The First Doctor in Chinese Opera Circle: Mei Lanfang

bawangbeiji	guifeizuijiu

Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), the great master of Peking Opera, made outstanding contributions to the development of the opera and the spread of the beauty of Chinese theatre all over the world. Mei was born in a Pear Orchard Family, a family that has several generations of operatic performers. He started to learn the art of opera when he was a little boy. He made his debut at the age of eleven and became well-known before he reached twenty.
Mei not only inherited the fine traditions of Peking Opera, but also improved it with his own creations. In his 50-year stage career, he played more than one hundred roles which included emperor's concubines, daughters of noble families, female generals, and goddesses. In his performances, he demonstrated the different characters and personalities of these women. He was the first to change the tradition that female characters paid attention only to the art of singing, dancing, expression, and martial arts to develop comprehensive roles.
Mei Lanfang was the first to introduce Erhu, a two-stringed musical instrument, into the Peking Opera orchestra. Today more than sixty years since the introduction, Erhu has become one of the main orchestral instruments were also used in the accompaniment for Peking Opera. His other stage innovations included changes in hairstyles and color of the costumes used in the opera.
Mei was the first person to introduce Pekjing Opera to foreign countries. With his troupe, Mei visited Japan three times. During his first visit in 1919, he was praised as an "outstanding performer of the Oriental art". In 1929, Mei and his troupe toured the United States. In spite of the Great Depression, all the tickets for the two-week premiere were sold out in only three days. Mei's performances were a great success and the South California University awarded him the doctor's degree, thus Mei became the first operatic doctor in Chinese history. During his stay in the United States, Mei met with the famous motion-picture actor Charles Chaplin and the American singer Paul Robeson. Six years later, Mei introduced the Peking Opera to the Soviet Union.
After the liberation in 1949, Mei once served as director of China Peking Opera Theater, director of the Chinese Opera Research Institute, and vice-chairman of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Besides his autobiography, Forty Years of Life on the Stage, several of his articles and essays have been published in The Collected Works of Mei Lanfang. His well-known performing items have been published in A Selection of Peking Operas Performed by Mei Lanfang.