Forever Enthralled MEI Lan-fang was born in 1894 to a family of Beijing Opera performers. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the social status of opera performers was no better than that of prostitutes. Although MEI Lan-fang’s grandfather, MEI Qiao-ling, was appreciated by the court, he had to perform on stage half-naked because he played the roles of women. After he satisfied the audience, what he got was disdain. MEI Lan-fang grew up in such a family and, like his grandfather, he also played women roles. MEI Lan-fang’s uncle told him that there was a punishment in the court which yoked the erred actors with a paper cangue and made them hold level a bow of water with their enclosed and raised hands. Whoever broke the cangue would be clubbed to death. A paper cangue became the symbol of the opera artists. They were subject to the possibilities of being killed by all kinds of “clubs”, and MEI Lan-fang was one of them.