A man holds a message that reads "Master Mei Baojiu, we miss you" while lining up to pay his respects to the late Peking Opera artist. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

Mei Baojiu was born in Shanghai in 1934 and is the ninth child of Mei Lanfang. He is also the head of Mei Lanfang Peking Opera troupe in Beijing Peking Opera Theater and has been behind such masterpieces as Farewell to My Concubine, Drunkened Concubine, and Lady General Mu Takes Command.

As an inheritor of Mei school, he began to learn Peking Opera at 10 years old, staging his first performance at 13, and performed with the founder of Mei School Mei Lanfang at 18 years old.