“I
made a mistake, again,” said Qin Yi, during her opening remarks at a cultural salon dedicated to her, one day before International Women’s Day.
The 95-year-old actress, who has been dubbed one of the four greatest actresses in China, said that the short pause during her recital of a monologue by Mother Lu from the tragedy play Thunderstorm was not an intentional one, but rather a result of her empathy for the fictional character.
Not that anyone in the audience noticed the blunder by the veteran Shanghai actress who has enjoyed an illustrious career that spans close to 80 years.
Established in 2013, the salon is an invitation-only event held at the Equatorial Hotel every month. It focuses on the glorious past of Shanghai, mainly the period in the 1930s when the city’s prosperity had earned itself the reputation for being an “Oriental Paris”. The topics of the salon range from music, culinary, fashion, architecture to Shanghai dialect. It was even once compared to the meetings that took place at Montparnasse in Paris which were attended by famous artists like Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce and Pablo Picasso.
“We have wanted to feature Qin (as the theme of the salon) since the first day we had the salon,” said Chen Gang, composer, co-founder of the Shanghai Colormen salon and a lifelong friend of Qin.
“There is no better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than having the most legendary woman in the country share her life stories.”
Chen also revealed that it was Qin’s friends and fellow colleagues who were attending her birthday party in February who had convinced the famous actress to share her life stories at the salon.
Written by acclaimed Chinese playwright Cao Yu, Thunderstorm is considered one of the most important creations in contemporary Chinese literature. Mother Lu, a character that Qin has played several times on stage and in films, is an upright servant in a corrupted Chinese traditional clan. She is also a loving mother who is miserable because of her failure to disconnect her two children from the clan.
Mother Lu’s struggles can also be said to be a reflection of the trials and tribulations that Qin has gone through in life, which explains the connection she feels for the fictional character.
From left:
Passion
Born in 1922, four years earlier than Marilyn Monroe, Qin is the second daughter in a traditional Chinese family in Shanghai. Her uncle, the alpha male of the clan who Qin, her parents and siblings resided with, had married nine wives. Because of the uncle’s conservative parenting methods, Qin was not allowed to wear short-sleeved or sleeveless attire and she always had her socks on even during unbearably hot days.
In 1938, she dropped out of nursing school and fled to Chongqing alone when the war against Japan took place in Shanghai. She explained in an interview with a Chinese newspaper that the reason she ran away from home was to escape from her family rather than the war.
In Chongqing, Qin was discovered by two directors who put her on stage to perform for Chinese sol- What others say
“Chinese women, as compared to their western counterparts, are known for “having an iron fist hidden in a velvet glove”, or being tender in appearance but tough in character. If there is one person who can be considered the paragon of such a virtue, it would be Qin Yi. The most common type of question I’m always asked about her is why she never
(The82-year-oldChenwas acquaintedwithQinwhileplayinga bitroleinoneofQin’searlyfilms. Chen’sfather,ChenGexin,isthe composerofoneofthemostfamous Chinesesongsofalltime,Rose, Rose,ILoveYou(1940),whichwas
I was so passionate and naive that I stood in front of a window at a warehouse as bullets flew right past me.” Qin Yi, legendary Chinese actress seems to age. I think the power that resides within her is the secret.” — Chen Gang, composer and pianist
diers and members of the public. would have been too difficult a task nosed with schizophrenia.
“I have always wanted to be a part for a beauty like Qin to refrain from She said that the diagnosis was (of the fighting force),” said Qin at romance at such a young age. as much a sentence to her as it was the salon, recalling how she had volBack during her days in school, to her son, adding that it served to unteered to help wounded soldiers Qin was nicknamed “peacock’s “put out all her desires ever since”. at the frontline in Shanghai during peer” as people said her beauty The condition caused her son to her days at nursing school. always incited peacocks to flaunt turn violent but Qin would not stop
“I was so passionate and naive their tails. When she was older, she him from beating her. She only told that I stood in front of a window at a was even called “the most beautiful him that he could not hit her on the warehouse as bullets flew right past Chinese actress ever” by the then face as she needed it to earn a living.me.Aveteranthenpulledmeaway.”ChinesepremierZhouEnlai.
“I only see it when looking into in later spent her life savings to the mirror. But how much time can buy an apartment where she could one stare at the mirror in her life?” take better care of her son. In 2007, said Qin, in response to a question less than two years before the conabout beauty during the salon. struction of the apartment was com
Her second marriage did not last pleted, her son passed away. long either. While the couple sepaShe never moved into the apartrated after less than seven years ment. together, they never went through a divorce. When Jin was struck by a stomach illness, a result of overdrinking, Qin took care of him for more than 20 years despite her acting career picking up in the 1950s. In 1959, Qin played the lead character in three blockbuster films. Jin died from internal bleeding in the stomach in 1983.
Qin’s role as mother was no less arduous. A year after she was publicly criticized and tortured for being an actress during the cultural revolution (1966-1976), her son was diag-
Marriage
Before her stage career had taken off, Qin married an actor who turned out to be an abusive alcoholic. The marriage lasted less than three years and was the reason behind her fleeing again, this time to a more remote city that was situated at the border of Sichuan and Tibet.
Qin was quoted as saying that “she would never marry again” and that she would dedicate her life to acting. However, less than a year later, she met Jin Yan, a Korea-born Chinese who was dubbed the “most handsome man in the country”. She soon married Jin, who was 12 years her senior, and gave birth to a son. Chinese columnist Huang Tongtong once wrote that her second marriage was inevitable, noting how it laterrecordedbyFrankieLaineand becameacharthitintheUnited States.TheseniorChenhadalso pennedmanysongsforthefilms Qinstarredin.)
“When people talk about Qin, everyone mentions how beautiful she is. But I find the most intriguing part of her beauty is that it only grows with her age. Women often wish to be “as beautiful as when they are young”, yet Qin seems to defy the laws of nature. She is more beautiful as her age increases.” — Yan Hua, TV hostess
Regrets
Qin said there are three things she regrets most in her life — never enjoying the sweetness of love, her son’s disease and not getting to play a truly satisfactory character that was created by her.
These days, she spends most of her time trying to rectify that last regret. In 2014, she kicked off the production of The Beautiful Kokonor Lake, a film written by her that is based on the true story of an Australian meteorologist and his wife who were working on an artificial rainfall project on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The wife lost her life during a car accident while working on the project.
In the show, Qin plays the role of the wife. She is believed to be the oldest actress to play a leading role in a film. Qin, who was then already 92 years old, had to commute six hours every day during the filming on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The film was released in 2015.
Working at the high-altitude plateau was tough and Qin joked that she had to fake gasps to be a part of the crew, many of whom suffered from nose bleeds, dizziness and headaches.
When asked about the happiest days of her life, Qin replied it was the few months she spent in the remote city, after running away from her first husband. Singing and dancing in the sea of opium poppy, she said, was liberating.
Despite her age, Qin is still searching for more acting opportunities, saying there are at least another two roles she wants to sign up for. She is also working on the script for a new film in which she hopes to act in. Attending English classes, she said, is also on the agenda.
“I want to praise her with the words that I have only used for my mother. Her grace never wanes; neither does
“She redefines the word ‘beauty’, enriching it with her stoicism.” — Tong Ruixing, actor and director of Shanghai Film Studio