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Mei Lanfang
Peking opera female-role performer who created new costume plays with Qi Rushan and took the art on tours to Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union
Mural of the event “Four Great Dan”, which this person took part in.
In the late Qing and early Republic Peking opera flourished in Beijing, Shanghai and beyond, and actors of the dan, the female roles, moved to the centre of the stage. In the 1920s a theatre column in the Beijing newspaper Shuntian Shibao proposed Mei Lanfang, Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu and Xun Huisheng as the Four Great Dan, and the title then caught on. Each of the four created new plays and refined singing and movement, founding the Mei, Cheng, Shang and Xun schools of dan acting. Mei led the tours abroad, with Qi Rushan and others writing plays and helping to plan the journeys: in 1930 he took his company to the United States, and from 21 February to 21 April 1935 he led it to the Soviet Union at its invitation and performed in Moscow and Leningrad.
Also known as Lan · Wan Hua · Huan Hua
- Roles
- Stage Performers
Mei Lanfang, personal name Lan and courtesy name Wanhua, was born in Beijing in 1894 into an opera family whose roots lay in Taizhou, Jiangsu; his grandfather Mei Qiaoling was a leading actor of the Tongzhi and Guangxu years. Trained in the qingyi female role, he first went on stage in 1904 and from 1913 performed often in Shanghai, then worked with Qi Rushan on new costume plays such as Chang'e Flies to the Moon and The Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers. He toured Japan in 1919 and 1924, the United States in 1930 and the Soviet Union in 1935. In a 1927 poll run by the Beijing paper Shuntian shibao he was named one of the Four Great Dan with Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun and Xun Huisheng. During the Japanese occupation he grew a moustache and refused to perform. In 1959 he staged Mu Guiying Takes Command, and he died in Beijing in August 1961.
Life and times
- 1894 CEBorn
Qing
Republican Era
Modern Era - 1927Four Great Dan
Took partage 33Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun and Xun Huisheng, the Four Great Dan, each founded a school of Peking opera female roles, and Mei's tours of the United States in 1930 and the Soviet Union in 1935 put Peking opera on the world stage.- Four Great Dan Named in BeijingIn 1927 the Beijing newspaper Shuntian Shibao named Mei Lanfang, Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu and Xun Huisheng the four leading dan by public vote, and the title "Four Great Dan" spread.
- Mei Lanfang Tours the United States1930age 36In 1930 Mei Lanfang took his company to the United States for nearly half a year, giving more than seventy performances in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities.
- Mei Lanfang Performs in Moscow1935age 41From February to April 1935 Mei Lanfang's company performed in Moscow and Leningrad, where Stanislavski, Brecht, Meyerhold and other theatre makers saw his work and exchanged views with him.
- Four Great Dan Named in Beijing
- 1961 CEDied
Works
Stage · Plays2- The Hegemon-King Bids His Concubine Farewell1918 (as The Chu–Han Contest) to 1922 (present title)Peking opera staged by Mei Lanfang and Yang Xiaolou in 1922, best known for Consort Yu's sword dance
- The Drunken ConcubineQianlong reign of the Qing (from the local huabu play The Drunken Concubine Yang)Grown from a Qianlong-era local play and polished by Mei Lanfang into a signature work of the Mei school
