Chinese pop singer Li Yugang starts Canada tour

Chinese pop singer Li Yugang, who is known for his cross-dressing performances onstage, has launched his tour on Jan 15 in Canada. Last year, he toured the United States, performing April 18 at New York University and April 21-23 at Pasadena Convention Center in Los Angeles.

While he has performed outside China since 2006, including at the Sydney Opera House and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, Li comes from more humble roots. He was born into a farming family in Northeast China's Jilin province.

Li dropped out of a local performing arts school in 1996, unable to afford the tuition, and then left his hometown to make a living, first singing at pubs. He didn't meet with success until he substituted for a young female singer, who was absent one night. It was a duet and Li sang both the male and female parts. Since then, Li started doing female roles. He learned dancing and singing with professionals. His big break came in 2006, when he was a top finisher on Star Boulevard, a Chinese reality TV show.

With three studio albums behind him, he has performed twice on China Central Television's highly watched annual Spring Festival Gala, in 2012 and 2013. His stage productions — The Painting of Four Beauties and Flower in Mirror, Moon in Water — have toured China and abroad.