Of mainland China's Grade 1 per forming artists, 95 % were Peking Opera artists. Their status was high and so was their pay: stars like Ma Lianliang and Zhou Xinfang drew salaries approaching RMB2000 a month, at a time when ordinary manual workers only took home about RMB60.
在大陸藝術一級演員中，京劇演員佔了百分之九十五，地位高，工資更高，像是馬連良、周信芳等名角，在當時的一個月工資可領到近二千元的人民幣，而一般勞動者只有六十元左右。