What on earth doesLao Mei (American)see in Beijing Opera?

When an American, traveling in China, is invited to a Beijing opera, and then asked by someone what he thought of the opera, what we hear, usually, is some superficial compliment without any significance. In other words, serving him something we treasure for its taste when he is visiting us, in our house, is one thing, but giving these tasty treasures when we go to his house, and then asking whether he likes the taste, we would get a result that might be completely different.

The Beijing opera has never performed on American soil after the 1930s when Mei Lanfang, a famous master of the opera, introduced it to America and opened a few Americans’ eyes. Later, Mei’s trip to America was glorified to a fever pitch by the Chinese media. Almost every eulogy imaginable was used to describe the trip, for instance Mei Lanfang was called Cyclone Mei: American people marveled at the beauty of Chinese Beijing opera, or the Beijing opera had conquered Hollywood, and so on.

In 1981, as soon as China came out of the “Cultural Revolution” and established a normal relationship with the United States, a cultural campaign was organized aimed at sending the Beijing opera to America. One goal was to demonstrate Chinese friendship to the American people through the opera. And it was thought to be important to remind the American people, who “are cultureless more or less,” of our ancient Chinese civilization, thousands of years old. And finally the aim was to perhaps produce another imaginary Cyclone Mei in the US.

Unfortunately, it seems that this Mei’s trip to America did not help the opera to take roots in American hearts, and Hollywood was not overwhelmed by the opera, seeing it by the standards of today. Nothing like the “beautiful scenes” in Cyclone Mei’s trip in a few comment articles published in March, 1930, in the New York Times.

The Beijing Opera’s second landing in the US, 50 years after Mei’s trip, received a very impolite comment from Mel Gussow, then a notable literary critic. Surprisingly, he wrote in an article in the N.Y. Times, a newspaper that had once inspired Chinese, pointing out acidly that the Beijing opera, through American eyes, is not at all a great drama filled with “exoticism” that American enjoy, but something obscure, uninteresting and difficult to understand. Naturally, this sort of comment did not appear in Chinese newspaper Reference News, so no Chinese at that time knew the truth. They mistakenly thought that the opera was as” glorious” as it had been 50 years earlier, and was winning a place in Hollywood.

Actually, there is no market at all in the United States for Chinese Beijing opera. In the words of an American critic, Beijing opera, needs “stimulus of the audience’s imagination” to be watched. There have been embarrassing moments when performing in front of Americans who get confused by the slow and subtle movements required in the opera. A clash of cultures. The audience applauded at the wrong moment, definitely not a handclap moment. By doing so, they diminished their understanding of the plot of the opera.

Chinese opera music is not easily accepted by Americans. “Cacophonous” is the word even used by some critics to describe the opera music, and this word hurts us very, very much because we are the generation that grew up with model plays and we are proud of the Beijing opera. To the long arias sung by a single actor, Americans expressed their misunderstandings, even vexation. They think that that single player wrecked their ears, like an alien attack, when s/he sings that aria for such a long time.

The opera costumes got fairer comments from the critics, although many put some sharp words in their critiques as well. Some added that the opera costumes seemed exaggerated to American eyes. A head-dress is more like a wind-blown hat, unable to stop wobbling. The singers look as if they are covered in layers of petals, and the scenes are too simple to be understandable. Props are more symbolic than real. For instance, one flag can represent a team of men, and two chairs a big bedroom. Americans are also confused by the insignificant players who walk through and around the scenes, and the movements of the leading actors also have them puzzled. One critic mentioned that in one play (what play it is, I, Lao Zhang don’t know either), a leading player walked from one end of the stage to the other, and then put a long needle between his fingers. Many American didn’t know what that meant. Some guessed he was practicing acupuncture, while others thought he might be about to open a door.

What is mentioned above is not what Americans complain about most, however. The plot is what troubles Americans the most when watching a Beijing opera. Most western audiences find it boring, because the plot of a Beijing opera carries neither mystery nor glamour. Lengthy monologues are really boring to western people’s ears. Most western people are not aware of the climax, when the plot actually reaches its highest part, because at that time they are trying to understand what the movements of the leading actors really mean.

Comparing Chinese Beijing opera to Japanese kabuki and puppet show — which one is more acceptable to western people? Many commentators have a bad mouth. They think that Chinese opera has no charm to attract western people, and that it is far less brilliant than Japanese kabuki, or a puppet show. Obviously, Chinese Beijing opera can only intrigue some American students who are interested in oriental art.

These are my reflections after reading the story of Mei Lanfang, published in March, 1930, in the New York Times. We Chinese like to report the good but not the bad, and we always filter out the negative things published in western media. What can we gain when the positive parts that make Chinese happy are picked up, and the negative parts that sound harsh, but can teach us more, are cut out?

Chinese people think that Beijing opera is the only big opera ever since 1930. They cheer as if they are high, as if they are still in a wonderful dream lasting for decades. I think this fantastic dream will come alive again through director Chen’s recent movie about Beijing opera.