The Worlds of Mei Lanfang

Script 1/27/00

Mei Lanfang in costume, dissolves into different roles

Narrator
He was an artist, a husband, a father, a patriot, a communist, a woman. Beijing Opera performer Mei Lanfang played only female roles. His perfect portrayal of the idealized woman made him China's first pop star, a kind of Rudolph Valentino in drag.

Title: The Worlds of Mei Lanfang

Photo of Mei Lanfang, and his family

Narrator
Mei Lanfang came from a family of gender-bending Beijing Opera performers. His grandfather, who helped create the art form in the mid-nineteenth century, was one of the Empress Dowager's favorite female role actors. His father, who died when Mei Lanfang was a child, also played women.

As a boy, Mei Lanfang was admired for his voice and beauty, but he was not seen as exceptional. Anxious to improve, he pushed himself, spending years to develop his technique. His self-discipline and humility impressed his colleagues and attracted influential patrons. By seventeen, he was famous.

Scenes from "Vengeance on the Bandit General."

Mei Lanfang
My brave hero, you have endured a lot! Now finally the nation is at peace. Power and fame await you.

Male actor
I don't deserve your praise!

Mei Lanfang
This is our celebration day. Let me toast you!

Male actor
You want me to drink with you?

Mei Lanfang
That's right.

Male actor
Sure! Sure! Fill the cups!

Mei Lanfang
All right.

Mei Lanfang
(sing)
Let me first get him drunk, then I will kill him!

Talking Head of Alan (subtitle: Alan Chow Female role actor) So called the Chinese Opera, I call that total package of Chinese theater. Because they involved mine theater, and music theater, and singing theater, and comedy theater, and kung fu and martial art, of course we have a live band. In Chinese theater, the hand movement is very important. Usually your eyes always follow with your hand, and always the body language. In Chinese opera and Chinese dance, this is how you open the door. First you step to the door, and you touch the door. The reason you touch the door, because you want the audience know where is the door. So you touch the door, you unlock the door, you open the door, and you step out.

Montage of hand movements.

Images of Old Beijing

Narrator
In 1914, when he was 20 years old, Mei Lanfang was asked to perform in Shanghai.

A map indicating Shanghai and Beijing. A train running.
Scene of Shanghai

Shanghai is only 700 miles from Beijing, but early in the century these two cities might have been oceans apart. For Mei Lanfang, Shanghai was a new world.

Alan
When Mei Lanfang travels from Peking to Shanghai, he was just like a Barbara Streisand, moving from East Coast to West Coast, and around the world.

Close on advertisements in a Shanghai newspaper for Mei Lanfang's opera performances.

Actor impersonating Mei Lanfang's voice

In the advertisement they called me the most unique performer of female roles in the world. You never saw this kind of exaggeration in the Beijing newspapers. I felt embarrassed and terribly awkward.

Mei Lanfang in different operas.

Narrator
Mei Lanfang's refined performance style and sparse set design was a welcome change for Shanghai audiences used to more extravagant theater fare.

Talking Head of Alan
At that time, there was Mei Lanfang fever. If you didn't go to Mei Lanfang's opera, or didn't gossip about Mei Lanfang, you weren't hip. There was even a Mei Lanfang brand of cigarette. After the show, people would talk about his performance, and smoke a Mei Lanfang ciggie.... Hey, this Mei Lanfang, he is so good, what a kick! Everyone smoked and watched the opera. What a fulfilling night!

Picture of Mei Lanfang cigarette.

Day scene archival footage of Shanghai, dissolve to night scene of Shanghai, Man Ray style, then picture of modern opera

Narrator
Western technology and sensibilities seeped into Shanghai theater. Mei Lanfang discovered elaborate sets, electric stage lights and plays set in modern times.

Talking Head of Lu Wenchin
(Subtitle: LU WENCHIN family friend)
There was a masked thief. He tried to escape, hanging on a wire. Someone shot him. "Paw", he fell into a river. The water splashed on me in the audience. There was a real river on the stage!

More picture of modern opera

Mei Lanfang's portrait in a western suit. Footage of China in the '20s.

Narrator
By the time Mei Lanfang returned to Beijing later that year, everything was in a state of chaos. Shanghai had jarred his conservative, traditional artistic sensibility while major social and political upheavals dragged China into the 20th Century.

Footage of China in the 20s. Image of Mei Lanfang and "Modern Plays"

After thousands of years, the imperial monarchy system finally crumbled. But there was little to celebrate. Foreign opportunists and corrupt officials filled the void. Mei Lanfang was deeply worried about where the country was headed. In answer, he wrote the "modern plays," whose themes confronted the widespread injustice, Western influence, and role of women in the new China.

Mei Lanfang's pigeon.

But soon, the opera star realized that this mixture of delicate old styles with current political themes was awkward and unappealing. Despite the plays' success, he ceased production and returned to traditional Chinese art forms for inspiration.

Mei Lanfang painting. Ancient sculptures

Talking Head of Mei Shaowu
(Subtitle: MAISHAOWU Mei Lanfang's son)
He invited artists home and watched them paint. He also traveled around China and studied ancient sculptures. That inspired his stage design.

Shots of folklore costume drama stage.

Narrator
Mei Lanfang turned his attention to folklore costume dramas . These stories required rich sets and costumes based on images found in ancient paintings.

Ancient paintings. Mei Lanfang dancing in the clouds.
(Subtitle: The Goddess of River Lo)

Home movie image of MEI LANFANG and his pigeons.

Talking Head of Mei Shaowu
One of his hobbies was to raise pigeons. Why did he raise pigeons? When he was little, his eyes sagged and got watery in the wind. When he flew the pigeons, he trained his eyes to follow them and they became bright and clear.

Dissolves of MLF's eye movements

Mei Lanfang in Beauty Defies Tyranny.

Mei Lanfang
(sing) Angrily, I pull out my hair.

Old footage of George Bernard Shaw

Talking Head of Mei Shaowu
In 1933, Bernard Shaw visited China. He asked my father, "Why is Beijing Opera so loud with all those gongs and drums?" My father answered, "Chinese Opera began as entertainment for the masses . They had to use gongs and drums to attract the audience."

POV shot entering an old theater. Stars on the stage. Color pan shot of restless audience in the past.

Narrator
Despite their refined style, the plays were for the masses. A typical Peking Opera featured 8 short performances holding the biggest stars for the end, like a boxing match. During performances, men talked, drank and smoked. But when a star took the stage, the crowd hushed.

Scenes from "Drunken Beauty"
(Subtitle: Drunken Beauty)

Narrator
The Emperor tells his wife, Princess Yang, to await him in her pavilion for a night of festivity. Princess Yang waits and waits, attended by her two eunuchs, but the emperor never arrives. He's gone to visit his other wife in the Western Palace. Heart-broken, the Princess drinks to chase away her sadness. Mei Lanfang said:

Scene from "Drunken Beauty." continues.

Actor impersonating Mei Lanfang's voice

"One can see from the title of this piece that it mainly depicts a lady in her cups. However, it should be performed with discretion and not be over-exaggerated. The artist must keep in mind that here is a noble lady of the court getting drunk and forgetting herself in her loneliness and grief, not a woman of loose conduct behaving wildly after drinking. Only by interpreting it this way can one convey the spirit and produce a beautiful drama."

Footage of Mei Lanfang in different roles.

Narrator
There are three major female characters in Beijing Opera: martial women, virtuous women caught in tragic circumstances, and vivacious, flirty women. Most actors specialized in only one of these roles, but Mei Lanfang excelled in all three.

Footage of Mei Lanfang dancing, dissolve into her in a martial role.

Narrator
But Mei Lanfang was not just a bird warbling on a stage.

Liked the brave and clever women he portrayed, he would defy the foreign and domestic tyrants that dominated his China.

Photos of the Boxer Rebellion, refugees in the street.

Narrator
When Mei Lanfang was a little boy, the Boxers fought to purge China of foreign powers that had taken economic control of the country. Convinced they had the protection of Taoist gods, these religious fanatics felt invincible. But their rebellion against embassies and foreign businesses invited retribution. European and American troops looted the Forbidden City and went on a rampage, destroying tea houses, burning theaters to the ground, raping and killing. The atrocities he saw affected him his whole life.

Talking Head of Mei Shaowu
The foreign devils were always pounding on the door. My father was very young then. He said, "You have come so many times. Here you are again!" They pushed him down and went in to loot. So he learned to hate invaders at an early age.

Portrait of MEI LANFANG with his queue, then without his queue, entitled Memorial Photo of Mei Lanfang after hair cut.

Narrator
But he despised the corrupt Ching Dynasty as much as the foreign devils. Under imperial edict, Chinese men were required to wear a queue. In support of the Republican movement, Mei Lanfang cut his long braid and had his portrait taken with the inscription "Memorial photo after Mei Lanfang cut his hair." Newspaper covered the event and soon, the photograph was in storefronts across Beijing. Other actors took his cue and cut theirs, too.

Group Photo of Mei Lanfang with the Opera Guild and the Republicans.

Narrator
Finally the Ching Dynasty fell, and Mei Lanfang stood with the Beijing Opera's Professional Guild to welcome Republican troops as they entered the capital.

Scenes of marching troops, Manchukuo newsreel footage.

Narrator
But foreign pressure on China continued. By 1931, Japan controlled Manchuria and installed the puppet emperor, Pu Yi. Mei Lanfang was asked to perform for him, but refused. Instead, Mei Lanfang returned to Shanghai where he produced several plays that obliquely denounced the invasion, with stories of Chinese folk heroes who resisted the northern barbarians.

Scenes of troops continues. Photo of Mei Lanfang with a beard.

Narrator
Sadly fiction couldn't conquer reality and the Japanese invasion spread. In 1937 Mei Lanfang stopped performing.
When Japan occupied Beijing and Shanghai, the great actor escaped to Hong Kong until that island also fell. Like the time he cut his queue in support of Republican rule, Mei Lanfang rebelled by growing his mustache. The man who had played female roles all his life would now play a man in protest.

Footage of Japan. Photo of Miss Butterfly.

Narrator
The Japanese asked Mei Lanfang to perform Beijing Opera in Tokyo. They also pressured Miss Butterfly, a famous movie-star and friend of Mei Lanfang's, to act in a movie called "Butterfly Touring Tokyo." Both celebrities refused the invitation, placing themselves at great risk. Miss Butterfly managed to escape to Western China, still controlled by the Nationalists. But Mei Lanfang had to return to Shanghai to care for his family

Photo of Mei Lanfang's office during the war.

Talking Head of Mei Shaowu
The Japanese threatened him. They said, "Okay, you can't perform with the mustache, but you can still give a speech." But he still refused. So he took three shots of Typhus vaccine. He became very ill and lost consciousness. The Japanese couldn't do anything. He never helped them.

Newsreel footage showing the end of the war.

Narrator
Beijing Opera, like most things in China, was in chaos following World War II. But after not being able to perform for eight years of self-imposed exile from the stage during his creative prime, Mei Lanfang shaved his mustache and returned to the stage.

Mei Lanfang in "Beauty Defies Tyranny."

Narrator
One of the first operas Mei Lanfang performed was "Beauty Defies Tyranny." The play concerns a political schemer who promises his daughter to the emperor. The young woman is already married, but her father plots to kill her husband. Desperate with grief, the daughter fakes madness to avoid her fate.

Mei Lanfang
The nightingale cried from its branch. Blood and tears burst out secretly.

Narrator
Mei Lanfang said that he found this role extremely challenging because the emotions involved were hidden and complex.

Mei Lanfang
Father!

Male actor
Have a seat!

Mei Lanfang
Yes.

Mei Lanfang
"Returning to her parent's home, she has discovered that the fabricator of the plot against her husband is her own father. Under these complex circumstances, the artist should convey her internal conflict-intense suffering and the necessity to remain calm."

Mei Lanfang
Daddy. You are my...

Male actor
Daddy.

Actor impersonating Mei Lanfang's voice
"Why is it most important to depict these feelings? We are feigning already when we act a part, and the character in this opera is, in addition, feigning madness. We have to remember all the time that she is only pretending to be mad. She is not really insane, and this can be shown through her expressions."

Narrator
During his absence from the stage, Mei Lanfang may have lost some of his skill, but he had lost none of his prestige, nor his principles. Shortly after World War II, Generals Marshall and MacArthur invited Mei Lanfang to perform for them, but he declined the honor.

Still image of Mei Lanfang and westerners.

Narrator
But the cold shoulder This reticence he gave to the generals was quite a departure from his earlier embrace of the West.

Old footage of a steam ship on the ocean.

Narrator
Years before in 1929, Mei Lanfang and his opera company toured the United States.

Archival DC footage from that period. Old photos of Mei Lanfang in DC.

Narrator
The company received a lukewarm response at its first performance in Washington, D.C. Undaunted, Mei Lanfang and his backers hired a Broadway producer who launched a marketing campaign.

Chinese woman in Hearst Newsreel
Mr. Mei Lanfang takes the parts of women characters, but he is not a female impersonator according to the Western sense of the word. He does not attempt to imitate the real woman in nature, but rather through lines, and movement, he tries to create an ideal woman.

Photos of a Broadway Theater. Photos of newspaper and magazine.

Narrator
In early 1930 Mei Lanfang made his sold-out Broadway debut.

Title Card
HEARST METROTONE NEWS
CHINA'S STAGE IDOL WOWS BROADWAY
Mei Lan-fang, who always plays feminine roles, Is latest rage on N.Y.'s Great White Way

Narrator
The critics raved, strucked by his extraordinary ability to capture female essence.

They also commented on the symbolism in Beijing Opera; a man holding a whip means he is riding a horse, and a tour around the stage meant the actors had traveled a great distance.

Photos from parties Mei Lanfang attended.

Narrator
Like any international big star, Mei Lanfang got the full V.I.P. treatment. Two battling Socialites hosted parties for him on the same day so he had to cross Fifth Avenue, back and forth, to put in appearances at both functions.

Photos and footage of Mei Lanfang in San Francisco.

Narrator
In San Francisco, Mei Lanfang performed for the big Chinese community there who were already devoted fans.

Talking Head of Alan Chow >BR>In the 1930s, Eisenstien wrote an article about Mei Lanfang's popularity. At that time, Mei Lanfang and Chinese opera were extremely popular. He says that Chinese restaurants around the world -- in Mexico, in Russia, in America -- were all decorated with pictures of Mei Lanfang. Like my restaurant here is decorated with a Mei Lanfang opera theme, such as: Farewell My Concubine, Mu Guiying Takes Command, Fan Lihua...

Old footage of Mei Lanfang in LA

Narrator
Next stop, Hollywood, where Mei Lanfang was the guest of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, at their estate, Pickfair
Between golf games with Fairbanks, and trips to Catalina and San Diego, Mei Lanfang toured a number of the film studios, studying lighting and makeup for motion pictures. Hollywood producers like Charlie Chaplin were anxious to meet Mei Lanfang. But if he harbored high hopes for a big Hollywood splash, they were soon dashed when the studios realized that he was too exotic for American audiences.

Clips from "The Daughter of the dragon" and "Charlie Chan" series.

Narrator
No. The only jobs for Chinese actors were minor roles in naively racist B-movies like "The Daughter of Fu Manchu" and "Charlie Chan" series.

Clips from "The Thief of Baghdad."

Narrator
At a dinner party, Douglas Fairbanks apologized to Mei Lanfang for "The Thief of Baghdad's" racist depiction of a Mongolian Prince.

Title card: "We must make haste to steal her. The Mongol pig suspects us."

Narrator
But Fairbanks's guilt did nothing to change the status quo.

Title card: The Good Earth, starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer

Footage from "The Good Earth" of Yang Soo's character and her old husband.

Narrator
In this adaptation of Pearl Buck's classic novel, the old woman is played by Yang Soo, the 18-year-old beauty who was so adored when she introduced Mei Lanfang's operas during his United States tour. But the leading Asian roles were always reserved for foreign devils.

Photos of Mei in costume.

Narrator
But live, Mei Lanfang continued to wow parochial American audiences drawn to the forbidden exoticism of seeing a man perform as a woman. "Farewell My Concubine," a play he produced years earlier, prooved the most popular.

Title Card: in the style of old-fashioned Beijing Opera.

Narrator
In the third century BC, the King of Chu and his consort are trapped behind enemy lines. Their situation is hopeless, with no possibility of success. The concubine performs a sword dance to give her king courage. When she finishes, she slays herself. The king calls for his horse, and rides towards certain death.

Scenes from "Farewell My Concubine."

Footage from "Around the World with Douglas Fairbanks."

Narrator
A year, later Douglas Fairbanks visited China and filmed Mei Lanfang for his travelogue, "Around the World with Douglas Fairbanks."

Fairbanks with Mei Lanfang who is wearing a Beijing Opera Costume. They exchange greetings.

Mei Lanfang
Mr. Fairbanks, I'm glad you are here. I hope you enjoy your stay in Beijing. Come again soon with your wife.

Fairbanks
Mr. Mei, I'm so glad. Peking is great. I'll come again next year. OK!

Talking Head of Alan Chow
When Douglas Fairbanks went to China in the 30s, he has good intention. He wanted to introduce Chinese arts to the west. So he picked Mei Lanfang to present it. But he doesn't have any idea about the significance of Mei Lanfang's art. He did not do any research. He just put Mei Lanfang in front of the camera and shot. I don't think it's right.

Fairbanks with Mei Lanfang's family and friends.

Douglas Fairbanks
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the son of Mei Lanfang. He is going to sing a little song:

Photo of Mei Lanfang. Then footage of Mei Lanfang on the boat.

Narrator
Mei Lanfang liked his position and power but he was never afraid to speak his mind. He was always pushing for Beijing Opera artists to unionize and during his trip to the United States he said,

Actor impersonating Mei Lanfang's voice
"Socialists have an idea that workers of the world should unite. I would think that artists should do the same."

Old footage of the Soviet Union

Narrator
In 1935, Mei Lanfang toured the Soviet Union with his friend, the movie star Miss Butterfly, as part of a publicity tour when relations between the two countries were at a delicate point.

Period Footage of Russia.

Narrator
Soviets caught Mei Lanfang Fever, lining up to see him. Women screamed, even mistaking Miss Butterfly Woo for Mei Lanfang.

Footage of an opera audience outside of a theater where Mei Lanfang is performing.

Narrator
For three weeks the opera company performed in Moscow and Leningrad, where Stalin took a break from his intrigues to attended a performance, hidden in a darkened booth.

Photos of Mei Lanfang and other artists.

Narrator
Mei Lanfang communed with the Russian artists. Serge Eisenstein particularly liked the spare imagery of Beijing Opera. He asked Mei Lanfang if he could film a couple of dance sequences. Mei agreed, then Eisenstein warned him, "We are good friends now, but you will hate me after we make this film."

Clips from the Eisenstein film.

Mei Lanfang
Did you kill my husband?

Male actor
Guilty, as charged!

Subtitle: Rainbow Pass (1935)

Footage of a Lenin bust.

Narrator
Mei Lanfang returned home with a bust of Lenin . The Lenin bust could have been a portent of things to come.

Footage of people on the street welcoming revolutionary troops into the city.

Narrator
When the Communists took over China, Mei Lanfang stayed while the other rich and powerful fled to Taiwan.

Footage of Chou En-Lai and Mei Lanfang. Footage of Chou En-Lai and Chairman Mao.

Narrator
Shanghai. Chou told him that the Communists appreciated his work and encouraged him to stay in Mainland China. Like the Japanese and the Nationalists before them, Chou and his comrades recognized Mei Lanfang's usefulness.

Talking Head of Mei Shaowu
President Chou 's office was right around the corner from our house. They would slide propaganda scripts under the door. Such as "White Hair Woman" My father read them all. He had a certain understanding for the Communists. Right after Shanghai was liberated, he performed several benefit operas.

Wen Ruhua
President Chou En-Lai used to play women's roles when he was young. But he seemed to lose his sense of humor as he got older. After liberation, he told Mei Lanfang that it is not proper for men to play women or women play men. He hoped this will not continue.

Old newsreel footage of Mei Lanfang and Chou En-Lai.

Narrator
Communism did make its sacrifices to keep its duet favorite son and daughter. They let him play women and, contrary to communism's rejection of private ownership, he was given his own production company.

Talking Head of Lu Wenchin
Mei Lanfang's mother-in-law smoked opium. And the People's Government really respected Mei Lanfang. After Liberation, opium was prohibited. But the Communists gave her an exemption. She was permitted to maintain her special habit. They even supplied her with the opium.

Footage of Mei Lanfang performing at mines, factories and a hospital.

Narrator
He seemed a full convert to communism when he said...

Mei Lanfang
After liberation, I learned of Chairman Mao's speech in the Art and Literature Conference in Yenan. Till then I understood that art and literature should serve the worker, farmer and soldier. Not until I heard this did I find my real goal.

Footage of class in Chinese Opera Academy.

Narrator
In 1951 Mei Lanfang was appointed the head of the Chinese Opera Academy. The man who defied tyranny all his life now embraced the Communists.

Footage of Mei Lanfang performed everywhere, dissolve to cute young girls greet Mei Lanfang.

Narrator
As the ultimate valentine to Mei Lanfang, the Party produced "The Stage Art of Mei Lanfang," certifying him as a national treasure.

The Stage Art of Mei Lanfang Film title card in Chinese

Narrator
In psuedodocumentary style, the film recreates the illusion of a perfect family on a replica of Mei Lanfang's living room in a Beijing film studio.

Family scenes from The Stage Art of Mei Lanfang.

Film Voiceover
Mei Lanfang has a happy family. His son, Baojiu, and his daughter, Baoyue, are also opera singers. Sixty-one-year-old Mei Lanfang, cheerfully tells young people about his fifty years of stage life.

Footage of the shoot of Mei Lanfang's opera.

Narrator
Now over sixty, Mei Lanfang was still able to transform himself, albeit a little less convincingly, into vivacious young maidens and noble martial heroines.

Movie poster of "A wedding in the Dream," and then photo of Mei Lanfang and Fei Mu.

Narrator
Even in 1948, the year before the communist takeover, Mei Lanfang was working with leftist filmmaker, Fei Mu. His opera, "A Wedding in the Dream," would make history as the first Chinese color feature film.

Footage of "Wedding in a Dream": Mei Lanfang's character is felled by an arrow.

Narrator
This was not a propitious beginning for Chinese color films. Lacking proper facilities, the director was forced to develop the film in a bathtub. The images turned out blurry and the sound was sub-standard.

Color footage of a wedding in the dream continues

Narrator
In the 13th century, a nobleman's wife is kidnapped by northern invaders and forced to promise to marry her captor. Refusing, she flees to the countryside and is saved by a Buddhist nun. In her poor but protected new home, she dreams of her noble husband and their wedding day. Finally, her husband comes to her rescue, only to have her die in his arms.

Footage of Mei Lanfang's Chinese Communist Party Application Thesis.

Subtitle: Chinese Communist Party Application Thesis

Narrator
In hindsight, the film parallels Mei Lanfang's relationship with the communist party. His wedding with communism was just a dream.

Photos of Mei Lanfang swearing allegiance to the Communist Party when he became a member. Footage of dying flowers.

Narrator
In 1959 Mei Lanfang joined the Party. Against doctor's orders, he worked at a breakneck pace, planning an extensive tour of Western China. On August 8th, 1961, he died of a heart attack.

Footage of Mei Lanfang's funeral. His family by his coffin.

Narrator
His funeral would be his last honor.

Photo of Mei Lanfang dissolved to news footage of Red Guards.

Narrator
The Cultural Revolution declared Mei Lanfang decadent. The Red Guards looted his house, even smashing his bust of Lenin, Communism's now discredited founder.

Talking Head of Mei Shaowu
Red guards dragged my mom into the yard and criticized her. They even cut her hair.

Mei Lanfang's statue.

Narrator
After years of adulation and reverence, Mei Lanfang's art is considered poison.

Stills of Jiang Ching. Then footage of Socialist themed operas.

Narrator
Jiang Ching, Madame Mao, passionately criticized Mei Lanfang, saying that his art celebrated Feudalistic values. She then produced eight revolution-themed operas, These were a mixture of socialist ideology and modern realism, stitched together with techniques from western ballet and Chinese Opera.

Subtitle: Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy

Narrator
From 1966 to 1973, these were the only plays that companies were allowed perform. Ironically, Mei Lanfang had tried this combination fifty years earlier with his "modern plays." He had the good sense to realize that Beijing Opera was too stylized to blend with modern day political rhetoric.

Male actor
From today, we'll follow the Communist Savior. He's giving the nation a new face. (Your village will be prosperous, like my home town. Ten thousand years of the good life is on the way.)

Narrator
Mai Lanfang's actor son, Mei Baojiu managed to avoid being exiled to the countryside for re-education, but he could no longer perform. Instead he was lucky to hold on to a job hanging lights for the new socialist operas.

Narrator
Like his father, Mei Baojiu could not perform for eight vital years of his performing life.

Contemporary scene of birds flying over Mei Lanfang's house.
Subtitle: Beijing, 1998

Exterior of a modern building: Chang-an Theater
Subtitle: Changan Theater

Narrator
Mei Lanfang used to perform in this famous theater. Recently, a Hong Kong entrepreneur converted it into a multi-attraction entertainment center.

Interior shots of the entertainment center: Video arcade, discotheque, night clubs, then, the entrance of the Beijing Opera theater.

It's the end of an opera. A sparse audience claps weakly.

Name card: Song Xiaochuan / male role actor

Song Xiaochuan
In Changan Theater, there are matinees for true opera fans every day. But for evening performances, the theater signed contracts with opera troupes to entertain the tourists. Last year, they played 100 performances of "New White Snake" . This year, there was "Mei Melody," the greatest hits of Mei Lanfang.

Theater announcer
Next, the Chang School disciple Wen Ruhua will sing.

Title card: Hu Guang Theater

Theater announcer
Wen Ruhua will sing "Spring and Autumn Rendez-vous."

Name Card: Wen Ruhua / female role actor

Wen Ruhua
I remember when I was little, in the 50s, after we saw an opera performance, we were so excited we couldn't sleep that night. It's just like today when people see a great soccer game. But at the opera, many fall asleep. It can't keep their attention.

Alan
Although Mei Lanfang has been gone a long time, his art has passed on generation after generation. Until today, our young artists adopted Mei Lanfang's art in their movies, in their paintings, in their dance, and especially in their theater. The Mei School is a very profound style. He was a visionary artist. If Mei Lanfang could see how his art lives on, I believe he would be very happy and smile in heaven.

Scenes from Farewell My Concubine.
Subtitle: Farewell my Concubine (1993)

Narrator
"Farewell My Concubine" by Chen Kaige, portrays the lives of two Beijing Opera stars. Although the film, which won the Palm D'Or at Cannes, brought international renown to Chinese Cinema and Beijing Opera, Mei Lanfang's family are not fans. The hero, loosely based on Mei Lanfang, does not resist the Japanese, and perhaps even more disturbing to family members, the main character is gay.

Scenes of the "Big Four" and "Little Four."

Talking head of Song Xiaochuan
In the past there were actors known as the "Big Four" and the "Little Four." They all played women. That's why the movie would show this subject. But it makes female role actors fear that everyone assumes that they are gay. In Beijing Opera community, few people accepted this film. Personally, I like it.

Scenes from Farewell My Concubine.

Wen Ruhua
Like Lesley Chang in Farewell My Concubine, I don't think you can generalize. You can find feminine men in real life -- in the factories, among intellectuals -- who may seem perverted. However, in Chinese Opera, men portray women through voice and form. In real life, I have a son. I have a wife. Some people think if a man plays a women, he must be like a woman off the stage. I don't think that's true. Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina. (Chao Shuechin wrote Lin Daiyu.) Did Tolstoy turn into a woman, and become Anna Karenina. I don't think so.

Name Card: Goldstar / Dancer and choreographer

Goldstar
It might have something to do with China's culture and history. We've barely recovered from the cultural revolution! Who cares whether you are homosexual, heterosexual, or animal-sexual? The Chinese are neutral on the homosexual issue, including the police and laws. As long as you don't hurt others, it's your own business.

Goldstar's Dance: Drunken Beauty forever.
Subtitle: Drunken Beauty Forever

Narrator
"Drunken Beauty Forever," Goldstar's autobiographical dance performance about her sex change, confronts the gender issues Mei Lanfang could only hint at. She describes it as an expression of her transformation and how she fits into modern Chinese society since becoming a woman.

Dissolve to Scenes from a gay parade
Sign: Heritage of pride, lesbian & gay pride, New York City

Alan plays swords dance

Dissolve into Mei Lanfang plays swords dance

Narrator
While purists worry about Beijing Opera's decline, it could be that more adventurous artists like Goldstar and Alan Chow will bring Beijing opera to a wider audiencebe. Keep Mei Lanfang's legacy and art form alive.