F. Scott Fitzgerald famously once said that "there are no second acts in life." He was speaking of
American life, but for China's top film actress of the late 1930s and 1940s, as well as its most popular singer during much of that era, there appear to have been three: Act 1 was desperate and Act 3 sad, but Act 2 was glorious. Zhou Xuan 周旋 (1918 — 1957) was born Su Pu in Changzhou, Jiangsu in 1918 (some sources say 1920). Her impoverished family soon sold her to a procurer, who placed her in a brothel, to be trained as a courtesan. But when she was 2 or 3, a Shanghai couple named Zhou saw her and were so charmed by the little girl that they adopted her, giving their daughter the name Zhou Xiaohong. Her actual birthdate is unknown, and her adoptive parents once stated in an interview that even they did not know her exact age.
She displayed exceptional vocal promise at an early age, and her family had the means to get her some formal training to go with her talent. In 1931, she joined Li Jinhui's Ming Yue 明月 (Bright Moon) Society, a Shanghai musical company. In her first performance, the 13-year-old sang a song called "The Glory of a Nation," one line of which was ""Contend with the enemy on the battlefield."
Her performance of this song was so well received by audiences that troupe director Li Jinhui changed her stage name to Zhou Xuan (Xuan meaning "contend" or "deal with"). Soon after, Zhou Xuan took second place in a singing competition in Shanghai, and soon rose to become China's top pop vocalist, dubbed by press and public as "the Golden Throat." After acting in several movies in the 1930s, including a star-making role in 1937's "Street Angels," opposite Zhao Dan, she joined the Guohua Film Company in 1938, going on to star in nearly 20 feature films for that company.
At the same time her film career was flourishing, Zhou Xuan was China's top female vocalist in the 1930s. Among her biggest hits were "Nighttime Shanghai," "When Will My Gentleman Return," "Songstress at the Ends of the Earth," "Daughter of a Fishing Family," "A Lovely Morning," "Song of Four Seasons" and "Smiling Forever." Several of these were the title songs of major motion pictures. There was a modern connection in the 1993 U.S. production, "Joy Luck Club": when the college girl and the playboy enter the 1930s night club together, the song playing in the background is "Song of Four Seasons."
In 1943,
Zhou Xuan joined the China Film Company, Ltd., starring in such films
as
"Daughter of a Fishing Family," and "A Dream of Red Mansions." After
World War II, she moved to Hong Kong,
where she had the lead in such popular films as "An All-Consuming
Love," "We Each Have Our Strong Points," "Memories of the
South" and "Secrets of the Forbidden City," and acted one of the
leads in the Wenhua Film Company's classic "Night Inn," a Chinese
version of Gorky's "The Lower Depths." But her personal life was
unhappy: she was exploited by others, especially the men in her life.
She was married twice: her first husband was composer Yan Hua, who
wrote many of her songs, the couple divorcing after eight years of
marriage. She later lived with Hong Kong businessman Zhu Huaide, who
dumped her when she became pregnant and mentioned marriage. In 1950,
she returned
to Shanghai to play the lead in a movie to be titled "Bird of Peace,"
and during the filming began a relationship with the film's art
director, but again was left pregnant and abandoned. This sent her
over the edge: she suffered a breakdown which ended the film project.
She never performed again, and spent the rest
of her life in and out of institutions. Zhou Xuan
died of encephalitis in Shanghai, 22 September 1957.
Zhou Xuan's story has provided the material for several dramatic treatments of her life. A 1982 Hong Kong theatrical release featured mainland actress Shen Danping in the role of a 1930s singer clearly based on Zhou Xuan. The film's Chinese title was "Nighttime Shanghai," the same as Zhou's 1930s hit song, but the film's English release title was "A Lady From Shanghai." In 1987, a Taiwan TV channel aired a miniseries titled "Yidai Gehou" (Song Queen of a Generation), featuring Pan Yingzi as Zhou Xuan, and Jiang Houren in the role of Zhu Huaide (called Zhu Feibai in the series). In 1989, HKTV broadcast a miniseries called "Songstress at the Ends of the Earth," again after a Zhou Xuan hit song. In this production, Chen Songling was Zhou Xuan, and Li Ming was her composer/husband Yan Hua. In 2005, a stage musical based on her life was presented in Beijing.
Filmography
1935:
A Beauty's Kindness
1936:
100 Precious Pictures
A Girl
Incarnate
Xi Lin Gate
Candles of
the Night
1937:
Street Angels
Spring is
Everywhere
Goddess of
Wealth
1938:
Three Stars
Beside the Moon
1939:
Meng Jiangnü
Li Sanniang
A New Hell
Seven
Important Days
Dong Xiaowan
1940:
Three Smiles
Meng Lijun
The Amorous
History of Su San
Tale of the
West Chamber
Dark Heaven
Songstress
at the Ends of the Earth
1941:
Broken Dreams
on Mount Guan
Concubine
Mei
Darkest
Night
The
Communicators
Annoying
Spring Scenery
1943:
Daughter of a Fishing Family
1944:
Cry of the
Birds
A Dream of Red
Mansions
1945:
Happy Marriage
1946:
An
All-Consuming Love
We Each
Have Our Strong Points
1947:
Don't Rely on
Youth
Song of the
Songstress
Flowers
Drain the Oriole
Memories of
the South
Night Inn
1948:
Secrets of the
Forbidden City
Zhou Xuan left a diary, which was published by the Chiangjiang Press of Wuhan in 2003, and edited by her elder son Zhou Min.
A good selection of Zhou Xuan's recordings are on the web.
Zhou Xuan is No.15 on Hong Kong's Avenue of Stars.
