Ms Zhou Xuan

1920-1957

Actress & Singer

Born Su Pu and also known as Wang Xiao Hong and Zhou Xiao Hong, singer and actress Zhou Xuan was dubbed “the Golden Voice” and was voted one of Shanghai’s “Ten Best Singers”. She joined a performance troupe in 1931 at age 12, and began appearing in movies from 1935. Street Angel (1937) made her an overnight sensation and the theme songs she sang, “Wandering Songstress” and “Song of the Four Seasons” became well-known tunes. In 1938, she signed a deal with Guohua Film Company, which led to her appearing in The West Chamber (1940) and Three Charming Smiles (1940). She also sang songs for the soundtrack for every film she made. During the Japanese occupation, Zhou was a principal actress in China United Film Company, starring in Daughter of the Fisherman (1943), Songs of Harmony (1944) and Songs of the Phoenix (1944). In 1946, she was invited to Hong Kong by Jiang Boying, owner of Great China Film Company, to play in An All-consuming Love (1947), Orioles Banished from the Flowers, Song of a Songstress (both 1948) and Waste Not our Youth (1949). She also acted in Sorrows of the Forbidden City (1948), a Yung Hwa Motion Pictures production. Rainbow as You Wish (1953) was Zhou Xuan’s last film in Hong Kong before returning to Shanghai.