Mei Lan-fang (22 October 1894-8 August 1961), Peking opera star who was the outstanding figure in the Chinese theater during the first half of the twentieth century and who was the last link with the great old acting tradition of imperial China.

Yangchow, Kiangsu, was the native place of Mei Lan-fang. His grandfather, Mei Ch'iaoling, a well-known actor in the late Ch'ing period, directed a popular Peking opera troupe and played the tan [female] roles. He had two sons and one daughter. The elder son, Mei Yü-t'ien, was a theater musician of note. The younger son, Mei Chu-fen, the father of Mei Lan-fang, was an actor. He died when Mei Lan-fang was only three, leaving him to be brought up by Mei Yü-t'ien.

Mei Lan-fang received his first lessons in dramatic art at the age of seven. After a year of private study, he was sent to the household of another relative to continue his studies with a group of boys. Their teacher was Wu Linghsien, a friend and former professional colleague of Mei Lan-fang's grandfather. Wu Ling-hsien took interest in the young Mei and gave him extra coaching. In 1904, at the age of ten, Mei Lan-fang made his first stage appearance in Peking. Three years later, he enrolled as a senior student at the famous Hsi-lien-ch'eng (Fu-lien-ch'eng) Dramatic Training School and began to appear regularly with the school's troupe in the principal Peking theaters. At the same time, he became the private pupil of the tan actor Wang Yao-ch'ing (q.v.). Mei's later stage technique incorporated a number of Wang Yao-ch'ing's ideas.

After completing his training at the Hsi-liench'eng school, Mei Lan-fang joined a professional troupe and began to appear regularly. By 1913, he had begun to attract the attention of the theater audiences of Peking through the quality of his acting, the charm of his stage personality, and his attractive appearance in make-up. Although he still was ranked as a second-grade actor, his services as a performer of tan roles were in constant demand for both public and private performances. In the autumn of 1913 Mei was invited to go to Shanghai by the management of the Tan-kuei ti-i wu-t'ai, a well-known theater in the great port city. His senior partner on that occasion was Wang Feng-ch'ing, an actor of the sheng [male] roles with whom Mei had appeared regularly in Peking. The two northern players enjoyed a resounding success in Shanghai, and Mei Lanfang's reputation as a new star in the Pekingstyle drama was made during their 45-day appearance.

Upon his return to Peking, Mei staged a number of new plays which he had learned in Shanghai. These included several tao ma tan [sword, horse, woman] dramas. Until then it had not been customary for a Peking actor of the woman's roles to combine the fencing, dancing, and singing techniques as Mei did in these new plays. The conservative Peking audiences received his innovations with enthusiasm. Mei also began to experiment with a new style of contemporary costume drama, then in vogue in Shanghai, which had impressed him with its spirit and novelty. He staged his first modern play of this kind in 1914 in Peking. Entitled Nieh-hai po-lan [the waves of the evil sea], the play dealt with the problems of women forced into prostitution. Mei continued to experiment with this type of drama until 1916, when he abandoned these adventures in a semi-Western idiom to concentrate solely on the classical techniques.

Mei Lan-fang paid his second visit to Shanghai in December 1914. His brilliant interpretation of traditional roles further enhanced his reputation. It was during this period that Mei first met Ch'i Ju-shan (q.v.), a scholar and drama expert who had traveled in Europe and who was deeply concerned with the problems of the old Chinese theater in an age of transition. Ch'i Ju-shan was destined to have a great influence on Mei's artistic development and stage career. He became the actor's adviser, playwright, impresario, and constant companion, and his name is inseparable from any serious discussion of Mei's art. The first important result of this collaboration was the staging of a new play based on an ancient legend, Ch'ang-o pen-yueh [Ch'ang-o flies to the moon] for the autumn festival of 1915. In the production of this play, devised by Ch'i Ju-shan, traditional stage garb was abandoned for authentic ancient models, and old dance forms were used. It was an immediate success. Soon afterwards, Mei performed the new play before an audience of American university alumni in Peking, the first public indication of an awakening foreign interest in Mei's art. Ch'ang-o pen-yueh was one of the more popular plays in Mei's repertoire for several years. Ch'i soon produced another new dance play for Mei called Tai-yü tsang-hua [Tai-yü buries the blossoms] ; it was based on an episode from the great Chinese novel, Hung-lou-meng {Dream of the Red Chamber), and it created a furor during the actor's third visit to Shanghai in the autumn of 1916.

In the spring of 1919 Mei Lan-fang was invited to Japan to appear at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo. This was the first time that a Chinese actor had been asked to perform outside his own country. Mei appeared for a season of four weeks in Tokyo and Kobe, and the Japanese, much impressed by his acting, received him with tremendous enthusiasm. In April 1922 the Chinese community of Hong Kong invited Mei to perform there before the Prince of Wales, who was scheduled to visit the colony. It was a signal honor for the 27-year-old actor, but his appearance had to be cancelled when a general strike completely paralyzed Hong Kong. The disappointed Chinese community renewed its offer in the autumn, and in October 1922 Mei appeared in Hong Kong at the T'ai-p'ing theater. In December 1922 Mei was asked to appear with other actors at a series of command performances given in the imperial palace in Peking on the occasion of the marriage of P'u-yi (q.v.), the last of the Manchu emperors. In 1924 Mei returned to Japan at the invitation of the management of the Imperial Theater in Tokyo and again scored a great success.

By this time, persons as diverse as the Crown Prince of Sweden and Rabindranath Tagore had seen Mei Lan-fang perform in Peking and had carried enthusiastic reports of his brilliance to their own countries. At a banquet in 1926 John van Antwerp MacMurray, the retiring American minister to China, expressed the hope that Mei would visit the United States with his troupe. This was one of an increasing number of suggestions that the actor should display his talents in the West, and Mei was eager to go if means could be found. In 1929 Li Shih-tseng (q.v.), who was a prominent patron of the Chinese drama and an old friend of Ch'i Ju-shan, prevailed upon several prominent Chinese bankers to finance a tour of the United States for Mei and his troupe; the actors sailed from Shanghai on 29 December 1929.

After his arrival in the United States, where he first gave a private performance at the Chinese embassy in Washington, Mei was advised to put himself under the direction of F. C. Kapakas, a professional producer. Mei wisely decided to take this advice. Kapakas insisted upon a month of hard rehearsals and adaptations of staging before he would permit Mei to make his debut on Broadway. A special program was prepared in English, and an English-speaking Chinese commentator was trained to explain details to an American audience completely unfamiliar with Chinese stage traditions. In presenting this program to the American public, Mei was assisted by Chang P'eng-ch'un, a younger brother of Chang Po-ling (q.v.) and a devotee of the Chinese drama, who handled the troupe's public relations during its American tour. Mei's first public performance in the United States took place on 16 February 1930 at the 49th Street Theater in New York. It was an outstanding success, and the drama critics were unanimous in their praise of the troupe. Mei played for five weeks in New York, the last three at the Imperial Theater, after which he performed in Chicago for two weeks and in San Francisco. He then went to Los Angeles for a 12-day appearance at the Philharmonic Auditorium. At the conclusion of this triumphant tour, Mei was awarded honorary degrees by both the University of Southern California and Pomona College. On his way back to China, he appeared for 12 days in Honolulu. The troupe reached Peiping in September 1930. When the Japanese attacked Mukden in September 1931, Mei Lan-fang, because of professional obligations to his troupe and personal obligations to his young family, decided to move to Shanghai even though such a move would end long-established partnerships with people like Ch'i Ju-shan and Wang Fengch'ing. Shanghai knew Mei well and offered him greater scope as a professional base. The nexj few years were very active ones for Mei, who was then at the height of his powers, and his fame and reputation grew steadily. In 1935 Mei was invited to visit Russia with his troupe, as was Miss Butterfly Wu (Hu Tieh, q.v.), China's leading film star. They traveled together to Russia and then visited Italy, France, Germany, and England. It had long been Mei's ambition to play in Europe, particularly in London, but because of the uncertain political situation, no theatrical producer was willing to finance such a venture. He disappointedly left London and returned to China.

In the autumn of 1936 Mei performed in Peiping for the last time before the Sino- Japanese war. With the outbreak of fighting in north China in July 1937, he left Shanghai with his family and moved to Hong Kong. In May 1938 he played at the Lee Theater in Hong Kong for 18 days, his last appearance before world war broke out. He continued to live quietly in Hong Kong until the Japanese seized the colony in December 1941. After the occupation, the Japanese invited Mei to resume his career again and promised the necessary financial assistance. Mei had long before decided that he would never consent to appear before the enemies of his country, and he refused to accede to the repeated Japanese requests. He even grew a mustache to emphasize his refusal to perform the tan roles for the Japanese. The Japanese authorities finally granted Mei and his family safe conduct and a special plane to return to Shanghai. For the remainder of the war, Mei lived in quiet seclusion, devoting his time to teaching private Chinese pupils and keeping himself in rigid training for his return to the stage.

The end of the War in the Pacific in 1945 found Mei's old troupe widely scattered. Gradually he was able to reassemble his company and to begin to stage large-scale productions. Mei had lost none of his appeal, and his appearances invariably drew full houses. However, the chaotic economic conditions of the postwar period made the successful running of large theatrical troupes virtually impossible. Like others in his profession, Mei was faced with difficult financial problems, and between 1945 and 1948 his stage appearances steadily diminished. In 1947 he made his first color film, Sheng-ssu-hen (translated as The Wedding in a Dream), a play from his personal repertoire which he had made famous many years before. His last stage performance before the Communists came to power in China was in April 1947.

The establishment of the Central People's Government in Peking in 1949 marked the beginning of a new period in Mei's career. The Chinese Communists, recognizing Mei as one who commanded a unique affection in China both for his artistic accomplishments and for his patriotic behavior during the Japanese occupation, made every effort to utilize his name and his achievements to support the prestige of the regime. Mei was given honorary positions in the new cultural hierarchy. He became a member of the national committee of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and in 1951 he was named president of the Chinese Drama and Ballad Research Institute. He was encouraged to resume an active stage program and was asked to take his troupe on tour, giving performances to workers and military groups in many parts of China as well as making more orthodox stage appearances. He made a film entitled Wu-fai i-shu Mei Lan-fang [the stage art of Mei Lanfang], which presented a summary of his life story and excerpts from some of the plays he had made famous, including Kuei Fei tsui-chiu [the drunken beauty], Pa Wang pieh-chi [the emperor's farewell to his favorite], Yü-chou feng [the sword of the universe], and Pai-she chuan [the legend of the white snake]. In 1956 Mei and a troupe of 80 went to Japan, where they performed these plays in all the principal cities. Mei also visited the Soviet Union by official request.

Mei Lan-fang died at Peking on 8 August 1961, at which time his accomplishments and contributions were highly praised by the Chinese Communist authorities. A year later, the first anniversary of his passing was marked by a series of commemorative activities, including a major exhibition dealing with his theatrical career, the holding of special meetings, the issuance of commemorative postage stamps, and the publication of a collection of his post1949 writings. T'ien Han (q.v.), chairman of the Union of Chinese Stage Artists, wrote a special article for the Jen-min jih-pao [people's daily] in which he said that many Westerners knew of only two Chinese personages, Confucius and Mei Lan-fang.

Mei Lan-fang was the outstanding figure of the Chinese theater during the first half of the twentieth century and the last link with the old acting tradition of imperial China. Conservatives have sometimes criticized his debasement of traditional forms, and it is true that the spectacular presentations of some of his earlier theatrical experiments were over-elaborate, but such errors in judgment were unavoidable during a period of transition and experimentation. Mei Lan-fang's career coincided with a crucial period in the history of the Chinese classical theater and he played a major cultural role in preserving the essential heritage of Chinese dramatic art in a period of great social change during which many of his countrymen were confused and frustrated by the impact of the West upon China. The story of Mei Lanfang's life is, in a sense, the story of the turbulent decades which defined the emergence of a modern China. Mei's professional contributions to the Chinese theater were diverse. The creation of female roles in which singing, dancing, and acrobatic techniques are combined in the performance of a single actor— a development for which Mei was largely responsible—has had a profound effect on the art of his successors. His revival of old dancing techniques infused new vigor and charm into the classical theater, while his innovations in make-up and costume substantially enhanced stage presentation.

Mei Lan-fang was a man of great personal integrity and strength of character, and these qualities, together with his artistic genius, earned him a position in Chinese society unknown to any previous actor. His first wife died, as did the son she bore him. His second wife, Fu Chih-fang, was a talented actress before her marriage. She bore him a son, Pao-chiu, and a daughter, Pao-yueh, both of whom pursued theatrical careers.