Ms Hsia Moon

1933-2016

Actress & Producer

Born Yang Meng in Shanghai, Hsia Moon was a prima donna of great virtuosity and one of the most famous actresses in Hong Kong cinema. She moved to Hong Kong in 1947, whereupon she was referred to Great Wall studio by her schoolmate Mao Mei (also known as Christine Yuen, daughter of Great Wall’s producer Yuen Yang’an). Hsia’s sophistication was unique among her peers at the time and she became an overnight sensation at 17 with A Night-Time Wife (1951). She was thereafter hailed as Great Wall’s “Eldest Princess”. Leading roles in a long list of titles followed, including A Torn Lily (1953), Sunrise (1956), The Wedding Night (1956), Those Bewitching Eyes (1958), The Eternal Love (1960), The Bride Hunter (1960), The Princess Falls in Love (1962) and My Darling Princess (1964). She was Great Wall’s principal actress throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In a career spanning 17 years, Yang starred in 41 films. Of these, Peerless Beauty (1953) and A Widow’s Tears (1956) won her the First Class Individual Achievement Award from the Ministry of Culture, the People’s Republic of China. In 1978, Hsia Moon founded Bluebird Movie Enterprises with partners. The studio produced highly acclaimed titles such as Boat People (1982) and Homecoming (1984), which both won Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards.