Borrowing Power and Joining Forces:Seeing"Mei Lanfang and Cheng Yanqiu's Competitive Performance"in 1946 from the News of the Republic of China
During the 1940s,an exceptional dynamic characterized the artistic relationship between Mei Lanfang and Cheng Yanqiu.Both artists endured a wartime hiatus in the 1930s-40s but then notably staged competing perform-ances in Shanghai in late 1946 and early 1947.Their rapport friendship or rivalry has been a central focus of prior re-search.In 1946,corresponding with these dueling shows,newspaper articles were categorized into four phases:invita-tions,pre-Mei Lanfang's debut,performance start,and competitive structure formation.This study streamlines the themes discussed across these phases,illustrating how Mei and Cheng partnered in Shanghai theaters,rallying opera performers from Beijing,Tianjin,and other regions.Together,they ingeniously employed a leverage and synergy ap-proach to counteract the declining trend of Peking Opera in the 1940s.
NETL
NSTL
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