Top-class national dancer and renowned dance scholar Zi Huayun has passed away early on Dec. 9 in the Chinese capital after suffering from illness.
The self-taught dance mogul had reportedly died Tuesday morning in her Beijing home due to her illness at the age of 78.
Born in 1936 to a family of bankers in north China's Tianjin, she was deemed the only dancer in the country who was also recognized for her academic contributions to the industry aside from being popular for her graceful performances.
She was assigned to work as the deputy director for the National Expert Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection in recent years.
Between 1966 and 1976, the decade-long Cultural Revolution forced Zi to stop performing on stage, though it did not hinder her from practicing elsewhere as her passion for the art of dancing runs deep enough for her to be able to perform with the same grace when she returned on stage a few years later.
After she realized that she is already unable to perform her signature dance routines the way she wanted, she had decided to retire and continue her passion through contributing to the academic side of the dance industry in 1983.
Most of her research works involved dances from China's ethnic groups--dances that she used to perform when she was still able to.
Some of her most popular works include the "Spring Outing of the Tibetans," "White Peacock of the Dai People" and "Dance with Drum of the Uygur" as well as "Apsaras," which was considered the most popular of her works.
By using her expertise in dance and anthropology, Zi also pioneered a new field of research that studies the relationship of folk dances to their natural and cultural ecological environment now known as "dance ecology."