Favorite Hong Kong actresses

Fan Bingbing and the gang at Cannes, 2013

2013-05-21T21:46:00.000-07:00

It's May and it is raining on the sun-kissed Mediterranean shore of the land of liberté, égalité and fraternité which means Fan Bingbing is ruling the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival. FBB has become such a fixture at Cannes that it would be real news if she skipped a year. To the relief of fashionistas, reporters for the rag trade papers and hungry photographers she was once again the Queen of Cannes.

The big event was the premier of Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby"--early reviews indicate that Gatsby remains an unfilmable story but something had to kick things off so it might as well be a 3-D version of a work that refuses to live beyond the printed page. Zhang Ziyi, a member of the jury for the prix un certain regard was cool in Dior while Zhang Yuqi was either a perfect representation of old Hollywood glamor or a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen.

First FBB, elegant and almost regal (missing only a tiara) in a Louis Vuitton ball gown with a train that might be unmanageable for a lesser mortal:

Zhang Ziyi stopped by the premier on her way to a jury meeting helping decide which young and not well known director's career will get a huge boost and a pile of cash for distribution for winning un certain regard. If you ever wondered "who wears a trouser suit at one of the biggest fashion events of the year?" there is now an answer--the Divine Miss ZZ does, although her outfit came straight from the Dior couture atelier.

Her spiky wig seemed like an accessory to her outfit--it isn't a very good look for her, reminding one (at least this one) of aging divas like Sharon Stone.

Waiting to make her entrance. It looks as if someone's navy is pretty well represented:

The diamond jewelry and ruby clutch, her dramatic upswept hair style along with matte, pouty makeup and, most obviously, the daring decolletage of Zhang Yuqi's dress by Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko (more on her later) combine to stay just this side of tacky. Another carat of bling or an extra millimeter of fabric from the neckline would have pushed her onto a few worst dressed lists. She makes it all work, though.

The guy with the best seat in the house gets an eyeful:

The Fashion Court; Yahoo China; Glamor.com; Sina; RCFA

Li Bingbing and Chen Man in fanciful movie images

2013-03-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Chen Man and Li Bingbing got together again with "Harper's Bazaar" picking up the tab and getting a striking set of images that pay homage to Hollywood. LBB was an action heroine, an Audrey Hepburn/Natalie Wood temptress and as Michelle Pfieffer as the mysterious Countess Olenska--with, perhaps, Chow Yun Fat at his oleaginous best as Newland Archer. Not much to say other than here they are:

Sina

Pace Wu and her stately progress through Paris fashion week

2013-03-13T16:16:00.001-07:00

Just what the diva starved masses have been demanding--Pace Wu, the model turned actress turned international fashion icon was in all the front rows at the recent Paris fall/winter 2013 shows. Designers who missed the Pace Wu express train had to settle for a cardboard cut-out to fool the photographers. More or less confirmehttp://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2483310749579215048#editor/target=post;postID=5787101138726150064d sightings include the usual heavyweights: Louis Vuitton and Elie Saab plus up and coming Taiwanese house Shiatzy Chen.

Pace Wu x 12.

First, Carven, Lanvin, Viktor & Rolf:

Next up are Loewe, Chloe, Givenchy: (the French don't have a combination to rival the linguistic triplets of Gucci, Pucci and Fiorucci in Italy)

Followed by Giambattista Valli, Stella McCartney, Valentino:

Shiatzy Chen, Louis Vuitton, Elie Saab:

A few other angles:
The black leather and chiffon Loewi minidress:

The result of a week's worth of stiletto heels, ankle straps with strange buckles and lots of walking--ouch:

Pace Wu said there was a movie due out in May in which she appears with Fan Bingbing, saying that it was a love story (most likely not between them, more's the pity) but that she didn't know it's title in English.

RCFA WWD

Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk in Rio presenting sports awards

2013-03-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Maggie Cheung dropped in to Rio De Janeiro to help give out the Laureus World Sports Awards. She and Martina Navratilova presented one of the statuettes to Andy Murray, British tennis player. There were plenty of active athletes (Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen) and some retired ones (Navratilova, Shaquille O'Neal) plus the usual bunch of actors and media types like Eva Longoria and Morgan Freeman.

Looking a little over excited while viewing an award:

Maggie and Martina watched by giant Andy Murray:

Hanging around waiting for things to get started:

This is one of the pictures run by Sina English over the caption:"Neymar, a Brazilian soccer player,attends 2013 Laureus World Sports Awards. Nice framing of the subject.

Sina English Laureus official site

Fan Bingbing tours a Barbie factory.

2013-03-05T06:10:00.002-08:00

FBB puts on a Peter Pan collar and finds out where Barbie dolls come from. Strange but true. She should have spent her time at a San Rio plant with Hello Kitty.

Just too precious...

...particularly this one.

Yahoo China

Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia: Bathing Beauty

2013-03-01T18:29:00.001-08:00

I am sure these images are all over the web and may have been seen by everyone but me. I find them quite striking--although that covers just about any picture of Brigitte Lin. They seem to be taken from some vintage magazines and even a calendar; many are not reproduced well nor, one assumes, can they be.

This looks like a bunch of her magazine covers, badly laid out and cut off by the photographer:

She was (and remains and always will be) a knockout--simply gorgeous:

Sina Slide

Lovely retro pictures of Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk and Leslie Cheung

2013-03-01T17:46:00.002-08:00

Sina found and published some delightful and even a bit heart wrenching pictures of Maggie Cheung and Leslie Cheung with a few friends. They look like candid snaps of them, very informal, just relaxing together. À la recherche du temps perdu.

Maggie, Leslie and Tony Leung Ka-Fai

Anita Mui, Leslie, Maggie, Carina Lau

Sina slide

Kelly Chen has a new album

2013-02-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

Kelly Chen had a press conference last month to hype "Reflections", an album that was released earlier this month. She also brought out a couple of music videos. All of that activity somehow slipped through our fine-meshed seine that usually nets everything concerning female artists connected to the Hong Kong and PRC movie biz, however tangentially.

Here is some of what we missed...

Anyone that is a movie or recording star (or both), no matter how talented she is and how hard she works, still must present a manufactured image to the public since we identify with performers through their roles and what they produce. When Kelly Chen works a carefully staged publicity event, acting interested in what the press are asking and sincere in her respect for them and does so with a huge image of herself looming over her it makes this even more clear; an image appearing in front of an image.

She seems to enjoy being in front of a crowd, whether a bunch of journos and flacks in a ballroom in Hong Kong or thousands of screaming fans in Taipei or Kuala Lumpur:

Make-up for one of the music videos promoting a single that may be called "Skin Trauma". It probably made a lot more sense before going through the automatic translation word chopper.

And the result:

An image from the music video for "So Hot":

And the video itself--it goes without saying--although I will say it--that she can really move; an excellent dancer in the context of a music video.

Sina Yahoo China MSN Singapore

Ni Ni, Zhang Meng at the Independent Spirit Awards...

2013-02-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

...although Ni Ni was identified as "Ziyi Zhang" (who?) by Zimbio. Xinhua and Yahoo China had their own gaffe, calling the Film Independent Spirit Awards the "small Oscars" which they aren't although the Spirit awards are presented in Los Angeles the evening before the Academy Awards.

Anyway, here's Ziyi Zhang:

Or as she is known in the rest of the world, Ni Ni:

Zhang Meng kept her company on the red carpet:

Zhang Meng's dress made the most of her cleavage, called to the anger of feminists but probably not completely inaccurately, her career line:

Zimbio moves a lot of data in several languages 24 hours a day from all over the world and they have probably made more egregious errors than this one but that doesn't excuse slapping an incorrect ID on images of an actress and not even using the preferred form of the wrong name.

Zimbio Yahoo China Xinhua

The Bingbings go to a party

2013-02-26T03:18:00.002-08:00

Fan Bingbing and Li Bingbing took their teeny handbags and glam party dresses to the Vanity Fair after-Oscar bash. While realizing that the evening bags are props/ads, there is still very little room for much of anything in them--perhaps a compact for last minute touch-ups, a subway token to make sure one can get home if she has to ditch her date and a poison tipped dagger if trouble arises.

For those interested, FBB's dress was from Joe's Custom Awning while LBB wore a suit from Bat-Wings R Us.

Each shows that she knows how to hit her mark and smile for the camera:

Yahoo China Chinese Films

Lin Peng, Fan Bingbing in Hollywood

2013-02-25T06:01:00.002-08:00

Fan Bingbing dropped in at a couple of Academy Award events Sunday evening with a bet less fanfare than during her annual conquests of the Cannes Film Festival. First the red carpet in a very pink ball gown:

Hair and make-up was almost too flawless--even with the skilled and experienced make-up technicians available for the biggest American movie bash, it must have taken some time to assemble all the parts for this look:

A bit later it was off to the after-Oscar party given by The Weinstein Company, on of those gala functions that aren't really important unless you aren't invited. But she was (one assumes--FBB didn't have the air of a gate crasher) having changed into something a bit more practical:

The comments from "netizens", as rendered in Googlespeak by automatic translation seemed more grumpy and grouchy than the not unusual run of mean spirited trashing, complaining that Fan Bingbing doesn't have a movie out so why was she there and that her left arm is fat (odd).

Nothing to whine about with Lin Peng--she has had a busy couple of years with six films released in various parts of the world in 2011 and 2012. Her appearance was described in the running translation as "a big show of hot body wearing a black thoracotomy dress,"a description I couldn't improve on if I tried for a year.

Sina Xinhua Sina

Brigitte Lin and Gong Li pictures from 1994 movie set

2013-02-18T17:11:00.001-08:00

Some pictures that must have been shot by the unit still photographer on the set of The Maidens of Heavenly Mountains. There are typical stills that might be used for publicity, shots of technicians working with--actually around--the two actresses and candid (or at least candid looking) images of them relaxing between takes while remaining in costume and makeup.

A couple of official stills:

This could be blocking changes with techs on hand to make sure the costumes drape properly in the new set up:

Whatever is going on here, the folding chairs weren't part of the final shot:

Just a couple of superstars sitting around talking:

Sharla Cheung Man also starred in The Maidens of Heavenly Mountains (wearing a long white beard) but she unfortunately wasn't included in this sequence.

Xinhua; Chinese Films

NOTE: Blogger seems to have a new image interface (or I have stumbled upon an old one) that creates images of odd sizes and places them randomly in the post. The old way of uploading images included instructions for the size and location (right, left, center) which it now lacks.

Maggie Cheung, 1982. On the beach, hoping to be discovered

2013-02-13T15:51:00.002-08:00

Cute as a boxful of puppies and before her career defining position as a sales clerk at Lane Crawford. Maggie Cheung returned to Hong Kong fro the UK to try her luck in the model/actress/beauty contest business. Sina dug up some shots on the sun-kissed beaches of the then Crown Colony.

Sina

Karen Mok wishes everyone a happy new year

2013-02-07T17:47:00.004-08:00

Karen Mok celebrates the year of the snake in a red mini dress and a green cheongsam. Her English language album "Somewhere I Belong" was released last month.

AsiaOne; Sina

Zhang Ziyi arrives in Berlin

2013-02-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

Zhang Ziyi flew in to Berlin (and were her arms ever tired!) for the big show and Xinhua has the badly focused cell phone pictures to prove it. Some functionary handed her a pot of flowers while being watched by a very Teutonic looking bodyguard/minder.

Xinhua

Zhang Ziyi works the Berlin red carpet in fluorescent green

2013-02-07T16:56:00.001-08:00

The red carpet for the Berlin International Film Festival (the Berlinale) covers a lot of acreage so the stars, models and hangers-on spend a lot of time smiling and freezing in a northern European winter's evening. The faux fur on Zhang Ziyi's gown probably didn't help much but she did make a big entrance wearing bright green, an unusual choice that worked very well. The Wong Kar-Wai film "The Grandmasters" with Zhang and Tony Leung Chiu Wai opened the festival.

With relaxed and confident Tony Leung--mutual arm candy.

No shortage of frenzied autograph seekers, cell phone camera wielders and, from the looks of the equipment, a few professional members of the press--or at least paparazzi with nice cameras.

There are a few maniacal looking types in the scrum.

Wong Kar-Wai, shown here with his wife Esther Wong, is the chairman of the jury for the Berlinale this year as well as having his film open the festival. They seem to like him in Berlin.

Sina; Sina; France24; Chinese Films

Tang Wei in Finding Mr. Right

2013-02-01T15:00:00.001-08:00

A romantic comedy about two disparate people who meet in Seattle--but without Nora Ephron, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and including social commentary ripped from the headlines. Tang Wei plays Jiajia, a young woman living in Beijing being supported by her rich boyfriend. Finding that she is pregnant she heads for Seattle so that her child will be born an American citizen something that is not uncommon among wealthy couples in the PRC. Known as "maternity tourism", it involves a pregnant woman coming to the US and staying in what is called a maternity hotel, generally a single family home in a quiet area near the hospital where the birth will take place. It isn't cheap: one couple paid $27,000 to an agency in China that arranges U.S. tourist visas, lodging, and medical care. The fourteenth amendment to the US Constitution guarantees citizenship to all those born in this country. An additional reason for giving birth in the US is that the Chinese "one child" policy doesn't apply to children born abroad.

So Jiajia has a very good reason to be in Seattle and, judging from one still continues to be supported in the manner she has become accustomed to--here carrying a big wad of one hundred dollar bills while talking with co-star Wu Xiubo.

Complications arise--which they must--and she loses contact with her wealthy sponsor and has to navigate American culture norms and bureaucratic indifference on her own. Until she meets up with Frank (Wu Xiubo) who offers helps with the complexities of the American system and makes her think twice about who her Mr. Right actually is.

Sina; CRI English. This CBS News story has some information on maternity tourism from China.

Actresses wearing cat ears

2013-02-01T14:03:00.001-08:00

Zhang Jingchu and Sammi Cheng each decided to wear a hat with cat ears, one at the airport the other at a fashion event. I don't know if this is the start of trend, but if it is there have been worse celebrity inspired clothing trends.

Zhang Jingchu with the cuteness meter turned to eleven:

Sammi Cheng looking glam wearing sunglasses at night:

The same outfit with some of the color removed:

Sina; Yahoo China

Brigitte Lin reading

2013-01-31T13:50:00.001-08:00

Based on the Google Chrome machine translation on fly I wasn't able to figure out what this event was or even what city it was in. There are, however, 40 pictures of Lin Ching-Hsia onstage reading, answering questions from the audience and enjoying a laugh with the moderator. Since it is impossible to have too many Lin Ching-Hsia pictures, here are a few of them:

Sina

Ageless Cherie Chung for Bulgari

2013-01-29T19:59:00.001-08:00

Cherie Chung appeared for ultra-luxury jeweler Bulgari. She had the relaxed grace of someone who has just cashed a nice check for her appearance fee and has a few hundred thousand dollars of emeralds and diamonds around her neck.

Stylish and poised, she looked to be having a good time. When asked how she stayed so beautiful and fresh looking for so long (she is reported to be 52 years old) Cherie Chung said her secret was to drink lots of water, leaving out the part about having inherited the genes for a perfect bone structure for her classically proportioned face. Plus being able to take things exactly as seriously as they should be (in this case not very).

A devilishly delightful look that a lot of men would love to have directed at them.

Yahoo China

Zhang Ziyi in snowy Paris

2013-01-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

The Grandmasters, already doing great business in Asia, opens next month in Europe at the Berlin International Film Festival. Zhang Ziyi was at the Paris Haute Couture 2013 shows, looking good and most likely promoting the film.

A porcelain "China Doll" look:

The life of a fashion icon and internationally famous actress isn't all champagne and caviar. Sometimes you have to pick your way across the snow and ice in footwear that is designed to stay indoors.

Her umbrella holder on the way to the Christian Dior show is Michael Burke, new CEO of Louis Vuitton:

With Raf Simons, the designer who replaced John Galliano as top designer at Christian Dior:

Quite a front row waiting for things to start. That's Rosamund Pike and Noomi Rapace on one side of ZZ, Ruth Wilson and Chloë Moretz on the other.

Yahoo China; Getty Images

Fan Bingbing in Paris for Haute Couture week

2013-01-27T23:54:00.000-08:00

Fan Bingbing was in Paris for the first big event of the 2013 fashion calendar, Haute Couture week, including the gala for the French AIDS/HIV charity sidaction.

With, for some reason, diminutive burlesque star Dita Von Teese:

WWD; Yahoo China

Li Bingbing and Yao Chen on the "Southern Weekend" censorship controversy

2013-01-08T18:07:00.000-08:00

Things seem to be heating up in Guangzhou around heavy handed local government meddling in the editorial policies of "Southern Weekend" as pickets, demonstrations and a possible strike at the paper show that the journalists have support in the community. Among those who have made their voices heard are Li Bingbing and Yao Chen, with 50 million weibo followers between them. Yao quoted Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: "One word of truth outweighs the whole world", while Li was poetic with "Hoping for a spring in this harsh winter."

China Digital Times has a good running compilation of the dispute.

Not Li Bingbing:

Li Bingbing:

Not Yao Chen:

Yao Chen:

New York Times; The Guardian

Anita Mui Yim-Fong: et lux perpetua luceat ea

2012-12-30T16:32:00.000-08:00

Anita Mui succumbed to cancer nine years ago today (or yesterday, depending on which side of the international date line you are) having made an impression on untold numbers of film and music fans, as well as her fellow artists, during her too short career.

People's Daily had the official English language version of her obituary and the web was full of remembrances of the effect she had on people. She was an astonishingly sexy performer--the camera loved her full lips, perfect for bright red lipstick, and her remarkable hooded eyes with their heavy lids and come hither look.

This fan site has pictures from her last concert.

There are a lot of images from her films and concerts (plus some from civilian life) on various tumblr pages such as this one. A quick search of will return scores of sites.

Karen Mok drinks whiskey with Jude Law

2012-12-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

Diageo plc gave a party for the opening of "Johnnie Walker House Beijing", described as the world's largest embassy for luxury Scotch Whisky outside of Scotland. Who knew that distillers had their own embassies, just like sovereign nations? Karen Mok was there decked out in striking but turquoise and black:

She earned her money by holding up the product while looking great:

Chatting with Jude Law who looked as if may have had a few drinks before things started:

And had a big smile (even by Karen Mok smile terms) when the brand execs showed up:

Pace Wu was at the event as well, also dressed in green, and looking lovely which seems to the the case generally with her.

Sina; Yahoo China; Zimbio