| Ruan Lingyu | |
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Ruan in a magazine cover |
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| Chinese name | 阮玲玉 (Traditional) |
| Chinese name | 阮玲玉 (Simplified) |
| Birth name | Ruan Fenggen (阮鳳根) |
| Born | April 26, 1910 Shanghai, Jiangsu, China |
| Died | March 8, 1935 (aged 24) Shanghai, China |
| Other name(s) | Lily Yuen Ruan Yuyin (阮玉英) |
| Years active | 1927–1935 |
Ruan Lingyu (Chinese: 阮玲玉; pinyin: Ruǎn Língyù; April 26, 1910 – March 8, 1935), born Ruan Fenggen (simplified Chinese: 阮凤根; traditional Chinese: 阮鳳根; pinyin: Ruǎn Fènggēn), was a Chinese silent film actress. One of the most prominent Chinese film stars of the 1930s, her death at the age of 24 led her to become an icon of Chinese cinema.
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Ruan was born in Shanghai in 1910 to a working-class family. Her father, a worker, died when she was young, and her mother brought her up working as a housemaid.
In 1926, to help make ends meet, Ruan signed up for the then prominent Mingxing Film Studio. She made her first film at the age 16. That film, A Married Couple in Name only (挂名的夫妻) was directed by Bu Wancang. [1].
In 1928, she signed for Da Zhonghua Baihe Company (大中华百合公司) where she shot six films. [2]
Ruan's first big break came in Spring Dream of an Old Capital (故都春梦 or Reminiscences of Beijing, 1930) which was a massive hit in China. It was Ruan's first major work after signing for the newly-formed Lianhua Studio in 1930. In it, she successfully played a prostitute by the name of Yanyan.
Thereafter Ruan became Lianhua's major film star. Her most memorable works came after 1931, starting with the melodrama Love and Duty (戀愛與義務, 1931) (directed by Bu Wancang). Ruan had by then gained popularity owing to a string of lead roles and in 1933, Ruan was voted second runner-up in a poll held by Star Daily (明星日报) for China's "movie queen" (Hu Die emerged the winner and Chen Yumei was first runner-up). [3]
Beginning with Three Modern Women (三个摩登女性, 1932; dir: Bu Wanchang), Ruan started collaborating with a group of talented leftist Chinese directors. In Little Toys (小玩意, 1933), a film by Sun Yu, Ruan played a long-suffering toy-maker. Her next film, The Goddess (神女 Shennü, 1934; dir: Wu Yonggang), is often hailed as the pinnacle of Chinese silent cinema; Ruan sympathetically portrayed a prostitute bringing up a child. Later that year, Ruan made her penultimate film, New Women (新女性), directed by Cai Chusheng, where she played an educated Shanghai woman forced to death by an unfeeling society.
A final film, National Customs (國風) was released shortly after her death.
At the age of 16 Ruan became acquainted with Zhang Damin (张达民/張達民), whose family her mother was working for. Zhang was later driven out of his wealthy family due to his spendthrift ways and became a chronic gambler, supported by Ruan's salary. Unable to tolerate Zhang's gambling ways, Ruan split with him in 1933. [4] Ruan began co-habiting with Tang Jishan, a tea tycoon. In 1935, Zhang filed a lawsuit asking for reparations from Ruan. The tabloids seized on this opportunity to probe into Ruan's private life and put Ruan under intense pressure. [5]
Following the completion of New Women, Ruan's life began to unravel. The film opened in Shanghai, February 1935. Cai Chusheng was under massive pressure from tabloid reporters, who was extremely hostile owing a scathing depiction of the Shanghai tabloids in the movie. Cai was forced to make extensive cuts to the film. Even after that, Ruan's private life was mercilessly seized upon by tabloids and her lawsuit with her first husband, Zhang Damin, became a source of vindictive coverage.
Faced with these public issues as well as with intense private problems, Ruan poisoned herself with an overdose of barbiturates in Shanghai on March 8, 1935, at the age of 24. Her released death note apparently contained a line which says "Gossip is a fearful thing" (人言可畏), although recent researchers have doubted the note's authenticity (it appeared to be forged by Tang Jishan). [6] Even China's preeminent intellectual Lu Xun was appalled at the details surrounding Ruan's death and wrote an essay, entitled "Gossip is a Fearful Thing", denouncing the tabloids.[1]
Recent researchers believe her deteriorating relationship with Tang Jishan may have contributed to Ruan's suicide. Tang is believed to have physically abused her on the night of her suicide. [7]
Her funeral procession was reportedly 3 miles (4.8 km) long, with three women committing suicide during the event.[2]
In 1992, Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan made a movie about her life, Centre Stage, starring Maggie Cheung as Ruan Lingyu. Cheung won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress for this role.
In 2005, Jacklyn Wu Chien-lien played Ruan in a 30-episode Mainland TV serial on Ruan's life.[8]. That same year a biography, "Ruan Ling-Yu: The goddess of Shanghai" by Richard J. Meyer was released by the University Press of Hong Kong.
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