May 27, 2006

Zhou Xuan was once the most popular actress in China's entertainment industry; described as the Marilyn Monroe of 1930s Shanghai or the Chinese equivalent of Judy Garland in terms of fame, talent, and off-screen troubles. Her tragic early death elevated her status from a movie star to a legend. Although her brilliant screen images were known to millions of fans, her personal life always remained a controversial mystery, and there was always a dispute about her real identity.

Her troubles started with her abandonment at birth. Born on August 1, 1920 into a Su family in Changzhou, Jiangsu, her original name was Su Pu. At the age of 3, she was swindled by her mother's brother, an opium addict, to another city and was sold to a Wang family, where they called her Wang Xiaohong. Later, she was again sent to a Zhou family, and they changed her last name to Zhou. They sent her to a local song and dance ensemble when she was around 7 and when she was 12, she joined "Bright Moon", a then famous song and dance troupe in Shanghai, where she took the stage name of Zhou Xuan ("Xuan" means "beautiful jade" in Chinese) and gradually rose in fame with her enchanting voice. At the age of 14 she was selected as the second most popular female singer of China, and then people began to nickname her "Golden Voice" Zhou Xuan.

Before long, she sang professionally and played some supporting roles in movies. Her talent marked her out, and soon she played lead roles and recorded some of the most popular songs of the day. Since 1935, she began her stardom in a series of films including contemporary hits like "Street Angel", "Dark Night", "Night Inn", "Menglijun", "Recall to Jiangnan" and others. Dubbed "the forerunner of the new realism genre", "Street Angel"(1937), set in 1930s China, depicts the life of down-and-outs scraping an existence at the bottom of the social ladder. In the movie, she portrayed a female singer who despite of suffering great insult, still held an aspiration toward future. She sang two of her most memorable songs: "Wandering Singing Girl" and "Song of the Four Seasons". The film soon turned out to be a great success. What is more, the two theme songs that she sang also enjoyed long lasting popularity. From then on, she became one of the top female singer-actresses in China. Considered the first pop diva in modern China, in 1945, she gave three solo sold-out concerts in Shanghai and ticket prices were sky-high.

After the war was over, she was invited to shoot films in Hong Kong. In 1947, her fabulous performance in the flick "Recall to Jiangnan", in which she vividly played two totally different types of women (an innocent county girl plus a spoiled party girl) at the same time, pushed her into the spotlight again. Gradually, her name became a trademark to guarantee a box-office hit. And her popularity soon spread beyond China's borders into the whole of Southeast Asia.

She continued her singing and acting careers throughout the war years and by 1949 had recorded over 200 records (of which 114 were for movies) and performed in 43 films. She was the most famous singer of this period. And her masterpiece "When Will You Come Back Again?" has lasted for generations. To this day, her songs still remain a staple in many Golden Oldies collections in Mandarin popular music. Her success was a combination of both her natural talent and hard work. She was among the first women in China to use a microphone when singing, and by doing so she not only saved energy but also developed her unique singing style: soft and sweet. Her frail but eminently musical voice captured the hearts of millions of Chinese of her time.

People who were familiar with her all agreed that she was a simple, tender traditional Chinese woman, who may be too introverted to be a movie star as she seldom attended parties and was very serious about love affairs. Yet, her love road proved to be a tough one. Her love life was as dramatic as any of her scripts, including the birth of two out-of-wedlock sons fathered by two lovers. In 1938, she married Yan Hua, a singer and actor. But their marriage did not last long and they divorced in 1941. The gossip magazines reported on her miscarriage and attempted suicide. But there was also lots of hard work: stage and radio performances, along with sixteen starring movie roles between 1939 and 1941. She was largely absent from the screen during World War II, and in 1946 made the move south to Hong Kong. Between 1946 and 1949, she made eight movies in the colony and another two in Shanghai. In Hong Kong, she had an affair with a businessman, which floundered. In 1951, she was back in Shanghai making her first film in the recently established People's Republic when she suffered a nervous breakdown. The movie, her last, was never completed. A failed marriage, a broken love affair and an obsession with getting back to the top in movies unbalanced her. Her psychiatric problems worsened after she returned to Shanghai in the early 1950s, and in 1957 she contracted and died from encephalitis (though there were also rumors of suicide).

Over the years, there have been novels, movies, television series and musicals that have sought to depict the rise and fall of this star. A multimedia musical about her life boasts a star cast to strike a good balance between old classics and new works, moving many in the audience to tears. Yi Nengjing, who is a versatile Taiwanese artist with the manner and temperament quite close to Zhou, plays the title role. Yi sings about 20 of Zhou's trademark songs, including her most popular "Wandering Singing Girl" and "Song of the Four Seasons". Her story will also be retold in a 40-part TV drama now being shot in Shanghai. The shooting began in late March and is expected to be finished next year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Zhou's death. Cecelia Cheung will play the lead role of Zhou.

RELATED

Movie

Music