Beauty and Sorrow -- A Real Butterfly

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Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Some people regard Butterfly's life as a "myth," and there's some truth to that. But upon closer reflection, one might argue that it's more like a "dream." In the past, Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly, "Don't I know whether it was Zhuangzi who dreamed he was a butterfly, or the butterfly who dreamed he was Zhuangzi?" Butterfly'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"? Butterfly seemed to reach the peak of her life in a dream; she achieved a "dream-like legend" in the history of Chinese cinema in her dreams. Her face was like a silver plate, her eyes bright and her teeth white, her skin smooth, her features well-proportioned, gentle and kind. Her image fit the traditional Chinese standard of beauty. A pair of dimples on her cheeks were her trademark, as she made women with dimples in that era lucky enough to be called "beautiful." She was sweet-looking, tall and slender, graceful, dignified, diligent, and clever. Writer Zhang Henshui described her as "unassuming and generous, with a deep, alert, and decisive personality," and she was seen as "half like Baochai, a third like Xiren, and a twelfth like Qingwen." She was the "first 'Empress of the Screen' in Chinese history," regarded as "one of the greatest actresses of the 1930s and 1940s in China." "Beauty! Beauty! She could charm a city and even a country with her beauty, her natural charm captivating hearts," she was seen as an "eternal crowd favorite"—she had endless beauty.
Her path to success was filled with hardships. She endured the struggles of her childhood and youth, faced the storm of public opinion over her first love, and unexpectedly bore the immense social pressure of the "Crime of Beauty and" during the night when Northeast China fell, dancing with Zhang Xueliang. 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 abroad, she often recalled the words she had said to her friend Ruan Lingyu when he took his own life—"Life is but a dream." She suffered a stroke while reminiscing about her past glory and "dissolved into a butterfly" in her "final aria," singing "The butterfly is leaving."
She had endless sorrow. In her half-century career in cinema, she starred in over a hundred films, portraying various women from pre-war China, creating a unique chapter in Chinese cinema. The birth of cinema was less than a century old when it reached China in the late 19th century, then called "Western shadow play." In the 1930s, renowned film critic Ling He said, "The achievements of Chinese cinema in nearly two decades have only created one Butterfly—this may be a bit exaggerated, but it's quite true. In fact, it is so. Butterfly has become an idol for the audience, no matter young or old, men or women. Whenever people mention cinema, they think of her, as if there would be no Chinese cinema without her."
Butterfly! Butterfly! No one can match her, unmatched in the cinema!
Butterfly! Butterfly! She cannot be matched by Sari, or Jeanne—she is the rival of beauties both at home and abroad!
Butterfly! Butterfly! Her art is unmatched, her beauty even more so—may the butterfly always be unmatched!
—Excerpted from Wen Qin's "Butterfly Obsession" (1931).
Researchers or enthusiasts of Chinese film history, Chinese art history, Chinese women's life history, proponents or opponents of the "Butterfly myth," students and teachers at all levels.