XIONG FOXI

born 1900, Feng-ch'eng, Kiangsi Province, China died Oct. 26, 1965, Shanghai Foxi also spelled Fuxi, WadeGiles romanization Hsiung Fo-hsi Chinese playwright who helped to create popular drama intended to entertain and educate the peasantry. Xiong Foxi began writing, directing, and acting in plays as a youth and, while at Yen-ching University, helped to establish the Min-chung Hsi-ch She (People's Dramatic Society). After graduate work at Columbia University, New York City, he returned to China as a professor of dramatic arts and as the editor of a drama magazine. The high point of Xiong Foxi's career came in 1932, when he was appointed director of experimental rural theatre in Ting-hsien, Hopeh Province. Xiong Foxi lived among the peasants so that he could write plays that they could understand and learn from. His productions, which often used Western dramatic techniques and emphasized the importance of staging, won him wide renown; he described his experiences in the book An Experiment in Popularizing Drama (1937). During the Sino-Japanese War (193745), Xiong Foxi served the Nationalist government as a theatre director, president of a dramatic arts college, and founder of two literary magazines. He also continued to write during this time, producing two novels and numerous short stories. After the Communist government was established in 1949, he was a leading member of many of its cultural and educational committees.