Research Note: Nordahl Grieg and Mei Lanfang: Truth of Observation or “Truth” of a Creative Memory?

In 1927, the well-known Norwegian author Nordahl Grieg (1902–1943) traveled to China. Not long after his return he published an essay on Mei Lanfang (1894–1961). In this evocative essay he offered an enchanting description of Peking Opera and of Mei Lanfang, maybe one of the most endearing glimpses of this art in any Western language. However, it is not well known outside of Scandinavia, although it has been translated into Chinese in the 1980s and analyzed by Liu Zhen 劉禎 in 2017. In this research note I will briefly introduce Grieg’s essay, then examine the sources available to Grieg as well as information from the Norwegian archives about his activities in order to solve some puzzles about this travel sketch. Grieg’s essay “Mei=Lan=Fang” describes Peking Opera with artistic sensitivity. Yet the experience it describes was Grieg’s first time at a Chinese theater, and as Liu Zhen has pointed out, some of the details in Grieg’s report contradict what we know of Peking opera at the time. This raises two questions. First, what background did Grieg have for understanding Chinese drama? Second, how should we understand Grieg’s essay—as a realistic description of a night at the theater or an imaginative reconstruction? (fig. 1)