Probably the world’s only female mask-changer (bian lian)

Apparently it’s taboo for a female to practise mask-changing, or bian lian, the 300-year old Chinese dramatic art, but Candy Chong, 19 of Cheras (above) is unperturbed. She’s probably the only female in Malaysia, or even perhaps the world, who’s a master at it and performing as a pro. To date, she has performed more than 50 times.

But what is bian lian? Performers of bian lian are able to change masks in quickly, in the blink of an eye in fact, right before their audiences.

Check this video of Singaporean magician Alex performing bian lian (after the jump):

The Star reported on 14th April 2007 that she did better than Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau, because he paid more than a million ringgit to learn it from masters in China, and after quite some time still haven’t mastered it. In contrast, she mastered it in 2 months, although admittedly, she had to toil day and night practising. She has her dad to thank: he “practically begged” a master from China to teach him the art for RM8,000. Then he passed on the skill to his daughter.

So how is it done? As with other forms of magic, she will not reveal. Even the type of material the mask is made of cannot be told.

I must say this is a good career move – such a rare skill made her calendar full – she has been inundated with requests to perform at various events, including wedding dinners & corporate functions.

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