The Mei Lanfang Connection

Mei Lanfang first visited America in 1930 to perform at the 49th Street Theater. On Broadway, he introduced Americans to traditional Peking opera for the first time. The artistic culture of the East, with its emphasis on facial expressions, colorful and complex garments, and Mei Lanfang’s elegant dance, drew full crowds every day he performed. Soon enough, he was moved to the larger National Theater and went on to San Francisco, Honolulu, Chicago, Washington, and Los Angeles during his tour of the United States. The visit was a remarkable triumph of cultural diplomacy at a time when Americans hardly understood Chinese culture. As renowned New York Times drama critic J. Brooks Atkinson put it, one who watched Mei Lanfang perform would “feel [themselves] vaguely in contact, not with the sensation of the moment, but with the strange ripeness of the centuries.”

Born in 1894 to a family of opera performers, Mei Lanfang entered the art form at an early age. After starting at the age of eight, he broke onto the scene in 1911 with his role as the concubine Lady Yu in the internationally acclaimed Farewell My Concubine. His elegant facial and hand expressions, introduction of dance, and use of beautiful attire made him extremely popular not just in China but internationally, including during his visit to the U.S. During the Second World War, Mei Lanfang refused to perform for the occupying Japanese forces and grew a mustache for eight years as a sign of resistance. After the war, he returned to the stage and performed until his death in 1961, leaving behind a centerpiece of Chinese culture as well as helping it break through to the West.

The China Institute of America’s exhibit, The Dancing Goddess: Mei Lanfang in America, a few blocks from Stuyvesant, presents an exceptional opportunity. It allows us not only to look back at the remarkable life of Mei Lanfang, but also at the development of cultural exchange between the United States and China. The exhibit displays numerous artifacts from his life and visit to the U.S., brought in from the Chinese National Academy of Arts to be shown in the U.S. for the first time. It begins with a painting of the thirteen members of the Peking opera who defined the art during the late Qing dynasty period. This comes alongside a simple setting, standard to that time, including a table and two chairs beside it. This choice grounds the visitor in the context in which Mei Lanfang began his career by showing us the minimalist standard of the time. Moving through the exhibit, the impact that Mei Lanfang had on the style of the time becomes more evident. Videos of Mei Lanfang and his protégés dancing are readily available in the gallery, showcasing his elegant dance and decorative background as a break from more static and minimalist roots while still staying very much in Peking opera. 

Further along stands his red silk robe, worn in The Drunken Beauty, in which a concubine prepares a banquet for the emperor, only for him to stand her up, leading to her drinking alone. The garment, complete with an array of blooming flowers, vines, and colors, is one of many examples in the exhibit of the beautiful dresses that helped capture audiences both in China and the United States. Importantly, this garment, among many others in the exhibit, was a key part of Mei Lanfang’s portrayal of female characters in plays. The exceptional part of Mei Lanfang’s acting was his genderbending—a common trope of Peking opera due to a ban on women from the art until 1912. Through his intricate hand movements and emotional facial expressions, as well as ornate outfits and headpieces, his portrayal of female characters became a keystone of his act. Finally, near the end of the exhibit is a collection of Western newspapers from the time covering Mei Lanfang’s tour of the U.S. that heap praise upon the performer. Charles A. Riley II, Director of the China Institute Gallery, detailed how impactful Mei Lanfang was to U.S. audiences. “You would go into a department store, and they would have Mei Lanfang fashion,” Riley said. “That’s how big he was at the time.” Mei Lanfang, through his interpretation of a heavily traditional Chinese art form, was able to build bridges between Chinese and American culture, which had been largely disconnected from each other, and was arguably the first international Asian performance artist. 

Most importantly, the exhibit shines a light on an important figure in the history of art and culture who is often forgotten outside of China. In the 20th century, Mei Lanfang was influential across textiles, art, performance, and cultural diplomacy, but to Chinese audiences, he did not hold the same reverential attention as his American contemporaries, like Charlie Chaplin. For Stuyvesant students, Riley framed it as a question worth contemplating: “And then maybe there’s the serious question: What happened? How come a lot of the people I know don’t know Mei Lanfang?” For those interested, the exhibit at the China Institute of America is running until July 3 with live performances of Peking opera on May 30.