Naren Hua (born 17 November 1962) is a Chinese film and television actress of Mongolian ethnicity.
Name
Her name is derived from the Mongolian word for sunflower ( наран цэцэг – "sun", ; "flower", , zh, c=花, zh, p=huā). It is sometimes romanised as Na Renhua or Na Ren-Hua.
Early life
Naren Hua was born on November 17, 1962, in Xilingol League,
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...
, China.
She once lived in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
.
Career
Naren Hua began her film career in 1976 in ''Zhan Di Huang Hua''.
In 1986 she played Xiao Xiao in Xie Fei's '' A Girl from Hunan'', which was screened in the
Un Certain Regard
(; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films with unusua ...
section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, and was one of the first mainland Chinese films to be commercially screened in the United States. The film is based on a 1929 short-story, ''Xiao Xiao'' (or ''Hsiao Hsiao''), by author Shen Congwen. ''A Girl from Hunan'' tells the story of a willful young girl (initially played by Lin Qing and played as an adult by Naren Hua) who, at the start of the film, is about to enter into an arranged marriage with a two-year-old child, Chun Guan. Xiao Xiao, the girl in question, is only twelve. She lets herself be seduced by a farmhand and soon finds herself pregnant. Knowing that the traditional village still executes women for
adultery
Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept ...
, Xiao Xiao is desperate to abort the baby but fails to accomplish her goal.
In 1995 she was again directed by Xie Fei in '' A Mongolian Tale'', an adaptation of Zhang Chengzhi's novel ''Black Steed'', which was positively received, being noted both for its performances and settings. The movie had its premiere at the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Heavenly Grassland''. The film tells about a young
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
boy, Tiger, who is adopted by a family living in the steppes of
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...
. The boy's father asks a man named Shergan to look after his child while in prison. Shergan keeps his word and brings the boy to Mongolia, where he shares his yurt with his ex-wife Baruma, played by Naren Hua. The boy is at first shocked and repelled by the way of life of the people there, but in time learns to love his new homeland. The movie won Best Photography Award at the Golden Rooster Awards. Her performance was particularly praised and won Nare Hua several accolades, including the Shanghai Film Critics Awards for Best Actress.
In 2010 she had the leading role in ''
Mother
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
'', also known as '' My Mongolian Mother'' (Chinese: ''E ji''). The film, based on a true story, tells about two Chinese children transplanted in Mongolia, where they are adopted by Qiqigema Erji (Naren Hua) against the wishes of her husband, and raised as
nomads
Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, Nomadic pastoralism, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and Merchant, trader nomads. In the twentieth century, ...
. Twenty years later one of the children knows about his biological parents and leaves for
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
topics, tells about a pregnant daughter who is caught between her homosexual father and "unmitigated termagant" mother (Naren Hua), who reverses on her daughter all her anger, whose chief cause is her father's homosexuality. Her performance in this movie was said to carry the "film's sometimes outrageous narrative throughout."