"The Japanese Mei Lanfang" is what they call Bando Tamasaburo V in the Chinese media, perhaps the highest compliment the actor could wish for. The most accomplished nandan of the 20th century — the Chinese equivalent of a Japanese onnagata, a male who plays female roles — Mei Lanfang was celebrated for his sensitive interpretation of the beautiful young girl Du Liniang in the Kunqu opera "The Peony Pavilion," a role played by Tamasaburo in a production currently showing in Suzhou in China's Jiangsu Province.
Mei was the first performer to bring Chinese opera to the United States and to Japan, where he formed close relationships with Tamasaburo's grandfather, Kanya Morita XIII, and father, Kanya Morita XIV. The tradition of the nandan, though, was one of the casualties of the Cultural Revolution.
"Nandan ceased to exist after the Cultural Revolution, and so we have to start reviving the tradition," said Tamasaburo in an interview last Saturday in Suzhou. "I believe the right conditions already exist in today's China. The method exists, and there are some people who remember the nandan of the pre-Cultural Revolution era who are still alive today.