Shanghai School of Music and Opera

The Shanghai School of Music and Opera is presented through Xiao Fengzhen’s connection to it: she was a star pupil there and taught while waiting for the chance to become a professional singer. When investigators traced her through a missing-persons file, the school’s performance community supplied both a portrait of her promise and the first account of how her disappearance came to light.

Xiao Fengzhen at the School

Xiao was twenty-eight, a teacher and singer associated with the school, and remembered by a colleague as its star pupil. Her singing was considered exceptional, but the colleague also recalled that overuse could cause trouble with her voice. Teaching was a temporary position in Xiao’s plans; she intended to move into professional performance.

The account places the school within a working musical world shaped by irregular hours and touring. Xiao had a child but no husband, and her mother cared for the child while Xiao worked. The colleague described this arrangement as a practical response to the demands of the business, rather than as evidence that Xiao had withdrawn from her family or career.

The Disappearance and the School Community

By the time Li Yan and Nien Mei-Ling investigated, Xiao had been missing for just under a year. A colleague recalled that Xiao failed to appear for a couple of days. At first, those around her thought her absence might be connected to the recurring problems with her voice; it was Xiao’s mother coming to the school to ask where she was that made clear she was missing.

The colleague had never learned what happened afterward. Some people had imagined that Xiao had gone to Beijing to pursue a career and would eventually become a star, but her unexplained silence had already seemed unlike her. The school’s importance to the inquiry lies in this contrast: it was a place where Xiao’s ambition and ability were widely recognized, yet the people who knew her could offer no explanation for her disappearance.