Playwright whose family tragedy 雷雨 (Thunderstorm, 1934), written as a Tsinghua student, became the best-known modern Chinese play, followed by 日出 and 原野. Chinese high schools teach a scene from it.
Cao Yu's masterpiece Thunderstorm is still performed in major theaters today.
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history
As a schoolboy in Tianjin's Nankai drama troupe he played Nora in Ibsen's 《玩偶之家》 (A Doll's House). From 1952 until his death he headed Beijing's leading stage company, 北京人艺.
culture
His pen name comes from his real surname: he split its traditional form 萬 into 艹 (the 'grass' radical, named after 草) and 禺, then swapped the radical for the similar-sounding surname 曹.
