Mei Lanfang’s celebrity cards:
1. Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), whose real name is Lan, also known as Heming, nicknamed Skirt, Qunzi, and courtesy name Wanhua , the word Huanhua, also signed as the master of Yuxuan, the stage name is Lanfang, his ancestral home is Taizhou, Jiangsu. He was born on September 20, the 20th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (October 22, 1894), into a Liyuan family in Litieguai Xiejie, Beijing. He died of illness in Beijing on August 8, 1961, at the age of 68.
2. Mei Lanfang’s life was quite difficult in his childhood. His parents died young and he relied on his uncle's income as an accompanist to support himself. He started studying art at the age of 8 and performed on stage at the age of 11. During this period, in addition to learning Qingyi opera, he also learned Huadan opera, martial arts, Kunqu opera, etc. At the same time, he also watched plays and carefully compared and pondered the artistic essence of previous artists.
3. Mr. Mei Lanfang loved the motherland and the people all his life, and devoted his life to the cause of Peking Opera. In more than half a century of stage practice, Mr. Mei Lanfang inherited the tradition and had the courage to innovate. Meticulous and striving for excellence, he has integrated the essence of opera art into one body, created many beautiful and unforgettable artistic images, accumulated a large number of excellent repertoires, developed and improved the singing and performing arts of Peking Opera dan roles, and formed a unique style. A popular performing arts school, Mei School.
4. In addition to acting and practicing martial arts, he has a wide range of hobbies, especially raising pigeons, flowers, calligraphy and painting, and these hobbies played a great role in improving his performing arts. When he was young, Mei Lanfang's eyes were slightly short-sighted, and sometimes he would shed tears in the wind, and his eyes could not move quickly. Therefore, every evening at dusk, he would let pigeons fly in the sky and let his eyes move with the pigeons to seriously exercise his eyesight. Over time, the eyes become flexible, clear and expressive.
5. He believes that the costume colors, makeup, facial makeup, and stage installations of Peking Opera are closely related to art, and it is best to be able to draw them yourself. From 1913 to 1914, he went to Shanghai to perform twice. He formed a lifelong friendship with the old painter Wu Changshuo, and thus began his painting life. Please ask Wang Mengbai to teach painting first. Later, he learned to paint Buddhist statues from Chen Shizeng and Yao Mangfu, and learned to paint grass insects, pine plums, etc. from Qi Baishi and Tang Dingzhi.