A real butterfly

Author: Mulan Bian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: She starred in over a hundred films during her half-century-long career in the film industry, portraying various images of women in old China, creating a unique chapter in Chinese cinema. The birth of cinema has only been around a hundred years, 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 Butterfly [referring to Hu Die]. This may sound a bit exaggerated, but it holds some truth. In fact, it is so. Butterfly has become an idol for the audience, and whenever people mention cinema, they think of her. It seems as if there would be no Chinese cinema without her." Butterfly! Butterfly! No one can rival her, unmatched on the film stage! Butterfly! Butterfly! She cannot be matched by Sari, nor by Jeanne—she is the rival of beauties both in China and abroad! Butterfly! Butterfly! Her artistry is unmatched, and her beauty is even more so. May Butterfly always remain unmatched!—Excerpted from Wen Qin's Butterfly Enchantment (1931). Students and 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."