Xia Meng (16 February 1933 – 30 October 2016), a.k.a. Hsia Moon and Miranda Yang, born Yang Meng, was an actress and
film producer from
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 ...
. She appeared in
Hong Kong films
The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese-language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former Crown colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of ar ...
in the 1950s and 1960s, and was involved in the region's
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
film scene. In the 1980s, Xia Meng worked as a film producer and was involved in the
Hong King New Wave.
Early life and education
Xia Meng was born Yang Meng on 16 February 1933 in
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 ...
.
She was first exposed to drama at
McTyeire School
McTyeire School () was a private girls' school in Shanghai.
It was established by Young John Allen
Young John Allen (January 3, 1836 – May 30, 1907) or Young J. Allen, was an American Methodist missionary in late Qing dynasty China with the ...
, an elite girls' school established by
Methodist missionaries in Shanghai. In 1947, she moved with her family to Hong Kong, where she attended
Maryknoll Convent School
Maryknoll Convent School (MCS, ) (Demonym: Maryknoller) is a Roman Catholic girls' school with primary and secondary sections in Hong Kong. It was established in 1925 by sisters of the Maryknoll Sisters, a Catholic institute founded by Mary J ...
. In 1949, In conjunction with an event at her school, She was chosen to play the leading role in McTyeire School's
English-language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
production of ''
Saint Joan''.
Xia Meng's younger sister, Yang Jie, played on the
China women's national basketball team
The China women's national basketball team represents the China, People's Republic of China in international women's basketball tournaments. The national team is governed by the Chinese Basketball Association (organisation), Chinese Basketball A ...
from 1954 to 1957.
Film career
In 1950, Yang Meng (birthname) and her friends visited a film set of the
Great Wall Movie Enterprises Ltd. This was where she was first spotted by the crews, as well as studio manager Yuan Yang'an. Through the help of Yuan's daughter, Mao Mei (an actress and ballerina), Yang Meng accepted his invitation and joined the studio at the age of 17. Inspired by
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
'', the new actress decided to rename herself Xia Meng (literally "summer dream").
The Great Wall Crown Princess
She was given her first role as the title character in
Li Pingqian
Li Pingqian (1902 – 18 November 1984), also known as Jack Pingqian Li, was a Chinese filmmaker who directed over 100 films in his career in mainland China and Hong Kong. He is probably best known for his works with actresses Gong Qiuxia and Xi ...
's ''A Night-Time Wife'' (1951). The comedy was a hit and rocketed Hsia Moon to stardom. Many other roles followed, including a tragic
demimondaine
is a French 19th-century term referring to women on the fringes of respectable society, and specifically to courtesans supported by wealthy lovers. The term is French for "half-world", and derives from an 1855 play called , by Alexandre Dumas ...
of
Cao Yu
Cao Yu (, September 24, 1910 – December 13, 1996) was a Chinese playwright, often regarded as one of China's most important playwrights of the 20th century. His best-known works are ''Thunderstorm'' (1933), ''Sunrise'' (1936) and ''Peking Man' ...
's ''Sunrise'' and the virtuous widow of ''A Widow's Tears,'' both in 1956. She portrayed the scapegoat of the feudal moral value in the critically acclaimed film ''The Eternal Love'' (1960), the deprived bourgeoisie in HKFA Archival Gem's ''Romance of The Boudoir'' (1960), and played a man masquerading as a woman in ''The Bride Hunter'' (1960).
Xia Meng was one of the few Hong Kong movie stars whose films were released in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
before the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
.
Xinhua News
Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...
has compared her to
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Kathleen Hepburn ( Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Holly ...
.
Cultural Revolution
In the summer of 1967, Xia Meng visited
Guangzhou
Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
and witnessed the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Hong Kong cinema was soon influenced by the
Chinese Communist Party
The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
, and Great Wall’s movies no longer had the same cachet as before. Xia Meng, who was pregnant at the time, excused herself from involvement in the political movement. She resigned from the studio in September of 1967, shortly after appearing in ''Oh, the Spring Is Here'' (1967), and quietly left for
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
before the film was released.
Return as movie producer
After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Xia Meng was invited by
Liao Chengzhi
Liao Chengzhi (; 25 September 1908 – 10 June 1983) was a Chinese politician. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1928, and rose to the position of director of the Xinhua News Agency; after 1949, he worked in various positions related to f ...
, then vice chairman of the
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...
(NPC), to attend the 4th National Congress of
China Federation of Literary and Art Circles
The China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), established in July 1949, is a Chinese people's organization composed of nationwide associations of writers and artists. CFLAC is one of the founders of CPPCC (Chinese People's Political ...
(CFLAC) held in
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
from 30 October—16 November 1979. This is considered to be her first public appearance after her final screen performance in 1967. Under the encouragement of Liao, she decided returned to the movie industry as a producer after an absence of ten years.
In 1980, Xia Meng formed Bluebird Movie Enterprises Ltd, and produced the debut film
''Boat People'' (
Ann Hui
Ann Hui On-wah, (; born 23 May 1947) is a film director, producer, screenwriter and actress from Hong Kong who is one of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers of the Hong Kong New Wave. She is known for her films about social issues in ...
, 1982), a movie and landmark feature for
Hong Kong New Wave
The Hong Kong New Wave is a film movement in Chinese-language Hong Kong cinema that emerged in the late 1970s and lasted through the early 2000s until the present time.
Origins of the movement
The Hong Kong New Wave started in 1979 with the rele ...
, which won several awards including the best picture and best director in the second
Hong Kong Film Award
The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual List of film awards, film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies typically take place in April, and have mostly been held at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Cent ...
. After producing ''Young Heroes'' (
Mou Dunfei, 1983) and ''
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada.
United St ...
'' (
Yim Ho
Yim Ho (Chinese: 嚴浩) is a Hong Kong director most active in the 1980s, and a leader of the Hong Kong New Wave.
He began his career making television programs for RTHK, then became a film director in 1980.
One of his most critically acclai ...
, 1984), Xia Meng sold her film company to Jiang Zuyi. She had no involvement in film production after that.
Other
Awards
Xia Meng's performance in ''Peerless Beauty'' (1953) and ''A Widow's Tears'' (1956) won her the Greatest Individual Achievement Award given by the Cultural Ministry of the People's Republic of China. In 1995, Xia Meng was honored the Chinese Film Stars Special Award, in conjunction with 90 anniversary of Chinese Cinema.
Political activities
She was also involved in political activities, being selected as a committee member of the Chinese National Cultural Alliance and the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...
.
Legacy
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Xia Meng has a star with a hand print and autograph by the name of Miranda Yang on the
Avenue of Stars in
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tsim Sha Tsui ( zh, c=尖沙咀), often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed ...
Promenade, Hong Kong.
In August 2005, Meng was one of 128 movie stars recognized by China in a commemorative stamp collection marking 100 years of Chinese language cinema.
Print Pictorials and interviews
*Law Kar, Hsia Moon: episodes of a summer dream (Hong Kong 1995);
*Zhu Shunci et al., An age of idealism: Great Wall & Feng Huang days, (Hong Kong Film Archive 2001);
*Liu Shu, The Peerless Xia Meng, China Film Press, Beijing, 2007;
Filmography
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xia, Meng
1933 births
2016 deaths
Hong Kong film producers
Hong Kong film actresses
Actresses from Shanghai
20th-century Hong Kong actresses
20th-century Chinese actresses
Chinese film actresses
Chinese film producers
Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Yue opera actresses