Zhou Xuan

Photo from 1940

Zhou Xuan (also 周璇 or Chow Hsuan ; born August 1, 1918 in Changzhou , Jiangsu , Republic of China ; † September 22, 1957 in Shanghai , People's Republic of China ) was a Chinese singer and film actress .

She was one of China's "Seven Great Singing Stars" in the 1940s. She was the most famous of the seven and was called the "Golden Voice". At the same time she had a very successful film career until 1954. Zhou recorded more than 200 songs and starred in more than 40 films.

Early life

Zhou, initially called Su Pu (蘇 璞), was separated from her birth parents at a young age and raised by adoptive parents. She spent her entire life looking for her birth parents, but her ancestry was not established until shortly after her death.

Later family research showed that a relative who was addicted to opium took her to another city and sold her to a family named Wang . They called them Wang Xiaohong. She was later adopted by a family named Zhou and named Zhou Xiaohong.

At the age of thirteen, Zhou Xuan took the stage name Xuan (璇), which means beautiful jade in Chinese .

Career

Hand-colored photo of Zhou in the 1930s.

In 1932, Zhou began as a member of Li Jinhui's Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe. At the age of fourteen she won second prize in a singing competition in Shanghai and was nicknamed the "Golden Voice" (金 嗓子) because she sang high-pitched voices without any problems.

Zhou began her film career in 1935 and had her breakthrough as a singing girl in the film Street Angel by director Yuan Muzhi . Zhou quickly became one of the most famous and best-selling singers of the record era .

Between 1946 and 1950 she was frequently in Hong Kong to direct films such as “All-fulfilling Love” (長 相思), “Hua wai liu ying” (花 外 流鶯), Suffering of the Forbidden City and “Rainbow Song” (彩虹 曲) . After the film "Shanghai Nights" (夜 上海) in 1949, she returned to Shanghai. In the next few years she had more frequent nervous breakdowns inside and outside of psychiatry. During this time, their life was marked by failed marriages, illegitimate children and suicide attempts. Her first husband was the composer Yan Hua (严 华, 1912–1992), who wrote songs with her and sometimes performed them.

Of her 43 films, her personal favorite was Street Angel . In this she sang two songs that enjoyed long and great popularity: "Vier-Jahreszeiten-Song" (四季歌) and "The Wandering Songstress". Other well-known songs were "When Will You Return?", "Shanghai Nights" (title song of the film of the same name), “Yellow leaves dance in the autumn wind” (黃葉 舞 秋風), “Smile forever” (永遠 的 微笑), “Hundert Blumen Lied” (百花 歌), “Advice” (叮嚀), “Where can the soul mate to be found ”(知音 何處 尋) and“ Picking the betel nuts ”(採 檳榔).

death

In 1957, at the age of 39, she died in a mental hospital in Shanghai during a political cleansing operation. Encephalitis with subsequent nervous breakdown is suspected as a possible cause of death .

Zhou Xuan had two sons, Zhou Min and Zhou Wei. According to Zhou Min's biography, his younger brother's father was Tang Di (唐 棣), while Zhou Min's father is unknown. Zhou Wei lives in Toronto and is a flautist . He has two daughters who are also musicians. The older of the two, Zhou Xiaoxuan, is a classical pianist , trained at Concordia University and lives in Beijing.

Cultural heritage

To this day, the songs of Zhou Xuan are one of the cornerstones of mandopop . Her family members wrote two biographies. The book My mother Zhou Xuan (我的媽媽周璇) wrote her son Zhou Wei and his wife Chang Jing (常晶). The book Zhou Xuan Diary (周璇 日記) was written by the older son Zhou Min.

watch TV

Zhou Xuan

TVB, a Chinese television station, filmed her life in the 1989 series Song Bird with Adia Chan as Zhou Xuan and Leon Lai as their lover. Another Chinese language series based on her life was Zhou Xuan (周璇) with Cecilia Cheung .

Filmography

• 狂歡 之 夜 (1935)
• Street Angel (馬路 天使, 1937)
• 西廂記 (1940)
• 孟麗君 (1940)
• Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦, 1944)
• Night Inn (夜店, 1947)
• 長 相思 (1947)
• Sorrows of the Forbidden City (1948)
• 花 外 流鶯 (1948)
• 歌女 之 歌 (1948)
• 莫 負 青春 (1949)
• 花街 (1950)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wenjing Lu: 周璇 身世 越发 离奇 原名 苏 璞 竟是 苏 轼 后人 ( Chinese ) April 8, 2004. Accessed May 2018.
2. ^ Creekmur, Corey K., Mokdad, Linda Y .: The international film musical . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-0-7486-3478-1 , pp. 173 .
3. ^ "Golden Voice" Zhou Xuan . March 31, 2004.
4. ^ Atkins, E. Taylor (Everett Taylor), 1967-: Jazz Planet. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson 2003, ISBN 978-1-62103-444-5 .
5. ^ Atkins, E. Taylor (Everett Taylor), 1967-: Jazz Planet. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson 2003, ISBN 978-1-62103-444-5 .
6. ↑ Hua Shao: 周璇 两 儿子 爆出 几 十年 恩怨 纠葛 (图) ( Chinese ) July 10, 2004. Archived from the original on July 12, 2004.
7. ↑ Shan Yao: 越洋 连线 专访 周璇 次子 周伟 ： 真实 的 周璇 ( Chinese ) International Herald Tribune . April 3, 2006. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012.
8. ↑ Shenyang Metro Network: "地铁 王子" - 周璇 之 子 在 加拿大 ( Chinese ) December 7, 2006. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012.
9. ↑ Zhang Chun: 张柏芝 版 "周璇" 面目全非 周家 后人 三大 不满 ( Chinese ) March 28, 2006. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved on May 13, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Zhou Xuan  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Zhou Xuan in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• at Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• Zhou Xuan at Chinese Movie Database
• Zhou Xuan at MusicBrainz (English)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhou is the family name here, Xuan is the first name.