摘要：In 1923, Wu Ruiyan, a schoolgirl at the Beijing People＇s Art drama School, starred in a play titled Hero and Beauty, written by Chert Dabei. This was the first joint performance of male and female performers in the history of Chinese drama. The incident immediately triggered a debate in the Morning Newspaper Supplement between a group of middle-class intellectuals concerning ＂female involvement in art performances＂. This paper sees the boom in female participation in politics in the 1920s, as well as the ＂improvement in traditional drama＂ during the early republican period in China as the reasons behind the discussion. This incident shows how the New Cultural Movement shaped intellectuals＇ views on females and art performances.