In one recorded anecdote, the two forty-something performers compared hair color with Chaplin complaining about his greying temples and Mei Lanfang’s still youthful appearances. When Charlie Chaplin - then at the peak of his popularity - arrived in Shanghai in 1936, Mei Lanfang was on hand to greet him. He dined with fellow international A-Listers like Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. He was a pre-modern superstar commanding high performance fees (and, like today’s stars, wasn’t above doing corporate appearances if the price was right.) Seeing Mei Lanfang perform became as essential for visitors to Beijing as walking the Great Wall or taking in the Temple of Heaven. Selling out halls and becoming something of a sex symbol, a 20th-century prototype of the xiao xianrou (“little fresh meat”: fresh-faced, young male celebrities), adored by Japanese girls. His first taste of international stardom came when he toured Japan at just 25 he then returned to the country for another tour five years later in 1924.

He began his training early and made his professional debut in 1905. Orphaned at the age of 15, he was raised by family members, including a musical uncle.

Both his father and grandfather had been in the theater. Mei Lanfang (the name he adopted for the stage) came from a family of actors. Popular demand forced promoters to find a bigger venue to accommodate all of the people who flocked to see Mei Lanfang. His 1930 performances in New York introduced America to the dazzling costumes and exquisite artistry of Peking Opera. He was famous for his portrayal of the dan role, the elegant female archetypes. Sitting at an intersection in Beijing, not far west from the bustling tourist traps of Prince Gong’s mansion and the shores of Houhai lake, is a small courtyard where China’s first truly global superstar performer, Mei Lanfang, lived out his retirement from 1951 until his death a decade later.īorn Mei Lan in Beijing on October 22, 1894, Mei Lanfang spent over a half-century on stage, most of the time performing as a woman.

Shanghai Girls by Lan Lan