Descripción conceptual de los objetos de diseño.

－ the great Master of Jingju, the bridge between East and West

In China, even if one has never seen a Jingju performance, one is sure to have heard of Mei Lanfang. Born into a family of Jingju artists (his grandfather and father were both dan actors; his uncle was “Little Skylark” Tan Xinpei’s principle accompanist on the jinghu). Mei started learning the art at the age of eight. His first performed when he was eleven years old, and became extremely popular in Shanghai in 1913, after which he enjoyed tremendous success for the remainder of his life. He was superb in all aspects: he had a sublime stage presence, an impressive physique, a superb singing voice, refined acting and exquisite bodily movements. He carried out artistic reforms in every area, including musical instrumentation, make-up and hair-dress. He continued Wang Yaoqing’s tradition, and carried it a step further. In Mei’s own words: “I sought advice from him [Wang], and fulfilled his unfinished work by following in his steps”.97 _He created quite a number of new plays, and gave refreshing new interpretations to the traditional ones; he even made attempts at staging contemporary stories, in which actors wore modern costume 時裝戲. In short, he gave the dan role a completely new look and elevated it to unprecedented artistic heights. In addition to all this, Mei was the very first to bring Jingju and Kunqu to the world, and won high acclaim by so doing.

In 1919, Mei Lanfang visited Japan, performing in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe. “This was recorded as the first time a Jingju actor ever set foot on the stage of a foreign country.”98 (This claim has been challenged by some) A Peking newspaper reported that “Japanese artists were keen to imitate Mei’s movements and postures. They called it the Mei Dance 梅舞”.99 _{In 1924, Mei revisited Japan and achieved even greater success.}

In February 1930, Mei appeared on the Broadway stage. He was the first Xiqu actor to perform in the United States. He was then thirty-six years old. He had worked hard for almost eight years to prepare for this tour. But just before his departure, America was plunged into the Great Depression. Many advised him to cancel the trip － no more than three performances in New York could be expected, with nothing better than a

97_{My translation.Xu Jichuan,vol. I, p. 26.“我是向他請教過而按著他的路子來完成他的未竟之功的。”} 98_{Mei Shaowu, My father Mei Lanfang《我的父親梅蘭芳》(1984), p. 18.}

half-filled auditorium. After careful consideration, Mei decided to carry on as planned. He led a cast and crew of twenty-four, using the 150,000 yuan he had raised himself. The show was unbelievably successful. After the third evening’s performance, tickets for the following fortnight were completely sold out. As a result his performance was extended to three more weeks. After this, Mei’s company also toured other cities including Seattle, New York, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Diego and Honolulu. In half a year, they presented seventy-two performances, from both the Jingju and Kunqu repertoires.

Pic. 5100 Mei Lanfang in the role of the Drunken Beauty

Here are some extracts from the reviews, showing how Mei Lanfang’s art was seen in the eyes of western critics :

It is styled, conventionalized and as old as the hills. But it is as beautiful as an old Chinese vase and tapestry. If you can purge yourself of the sophomoric illusion that it is funny, merely because it is different, you can begin to appreciate something of exquisite loveliness in pantomime and costume, and you may feel vaguely in contact, not with the sensation of the moment, but with the strange ripeness of centuries.

– Justin Brooks Atkinson (The New York Times, 17 February 1930)101

100_{Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum 梅蘭芳紀念館編, ed., Private Album of Mei Lanfang《梅蘭芳的私家相簿》} (2004), p. 92.

101_{Mei Shaowu, “Mei Lanfang as seen by his foreign audiences and critics”, in Wu Zuguang, Huang Zuolin and} Mei Shaowu, Peking Opera and Mei Lanfang (1981), p. 54.

An actor, singer and dancer combined, and combined so that you never see the boundary between these arts, which as a matter of fact in Chinese theatre are indissolubly one. When you see him on stage you find yourself in some timeless region as lovely and harmonious as an old fairy story.

– Robert Littell (New York World, 17 February 1930)102

His voice, for all its falsetto strangeness, is of exceptional beauty.

– John Martin (The New York Times 23 February 1930)103

His make-up, that overlay of carmines and darker tones, is the most beautiful I have ever seen in a theatre…. The famous hands are curiously like those in Botticelli, Simone Martini and other painters of the 15th _{century…. incredible, trained in the} convention and dance of the Chinese actor’s art.

– Stark Young (The New Republic 5 March 1930)104

Pic. 6105 Beautiful face and hand of Mei Lanfang

Mei Lanfang possesses amazingly expressive eyes and a mobile face that registers with the utmost sensitivity each passing emotion.

– John Mason Brown (The New York Evening Post 17 February 1930)106

Mei was even more cordially received in art circles. He became friends with film celebrities, such as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. The academic world also showed great interest in his performances. Receptions or forums were held in Columbia University, Chicago University, San Francisco University and Hawaii University. The University of Southern California and Pomona College both conferred on him Honorary Doctorates of Literature.

Mei Lanfang’s influence continued to expand when he toured the USSR in 1935.

102_{Mei Shaowu, “Mei Lanfang as seen by his foreign audiences and critics”, in Peking Opera and Mei Lanfang,} p. 57.

103_{Ibid., p. 53.} 104_Ibid.

105_{Private Album,p. 2.}

106_{Mei Shaowu, “Mei Lanfang as seen by his foreign audiences and critics”, in Peking Opera and Mei Lanfang,} p. 53.

Stanislavsky, the great Russian master of the theatre, described Mei’s acting as “free movement guided by the laws of the art” – an insight much appreciated by Mei himself.107 Another master, Bertolt Brecht, then living in exile, saw Mei’s performance and subsequently mentioned this experience several times in his theoretical works. In an article entitled The Alienation Effect on the Chinese Stage (Verfremdungseffekte auf der Chinesischen Bühne), “he pointed out enthusiastically that what he had been groping for in vain for years had been raised to a very high artistic level by Mei Lanfang.”108 It is now generally believed that the Brechtian dramatic system shows the influence of Chinese Xiqu.

Today the Stanislavskian system, the Brechtian system and the Mei system are sometimes lauded as the three most important drama systems of the world, but it should be pointed out that “Mei system” is merely a term of convenience. It refers, in reality, not only to the accomplishment and artistic vision of a single person, but to the overall aesthetic conception engendered from a unique cultural and philosophical background; and to the entire performance system, which took hundreds of years to attain maturity. The greatness of Mei Lanfang, to be exact, lies in the fact that he brought all the features of this art form to perfection. His performance, therefore, reflected most splendidly and genuinely the true spirit of Chinese traditional art.