Beauty and Sorrow - A Real Butterfly

Author: Mulan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Some people regard the life of Hu Die as a "myth," and there is some truth to that. But upon closer reflection, one might argue that it's more like a "dream." In the past, Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, "Don't I know whether it was Zhuangzi who dreamt he was a butterfly, or the butterfly who dreamt he was Zhuangzi?" Hu Die's life "was just an actor," but even she couldn't be sure—was it "the butterfly who made the actor," or "the actor who made the butterfly"? Was it "the play is life," or "life is a play"? It seemed that in her dream, Hu Die had already reached the peak of her life; in her dream, she had achieved a "dream-like legend" in the history of Chinese cinema.
Her face was like a silver plate, her eyes bright and her teeth white, her skin smooth and her features well-proportioned, gentle and kind. Her appearance conformed to the traditional standards of beauty in Chinese folklore. The dimples on her cheeks were her trademark, as she made women with dimples during that era lucky enough to be called "beautiful." Sweet in appearance, tall and slender, graceful in demeanor, dignified in temperament, diligent, and clever, the writer Zhang Henshu described her as "unassuming and generous in character, deep and perceptive, quick-witted and decisive." She was seen as resembling Baosha in five or six parts, Xiren in two or three parts, and Qingwen in one or two parts. She was the "first 'Empress of Cinema' in Chinese history," regarded as "the greatest actress of the 1930s and 1940s in China."
"Beauty! Beauty! Capable of captivating a city and a nation, with her natural charm and heart-stirring beauty," she was seen as an "unforgettable crowd favorite"—her beauty was endless.
Her path to success was filled with hardships. She endured the struggles of her childhood and youth, faced the storm of public opinion surrounding her first love, and unexpectedly bore the immense social pressure of the "Crime of Beauty and" (a fabricated accusation of dancing with Zhang Xueliang during the night of Northeastern China's fall). During the War of Resistance, she was held captive by Dai Li for three years, forced to smile through tears out of resentment and longing for her husband—this was her "unspoken regret in life."
In her later years, living in a foreign land, she often recalled the words she had spoken when her close friend Ruan Lingyu took her own life—"Life is but a dream." She suddenly suffered a stroke while reminiscing about her past glory and "dissolved into a butterfly" in her "final aria" of "The Butterfly Wants to Fly Away"—her sorrow was endless.
Over half a century of her cinematic career, she starred in over a hundred films, portraying various images of women in old China, creating a unique chapter in Chinese cinema.
The birth of cinema is less than a century old, and it was introduced to China in the late 19th century, where it was then called "Western Shadow Play." In the 1930s, the renowned film critic Ling He said, "The achievements of Chinese cinema in nearly two decades have only created one Hu Die—though this may be a bit exaggerated, it is also quite true. In fact, it is so. Hu Die has become an idol for the audience, and no matter old or young, men or women, when they mention cinema, they immediately think of her. It seems as if there would be no Chinese cinema without her."
Hu Die! Hu Die! No one can rival her, unmatched in the cinema! Hu Die! Hu Die! She cannot be matched by Sari, or Jeanne—she is the rival of beauties both at home and abroad! Hu Die! Hu Die! Her art is unmatched, her beauty even more so—may the butterfly forever remain unmatched!
—Excerpted from Wen Qin's "Butterfly Obsession" (1931).
Researchers or enthusiasts of the history of Chinese cinema, the history of Chinese art, the history of Chinese women's lives, proponents or opponents of the "butterfly myth"—students from primary to university levels.