He hobnobbed with Charlie Chaplin. He was on good terms with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. His work deeply impressed theatrical visionaries like Vsevolod Meyerhold and Bertolt Brecht. The man in question was Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), a towering figure in the history of Peking Opera. Known for his lapidary performances, as well as for the refinements he made to the Chinese art form's practices and repertoire, Me…
SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:08AM on August 15, 2014