Xue Jinghua

Who is Xue Jinghua?

Xue Jinghua is a Chinese ballerina who was cast in the now internationally well-known Red Detachment of Women of the National Ballet of China as Wu Qinghua, the heroine of the ballet for which she became a prima ballerina. The film version of the ballet was released in 1971 in China, five years into the Cultural Revolution. As one of the Eight model plays, the film was shown across the country in every cinema, every factory, and every village in the following several years until 1976 when the Cultural Revolution officially ended. As a consequence of the film, Xue Jinghua achieved a nationwide fame. Liu Qingtang was cast as Hong Changqing in the ballet and the film version of it.

When Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, visited China in 1972, he was entertained with a stage production of Red Detachment of Women, and Xue Jinghua performed as Wu Qinghua in the ballet.