In 1932, a voice singing Peking Opera could often be heard coming from a European-style villa at No.121 Masinan Road (today's No.87 Sinan Road). Following the voice to enter the villa, you would have seen a Peking Opera performer training his voice with elegant gestures and foot paces. He was Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), the great master of Peking Opera, who was a household name in Shanghai at the time.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, Mei Lanfang lived in that house for 27 years. It was here that Mei developed his own performing style, the "Mei School," which he showcased around the country and even overseas.

"Shanghai was really a fengshui baodi (land of treasure) for my father," the 79-year-old Mei Baojiu, the son of Mei Lanfang, himself an accomplished Peking Opera artist, told the Global Times.

Mei Baojiu (left) and director Li Xiaoping during a rehearsal of Tianguan Cifu

Mei Lanfang was only 19 years old when he first performed in Shanghai in 1913. On November 4, 1913, the teenage Mei made his Shanghai debut on Dan Gui Stage No.1, located at the intersection of today's Fuzhou Road and Hubei Road.

To Mei's surprise, his three days of performances brought the house down and local Peking Opera fans thronged to find out where this young player came from.

However, Mei himself probably felt both excited and nervous since everything was strange and new to him. Even the semicircular stage in the theater was totally different from what he was used to performing on in Beijing with two big pillars standing on either side of the stage.

A century later, Shi Yihong, a famous actress from the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe, is also excited and nervous. She is joining the commemorative performances marking the centennial anniversary of Mei Lanfang's debut in Shanghai, part of the 15th China Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Starting Wednesday and continuing until November 3, she will give five days of performances in Yi Fu Theatre on Fuzhou Road. The theater is one of the city's major venues for traditional Chinese opera, where Mei Lanfang performed on many occasions.

"My feeling now is exactly the same as Mr Mei's first time here 100 years ago," Shi said on the eve of the first performance. "I feel very excited because I know I will perform some of the same Peking Opera plays that Mr Mei also staged during his Shanghai debut."

Renowned Peking Opera singer Shi Yihong will perform on stage to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mei Lanfang's Shanghai debut. Photos: Courtesy of Lin Kai

Shi performed Baishe Zhuan (The Legend of White Snake) to open the commemorative event Wednesday night, and she is set to bring to life another two classic Peking Opera plays, Yu Tang Chun and Mu Ke Zhai. Both plays were part of Mei's Shanghai debut 100 years ago. Mu Ke Zhai was the grand finale and received a rapturous response from the local audience. Many major newspapers in Shanghai dubbed Mei "the No.1 qingyi (lead female role)."

"Before the final performance of his Shanghai debut, Mei Lanfang invited his colleagues in Beijing to discuss what kind of play he should choose to perform. Since they knew that opera fans in Shanghai prefer plays that place equal stress on the actor's singing and movements on stage, they believed that Mu Ke Zhai was probably the most suitable choice. The reception to the performance proved they chose right," local theater critic Shen Hongxin wrote in a recent memorial article.

"I will try my best to strictly follow the performing principles of the Mei School to present these plays, but I have to admit that the style of Mr Mei's personal performance is nearly impossible to master," Shi said.

Shi told us that when she saw videos of Mei on stage, she felt that his performing skills perfectly melted into every moment of his portrayal of the character he played, a great challenge for anyone else to imitate.

Shi will also perform a classic Kunqu Opera, The Peony Pavilion, together with the 72-year-old Kunqu Opera player Cai Zhengren.

Wen Sizai, a famous Peking Opera critic, told the Global Times that Kunqu Opera was also a favorite of Mei's, and he studied from a Kunqu master, Yu Zhenfei, almost every afternoon when he lived on Sinan Road. "And Mei also absorbed many performing principles of Kunqu Opera into Peking Opera to innovate Peking Opera," Wen said.

The 15-minute piece Tianguan Cifu (Granting Happiness) is a standard part of the Peking Opera repertoire and is traditionally staged as the opening play for a Peking Opera performance, predicting great happiness and good fortune.

"However, I haven't seen this old tradition on today's Peking Opera stage for a long time," Mei Baojiu said.

Wednesday, Tianguan Cifu was staged in Yi Fu Theatre to kick off the memorial event. Before the play, under the arrangement of Taiwanese Peking Opera director Li Xiaoping, Mei Baojiu walked on stage and performed a regular rite of a Peking Opera performance, also symbolizing the opening of a good event.

"Just as the line in Tianguan cifu says, 'an jiang zhe xishier yu houren biao,' ('I will pass this good thing to the successor'), it also implies that the art of the Mei School will be endlessly passed down," Li said.

Date: Every night until November 3, 7:15 pm

Venue: Yi Fu Theatre 逸夫舞台

Address: 701 Fuzhou Road

福州路701号

Tickets: 80 to 680 yuan

Call 6322-5294 for details