North China Daily News and The China Journal (Shanghai), Pacific Affairs, National Geographical Magazine, and Asia Magazine (American), "The Chinese Actress" (published in the latter) being quoted by The Illustrated Loudon News, The Literary Digest, and translated into Malay in The Hoakiao. The Time (London) had printed his comments on the theatre and Peking life.
Mr. Liang delivered numerous lectures on the Chinese theatre in Peking, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou.
(The First American Tour of Mei Lan-fang [preface; George ...)
(Mei Lan-fang, foremost actor of China [George Kin Leung])