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The Worlds of Mei Lanfang. Directed by Mei-Juin Chen. Produced by Lisa Muskat and Shi Jian. Lotus Film Productions and Blue Moon Productions, 2001. Distributed by Transit Media. One videocassette, 57 minutes.
The Worlds of Mei Lanfang is an hour-long documentary about the most famous Chinese theatrical performer of the twentieth century. A charismatic figure, Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) was renowned for his delicate and tasteful characterization of dan, the female roles of Beijing (Peking) opera. The son and grandson of famous dan actors, he began stage training at the age of nine, made his professional debut by twelve, and by 1913, with his famous visit to Shanghai, he was head of his own company and acclaimed throughout China. Mei Lanfang became the first Chinese actor in modern times to be invited to perform in a foreign country (Japan) in 1919. He was a leading figure in spreading Beijing opera throughout the world, returning to Japan in 1924 and 1956, visiting the United States in 1930 and Europe and Russia in 1935. The sixty years of Mei Lanfang's professional life are interconnected with China's political activities and cultural changes during the twentieth century. The widely known 1993 award-winning film Farewell my Concubine, which is set against China's historical background from the era of the warlords to the Cultural Revolution, is loosely based on Mei Lanfang's life.
The Worlds of Mei Lanfang by Mei-Juin Chen takes into consideration the great actor's work on the stage, as well as his reactions to the dynamic Chinese political environment of his time. But neither area, indeed no area, is fleshed out in the documentary to the extent that a thesis is clear. Beijing opera is not the focus;...