Disappearing trend

The 200-year-old traditional Chinese art form, has four basic roles: sheng (male), dan (female), jing (painted face) and chou (male clown). Each has a number of subtypes. Consequently, nan dan is a branch of the dan roles.

The heyday of the nan dan genre was in the first half of the 20th century, when four male actors Mei Lanfang, Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu and Xun Huisheng were hailed as the "Four Great Dan" in the history of the art. They established the four dan styles named after them-the schools of Mei, Shang, Cheng and Xun.

The series has an illustrious link to this period. Bi Guyun, a veteran nan dan performer, now 89, studied with masters Xun and Mei, and was also a Peking Opera consultant of the TV drama.

At 11 years old, Yin left his hometown to study Peking Opera in the Beijing Opera Art's College, and became a student belonging to the Xun School. There were about 30 students in his class and Yin was the only male specializing in the nan dan genre.

"I started with imitating the movements of female roles and observing the female students' behavior every day. It was not easy but I was fascinated about the art form," says Yin, adding that he also has to stay slim to better portray female roles.

"Everything I do onstage is to create an ambience for viewers to evoke a certain image in their minds, such as a beautiful garden and a mountain. It's pretty much an actor-focused art form," he adds.

According to Yin, the style of the Xun School centers on portraying young, lively women, who are innocent and sweet.

"If you want to succeed as a nan dan performer, you have to master more skills than female performers, from a single eye contact to a footstep," says Mu, 36, who was born in Northeast China's Jilin province and started to learn Peking Opera at age 10.

Like Yin, Mu was the only male student in his class to specialize in learning to play female roles.

"Nan dan actors need to master skills which blur gender differences, such as using a high-pitched voice like that of a woman. But I am good at coping with the martial arts, which is an advantage for me," says Mu, who has been teaching at the Chinese Opera School Affiliated to Shanghai Theatre Academy since 2009.

At 15, when puberty saw Mu's voice deepen, he couldn't sing dan roles, so he focused on practicing martial arts.

In 2000, he joined the Harbin Peking Opera Troupe to be a nan dan performer, but it was a difficult time. "Some people thought it was strange for a man to play female roles as there are actresses to do that. All I could do then was to practice harder, because it made me stronger onstage," Mu says.

Luckily, Mu regained his tonal range in 2004. That same year, he was enrolled to study at the Beijing Opera Art's College, where he learned to perform in the style of the Shang School. From 2010, he has been learning with Bi, the veteran artist.