10 of Shanghai's Most Famous Women

To celebrate Women's Day, we’re taking a look back at some of Shanghai’s most incredible ladies. Here are 10 you should know about if you don’t already! They were bold, beautiful and shaped the history of the city, and an entire century.

SHANGGUAN YUNZHU 

1920-1968

Shangguan Yunzhu was born in Jiangsu province in 1920. After making her first film debut in the early 1940’s she quickly rose to fame, eventually becoming an iconic and classic figure in Chinese cinematic history. Her most famous roles include “Crow and the Sparrow” “Myriad of Lights” and “Spring River Flows East“.

GONG QIUXIA

1916-2004

Also a daughter of Jiangsu province, Gong Qiuxia was born in 1916 and rose to cinema super-stardom after her lead role in “Father Mother Son Daughter.” Along with Zhou Xuan and Bai Hong, Qiuxia was regarded as one of the best mandopop singers of the 1940’s. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 87.

HU DIE

1907-1989

Also known as ‘Butterfly Wu,’ Hu Die was one of the most popular Chinese actresses throughout the 1920s and 1930s. During her time as an actress she performed in over 100 films, earning the title of ‘Film Queen’ in 1933 and even winning Best Actress Award at the 1960 Asian Film Festival for her performance in Rear Door. She moved to Canada in 1975 where she would live until her death in 1989 at age 81.

ZHOU XUAN

1918-1957

Born  in 1920, Zhou Xuan was easily one of the most popular Chinese singer and film actress of her time. She had an illustrious singing and acting career, finding major success in both endeavors. Her film “Street Angel” is considered one of the top 10 classic Chinese films of the twentieth century. Tragically, Zhou died in 1957 in a mental asylum in Shanghai at the age of 39, following a mental breakdown (and possibly due to encephalitis).

QIN YI

1922-present

In her prime, Qin Yi was considered to be the most beautiful actresses in all of China.  Born in 1922 in Shanghai, she became a famous stage actress during the 1940s, considered one of “Four Actresses” in old China. During her dazzling career as a gorgeous superstar, she was in 35 films, over 30 stage operas and 8 TV dramas. She’s still alive and well, living in Shanghai and 95 years old. 

Interesting fact: Premier Zhou Enlai once called her the "most beautiful woman in China"

LI MINGHUI

1909 –2003 

Li Minghui was an incredibly famous singer in old Shanghai who eventually became an actress. She is the daughter of Li Jinhui, a great Chinese composer and songwriter. She was in numerous high-profile movies until she abruptly retired from the industry in 1937. After her father’s passing in 1951 she became a secretary to  secretary to Zhang Shizhao (a famous scholar and writer during that time). She eventually passed away on December 9, 2003, at the age of 94.

Interesting fact: In 1934, Li Minghui married one of China's most famous athletes, football star Lu Zhongen.

WANG RENMEI

1914 -1987 

Wang Renmei was a famous Chinese actress and singer who had an extraordinary career during the 1930’s. She became an icon and household name in China after her film “Song of the Fisherman,” the first Chinese film ever to win an international prize. In 2005, she was chosen as one of the 100 best actors of the 100 years of Chinese cinema.

Interesting fact: She was nicknamed the "Wildcat of Shanghai"

PAN YULIANG

1899–1977

Pan Yuliang was a famous Chinese painter, known primarily for her bold western style at a time when it was rare to see such a thing in China. She studied painting in Paris briefly, then returned home and made a series of modernist works that caused controversy during the politically charged 1930s, mostly due to the fact that so many of them were nudes. She eventually moved back to Paris in 1937, where she lived and worked for the following 40 years.  

Interesting fact: Jennifer Cody Epstein's novel The Painter from Shanghai (2008) is based on Pan Yuliang's life, and has been translated into fourteen different languages.

EILEEN CHANG

1920-1995 

Eileen Chang (also known by Zhang Ailing), was born in Shanghai in 1920, and went on to become one of the most celebrated and influential Chinese writers of the era. She was best known for her stories of torrid love affairs, often taking place with the amid the backdrop of 1940s Shanghai and Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. Her most famous works include “The Golden Cangue”, “Love in a Fallen City”  and “Lust, Caution.”

Interesting fact: The poet and University of Southern California professor Dominic Cheung once said "had it not been for the political division between the Nationalist and Communist Chinese, she would have almost certainly won a Nobel Prize"

RUAN LINGYU

1910-1935

Ruan Lingyu (also known as Ruan Fenggen), was a famous Chinese film actress in silent films during the 1930’s. She began her career at age 16 with The film, A Married Couple in Name Only. She went on to star  in many well-known films such as “Wild Flowers”, “The Goddess” and “New Women”. After bouts with intense private struggles and distress, Ruan poisoned herself in Shanghai in 1935, dying at the age of 25.

Interesting fact: Her suicide note apparently contained a line "gossip is a fearful thing"

Related Articles