The Bearded Lady (s02e05: "COCOSANTI", Permorming Artist)

The art of drag, with its emphasis on exaggerated costumes and makeup, has gained mainstream popularity around the world, particularly over the last decade. And China is no exception. While drag in the West can trace its roots from Elizabethan England up to the underground queer scene of New York, drag in East Asia draws its own lineage from the Beijing Opera. 

As one of the more prominent members of the drag queen community in Shanghai, Cocosanti joins this week’s episode of Mosaic of China to discuss the meaning of drag, her own personal journey as an artist, and the way in which drag queens can teach us all that… it’s OK to be a little weird.