Minutes of "Evening to Sum Up the Conclusions from the Stay of the Theatre of Mei Lanfang in the Soviet Union" at The All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS) on Sunday, 14 April 1935

In 1935, the Chinese male performer of female roles, Mei Lanfang, toured the Soviet Union to much acclaim. By way of conclusion, a panel discussion took place with prominent Russian stage and film personalities on lessons to be learned from the tour and from traditional Chinese theatre in general. However, the discussion minutes were subsequently so effectively suppressed by the Soviet authorities that they have been the object of myth and—at the most—of selective publication ever since. Below, the full minutes are published for the first time in any language, in a scholarly edition preceded with an introduction to their significance and history as a source.