She was born on December 1, 1919 (10th day of the 10th month of the Heiwei year on the lunar calendar) into a poor family. She lost her father at the age of seven.
In 1929, she entered the local Lion Drama Society to study flower girl. However, the class she joined was disbanded twice, and she was admitted to the Dahua Stage in Huatang Town, Sheng County.
She left the troupe in the winter of 1933 and performed with others in Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang.
Towards the end of 1934, an opera troupe in Shenjiamen asked Ye Caijin, who was from Xinfeng Stage, to sing the head-and-shoulders dan, and hired Zhu Shuizhao, who had just completed his studies at Ruiyun Stage, to sing the two-shoulders dan, but only lacked the youngest student, and the troupe's owner heard that Yin Guifang was capable of both the dan and the student roles and hired Yin Guifang as a dan and student role, and took it upon herself to name her Yin Yunfeng and hang out a sign. So he asked someone to hire him and named him "Yin Yunfeng" and put up a sign. Yin Guifang arrived at the door of the Shen family, saw the situation, crying and laughing. The name "Yin Yunfeng" made her famous when she changed her role from a flower girl to a young boy.
Yin Guifang formally appeared on stage at Shenjiamen in 1935, and after that, she followed several performance groups and performed in Xinchang, Shengxian, Ningbo, Hangzhou and other places.
In 1938, Yin Guifang formally entered Shanghai, joining the Yongle Theater, which was located next to the Old Gate Bridge in old Shanghai, and later led performances at the Tongle Theater. During that period, Shanghai Yueju Opera was in transition from the flower girl stage to the young male stage.
In the fall of 1940, Yin Guifang and Zhu Shuiqiao worked together as head performers.
In 1941, Lu Bu and Diao Cicada.
In June 1942, Yin Guifang and Fu Quanxiang from the Four Seasons Spring Class performed new plays such as Gold and Beauty and Spring Flowers Weeping in Autumn Wind at the Laozha Grand Theater.
In 1944, Yin Guifang, despite the objections of the theater owner, and with Zhu Shuizhao's support, brought in choreographers and directors, and using three-dimensional sets, realistic props and effects, and novel lighting, she performed Clouds Broken by the Moon and Fullness of the Moon, and then Martyrs of the Dead, at the Longmen Grand Theater.
In the spring of 1945, she recruited Hong Jun, Xu Jin, Hong Ying and Lan Ming to stage new plays such as Shi Dakai, Night is Short and Love is Long, Baoyu and Daiyu, Spring Dreamer, When Will We Meet Again, Desert Island Revenge, Desert Prince, etc., which further expanded her influence. Especially, the singing of "Baoyu Crying" in "Baoyu and Daiyu" and "Counting Fortunes" in "Desert Prince" were broadcasted and sung on the radio and received a strong response from the audience, and the reform of Yueju Opera had achieved a certain degree of fruitfulness. At this time, Yin Guifang's acting skills were also maturing, gradually forming her own style and genre.
In 1946, she partnered with Zhu Shuiqiao to set up the Fanghua Troupe, which she headed. The troupe performed for a long time at the Lido Theater on Guizhou Road in China, and successively performed a large number of new plays with both ideological connotation and audience attraction, such as "The Cloud Breaks the Moon", "Martyrdom", "Shi Dakai", "Ge Neniang", "Guangxu and Princess Zhen", etc. Especially "Baoyu and Daiyu", "Prince of the Desert", and the fashion plays "Thinking Back", "Begonia", and "The Prodigal Son", etc., which caused a great sensation one after another. Because of her outstanding virtues and noble character, the sisters of Yueju Opera affectionately called her "Sister Yin".
In 1947, she actively supported Yuan Xuefen's "Love of Mountains and Rivers," a charity performance, and gave up her original plan to make a movie called "The King's Grandchildren.
In 1948, she partnered with Fu Quanxiang and Wang Wenjuan, and starred in new plays such as Lu Wenlong, Wandao Sha, Lu Nanzi, and Peach Blossom Fan at the Lanxin and Xinguang theaters. The audience of Yueju Opera voted for the "Emperor of Yueju Opera", and Yin Guifang, who is a master of color and virtues, topped the list.
In 1951, he performed "Apricot Blossom Village" at the Popular Theater, contributing to the donation of Yueju Opera airplanes to the anti-American war against Korea.
In 1952, she rehearsed the classical drama "The Story of the Western Chamber" and the new historical dramas "Lord Xinling" and "Chen Sheng Wu Guang", and "The Mourning History of Liangzhu" at the Lido Grand Theater.
In 1954, in the East China Opera Festival, she starred in Qu Yuan, which won the first prize for script, performance and music.
In 1955, she was elected as a representative of the people of Shanghai.
In 1958, she played the role of an advanced waitress in the modern drama "Red Flower Village", which produced considerable social repercussions.
Since 1959, she has been a People's Representative of Fuzhou City.
On January 25, 1959, Yin Guifang boarded the 53rd train from Shanghai to Fuzhou with the entire cast and crew of the "Fanghua Yueju Troupe", numbering 63 people. With a great passion, she moved the troupe to Fujian to continue to sow the seeds of the art of Yueju Opera in the land of Fujian. Yin Guifang had successfully portrayed the characters of Jia Baoyu, Zhang Sheng, Liang Yushu, Liang Shanbo, Qu Yuan, and other characters in the repertoire of Dream of the Red Chamber, The Story of the Western Wing, Prince of the Desert, Pan Wife and Demanding Wife, Qu Yuan, and Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, which had left an unforgettable impression on the audience. Under the leadership of Yin Guifang, the troupe trained a number of "Yin's later talents", who won awards in all the provincial theater performances.
In 1960, she joined the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Since 1963, he has been a member of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
During the Cultural Revolution, due to the extremely harsh living environment for many years, coupled with some inhuman treatment of the body caused by the infringement, Yin Guifang collapsed, central nervous system damage, paralyzed one hand and one foot. However, she still contributed to the revitalization of Yueju Opera and the cultivation of new talents in Yueju Opera. After the "Gang of Four" was crushed, Yin Guifang recovered from her illness.
In 1978, she was elected as a member of the National Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and served as the vice-chairman of the Fujian Branch of the Chinese Dramatists Association. She is now a member of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the honorary director of the Fanghua Troupe.
In 1979, Yin Guifang, who was semi-paralyzed, held the unprecedented Yin Guifang Yueju Opera Genre Concert with the help of Shanghai Art Research Institute and Shanghai Yueju Opera Theatre. On this day, she reappeared on the stage and sang, together with Yuan Xuefen, an excerpt from "Love in the Mountains and Rivers" about sending a letter. The cultural square, which holds more than 10,000 people, was filled to capacity. She devoted more energy to cultivating successors of the Yin School, a continuation of Yin Guifang's artistic life. In her own words: if Yin Guifang is crippled, there will be others who come after her.
In 1986, the Fanghua Troupe held a large-scale 40th anniversary conference and Yin School Art Concert in Fuzhou.
From December 10 to 17, 1990, the troupe was invited to visit Hong Kong for the first time and performed excellent plays such as Dream of the Red Mansion, Jade Dragonfly, and He Wenxiu, etc., which was the first time that Hong Kong compatriots appreciated the artistic style of Fanghua.
At 08:15 am on March 1, 2000, Yin Guifang was gone, but she left behind a glittering legacy of the art of Yueju opera.