Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) was born in Beijing in 1894. He was born into a family of Peking Opera. He appeared on stage at the age of 10 to perform "The Match of an Immortal" at Guanghe Tower in Beijing. He was a female actor and married in 1908. In 1911, all walks of life in Beijing held a Peking Opera actor selection event and posted a chrysanthemum list. Mei Lanfang ranked third and the third most beautiful actress.

In 1913, he went to Shanghai to perform for the first time. He performed in Dangui No. 1 at the intersection of Sima Road and Daxin Road, such as "Colorful House Pei", "Yu Tang Chun", and "Muke Village". He first came to Shanghai. It became popular throughout Jiangnan. After that, he absorbed Shanghai's improved elements of civilized drama, new stage, lighting, makeup, and costume design. After returning to Beijing, he created and performed a new fashion drama "The Waves in the Sea". He came to Shanghai again the next year and performed "The Waves in the Sea". Wuhua Cave", "True and False Pan Jinlian", "Drunk Concubine" and other specialties were performed for 34 days in a row.

After returning to Beijing, Mei Lanfang continued to rehearse new plays "Chang'e Flying to the Moon", "Chunxiang Makes School", "Daiyu Buries Flowers", etc. In 1916, he came to Shanghai for the third time and sang continuously for 45 days. After 1918, he moved to Shanghai and formed the unique Mei School. In 1915, Mei Lanfang rehearsed a large number of new plays and made unique artistic innovations in Peking Opera singing, dialogue, dance, music, and costumes, and was known as the master of the Mei School.

On August 8, 1961 (the twenty-seventh day of the sixth lunar month), Mei Lanfang died of illness.

Quotes:

1. I am a clumsy scholar. I don’t have enough talent, so I rely on hard work.

2. If you don’t watch other people’s plays, you won’t be able to play your own plays well.

3. No matter how prosperous the world is, it will all be empty in the end.

4. When an actor is in peak performance, he grows a beard and refuses to perform on stage because he resists the harsh social environment. He even dares not to lift his voice. I cannot describe the pain in words. I paint partly to make a living and partly to entertain myself. Otherwise, I would really be suffocated.

5. Maybe you have always been a mortal!

Extended information

Mr. Mei Lanfang has made outstanding contributions in promoting cultural exchanges between my country and the world. He is a pioneer in spreading the art of Peking Opera overseas in my country. He visited Japan three times in 1919, 1924 and 1956, the United States in 1930, and the Soviet Union twice to perform in 1935 and 1952. He gained high reputation and met many internationally renowned artists, dramatists, singers, Dancers, writers and painters established sincere friendship with them.

These activities not only enhance people’s understanding of Chinese culture from all over the world, but also make my country’s Peking Opera art among the world’s dramas. Mei Lanfang, Stanislavsky and Brecht are considered the three major performance systems in the world.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mei Lanfang was successively elected as a representative of the National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and director of the Chinese Drama Theater Vice Chairman of the Chinese Opera Association, he successively served as the president of the Chinese Opera Research Institute, the Chinese Opera Academy, and the China Peking Opera Company. He joined the Communist Party of China in July 1959 and made various contributions to the socialist construction of the motherland.