Mei Lanfang

Xu Tonghua

Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing Ltd.

February 2019

30.00 (CNY)

Xu Tonghua

Xu Tonghua was born in Taizhou， Jiangsu Province. He is a contract writer for the Jiangsu Writers Association， a Master of Fine Arts from Nanjing University， and a scholar of Taizhou local culture. His main works include On Taizhou， Attractions of Taizhou， Stories Along the Dao River， Taizhou Taoist History， and Hailing Guangzhi.

A new epoch has dawned! On October 1， 1949， Mei Lanfang was invited to watch the military parade on the Tian’anmen Rostrum amid the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China and the Central People’s Government.

Both Mei Qiaoling and his eldest son Mei Yutian were designated Peking Opera artists for the royal family during the Qing Dynasty (1644--1912). Superb as their skills were， they were treated as nothing but entertainers. No one knew which side gate they entered when they stepped into the magnificent Forbidden City， let alone were they allowed to look down on the 12 streets in the Imperial Palace from the rostrum. Nonetheless， Mei Lanfang did it.

Qi Rushan， a close friend of Mei’s， dropped out of his political career for Mei. In Qi’s memoirs， he wrote about the situation this way: “A conventional idea has been deep-rooted in our society since the Ming and Qing dynasties (to say nothing of previous dynasties) that any man of moral integrity would shun away from opera performers， those who played women’s roles in particular， in fear of unsolicited criticism. Anyone who was even on slightly good terms with them would be cut off from his relatives and families. Naturally， this idea lingered on during the reigning period of Xuantong (1909--1912). It was stipulated that any posterity of opera performers should neither step into politics nor attend the imperial civil service exam for three generations. Those who served as bailiffs of the feudal yamen， prostitutes， barbers， and the like were also on the list.”

That era mentioned above by Qi Rushan is gone forever and a new era has already commenced!

It was Mei Lanfang who played female characters in the Peking Opera and was a representative personage of the opera circle that was elected as the standing member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

In the People’s Republic of China， opera actors， the same as workers and farmers， are all masters of the country! Mei Lanfang felt that this was a new life for himself and the operatic circle. For years， Mei Lanfang had been committed to the improvement of the political status of theatrical performers. Despite his popularity， respect， and acclaim， he knew that it was two different things with true “respect”. During the session of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)， Mei Lanfang once addressed the conference， “I had no status in the old society. Today， it is unprecedented in our opera community and beyond my ancestors’ and my wildest dream that I can discuss state affairs in the organs of state power and become the leader of the central body.”

The country has embraced a new look. As the “l(fā)eader of the opera world” of the old society and standing member of the CPPCC National Committee of the new society， Mei had such a feeling only after vicissitudes inside and outside the opera.

Mei Lanfang also faced a choice of different roads.

In the winter of 1948， Qi Rushan， both a mentor and friend of Mei Lanfang， decided to go to Taiwan. Before leaving， he came to Shanghai to bid farewell to Mei Lanfang and quoted the opera’s lines “on second thoughts” to persuade Mei Lanfang to go to Taiwan together， but Mei Lanfang refused! Mei declined Qi’s advice at this time， which Mei had never done before， and advised Qi， “You haven’t engaged in politics all along， and are just dedicated to opera. Over the years， we were always together. When acting in the Soviet Union， everything was prepared by you， and your name was on all the promotion materials. I think that at that time， it would surely be okay for us to work together.”

For Mei Lanfang， Qi Rushan was simple. As Mei said， Qi had always been a person who only focused on opera and hardly cared about politics.

Shaking his head， Qi still left for Taiwan， while Mei Lanfang chose to stay. In the spring of 1949， on the eve of the liberation of Shanghai， Xia Yan， entrusted by the Communist Party of China (CPC)， paid a visit to Mei’s House on Rue Massenet and mobilized Mei Lanfang to stay in Shanghai to welcome the naissance of the People’s Republic of China， and Mei Lanfang readily agreed. In fact， Mei Lanfang had had some ties with the CPC leader Zhou Enlai before this.

In Comrade Zhou Enlai’s revolutionary life of more than half a century， he had been known as “the confidant of the literary and art circles” for his attention to uniting and cherishing literary and artistic talents. In 1946 when Zhou Enlai went to Shanghai to take charge of negotiations between the CPC and the Kuomintang， he also lived on Rue Massenet， and the south side of his residence was just across the garden from Mei’s mansion. As a representative figure of the opera circle， Mei Lanfang naturally attracted special attention from Zhou Enlai. Zhou once asked Zhou Xiyuan， his younger male cousin (on the paternal side)， to visit Mei Lanfang and discuss the domestic and international context with him. It was said that Zhou Enlai also met with Mei Lanfang at the home of Zhou’s friend Yu He and said to him warmly and earnestly， “I hope you will not leave Shanghai with the retreat of the Kuomintang. You’re always welcome here!” Mei Lanfang was deeply moved by Zhou Enlai’s earnestness and made it clear， “I would not go anywhere.”

Mei Lanfang kept his promise. On May 27th，1949， when Shanghai was liberated， Mei Lanfang and representatives of city residents went to the streets to welcome the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). A few days later， the Mei Opera Troupe performed for three consecutive days at the Nanjing Grand Theater in Shanghai (now Shanghai Concert Hall) to warmly welcome the Liberation Army that liberated Shanghai. At the end of the first day of the performance， Chen Yi， Mayor of Shanghai at the time， accompanied by Xia Yan， went backstage to express his gratitude and invited him to attend a symposium of famous people from all walks of life in Shanghai a few days later.

In late June 1949， Mei Lanfang， as a representative of the cultural circle of Shanghai， left for Beijing to attend the First National Conference of the Representatives of Literary and Art Workers. Xu Jichuan， Mei Lanfang’s secretary， later recalled the situation at that time， “Mr. Mei took Mei Baoyue， Mei Baojiu， Wang Shaoting， Guo Qishan， Gu Baosen， and I and set off for Peiping from Shanghai to attend the First National Conference of the Representatives of Literary and Art Workers. In advance， Zhou Erfu， Feng Xuefeng， and Xiong Foxi told me that this conference planned to invite Mr. Mei to perform and take costumes and paraphernalia. So， we had the most people and luggage.”

At the performance， Mei Lanfang chose his representative work Farewell My Concubine. On the performance day， Chairman Mao Zedong sat in the audience， watched the performance enthusiastically， and gave a standing ovation at the curtain call. This was the first time Chairman Mao Zedong saw Mei Lanfang perform. Mei Lanfang himself was very excited. Back from the performance， he said to his family， “I saw Chairman Mao as soon as I stepped on stage. To be honest， I performed this more than 1， 000 times， but today’s performance was the best.”