Beijing Opera The Drunken Beauty Mei Lanfang

Yang Yuhuan was originally the consort of Prince Shou, a son of the Tang Emperor Minghuang. Emperor Minghuang discovered her beauty and first had her made a Taoist priestess and then afterwards took her into the palace to be the highest ranking imperial concubine, his favorite among 3,000.

This Opera recounts the story of how Yang waited in the One Hundred Flower Pavilion for the emperor to arrive in order to drink with him.

When Mei Lanfang performed in this opera in the United States in the 1930s, his portrayal of the gestures and attitudes of the drunken concubine was so superbly convincing that it literally surpassed description, and was widely acclaimed by American audiences and theater critics.