Chinese Tradition of Gender-Fluid Performance

Chinese Tradition of Gender-Fluid Performance

For generations, Chinese culture has traditionally enjoyed and celebrated cross-gender artists.

By Todd Cornell

Peking opera is the most well-known of all Chinese operas, which finds its home in Beijing. But in Peking opera men have played the part of women for years. The practice began during the Chinese Feudal Society period (BCE 475 to CE 1840) when women’s roles in public were limited and during the Ming Dynasty (CE 1368 – 1644) when women were not allowed to appear on stage.

A TRADITION BEGINS

The tradition continued during the Qing Dynasty (CE 1644 - 1911), women were not even allowed to attend public performances. Peking Opera had become strictly a male-dominated art. However, since women play major roles in society and no opera or story could be complete without them, women needed representation in plays and operas.

The Chinese word “Dan” 旦 was the title given to Chinese opera female actresses, or “Divas.” As men began to interpret the female roles they were referred to as “Nan Dan” 男旦, “male Diva.” Nan Dan were not only expected to look like women, they were expected to take on the actions, habits, and mindset of women as well. The most successful Nan Dan experienced trained for years. In the moment he put on female clothing, there was no differentiating him from a “real” woman. In fact, Nan Dan even took on the roles of women who accompanied men in drinking and socializing.

The most renown of all Nan Dan was Mei Lanfang 梅兰芳 (April, 1915 to August, 1961). Born in Beijing, he travelled the world to share the tradition of Nan Dan. Over the years, Mei Lanfang established the Mei School of Nan Dan, which collected a trove of knowledge on the practice.

NAN DAN NO MORE

Once the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the practice of Nan Dan began to fade. Once again, women appeared on stage welcoming more equal status compared to the traditional feudalistic social practices.

Now, after decades, the art of Nan Dan has encountered a resurgence through the talent of a man named Li Yugang. His Nan Dan name, 玉刚, Jade Steel, reveals a sense of balance between yin and yang.

In 2006 Li Yugang participated in a Chinese talent show called “Star Beams” where he first captivated the audience with his song and intimation. Despite the performance receiving some criticism, Li Yugang sparked the traditional memory of an art form not seen on stage for generations.

For years, Li Yugang researched and perfected the Chinese tradition of Nan Dan connecting with the spirit of Peking Opera. He had touched the heart of his culture and the people of his country through the expression of an art that had all but been forgotten.

Once the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the practice of Nan Dan began to fade.

PASSION-FILLED JOURNEY

Many see Li Yugang as an overnight sensation, but his story includes a long journey of sleepless nights and emotional challenges. After graduating high school, he was accepted into a college of performing arts, but because of his family’s financial struggles, was unable to afford tuition. Nonetheless, he embraced his desire to revive the traditional art form. In following his dreams, Li Yugang experienced periods of homelessness and confusion. He took odd jobs. He spent nights at the Karaoke singing popular songs. He perfected high notes as he experimented with songs from Peking Opera sung by Mei Lanfang and other famous Nan Dan.

The conflicting emotions he experienced to learn the Nan Dan tradition nearly caused him to take his own life. Li Yugang left his rural home in northeast China for Beijing because he knew that if he would find success it would be where the Nan Dan had been revered before. Yet each trip home, Li Yugang struggled to hide his reality from his family, to the point that he would leave costumes in a train station locker when visiting his family’s village. He feared them finding women’s clothing in his luggage.

In 2006, still wanting to hide from his parents, he opened up to his older sister about the “Star Beams” competition. Finally, he decided on a less invasive way. “I understood my family and the place I grew up, no one would believe that I am doing this –performing as a Nan Dan,” he said.

Li Yugang left his rural home in northeast China for Beijing because he knew that if he would find success it would be where the Nan Dan had been revered before.

SUCCESS AWAITS

The night of the competition, his sister called her mother suggesting she come to her home to watch the competition. She didn’t recognize her son on TV because she saw a woman. His sister asked her mother what she thought of the performance, “She’s a good singer and performer,” her mother replied. Her daughter then admitted the performer was her little brother, Yugang. Li Yugang’s mother looked again and recognized her son. Through the excitement she also understood the challenges and difficulties her son had faced over the years.

It was through hard work and persistence that Li Yugang succeeded at reviving a traditional Chinese art, an expression of what many would consider cross-gender. And he achieved it in a culture remembering their love for the tradition of Nan Dan, an art that Li Yugang breathed back to life. Li Yugang has realized a contemporary expression of a traditional form of art based on stories of flowers and women passed down from dynasties of the past. His every hand gesture, dip of the head, and elusive glance takes his audience on a journey back to days of glamour and sublime expression in the depths of the Chinese soul.

Following multiple international performances including the Sydney Opera House in 2002; in 2009, Li Yugang was recognized as a premier performing artist in China.