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Zhou Xuan- The Golden Voice

The background music playing is Zhou singing May Wind. It is 320 kbps which is very high

mp3 quality. If you wish to stop this music, please go to the foot of this page and adjust the

small player accordingly.

Zhou Xuan was the voice of Old Shanghai. China's 'Golden Voice' was one of the

most popular and important actress/singers of the 1930s and 40s. She made morethan 40 movies and recorded 200 songs. She was born Su Pu into a poor family in

Changzhou, 1918-20. At the age of 3, she was taken to a family named Wang inJintan Country. Her name was changed to Wang Xiaohong. Later, she was sent to afamily named Zhou in Shanghai and renamed Zhou Xiaohong.

At the age of 13, she took Zhou Xuan (beautiful jade) as her stage name. She spent

her entire life searching for her biological parents but her parentage was never

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established until after her tragic death in 1957 in a mental asylum. A possible causeof death may be encephalitis following a nervous breakdown. Her personal life had

been a sad one, but she left a timeless legacy - a true legend.

Wu Yingyin

The background song is Wu singing Nightingale Song from 1947. A very special song for

me personally. It is 256 kbps which is high mp3 quality. If you wish to stop this music, please

go to the foot of this page and adjust the small player accordingly.

Wu was born in Shanghai in 1922, her father an engineer and her mother a doctor.

She became known as the Queen of the Nasal Voice, and EMI signed her in 1946.Wu was one of the seven great singing stars of China in the 1930s/40s. She died onDec 17, 2009 in Los Angeles.

Li Xianglan

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The background music playing is Li singing "Plum Blossom" in true Shanghai Jazz style. It is

256 kbps which is very high mp3 quality. If you wish to stop this music, please go to the foot

of this page, and adjust the small player accordingly. It takes a few seconds to load, so as you

read this note, it might be that you think there is no music!! Enjoy!

Li Xianglan was born Yamaguchi Yoshiko on February 12, 1920 in the outskirts

of Mukden (now Shenyang ) Fushun, Manchuria. By the mid 1940s she hadestablished herself as one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars, as well as a topactress. At the end of World War II, she was arrested by the Chinese government

for treason and collaboration with the Japanese. However, she was cleared of allcharges since she was not a Chinese national.

In 1946, she settled in Japan and launched a new career there under her birth name

Yoshiko Yamaguchi. In the 1950s she established her acting career in Hollywood

and Broadway as Shirley Yamaguchi. Later she revived her Li Xianglan name andappeared in several Chinese-language films made in Hong Kong. In 1969 shebecame the host of The Three O'Clock TV show, reporting on Palestine as well as

the Vietnam War. In 1974, she was elected to the House of Councillors (the upperHouse of the Japanese parliament), where she served for 18 years. She co-authored

the book, Ri Koran, Watashi no Hansei (Half My Life as Ri Koran). She now

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serves as a Vice-President of the Asian Women's Fund. A remarkable woman, anda wonderful singer.

Yao Li - The Silver Voice

Yao was one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars. She first rose to popularity in

Mainland China, singing in a Shanghainese dance hall style. Her brother Yao Minwas also a successfull pop singer, and they often recorded as a duo. She was a

contemporary of Zhou Xuan, and had a stage name of "Silver Voice" incounterpart to Zhou Xuan - "Golden Voice". After the 1949 revolution she

relocated to Hong Kong where she continued to record, her songs featured

prominently in many movies.

Yao Li's voice changed with time. Her initial success in Shanghai was partiallyindebted to the techniques and vocal training of Russian diaspora court musicians.

Later, her voice became lower and thicker, full of jazz's lyricism. In the 1950s,

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however, she began to fall in love with the voice of Patti Page and developed anew hybrid style based on jazz and country music.

Gong Qiuxia

The background song is Gong singing Longing For You from 1937. It is 256 kbps which is

high mp3 quality. If you wish to stop this music, please go to the foot of this page and adjust

the small player accordingly.

Gong Qiuxia was one of the seven great singing stars of China in the 1930s/40s,along with Zhou Xuan. Gong was born on Dec 4, 1916 in Jiangsu, and in 1933 shetraveled the country across Southeast Asia as part of the Shanghai Plum Flower

Troupe. In 1936 she made her first film Father Mother Son Daughter, and was in

over 100 films. She relocated to Hong Kong in 1949. She died on Sep 7, 2004.

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Bai Guang - White LightThe background song is Bai Guang singing Waiting For You from 1948. It is 256 kbps

which is high mp3 quality. If you wish to stop this music, please go to the foot of this page and adjust the small player accordingly.

China's Torch Singer, Bai Guong. Her name means White Light, shortened to just

'White', and she was China's equivalent of Marlene Dietrich, both in her film roles

and her vocal style. She was born in Beijing on June 27, 1921 as Shi Yongfen, anddied in Kuala Lumpur, on August 27, 1999, due to colon cancer. In between, she

captured the hearts of generations of filmgoers with her unique and glamorouspersonality.

The Femme Fatale of Old Shanghai. Her dreamy, husky singing voice establishedher as one of China's Seven Great Singing Stars. Bai Kwong was truly a legend,

and her piano tomb in Kuala Lumpur, a city she grew to love so much, is a sight tobehold.

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Bai Hong - White Light

The background song is Bai Hong singing Midnight Line from 1946. It is 256 kbps which is

high mp3 quality. If you wish to stop this music, please go to the foot of this page and

adjust the small player accordingly.

Bai was born Bai Lizhu in Beiijing in 1919. Her stage name, Bai Hong, means'White Rainbow'. Her music career began at the age of 13 with the Bright

Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe, and in 1934 she won a big singing contest inShanghai, which caterpaulted her to stardom. By the 1940s she was one of China's

Seven great singing stars. There was no more popular singer than Bai with her

magnetic presence and her vocal prowess. "Intoxicating Lip Rouge" perfectlydemonstrates her vocal range and skill. She was one of the 'Three Whites' along

with Bai Guong (White Light) and Bai Yun (White Cloud) She was married to thecomposer Li Jinguang, until their divorce in the 1950s. In 1992, she died at the age

of 73.

Some of her Films:The Xiaoxiang rainy night (1940)

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Islands of the Spring and Autumn (1941)Fig (1941)

Stick to Chu Yuan (1941)(To Honglou Canmeng) (1948)

Li Lihua

The background music playing is Li Li-hua singing Soft Spring Breeze over Peach

Embankment from 1943. It is 256 kbps which is high mp3 quality. If you wish to stop this

music, please go to the foot of this page and adjust the small player accordingly.

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Li Li-hua was born in Shanghai on 7th of July, 1924. She was the daughter offamous Beijing opera actress Li Gui-fang and actor Zhang Shao-chuan. She was

born premature at 7 months, and was a sickly baby, often crying weakly"miao..ow....miao...ow"; hence her mother nicknamed her "xiaomi" meaning

little kitten. Her father died when she was four, but her mother lived past 90.

Before her film debut, the producer devised a big promotional campaign. A

newspaper article appeared daily announcing that Miss Li Lihua would awardanyone who helped her find her diamond ring lost at a local circus show. Afterseveral days of such publicity, a final announcement mentioned that Li Lihua had

found her ring and was grateful to everyone for helping. The producer thenreleased her first movie, drawing a large curious crowd. Everyone wanted to knowwho this Li Lihua person was. "San Xiao" (Three Smiles, Shanghai 1940) became

a box office success and Li Lihua became an overnight star.

She moved to Hong Kong in 1948. She appeared in films produced by the Great

China, Yung Hwa, Great Wall, Shaw Brothers, Lung Ma, Xin Hwa and manymore. In 1955, she starred in Blood Will Tell, which was the first color movie in

Hong Kong.She starred in several Shaw Brothers blockbusters, such as The Grand Substitution,The Magnificent Concubine, Empress Wu and Vermilion Door etc. Li won the

Best Actress Award at the 3rd and 7th Golden Horse Film Awards in 1965 and

1969 with her performance in Between Tears And Smiles and The Partisan Loversrespectively. She retired from the film industry in 1973, after more than 120

movies. She had the busy, industrious nature of Rat Year combined with Cancer's

mystery and allure.

She was nicknamed Hsiao Mi - 'The Evergreen Tree' of Chinese cinema owing toher long and popular movie career and youthful looks. She also made her mark in

Hollywood, with Cecile de Mille, Victor Mature, and Yul Bryner among her many

admirers. A very young Jackie Chan appeared in 3 films with her. The SingaporeEntertainment & Television Eight magazine featured her as one of the Most

Beautiful Stars of the 20th Century, describing her as a "Bewitching Belle: She

was a diva before the title was trendy. Li LiHua, the classic Chinese femme fatale,exuded a regal air which she lent to to her portrayals of bold women like Empress

Wu ...."

Zhang Lu

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Zhang was born on January 21 1932. She started singing as a 14 years old at a

Shanghai radio station without telling her mother. Her father had died when she

was four, and she wanted to help her family out. She was introduced as "MissZhang Da". She became popular in clubs and sang at the Cotton Tree Restaurant

and the Luo Lan cafe.

Zhang started her recording career in 1946, and made her first film early in 1948.

She moved to Hong Kong in 1952. In 1959, she married musician Ollie Delfinofrom Singapore, and they had two sons. Zhang died on January 26, 2009 ... New

Year's Day.

Zhang Yiwen

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Zhang Yi-Wen's () real name was Wang Bao-Zhu () She was born

in Shanghai in 1927. In 1947, she recorded the song "Shanghai Girl" ()

which became a big hit. Prior to the Communist takeover, she immigrated to HongKong, and continued her career there. In 1953 she was featured in the film Love

Song () singing the song "You're in My Dreams" ().

In 1963 she was forced by a serious sickness to put her career on hold for two

years before returning. In 1970 she opened a singing school, sharing herexperience with the new generation of performers. In 1990 she broke her pelvis,

making her immobile, and in July 1995, she died due to an unspecified illness.