Li Shuzhen (25 July 1923 – 11 July 2008), better known by her stage nameLi Yuru and also known as Li Xueying, was a Chineseopera singer and actress. Descended from Manchunobility, she is remembered as "one of the great Beijing Opera performers"[1] and played an important role in the acceptance of female singers in female roles (dan). Amid the Cultural Revolution, she was imprisoned from 1966 until the early 1970s. In 1979, she married Cao Yu, one of the most important 20th-century Chinese dramatists, and, following China's opening up under Deng Xiaoping, she ended her life respected as one of the few surviving masters of the dan roles.