Memoirs of Mei Lanfang (Vol. 1 and 2)

Author: Mei Lanfang, Xu Jituan, Xu Yuan, Zhu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The Mei Lanfang Performance System is one of the three major performance systems in the world of arts. "Mei School Art" is regarded as a "landmark" in the history of Chinese Peking Opera development. Stage Life in Forty Years and Mei Lanfang's Literary Works theorized and solidified "Mei School Art" as a "world-renowned, unique" performance system. Mei pursued aestheticism and idealism, using aestheticism to promote his humanistic concerns. He was regarded by the great scholar Ma Yifu and Xia Chengtao as the "theater saint of the 20th century." The "Mei Lanfang Performance System" was seen by the musician Mo Gneisen as a "symbolist system," and the film art master Eisenstein compared it to "the peak of Greek art." This art had no "mechanized, digital elements" but possessed "outstanding vitality and organicity."
Around the early 1950s, the renowned scholar Huang Chang invited Mei Lanfang to write an autobiographical memoir. Mei used the gaps between performances to discuss with Xu Jituan for about 2 hours each day. Xu took shorthand notes, which were then sent to Shanghai for verification, refinement, and revision by Xu Yuan, along with illustrations and photographs, before being submitted to The Wen Wei Po for publication. Starting on October 16, 1950, it was officially serialized in The Wen Wei Po, running for a total of 190 issues. After further discussions, research, refinement, verification, and revisions, the book was published in two volumes by Pingming Press in 1952 and 1954, titled Mei Lanfang and Stage Life in Forty Years. The first volume was printed three times within a year, becoming a bestseller. The second volume began writing in 1958 but was shelved due to the "Cultural Revolution" and was only published by China Drama Publishing House in March 1981. The compilation of this volume was assisted by Mr. Zhu Jiaqi, a researcher at the Palace Museum, to help record and organize the reasons for reading this book: He is regarded as "an outstanding representative of the theater art of his time," as having "left an unprecedented spiritual wealth for Chinese Peking Opera art," and as "representing the peak of Chinese theater art development." John Mason Brown praised him as "a gifted, rare style master," Mary Wartkins, a famous dance critic, called him "a dance art that has reached the highest realm," and Stark Young, a renowned American theater critic, praised him as "the most perfect artist" and "an expert who has reached the pinnacle."
Recommended for the following groups of readers: scholars or enthusiasts of Chinese art history, scholars or enthusiasts of comparative studies between Eastern and Western performance systems, scholars or enthusiasts of "Mei School Art," scholars or enthusiasts of biographical literature, theater enthusiasts or critics, and middle and high school students.