[Source: The Bund Pictorial, January 2, 2008; Byline: Li Jun 李俊]
No Chinese film actress has ever gained popularity so rapidly, "an overnight success" propelled to international fame by the Ang Lee-directed "Lust, Caution" . While film media have praised her on-screen persona as "sexy," off-screen she is surprisingly low-keyed, someone the media find hard to get a handle on. Tang Wei told The Bund Pictorial that when her parents had seen the picture their appraisal was that "Wang Jiazhi isn't much like you."
"Are the lights on yet where you are?" was Tang Wei's question on the telephone.
"Not yet," replied the reporter, "but night is falling. How about where you are?"
"That's a secret I can't tell you," was Tang Wei's answer. This was the start of our telephone interview with Tang Wei, at 4:30 pm Beijing time. Neither Tang Wei nor her manager would reveal where she was, so whether it was twilight or dark enough for the lights to be on was their conversational "secret."
Since the release in late September, 2007 of "Lust, Caution," in Hong Kong, Taiwan and then throughout the world, Wenzhou native Tang Wei has followed director Ang Lee around the world publicizing the picture. Although her fame came overnight, the 28-year-old Tang's every word and deed is strictly directed by her manager, and when speaking with the mainland media, their lips are sealed especially tight. In the four months since the movie's release, Tang has been the most discussed and sought after person associated with it, but the door has been totally barred to mainland media seeking "Wang Jiazhi." A month ago, this reporter had arranged a special interview with Tang Wei, but that meeting was cancelled minutes before it was to take place. At the Golden Horse awards in December, Tang took the Best New Performer award, and a few days later received a phone call from her manager, agreeing to an interview with her. Tang Wei would finally talk with the mainland media.
Accomplishing the interview would become a race against time. Prior to the interview, Tang Wei's manager informed this reporter that 20 minutes would be allotted to it, and "20 minutes doesn't allow for any procrastination, for there's more of the media queued up for interviews." On the same day, Tang Wei was to give telephone interviews to 10 media outlets in series. The manager also stated that he would be sitting at Tang Wei's side with a stopwatch.
This reporter put a call through to the manager's cell phone, but before I finished two sentences of introductory remarks the call was dropped. After changing the battery, I dialed again. "I'm sorry, but I was just taking the phone when you were cut off. I was worried about you." This was Tang Wei's first remark.
Because of the time limitations, the entire telephone interview was very tense, with the reporter asking questions at a very rapid pace, and Tang Wei answering just as quickly. After two or three questions, both sides were having to catch their breath.
In interviews, Tang Wei has always described her ideal life as being very simple: living at home with her family, and with a big dog as company.
To be with her, Tang Wei's parents have moved their home from Hangzhou to Beijing, where the three of them live in an ordinary 50 square meter high rise condo bought two years ago for 300,000 Yuan [US$42,000]. Last year, Tang Wei bought a 150 square meter house, but work has kept her so busy that all the decorating work has fallen to her parents, so the family has still not moved in. Since her appearance in "Lust, Caution," Tang Wei has broken off with her former boyfriend Tian Yu, but she never evaded the topic, saying "I will always feel grateful to him."
In the interview which follows, B=The Bund Pictorial, and T=Tang Wei.
Wang Jiazhi is not my "shadow"
B: How do you get out of Wang Jiazhi's shadow now? No, [I should say] how do you get out of this role?
T: I hear you. But "shadow" is not the right word. This was what you meant, although you didn't mean to say it. I remember the word you used. After this interview is over, before I go to sleep I'll think about this question, and why Wang Jiazhi is my "shadow."
Actually, to me Wang Jiazhi is like someone I might have grown up with. Whether you're talking about romance, or breaking a leg, or falling down, these are things that happen in life, and it doesn't matter how they happen, they all leave a lasting impression. There might be someone you care for deeply, and when at last you have parted, even after some time has gone by you surely will not have forgotten him. Someone described, very vividly, their first love, and when one talks of Wang's love in "Lust, Caution," it's a lot like hers in the movie.
So, Wang Jiazhi to me now is a totally beautiful memory, encompassing everything about her, even her pain, her separation, her collapse, these are all things I like very much. She's so likeable a woman, how could I not like her?
B: Director Ang Lee has said that "Lust, Caution" was too high a starting point for you, and will make your future path more difficult. Do you see this as a problem?
T: Ang Lee is someone who really cares for those at his side. He's told me the same thing, and I understand that he's very sincere in what he says.
B: Where will you go from here?
T: I don't want to be a star, many people know this. But people say to me, "oh, you're a star now" … actually, I don't know where I will go from here. I yearn for a simple, happy life. My attitude has changed a great deal now, because of this profession, but I'm still trying hard to find a quiet life for myself. My family life is delightfully dull, we listen to music, everyone is in good health. After work I just rest and enjoy life.
B: Will Jacob Cheung's [Zhang Zhiliang] "Tang Ka"唐卡 be your next film?
T: I've read that on the internet. But I don't know, right now I just go along with what the company arranges, and they haven't told me anything yet.
B: Right from the start with "Lust, Caution," you've been sheltered by your company, maintaining a distance from everyone, with everything handled by your people. Do you like doing things this way?
T: Do you have a feeling of distance talking to me now?
B: I don't now, but I did before.
T: It's true the company has always been very protective of me, because they know my character, they know what kind of person I am. Actually, at the time they wanted to sign me to a contract they came up with the idea of protecting me, because they knew there were many new things coming up that I couldn't deal with. So we signed the contract. They also set out from my angle, so I could live and work stably. That put me at ease.
B: After your parents had seen "Lust, Caution" in a theater, what did they say to you? And like you, did they watch and cry?
T: My mother knows me so well, there's just no way she could put me in the film itself. The thing she liked most in the movie was the bit of singing I did, because she was a Shaoxing opera singer herself. I didn't sing around the house before, so she was very happy hearing me do that in the movie. When my father saw the movie he mostly talked about the lighting and the sets. Actually, my parents' comments didn't get far from their own professions, just discussing the things they were experts at. Finally, I forced them to sit down and discuss it with me for a longer time, until they reluctantly gave me one sentence of appraisal: "That Wang Jiazhi is not much like you."
They couldn't just be polite to me, but parents' see only what they choose to about their children, and there's nothing one can do about that. They are traditional parents, so they don't have much to say. They may have much inside them, but they don't express it.
B: Director Ang Lee has always said that you and he are much alike. Other than the fact you're both Libras, where do you see the resemblances?
T: Ang Lee is very fond of theater, and did some stage acting himself. So when we're filming, you can tell he is itching to take a turn at acting out each role to show everyone how he wants it done. We both have stage experience, we like the theater and drama, and we throw ourselves into it, even to the point of frenzy, and in these respects we are very much alike. When I'm on location, I can usually sleep only about three hours a day, but I get the impression he can go around the clock without sleeping, and when he does get to sleep his dreams are all about drama.
It's possible such a life could be satisfying. But my curiosity is too strong, and too much curiosity is not very good either.
B: How is too much curiosity bad for you?
T: It's not a good thing. For example, I'll often rush to someplace that I think will be very beautiful, very scenic, but when I push the door open, I find that it's very drab, not at all like I imagined it.
And speech can have the same effect on me.
People's words affect me in different ways
B: The evening of the Golden Horse awards ceremony, a great many people were watching on the network, and it has been reported that when you didn't win for Best Actress there were male movie fans who actually cried. Then later, when you went on stage to accept the Best New Performer award, you also burst into tears, and I was wondering if your crying was due in some part from regret that you didn't win the bigger award?
T: You could also say I cried from being very moved. Thank you. I really appreciate my friends caring so much for me. But my behaving like that is a bit of a turnoff to me, as I'm usually not that emotional. But to get back to the subject. Actually, at the moment I was accepting the Best New Performer award, it was like my whole life was coming back to me. The atmosphere that night, it was like all these great people were getting their awards and one by one going onstage to say something, thanking "Papa" and "Mama," and finally there I was. In my mind it reminded me of my latest birthday, with the family all together, everyone happy and harmonious. And when I was on stage and had just begun to say this, I suddenly felt something was wrong, and I burst into tears. But then I told myself, this is not right, be strong and buck up, finish what I have to say, and let everyone hear what I have to say.
B: During the time you were going "around the world in 100 days," waking up every day in a different place, meeting different people, saying the same things, do you think you could get used to a life of fame like this?
T: I didn't say the same things. Although I did a great deal of publicity for the film, I didn't say the same things each time, just like today I feel like this is more like a chat, not a particularly serious interview. People's words affect me in different ways. Traveling around the world I would usually wake up in the morning, and being used to having the bedside lamp at my left hand, I'd reach out but couldn't find it, and then I'd discover the lamp was now on the right side. Finally I'd open my eyes, and look out the window for the beautiful scenery, but it would be completely different, how could it suddenly have become the ocean?
B: We've seen you on television, speaking English in America, Cantonese in Hong Kong, and you also spoke the old Shanghai dialect very well in the movie. Do you have a natural talent for languages, or is this the result of your acquiring them through study?
T: I like language very much. I've always liked to learn various places' languages, so I can use them when I visit those places. As a result, I can now speak 7 or 8 different dialects, and not badly. Actually, this is really my hobby, and I grasp for the time and the chance to study more.
B: Zhang Ziyi's English level is still today being castigated on the internet. You've already show considerable fluency in interviews with foreign media, at what point did you begin to really polish your English?
T: I haven't heard her speak English, so I can't comment on it. But I studied English in high school, and then at university, but I didn't speak it very well. But after we made "Lust, Caution," and we began the publicity tour for it, I found my English was making giant strides. Actually, the study of language is the study of culture, and as our publicity tour went on, we were constantly in an English language environment, and I adapted to that very quickly. If I went back to China today, I'm sure I would quickly forget to speak English and return to how it was before. My accents vary widely now, and if I go back to Beijing I speak very precise Beijing dialect, if I'm in Hong Kong it's Cantonese, if I'm in Taiwan it's the local Taiwanese accented Mandarin. On the film crew there are a lot of Taiwan people around me, and they have a lot of influence on me.
B: At home, do you speak Hangzhou dialect with your parents?
T: Yes. And I still speak it in Leqing [one of several variations of the Hangzhou dialect as spoken by people from Wenzhou]. Sometimes I get very complacent about it, thinking nobody else can understand, but you have to be very careful about that, because while you may think your dialect is like a secret language, someone else still might overhear you and understand, which could be embarrassing.
Where is my happiness?
B: Before "Lust, Caution," your friends said their impression of you was while you are beautiful, you were something of a tomboy, and now you've changed into a gentlewoman who likes to wear dresses. Is this because the movie has changed you completely, or is it a natural evolution? Have you tossed aside who you were?
T: They're all girls. I don't know if that can happen, someone puts on a dress, and makeup, then looks in a mirror and discovers that body and expression have changed instantly. Anyway, that's how I am. When I dress like a student, I feel like I'm a student, with a clear-eyed expression; if I put on a qipao (cheongsam) dress, I become Mrs. Mai – no, that's a mistake, that's Mrs. Mai wearing her clothing, but dressing like that I feel I've changed into a mature, charming and well-spoken wife. You might see me dressed in formal wear, a very elegant lady. But actually, when I return to normal life, I'm like I am right now, wearing gym shoes, jeans and a T-shirt. I still like to dress this way.
B: Many people are very critical of how you look. Do you think of yourself as beautiful?
T: I've never felt that way. To tell the truth, I used to enjoy it when others would say I was like a beautiful tomboy. When I was little, my greatest dream was to be a soldier. I liked sports, and wanted to learn martial arts, but my family put an end to that. Later, I got to liking badminton, but my mother stopped me from joining the badminton team. Speaking of my parents, their hope was that I would study hard, pass university entrance exams, major in some liberal arts field, find some sort of honorable employment, and finally marry a good husband. But I rebelled, and stopped listening, and I don't really know why, but I rushed onto this path of acting. Usually, when I look in the mirror I don't see myself as beautiful, not even pretty. Actually, I feel if a girl is a bit down-to-earth, and lives her life in a sure and steady manner, then those close to her will feel she is very beautiful.
B: While you're not a beauty in the strictest sense, there are so many people who like you, and there are people who believe you to be a very appropriate representative of Chinese women in the international film community.
T: Actually, there are too many beautiful women, and no matter what kind of beauty, there are too many of them. Before, we would see a certain type of beauty, and now – possibly because of me – we are seeing another type, and then is still another type of beauty, and it's not just outwardly. Take, for example, Yu Nan: I very much like this kind of actor, she is just wonderful, someone who can really act. I feel that everyone's appreciation of beauty has become so multipolarized that actors now have greater opportunities to express their true personal feelings.
B: How about Zhang Ziyi? Is she among those female stars you appreciate?
T: She's extraordinary. She has a kind of self-confidence that's nearly impossible for others to have. However, she and I are very different. Ang Lee has a very accurate view of people, so she is "Yu Jiaolong" and I am "Wang Jiazhi," and there's no way those two people are interchangeable.
B: People your age are either married with children, or attained fame early on, while you performing career has just begun. For an actress, isn't this an opportunity come too late?
T: What in life can really come too late? Nothing. There's no time too late for doing something, and doing it is always better than not doing it. It would be like really wanting to get to know someone, but always thinking, how could I have missed his first phone call? Would you regret that forever? No, because you would never think that. Because if you really wanted to make the connection, there would be no wrong time to start. Even if it is really late, what does that matter? No time passes in vain. I believe if I just act in good productions, and always move forward, any time will be appropriate for taking the first step, and the greatest fear is just staying in the same spot, pacing back and forth without moving forward.
(At this point, Tang Wei's manager came on the line to remind the reporter that 18 minutes had passed, and this would have to be the final question.)
B: Just two more minutes, I'm very tense, since I've never been rushed into asking a question before.
T: Then you should ask the question you want most to ask.
B: OK. Are you really happy right now?
T: I consider myself very happy, but my happiness now comes totally from people around me. I say that very sincerely. For instance, one source of my happiness is my family, knowing they are content, and healthy; another source is the film crew, who take very good care of me; and another is the director, who cares a lot about me. But in the innermost depths of my heart, I am always searching, wondering what is it I really want?
A happy life is what I want most, but what is that really? I am glad that I now have the ability to work independently, and can throw myself into doing work I like from now on, with no misgivings. But where is my happiness?
Naturally, I believe that Heaven could change my life very quickly. But Heaven is very fair, and I believe it will continue to be good to me. Do you understand my meaning?
For the researcher on some aspect of Chinese culture, especially one using Western language resources, a recurring source of confusion is the practice of Westernizing Chinese names. To take a current example from motion pictures, the modern international star Maggie Cheung has a name familiar to many movie fans in the West, although in her native Hong Kong she would be known by her Cantonese name Cheung Man-Yuk, and by its Mandarin pronunciation Zhang Manyu on the Chinese mainland. The Taiwan Mandarin pronunciation would be the same as the mainland's, although it would be romanized as Chang Man-yu. Filmmakers in Hong Kong adopt Western forms of their names to a great extent, and those from Taiwan less so. On the mainland the practice is almost unknown today, although it had a vogue during the 1920s. 
