Beauty and Sorrow -- A True Story of Ruan Lingyu

Author: Dai Yan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: She, born into a poor family, with a brief life of twenty-five years, staged a life drama filled with melancholy and sorrow for us. She once had a vibrant youth, but she snuffed it out when it was most alive; she once had a full life, but she suffocated it when it was most abundant; she once had natural, untraceable performances, but she stopped when they were most natural. Men only saw her as a "mirage in the mirror and water in the moon," yet she sought to rely on them. Her life's mission seemed to be finding this reliance, with acting becoming merely a "hobby." If she couldn't find it, she would search again; if she still couldn't find it, she would keep searching. By the age of twenty-five, she decided to stop searching.
A slender and delicate figure, a graceful demeanor, long and expressive eyes, the charm of "smoky gazes and alluring strides," a cheongsam adorned with floral borders, high slits, and a checkered pattern. That was her external beauty. Her wholehearted dedication to the acting career, her portrayal more real than reality, her two expressive eyes that spoke volumes, her pure and transparent style, her genuine "acting talent," and her irreplaceable status in the film industry—that was her "actor's beauty." Hope, disappointment, disappointment, hope—despite the despair in her emotional life, her figure remained noble and composed, her posture elegant and measured. That was her inner beauty—she possessed an endless beauty.
Six years old, she lost her father and, together with her mother, worked as a maid in wealthy households, doing laundry and cleaning shoes. She had no childhood, no joy, struggling on the brink of life and death from a young age, tasting the bitterness and warmth of the world. In men's fantasies, she became a star, and on the path to stardom, she stepped into the realm of "mirage in the mirror and water in the moon." Men only saw her as a "mirage in the mirror," but she took it seriously, treating the "flowers" as real flowers and the "moon" as a real moon, mistaking men's opportunistic warmth for something she could rely on. She knew she shouldn't give her heart, but she couldn't force herself to become a person of insincerity—she had an endless sorrow.
She was a legend in the history of Chinese cinema. At the age of twenty-five, she left behind the words "The spoken word is fearsome" and left this world. The writer Lu Xun wrote an article in her memory. She once shared the spotlight with the famous actress Hu Die. She was regarded by Mei Lanfang as "China's Mary Pickford," and she was praised as a "beautiful and pure film artist." She once soared to fame, beloved by countless fans. Most of the roles she played seemed to end in tragedy. It seemed as if, from the very beginning, she had already known her fate.
Recommended for the following readers: teenagers or adults, poor children or wealthy offspring, those new to the world or seasoned and cunning ones, sincere individuals or insincere ones, those who live for art or those who use art as a tool.