Why did Xu Xian play a woman in The Legend of the New White Snake?

The reason of the masses is: because the actors' acting skills were not enough at that time, the actors' water quality, audience appreciation and popularity were not enough, they could not play the role of Xu Xian, but the actress who served as Xu Xian met the above requirements.

The personal reasons are as follows: At that time, the actors were all novices and lacked acting skills, but the actress's appearance was very consistent with Xu Xian, much like Xu Xian's weak and masculine appearance.