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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
Dates 1894 CE–1961 CE
- 1927Four Great DanTook partage 33
- 1927Four Great Dan Named in Beijingage 33
- 1930Mei Lanfang Tours the United Statesage 36
- 1935Mei Lanfang Performs in Moscowage 41