A golden helmet decorated with beaded strands and pom-poms, white silk embroidered with peacocks and peonies, and ancient costume charts in English and Chinese placed side by side, each item tells the story of a historic cultural encounter nearly a century ago.

At the China Institute Gallery in New York, The Dancing Goddess: Mei Lanfang in America revisits the legendary 1930 North American tour of Mei (1894-1961), which introduced Peking Opera to mainstream audiences in the United States.

On view from March 12 to July 12, the exhibition brings together stage costumes, rare photographs, archival footage and original performance props.

Most of the objects in the exhibition are on public view in the US for the first time, on loan from the Chinese National Academy of Arts in Beijing, the world's foremost archive of Mei Lanfang memorabilia, according to the China Institute of America.

The exhibits highlight the contributions of the Chinese opera master Mei, an artist who preserved tradition and embraced innovation in cultural and artistic exchange between China and the US.

The exhibition also explores how his visit to Broadway influenced and reshaped his presentation of Peking Opera through encounters between Eastern and Western cultures.

When Mei arrived in the US in 1930, few Americans had ever seen Peking Opera. His tour across major cities, including New York, Washington, Chicago, and San Francisco, sparked widespread curiosity about Chinese theater and culture.

His performances attracted packed theaters and extensive media coverage, inspiring conversations among artists, critics and intellectuals about new possibilities in theater and performance. The exhibition features archival newspapers and commentary from American critics, who described Mei's performances as both mysterious and mesmerizing, introducing audiences to an art form that blended singing, dance, and stylized acting in ways unfamiliar to Western theater.

"Mei's performance was an act of translation and adaptation," says Wang Kui, director of the Opera Research Institute at the Chinese National Academy of Arts.

Best known for portraying dan, or female roles, Mei combined elegant choreography with expressive acting, creating a theatrical language that resonated even with audiences who did not understand Chinese. His performances demonstrated that artistic expression could transcend linguistic and cultural barriers, Wang tells China Daily.

"Mei has become a cultural ambassador bridging the East and the West. He is an embodiment of beauty," Wang says. "Even after 100 years, the colors and aesthetics of his work have not diminished."