Chin Tsi-Ang (February 22, 1909 â€" October 15, 2007), also romanized
as Qian Siying, was one of the earliest martial arts actors of Chinese
cinema, and the first female star. She debuted in South China Dream
(å —å Žæ¢¦, Nanhua Meng) in 1925 at the age of 16, and played a
leading role in Southern Heroine (æ±Ÿå —å¥³ä¾ , Jiangnan Nüxia) in
1930.Born and raised in Shanghai, when Chin was an infant a
fortune-teller told her parents that to avoid an early death, she
would have to be brought up as a boy. As a result, she was permitted
to engage in activities usually reserved for males, although sometimes
with her gender disguised. Chin began martial arts training at the age
of eight, later going on to perform all her own stunts as well as
choreograph scenes. An offer to invest in the new Langhua Movie
Studio, made to her father by a close friend and businessman, started
Chin's acting career. The studio's first production was to be a
martial arts film entitled South China Dream. Her father showed
initial enthusiasm until his friend suggested Chin's athletic and
attractive daughter would be perfect for a role in it. The elder Chin
held a low opinion of actors, but was eventually convinced his
daughter might be essential to the new venture's success.. South China
Dream (later retitled Dreams of Women) was released in two parts, 20
reels total, and box office receipts were good enough to permit the
studio to make two more action films in which Chin Tsi-Ang again
played important supporting roles.Chin's supporting roles in Langhua's
successful first three movies launched what would become a long movie
career. In 1928 she joined the Fudan Film Company, her first role for
that studio being the female lead in The Swallow Heroine, after which
she starred in three more for Fudan the following year. In 1930 she
moved up a level to the Great Wall Film Company, making what would
become her representative work, Southern Heroine, directed by Yang
Xiaozhong and co-starring Zhang Zhizhi as her villainous adversary.
Chin's performance impressed audiences in a film that came out just as
Shanghai studios discovered the potential of marketing their product
to Southeast Asia's Chinese community; Chin's emerging popularity
amongst this group brought a steady stream of theater owners to
Shanghai to buy copies of her films, regardless of the cost. She went
on to make nine more action films for Great Wall and other studios,
and since some of these were multi-parters, the actual number totaled
about twice that. The last of these was released in 1931, by which
time the fervor for martial arts movies had cooled, so Chin moved into
other genres, including sound films.She married director Hung
Chung-Ho, with whom she had seven children (one of her grandchildren
is Sammo Hung), and having become a star in Shanghai, they moved to
Hong Kong, where they formed the Sanxing Film Company, which
specialized in wuxia and produced the first Fong Sai-Yuk film in 1938.
The company continued in business until 1963, when the Hong Kong
government requisitioned its properties. Chin's husband died not long
afterwards, following which she felt the urge to resume making movies,
but when the matter of her age (now 53) came up, she replied that she
just wanted to make movies again, and would be happy to take "green
leaf" roles (bit parts or extras). She specialized in playing women
her own age, often the mother or grandmother of a lead character. In
this second stage of her career, she worked in more than 180
theatrical films over five decades, one of the more recent[when?]
being in Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love at age 90.
as Qian Siying, was one of the earliest martial arts actors of Chinese
cinema, and the first female star. She debuted in South China Dream
(å —å Žæ¢¦, Nanhua Meng) in 1925 at the age of 16, and played a
leading role in Southern Heroine (æ±Ÿå —å¥³ä¾ , Jiangnan Nüxia) in
1930.Born and raised in Shanghai, when Chin was an infant a
fortune-teller told her parents that to avoid an early death, she
would have to be brought up as a boy. As a result, she was permitted
to engage in activities usually reserved for males, although sometimes
with her gender disguised. Chin began martial arts training at the age
of eight, later going on to perform all her own stunts as well as
choreograph scenes. An offer to invest in the new Langhua Movie
Studio, made to her father by a close friend and businessman, started
Chin's acting career. The studio's first production was to be a
martial arts film entitled South China Dream. Her father showed
initial enthusiasm until his friend suggested Chin's athletic and
attractive daughter would be perfect for a role in it. The elder Chin
held a low opinion of actors, but was eventually convinced his
daughter might be essential to the new venture's success.. South China
Dream (later retitled Dreams of Women) was released in two parts, 20
reels total, and box office receipts were good enough to permit the
studio to make two more action films in which Chin Tsi-Ang again
played important supporting roles.Chin's supporting roles in Langhua's
successful first three movies launched what would become a long movie
career. In 1928 she joined the Fudan Film Company, her first role for
that studio being the female lead in The Swallow Heroine, after which
she starred in three more for Fudan the following year. In 1930 she
moved up a level to the Great Wall Film Company, making what would
become her representative work, Southern Heroine, directed by Yang
Xiaozhong and co-starring Zhang Zhizhi as her villainous adversary.
Chin's performance impressed audiences in a film that came out just as
Shanghai studios discovered the potential of marketing their product
to Southeast Asia's Chinese community; Chin's emerging popularity
amongst this group brought a steady stream of theater owners to
Shanghai to buy copies of her films, regardless of the cost. She went
on to make nine more action films for Great Wall and other studios,
and since some of these were multi-parters, the actual number totaled
about twice that. The last of these was released in 1931, by which
time the fervor for martial arts movies had cooled, so Chin moved into
other genres, including sound films.She married director Hung
Chung-Ho, with whom she had seven children (one of her grandchildren
is Sammo Hung), and having become a star in Shanghai, they moved to
Hong Kong, where they formed the Sanxing Film Company, which
specialized in wuxia and produced the first Fong Sai-Yuk film in 1938.
The company continued in business until 1963, when the Hong Kong
government requisitioned its properties. Chin's husband died not long
afterwards, following which she felt the urge to resume making movies,
but when the matter of her age (now 53) came up, she replied that she
just wanted to make movies again, and would be happy to take "green
leaf" roles (bit parts or extras). She specialized in playing women
her own age, often the mother or grandmother of a lead character. In
this second stage of her career, she worked in more than 180
theatrical films over five decades, one of the more recent[when?]
being in Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love at age 90.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.