Memory of Shanghai IX: Shanghai Flavor

When we are travelling, besides enjoy the beautiful attractions, I think taste the local delicious snacks is a thing we must to do. In this chapter, we will talk about the Shanghai snacks.

                                                               Chapter Nine

           Shanghai Flavor: A unique flavor for you

There is an old saying that the food of a place can best reflect the local people's favor. How about Shanghai? Without doubt, Shanghai cuisine exposes local flavor. Are you ready to enjoy a food feast in Shanghai?

Shanghai Cuisine, which is not ranked among the four main cuisines of China, has comprised all the favors of the whole ranges of cuisines.

As Shanghai is a miniature of “melting pot” of various cultures and customs, there are only a few native Shanghainese whose grandparents were born in Shanghai. Most Shanghaiese’s grandparents were“immigrants” who came to Shanghai for a new life. They brought to Shanghai their native cooking styles, which enriched and enhanced Shanghai cuisine. 

Thus, it makes Shanghai Cuisine one of the most delicate cuisines in the world. It’s highly appraised by gourmets both at home and abroad. Now, people can entertain themselves with all tastes of cuisines without leaving Shanghai, for all“immigrants” have brought their particular style of cooking to Shanghai.

Shanghai Snacks

To meet the various demands of visitors from home and abroad, Shanghai has led the country in catering trade. The restaurants in Shanghai not only serve many different regional cuisines, such as Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Huaiyang, Beijing, Zhejiang, Henan, Hunan and Fujian foods, but also provide vegetarian Muslin and other palatable exotic dishes from Europe and East Asia, etc. 

Consequently, defining Shanghai Cuisine is a complicated task. Some say it is a more refined version of the cooking style of neighboring provinces. Others say that it absorbs features of all the culinary schools of China. And still others maintain that it is mere soup buns and red braised chicken.

In fact, the Shanghai Cuisine that evolved tends to be a mix of regional cuisines, with an emphasis on seafood, particularly freshwater fish as well as seasonal vegetables.

Standard Shanghainese dishes like Deep-fried Pork Steak and Fruit Salad reflect the Western influence. Old-style Shanghai food was distinguished by its thick stock, heavy sauce, moderate taste and natural flavors. Adopting local products, Shanghai Cuisine is characterized by its ample use of gravies, oil and brown sauce, which preserves the original flavor of the ingredients.

In particular, Shanghai snacks, which can be traced back to the Southern Song Dynasty, are renowned for their unique flavors. A wide selection of Shanghai snacks comprises dozens of pastries, buns, stuffed dumplings and rice and cakes, which are light, fresh, and tasty, and have long been popular among locals and visitors.

Nanxiang Xiao Long Bao

Refreshments and snacks from all over China and the world are available in Shanghai. Local snacks in Shanghai have their specialties and should not be missed. The following are some typical Shanghai snacks for your reference--

Xiao Long Bao: Shanghai-style Xiao Long Bao originated in the town of Nanxiang in the suburbs of Shanghai. The buns are traditionally steamed in bamboo baskets. People also give it is an English name – soup dumpling.

The fillings of Xiao Long Bao--the small buns are served hot in the bamboo baskets in which they were steamed, usually on a bed of dried leaves. The buns are usually dipped in Chinkiang vinegar with ginger slivers. Unlike other stuffed buns, or Baozi, found throughout China, the fillings of Xiao Long Bao are traditionally broth and meat, while other fillings are also available. The broth wrapped as the filling is the essence of this food. When you bite a Xiao Long Bao, the broth inside will immediately flows out. The delicious taste will make you become a greediness person who only wants to eat more Xiao Long Bao.

Da Zha Xie

Da Zha Xie: Da Zha Xie is a special type of crab found in rivers, and is normally consumed in the winter. The crabs are tied with ropes or strings, placed in bamboo containers, steamed and served. There few other artificial ingredients added to the dish yet it tastes fantastically good. Da Zha Xie is usually consumed with vinegar. Locals are also quite fussy about when to consume male crabs and when to consume female crabs.

Smoked Fish Slices: It’s an ideal menu for those who like highly spiced food. the Smoked Fish Slices (fresh fish marinated and spiced to taste like smoked fish) make a delicious, unusual hors doeuvre, while the strong-tasting Stewed Pork Flavoured with Dried Squid dish is offset by the vegetable rice to make a substantial meal.

Crab-Yellow Pastry

Crab-Yellow Pastry: this round yellow pastry looks like the shell of a cooked crab, therefore it is named Crab-Yellow Pastry. The main raw material for this snack is oil-mixed dough. The dough is split into small pieces, stuffed and squashed to form a flat round cake. It is then wrapped with a layer of sesame and finally baked in an oven.

The Crab-Yellow Pastry usually has a salty or sweet flavor. The salty pastries are stuffed with shallot oil, pork, crab or shrimp; the sweet ones with sugar, roses, sweetened bean paste or Chinese date paste.

Fried Stuffed Bun: fried Stuffed Bun with nearly 100 years' history is a typical indigenous snack of Shanghai. The wraps of the buns are made of semi-fermented paste, and the stuffing is made of pork, shallot, ginger, soy, pepper, and sesame oil. The stuffed buns are put in rows in a big pan and fried, being sprayed with water several times during cooking. Finally, sesame and shallot are sprinkled on the buns, and then the wonderful Fried Stuffed Buns are prepared.

fried Stuffed Bun

With a thin and soft wrap, a golden-colored and crispy bottom, and delicious meat, this snack tastes best when served hot. Fried Stuffed Buns were first served in many teahouses in old Shanghai. Special fried stuffed bun restaurants began to appear in 1930s. At present, there are hundreds of such restaurants. The stuffing is varied to include chicken, crab and shrimp.

Recommended restaurants—

Guang Ming Cun Restaurant: it was opened in 1948, is remarkable for dim-sum and snacks with over ten dishes awarded "Shanghai specialty snacks". Those snacks are highly appreciated including juicy chicken wanton soup, fired crabmeat stuffed bun and steamed pork stuffed bun. Some signature dishes are superb like crystal shrimp, peppery beef filet with honey, crispy duck, turtle and snake soup with herbs, eye brow-shaped crispy cake and milky date. The restaurant is popular with customers for its inexpensive piece, authentic taste, comfortable ambience and excellent service. 

Specialty: juicy chicken wanton soup, fires crab meat stuffed bun 

Lu Bo Lang Restaurant

Lu Bo Lang Restaurant: Lu Bo Lang Restaurant, located by nine-twist-bridge at Old City God Temple, has an archaic, elegant and peaceful surrounding matching the elegance of Mid-Pond-Pavilion tea house next door. It is well-known by carefully selected raw materials and meticulous preparations, highly praised by gourmands from home and abroad. The signature dish "osmanthus cake" is so sticky in texture that gets stuck on plate or chopsticks but not tooth and feels smooth in the mouth carrying faint fragrance of rice wine, which puzzled former U.S President Clinton who had practiced with chopsticks for one month. 

Specialty: eye brow-shaped crispy cake, sticky osmanthus cake, eight-treasure duck 

Wu Fang Zhai Dim-sum Restaurant: Wu Fang Zhai Dim-sum Restaurant was established in 1958. The pastries are made with five recipe-made natural herbal fillings, namely, rose, osmanthus, pine, lotus (or mint), hence the name "Wu Fang Zhai" (literally "five fragrance restaurant"). They are varied in seasons such as glutinous rice ball with red bean paste in Pure Brightness Festival, pyramid shaped sticky rice dumpling in bamboo leaves, Double-Nine cake at the festival, eight treasure rice and sweet rice cake in Spring Festival. The "three sweetness", namely sweet taro, sweet potato and sweet rice-filled lotus roots are most sought-after in decades. 

Specialty: glutinous rice dumpling in bamboo leaves, pastries and cakes 

--Shanghai is an ideal place for you to find out delicious food at every corner of its streets. Watering about various Shanghai dishes now? Or you have other recommended Shanghai snakes or good restaurants, please share with me. No doubt, I’m a people fancy of eating delicious tastes. 

Worship Tibet III: Mount Qomolangma

Speaking of Tibet, I think the Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, should be the first attractions you think. We will talked about the Mount Qomolangma in the chapter.

                                                          Chapter Three

                               Mount Qomolangma

Mt. Everest, also known as Mt. Qomolangma, located at the border between China and Nepal, its North Slope belongs to China and south belongs to Nepal. It means Goddess Third in Tibet, is the highest peak in the world. 

Mt. Qomolangma

The altitude of Mt. Everest is now about 8,844.43 m. (29,017 ft.). It is the dominant peak of Himalayas, the northern brae in Tingri County of Tibet and the southern in the Nepal. The area has 4 peaks above 8,000 m. (26,247 ft.) and 38 peaks above 7,000 m. (22,965 ft.), hence the laudatory title 'the Third Pole of the Earth'.
As the supreme point of the world, Mt. Everest is also blessed with many extreme wonders. The top part of the mountain is covered with snow all the year round. When the glaring sun shines on the mountain, the peak is just like a white pyramid miraculously transformed by the Goddess, leading us to imagine her semblance further. 
More often than not, the thick freely moving clouds and fogs, seeming as if a flag with the mast of the peak was swinging, will shroud the peak. This peculiar phenomenon of Mt. Everest is known as 'Flag Cloud'. An additional wonder generated here are the bright glaciers, where ices are formed into various shapes like bridges, pagodas and others.
You can also find miles of efflorescent rock physiognomy there, such as stalagmites, stelae, stone sword, and stone pagodas. The climbing pathfinders call this splendor at such high attitude 'the Largest Park on the High Mountain'.
The peak has been a holy climbing attraction for world's mountaineers. In recent years, more and more mountaineers start from the Everest Base Camp trying to conquer the world's highest peak while tourists trek to the foot of the peak to enjoy its beauty. 

Travel Tips for Mt. Qomolangma:

Mt. Everest

(1) Exploration of Mt. Everest is not suitable from October to April in the following year because of the chill weather; and it is monsoon in July and August, when it is impossible to see the Mt.Everest in the misty rain. So it’s the best time to enjoy Mt.Everest in April, May and June.
(2) You need to issue a travel permit before you go to Mt.Everest Camp, Zhangmu Port or Ali. It may delay you if you issue the travel permit in Lhasa. So it’s better for you to issue it at the local Police Office before you come to Tibet. The issuing procedure is quite simple and only cost RMB 2 Yuan. You can get it immediately. 
For the destination on the travel permit, you may have to fill it in like this. If you want to go to Mt.Everest you need to fill in the blank on the travel permit with Tingri County, Zhangmu Port with Nyalam County. You can also check it at the Police Office, which have map and detail information of the national boarder. 

Mount Qomolangma

If you have passport and valid visa to Nepal, then you don’t need any travel permit to go to Mt.Everest or Zhangmu. However, if you want to go to Tsaparang to visit Googe Dynasty it won’t work, you still need travel permit unless you have the valid visa to India or Pakistan.
(3) It is recommended to take picture of Mt.Everest afterglow after you check in at Rongbuk Monastery. Rongbuk Monastery is also a good place for overlooking Mt.Everest. There are only 25 kilometers straightaway between these tow places. 
From Rongbuk Monastery, take a 15 mins’ car or 2 hs’ walk across valley, cliff and odd rocks, and finally you will arrive at Qomolangma Base Camp enjoying the most beautiful view at the dawn or evening fall. The Admission Fee here is RMB 20 Yuan per one. There are about 3 or hours car drive away from here to Serac Groups-Serac World.
(4) You’d better wear anti-slip; endurable, cling-ground sports shoes with dentate tread.

Worship Tibet II: Potala Palace

In the last article, we have talked about the ocean of culture-Lhasa. When you visit Lhasa, there is a tourist attraction you won't miss, which will be talked about in the chapter-Potala Palace.

                                                              Chapter Two

                 Potala Palace-Wonder Your Wonders

High on Mount Moburi, in the west of Lhasa, stands the world famous Potala Palace. This amazing palace has the honor of being the highest ancient palace in the world, with its highest point reaching to more than 3,700 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Potala Palace was built during the Tang Dynasty of the 7th century BCE during the reign of King Songtsan Gampo of Tibet and is still considered a sacred site for many Tibetans.

Description of Potala

Potala Palace

Built as a present from King Songtsan Gampo to his bride to be, this thirteen-story palace has over 1,000 rooms and covers over 130,000 square meters. The stone walls measure 3 meters thick on average. Housed within this amazing stone and wood structure are articles and artifacts from Tibetan history, religion, and culture. Statues of Buddha, murals, antiques that are centuries’ old, and incredible works of art grace every area of this mountain top palace.

Design Style of Potala 

The general structure of the Potala Palace is broken into two parts; the Red Palace and the White Palace.

The Red Palace is the higher of the two sections and is made up of several chapels. Used as a house of prayer by the Dalai Lama, this part of the Potala Palace was dedicated to the study of Buddhism and the advancement of the religion. Housed within the Red Palace are several mausoleums of previous Dalai Lamas. 

Each mausoleum is built with stateliness and honor in mind. The mausoleum of the fifth Dalai Lama, located in the western part of the palace stands five stories high, is overlaid with goald, diamonds, pearls, and many other precious gems, and expresses the high honor the people had for this Buddhist saint.

Design style of Potala

The White palace is home to the current and successive Dalai Lamas and their pupils. Also located here are the offices of the Tibetan government, governmental assembly halls, and other official offices.

The original White palace was destroyed during the ninth century, near the end of the Tubo Era. The fifth Dalai Lama ensured its refurbishment during the late seventeenth century and, therefore, this structure pays homage to him in greater measure than previous Dalai Lamas or those that would follow. After the Dalai Lama built Norbulingka Park and named it the summer residence for the Dalai Lama, the White Palace became known as the winter estate of this saint of Buddhism.

Inside of Potala 

The Potala Palace is filled with elaborate works of art and murals that tell many stories of the Dalai Lama, the history of the Tibetan people, and depict different customs and traditions held dear in this beautiful part of the world.

Mural

One area of particular importance are the wall frescoes that depict the life and works of the fifth Dalai Lama, for whom the current structure owes its thanks. Also included inside the Potala palaces are other precious works of art, including ornate statues, sculptures, and Tibetan paintings.

Of all the ornate decorations located within these sacred walls, visitors should take time to visit the topmost hall. Called Sasong Langjie, this hall was built in 1679 and contains a portrait of the Qing Emperor Qianlong. An inscription on this portrait reads “A long, long life to the present emperor” is written in the languages of Han, Manchu, Mongol, and Tibetan. It is here that Dalai Lamas have come to pay homage every Tibetan New Year's Day for centuries as they pray for guidance and direction for the Tibetan people.

World Wonder and Pilgrimage Site

The Potala Palace has stood for centuries as a testament to the Tibetan people and their beliefs. Thousands of pilgrims from around the world come every year to pay homage to this grand estate and the symbol it stands for. Considered to be one of the wonders of the world for its physical structure and its importance in Tibetan history, the Potala Palace is admired by all who visit.

When Visiting:

Pilgrimage

To make your trip to Potala Palace a fabulous one, please consider the following:

1. Potala Palace is a protected site. For this reason, the government has limited the number of visitors allowed up the mountain each day. Tickets sell quickly, so it is best to book in advance. Once inside, visitors are allowed approximately 1 hour to visit the site before being asked to leave so many more people can enjoy the beauty of this wondrous site.

2. It is important to be in good physical condition prior to visiting the palace. The climb to the top of the mountain can be quite strenuous, as you are climbing up the side of a 300-meter-high (1,000-foot-high) hill. Go slowly and enjoy the view to avoid altitude sickness or other discomfort.

3. Modest clothing is encouraged, as this is a sacred site. Hats are not allowed.

4. Photography, video equipment, and other recording devices are not allowed due to the sacred nature of the site and the relics held within the sacred walls.

5. To ensure a safe environment for those who live here and those who are visiting, security checkpoints are necessary. Please refrain from bringing weapons, flammable liquids, and other prohibited items to the site.

Worship Tibet I: Lhasa: Ocean of Culture

Tibet, which is known as the most close to paradise place, is the places of Tibetan Buddhist. Lhasa, the administrative capital of the Tibet, contains many culturally significant Tibetan Buddhist sites such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang temple and Norbulingka palaces. In this article, we will talk about the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau-Lhasa.

                                                            Chapter One

                             Lhasa: Ocean of Culture

Lhasa

Surrounded by jagged mountains and steeped in mysticism, Buddhism continues to define Lhasa’s culture. Busy markets, sweet incense and flowing yellow robes all greet you as you take your first step into the city.

After spending hours gazing out of your airplane window at snow peaked mountains, the clouds finally open up to reveal a vast plain surrounded by mountains. It’s as if you have arrived in another world of clouds, mountains and color. Lhasa is the heart of this Buddhist land hidden away amongst the mightiest mountain range in this world, the Himalayas.

In Lhasa you’ll find religion blended into every aspect life—the city is the spiritual anchor of Tibet. Lhasa literally means“holy land”and it’s a well-deserved name. With many holy sites, Lhasa is an important place of pilgrimage for people from all over Tibet who stream into the city from far-flung villages. They’re easily identifiable with their prayer flags and prayer wheels. The signs of devotion abound throughout the land.

It’s easy to forget that you’re already at an altitude of 3,650m as you look at the towering mountains that surround Lhasa, but that’s why Tibet is also known as“rooftop of the world.” The 93m trip from the airport to the city follows the winding path of the scenic Lhasa River, families work in fields of barley and yellow canolo flowers as young monks walk along the roadside. Vivid colors are set against the mountains, surrounded by ever-changing clouds and the deep blue sky.

Lhasa itself is a noisy vibrant city, a mixture of old and modern. The city has an eclectic mix of people, Tibetans with their colorful clothes, Sichuan migrants with their spicy cuisine, as well as explorers, mountaineers and tourists from all over the world. There’s a saying describing Tibetans, “that if a Tibetan can talk, he can sing; if he can walk, he can dance.” This aptly describes their lively and vibrant culture.

                                           Potala Palace

Potala Palace

Over 1,300 years old, Lhasa dates back to the 7th century AD when the colorful Tibetan figure, Songtsen Gampo, built his palace in Lhasa. In 1642, the 5th Dalai Lama also made Lhasa his capital and rebuilt the architectural wonder, the Potala Palace, on top of the ruins of Songtsen’s old abode. Today the Potala Palace continues to dominate the Lhasa skyline and is the most visible of all of the city’s sights. It offers one of the best views of Lhasa and the surrounding area especially in the early morning. 

The Potala Palace is comprised of the White Palace, which was the living quarter of the Dalai Lama and the central religious Red Palace. It’s in the Red Palace that you can move through narrow corridors, dimly lit by many small butter lamps, to see the jewel-encrusted tomb stupas of the 5th and the 7th to 13th Dalai Lamas. The many chapels and former apartments give an insight to what life must have been like centuries ago in this theocratic sanctuary.

                                           Barkhor

One of the best places to view modern day Lhasa and its diversity of culture is in the bustling Barkhor, a section of the old city. Here, the Barkhor Market has all manner of goods from turquoise jewelry to meditation beads, colorful traditional Tibetan clothes and yak wool sweaters. Here you can watch groups of monks draped in their maroon and saffron robes mingling with Tibetans from remote areas wearing long boots, sporting daggers and large turquoise necklaces.

                     Jokhang Temple

Long streams of pious Tibetan pilgrims walk clockwise in Barkhor chanting prayers with their meditation beads, spinning their prayer wheels or performing full prostrations as they circle the Jokhang Temple, one of Tibet’s holiest temples. These devout pilgrims wear yak leather gloves and aprons to protect their hands as they slide over the rocky ground, their reverent prostrations atoning for bad deeds performed in the past. Prostrating pilgrims journey from all over Tibet to worship here.

Jokhang Temple

The Jokhang Temple, situated in Barkhor Square, is the noisy and colorful heart of Lhasa. It was built in the 7th century when Kong Songtsen Gampo wanted to build a temple to house two famous statues brought by his brides from Tang dynasty and Nepal. Being unable to decide where to build the structure, he left it up to fate and threw his ring in the air and promised to build a temple wherever it landed. 

The ring landed in a lake, striking a rock where a white stupa miraculously emerged, the lake was filled with rocks and here the Jokhang Temple was constructed. The main entrance to the Jokhang is marked by a large golden, eight-spokes of the wheel represent the Buddhist eightfold path to enlightenment and the deer serve as a reminder that Buddha gave his first sermon in a deer park.

Dim corridors lined with statues of fierce and benign guardians lead to the innermost shrine. This is the home of the oldest and most precious object in Tibet-the gold statue of Sakyammuni Buddha brought by Princess Wencheng of the Tang dynasty to Tibet 1,300 years ago as part of her dowry. Inside the inner chamber, mellow butter lamps create shadows that dance across his features. Also in the innermost shrine is a 6m tall statue of Padmasambhava, the Buddha of compassion and the half-seated figure of Maitreya, Buddha of the future. Monks often lead prayers here and it’s a great spot to watch modern Lhasa life in Barkhor Square or just sit in the afternoon sun.

--Whenever you are in Lhasa, you’re always surrounded by colorful people, striking natural scenery, humbling mountains, flowing rivers and fields of green, gold and yellow. Although some of the main temples can be busy, just turn the corner or wander off for a few minutes and you’ll quickly find yourself in a picturesque rural Tibetan scene out of a postcard.

Memory of Shanghai VII: Famous Ladies of Old Shanghai

Mention of the famous ladies of China, I think you will think of Soong ching ling immediately. Could you remember others? Hey, the famous ladies of old Shanghai we will talk about in the chapter are famous in China, even in the world.

                                                         Chapter Seven


                        Famous Ladies of Old Shanghai
                   --The Recall of the Talented Beauties

In old Shanghai, the Shanghai ladies showed their special charm to the world wide: they lived in the “melting pot” old Shanghai where they experienced the living style both in Chinese and western and received advanced education to get wide horizon of the life and world. Besides, they are independent and hard-working women who struggle for the life with talents while dressed in cheongsam showing Chinese elegance. 

Among old Shanghai’s ladies, few of them are outstanding and have great impressions not on old Chinese people, but also on the world. Some of them used their pens to write down many impressive works which influence people from generation to generation. Some of them talented in singing and acting whose songs are so melodious that they still be heard on the streets nowadays and their roles are well-figured as deep in people’s memory. 

In people’s mind, Eileen Chang, Ruan Lingyu and Zhou Xuan may be the top lady celebrities in old Shanghai. Have ever read the sentimental novels written by Eileen Chang? Have you ever watch the movies of old Shanghai styles acting by Ruan Lingyu? Have you ever listen to the beautiful songs of Zhou Xuan which have strong figures of old Shanghai?—Never mind, the following are the general descriptions for you.

1. Famous Sentimental Novel Writer—Eileen Chang

Eileen Chang

Eileen Chang (September 30, 1920–September 8, 1995) was a Chinese writer who was born into an illustrious political family in Shanghai. With her prestige family background, she not only inherited the talents of her parents who were well-educated, but also relieved better education than others. However, Chang's unhappy childhood in the broken family probably gave her later works their pessimistic overtone. 

During 1940s were the golden days of Eileen Chang as most of her major works were published in this period, which represented the high point of her writing career. -- Her works frequently deal with the tensions between men and women in love, and are considered by some scholars to be among the best Chinese literature of the period. 

Actually, she offers essays on art, literature, war, and urban life, as well as autobiographical reflections. She takes in the sights and sounds of wartime Shanghai and Hong Kong, with the tremors of national upheaval and the drone of warplanes in the background, and inventively fuses explorations of urban life, literary trends, domestic habits, and historic events. 

Most importantly, her works vividly capture the sights and sounds of Shanghai, a city defined by its mix of tradition and modernity. She explores the city's food, fashions, shops, cultural life, and social mores; she reveals and upends prevalent attitudes toward women and in the process presents a portrait of a liberated, cosmopolitan woman, enjoying the opportunities, freedoms, and pleasures offered by urban life. 

All in all, Eileen Chang is no doubt the most talented woman writer in the 20th century China. That’s why after more than half a century as she first won fame in Shanghai, Chang still enjoys an enormous popularity among readers, both in China and overseas. 

2. Tragic Goddess-Ruan Lingyu

Ruan Lingyu

Ruan Lingyu (April 26, 1910-March 8, 1935), a silent-film actress still remembered by many, left behind 29 films and the final message, "gossip can kill," when she committed suicide in Shanghai on March 8, 1935.

Her father, a penniless machinist, died when she was just five years old. For a while she went to live with her mother who was working as a housemaid for a rich family. She then went to a girl's school, but as soon as she had finished primary school, she began to look for a job to lighten her mother's load. She saw an advertisement for film actors and then she went for an interview and was given a job.

Her first screen appearance in 1927 was in the film Husband and Wife in Name. In 1935, during the shooting of her last film, a divorce suit and slanderous stories in unscrupulous local newspapers caused her a great deal of mental anguish. She finally decided to take her own life to prove her innocence. After years, in 1982, when a Chinese Film Retrospective was held in Italy, audiences were amazed at Ruan's talent, especially in the film Goddess. They called Ruan "China's Greta Garbo."

In spite of her lack of formal education, Ruan Lingyu was diligent and scrupulous in every detail of her acting. --Ruan's acting was so natural, accurate and graceful that, even after 70 years, her films still seem fresh. She was adept at conveying meaning through her whole body, thus overcoming the limitations of early silent films, unlike some performers today who talk and talk and express nothing through gesture and "body language."

In a word, Ruan Lingyu was a versatile character actress. In her nine-year film career, she played many different roles, such as writer, factory worker, wealthy socialite, prostitute, flower girl, nun and beggar. Her unaffected, sensitive character portrayals contrast with the false, exaggerated performance that predominates in many films today.

3. Golden Voice of China—Zhou Xuan

Zhou Xuan

Zhou Xuan (August 1, 1918-September22, 1957) was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. Zhou was born in Shanghai, but was separated from her natural parents at a young age and raised adoptive parents. She spent her entire life searching for her biological parents but her parentage was never established until her death. At the age of 13, she tool Zhou Xuan as her stage name as -- “xuan” means beautiful jade in Chinese. 

Zhou started acting in 1935, but achieved stardom in 1937 in Street Angel, when director cast her as one of the leads as a singing girl. By the 1940s, she had become one of the seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953. In 1957, she died in Shanghai in a mental asylum at the age of 39 and the possible cause of her death may be encephalitis following a nervous breakdown. 

“Golden Voice” was Zhou’s nickname to commend her singing talents after a singing competition in Shanghai, where she came in second. Zhou rapidly became the most famous and marketable popular singer in the gramophone era up to her death, singing many famous tunes from her own movies. Her frail but eminently musical voice captured the hearts of millions of Chinese of her time.