In the long and rich history of martial arts movies, China's gift to world cinema, a characteristic of these films that sets the Chinese language versions apart from the products of Hollywood and other Western film capitals is the profusion of strong leading roles for women. The women warriors portrayed in recent decades by Cheng Peipei, Brigitte Lin and Michelle Yeoh, as well as the more recent Hong Kong subgenre of "Girls with Guns," had their antecedents in the various schools of China's traditional operas, and the classic Chinese cinema. The sword genre on screen emerged and flourished in the late 1920s, with a staggering output of these films from Chinese studios of all sizes. These were not shrinking violets, no damsels in distress, but true heroines, battling male villains on an equal basis. As we will see from one series we will examine in depth, as often as not the leading men were the ones in distress, with the lady boldly and bravely charging to the rescue. Each studio had at least one actress it could rely on for these costume epics, but four were dominant: Fan Xuepeng and Xu Qinfang at the Youlian studio, Wu Lizhu at Yueming, and Xia Peizhen at Mingxing. In upcoming posts, we will examine the careers of each of these wudan 武旦, although the degree of detail will vary somewhat, dependent on the amount of research material available. We begin with Fan Xuepeng.
Fan Xuepeng(范雪朋) was born Yao Xiongfei (姚雄飞) in 1908 in Yixing, Jiangsu, to a once-noble family in decline. Her father died when she was 4 years old, leaving the family in even worse economic circumstances, so poor the little girl was unable to attend school when she reached the usual age. Her mother supported them as a seamstress and by taking in washing. However, the mother home-schooled her daughter and was able to put aside enough to get Xiongfei into a girl's secondary school in Changzhou when she reached her teens. After graduation, Yao Xiongfei went to work in a hosiery mill.
About that time, she drew the attention of a young man named Fan Mingbai, a well-known and highly regarded scholar from an aristocratic Changzhou family, and already making a name as a student journalist. He courted her, and the two were soon married. After marriage, she took her husband's surname, a common practice in the West but very rare in China. In addition, she changed her given name from Xiongfei to Xuepeng. Not long after, he found work in northeast China, and she followed. The couple stayed there for a year, but the worsening political stituation led them to return south, making their home in Shanghai. (In her memoir cited at the end of this article, the actress never mentions the Fan marriage or Fan Mingbai. However, she does refer to actor-director Wen Yimin (文逸民), her director and co-star in the "Heroic Son and Daughter" series, as being her lover -- and later husband -- in the 1930s, so obviously this early marriage ended at some point.)
In Shanghai, she became reacquainted with former classmate Xu Qinfang (徐琴芳), now an actress married to Chen Kengran (陈铿然) , head of the Youlian Film Company, one of Shanghai's newer studios. Through her friend's help, she secured an audition and was signed to a short-term trial contract, making her screen debut in 1926, a supporting role in "The Prostitute's Son." At that time, swordsman films were emerging as a major, and highly popular genre of Chinese films, and Fan worked harded at mastering the skills they demanded, such as riding, boxing, archery and, of course, swordsmanship. So from 1927 to 1931, when the genre declined, she was the image of the screen heroine for many Chinese filmgoers, who appreciated her natural acting style and obvious martial skills. The role most associated with Fan Xuepeng during this period was that of "Thirteenth Sister" in "Ernü Yingxiong"《儿女英雄》(Heroic Son and Daughter), made in 1927, and so popular it spawned four sequels and led to her being dubbed the "New sword star" by the critics. While all five of the "Heroic" episodes are lost, one episode of another series, "Hong Xia"《红侠》(Red Heroine or Heroine in Red), made in 1929 with Fan in the title role, has survived and is the earliest extant Chinese martial arts film.
By 1931, the martial arts craze had abated somewhat, from a combination of government censorship ("superstitious nonsense") and a movie public that had grown a bit tired of the genre. So when the Japanese attacked Shanghai in 1932, Fan left film work for a time and became a stage actress in Nanjing, Tianjin, and other major cities. [right, Fan Xuepeng as heroine 'Thirteenth Sister']
In the winter of 1933, inspired by the Left-wing Film Movement under way in Shanghai, she joined with relatives and friends to establish a new studio, the Qiang Hua (Strong China) Film Company, which turned out a succession of motion pictures carrying a strong message concerning the need for reform in various areas of Chinese society. But one of these, "Lunluo"《沦落》(Reduced to Poverty) originally titled "Tielian"《铁链》(Shackles), an exposé of the desperation of those living in China's rural areas, was banned by the authorities, a move which forced Qiang Hua into bankruptcy. Soon afterwards, Fan Xuepeng joined the Tianyi company (the Shaw Brothers original studio), and although swordsman films were no longer in vogue, she adapted to this change in audience taste by branching out into more conventional roles in melodrama. As the years passed, she became a regular on Chinese screens portraying middle-aged characters, often mothers. From these, the entertainment media gave her the nickname "the popular mother." But during the war she found too little work to earn a living, so she disappeared from movies after 1942.
[left, Fan in an undated photo, but probably mid-1930s]
After the establishment of the PRC , she enthusiastically participated in the organizational activities of the Shanghai Drama and Film Association and later acted in major stage productions. She returned to film work in March,1952 with the Shanghai Film Actors Group, appearing in more than a dozen films, including such modern Chinese classics as "Nie Erh" and "Early Spring in February."
In 1960, she attended the 3th National Cultural Conference, at which she was presented the title of "Advanced Worker" by the Shanghai Municipal Government's Cultural Education Commission. Her last film appearance was in 1965, after which she retired. Fan Xuepeng died of lung cancer on April 2, 1974.
Note: this article was based primarily on two sources: Fan Xuepeng's own memoir for a Chinese film magazine:
Fan, Xuepeng "Some memories of my movie life" (我过去拍摄电影的一些回忆) Chinese Film《中国电影》1956, no.11).
and the following:
Yong, Kang永康 "Zishiqilide: Fan Xuepeng"自食其力的：范雪朋 (Self-supporting: Fan Xuepeng) in his "Casual Talks on the Silver Lamp" column in the Li Bao (Power News) paper, September 8, 1938]
As time permits, it is my intention to provide full English translations of these in the archive.
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Filmography (all as actress):
1926:
The Prostitute's Son
Lijing's Tale
1927:
Heroic Son and Daughter
Reunion
A Dream of Red Mansions
1928:
Heroic Son and Daughter 2
Heroic Couple
Legacy of Troubles
Red Butterfly
1929:
Burning the Nine-Story Tower
Heroic Son and Daughter 3
Escape From the Tiger's Jaws
Escape From the Tiger's Jaws 2
Red Heroine
Land of the Giants
The Red Heroine Smashes Gold Mountain Temple
Disturbance on Mount Wutai
1930:
Red Heroine II
Ghostly Shadows in the Temple
The Huangjiang Heroine pts.1-2
Heroic Son and Daughter 4
1931:
Lin Chong [a name]
Seven Swords
Heroic Son and Daughter 5
Man and Full Moon
1933:
Consciousness
Our Lives
Bells are Ringing
Reduced to Poverty (original title: Shackles)
1934:
Shattered Dream in the Dance Hall
Daybreak
Renzhu [a name]
Model Youth
Unfulfilled Dreams
1935:
Hard Struggle
Repetition
Mother
1936:
My Female Classmates
1937:
Willow Village
An Illegitmate Daughter
Tough Son
1938:
Biyun Palace [aka The Leopard That Became a Prince]
1940:
Three Smiles
Guanyin, the Bodhisattva
The Empress
Qian Xianglian [a name]
1941:
Heroic Legend
The New Camille
1954:
Mountain Bells Herald the Caravan
1956:
Two Young Soccer Teams
1957:
Night Flight on the Foggy Sea
Happiness
1958:
Let's Have a Contest
Letter from the Front
The Cuckoo Sings Again
Prison on Fire
1959:
A Steel Family
Spring is Always a Riot of Color
Nie Er [name]
1963:
Secret of the Sacred Gourd
Early Spring in February
1965:
Red Propagandist
