Actresses

The new China dolls

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Watch out, Zhang Ziyi. There is a new crop of young Chinese actresses making waves on the film scene. In the 1980s, classic Shanghainese beauty Joan Chen brought a whiff of erotic exoticism to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. In the 1990s, Shenyang-born Gong Li and her earthy sexiness grabbed world cinema’s attention. Full story here.

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0 thoughts on “The new China dolls”

  2. Judging from the photos in this article (which admitedly aren’t very much to go on), it looks like we have nice eye candy to look forwrd to in Chinese cinema. 😉

  7. Not wonder she is very beautiful, she took Xiaolungnu’ character in Return Condor Heroes the series.
    The girl who takes that character must be beautiful.
    But whatever her name, she is still beautiful.

  9. I wasn’t aware Gong Li was from Shenyang. I was there last summer visiting my wife’s family. Cool city but with some serious air pollution issues.

  10. Most of China’s cities have serious air pollution issues….There are some that you never see the sunshine….

  11. She looks like a bitch who will take everything you have and do nothing when you are in trouble. lol whta do you think?

  12. Who are you referring to DartDude?

    Regarding Crystal Liu, we featured her here – I think she is absolute super cutie! I agree that the photo attributed to Tang Wei does look like her, but as I am unfamiliar with Tang Wei (and the photo in question is very stylised), I can’t be certain who it is. I guess I’d better do some research on Tang Wei when I have a bit of time!

  13. of course Crystal Liu, the picture up there. Doc you Whites (no offense at all, please) are really messed with who is whom, they two look totally different. 😀
    To me, it’s like black and white. I am refering to Crystal Liu. STAY AWAY FROM HER. SHE WILL TAKE EVERYTHING YOU HVAE, AND KICK YOU RIGHT IN THE NUTS, WHEN YOU ARE IN YOUR LOWEST. lol, she looks like that to me. Too hot to touch. And I’ve seen one of her interviews. She’s a lier and a bitch. Acting like innocent and shit but it’s just money digger and blood sucking bitch. Way to fake, and a total bitch. I love the way she looks, I used to like a her a lot and a lot. I watched a whole TV- series just because I could see her. But after that interview, man, she’s just a bitch to me now. That interview was from Jade TV I think. Can’t really remember now.

  14. Dartdude, I said she does look like Crystal Liu. But as I’ve never seen another pic of Tang Wei, I don’t know how similar (or dissimilar) they look. And as I also said, the photo above is very stylised, so it could be misleading.

  17. Doc, it appears the first picture in this post is actually of Tang Wei. I can’t be certain, of course, but here is my reasoning:

    The picture is tagged as “Tang Wei” by the Asian Sex Gazette (link in the original post) a fairly good source of these things, in my experience.

    An image search of “Tang Wei” reveals other instances of this picture associated with Tang Wei, as early as the second page of images. Here is an example:

    http://tinyurl.com/2eo24j

    (A little less than midway down the page)

    At the same time, this particular image does not appear in over 10 pages of google images when “”Crystal Liu”” or other variations of her name, are entered.

    The image certainly looks A LOT like Crystal Liu and the confusion may come from a few pictures of Crystal that resemble the Tang Wei image:

    http://tinyurl.com/2krbgl

    http://tinyurl.com/37gzj2

    Now it’s certainly possible many sources are being mislead by a mis-labeled image out in the world. But, until some better info appears, I’d stick with the original image as a picture of Tang Wei.

  20. Thanks Bigfoot Dean – your info has allowed to solve this little mystery. But I think your conclusion is incorrect! The captioning on the first page is misleading – the caption underneath the pic in question is actually for the image below it. If you scroll up a little, you will see that the title pic of this article is actually attributed to Crystal Liu! So it seems khong1968 and dartdude are correct, and ASG is in error – this pic is indeed Crsytal Liu, and not Tang Wei! I also think Tang Wei doesn’t look much like Crystal Liu. Better fix this one Bill! 🙂

  21. I’m not sure I understand, Doc. I look once again at the Asian Sex Gazette article and Crystal Liu isn’t even mentioned.

    In the “Rotten Tomatoes” article (a fan blog, it appears) I see the reference to “Tang Wei” is with respect to the picture below the reference. My apologies.

    But, I would say the citation is far from “crystal” clear. Immediately above the image in question this is the text:

    “One role of Jing Young martial art novels, well, his novel were all long series, only adapted to TV drama, it’s hard to do movie cause many important stuffs must cut off.”

    The text above the image above the image in question reads as following:

    “This young actress, Liu Yi-Fei, turned down the chance to be leading lady due to sex scene. However, she got many good roles from adaptaion of Jing Yung’s martial art novels, she always play the part—the most beautiful woman. Before Katie Leung show her face in public, many fans advised she was best choice to be Harry’s crush–Cho Chang.”

    If it wasn’t for the fact that the second image is clearly NOT Katie Leung, I’d say the text suggests that she is the subject of the second pic,

    So, I can see why this might be a reference to the image two below this text.

    What I can’t understand is, why does this picture keep turning up in reference to Ang Lee’s movie if it really is that of Crystal Liu.? She isn’t even in the movie:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808357/fullcredits#cast

    Well, I am still uncertain. The pic sure looks like Crystal, but it would be good to have a definitive source. Maybe someone here will register at her site:

    http://crystalliuyifei.com/

    The image in question may be there.

    But, yes, ASG could be in error here. It is interesting this image doesn’t seem to be associated with Crystal in a Google Image search, though.

  22. Reagrding your first point, I am simply suggesting that ASG is in error, and that the pic they attribute to Tang Wei is in fact Crystal Liu. Hence, the fact that ASG doesn’t mention Crystal is irrelevent.

    I agree the captions on the Rotten Tomatoes page are far from clear, but given all the available lines of evidence, I think it is most reasonable to conclude that they do in fact mean that this pic is of Crystal Liu. Still, where else are you seeing this pic in relation to Ang Lee’s movie?

  23. I just went through the gallery on that Crsytal Liu fan site (thanks for the link!), but I couldn’t find this pic! So now I’m starting to wonder again… 🙂

    We really need an independent attribution for this image somewhere else.

  24. These are the questions that try men’s souls, Doc.

    She certainly looks more like Crystal than Tang Wei, based on the other pics I’ve seen.

    I just reviewed the Lust trailer, and while there are a couple of glamour shots of Tang Wei, none of them look like the picture above. It is as odd as the picture not being on Crystal’s website.

    Perhaps this picture is of someone else, entirely. :#) That would be funny.

  25. I’m still pretty sure it’s Crystal (and not Tang Wei), but it is very strange that this pic isn’t on her fan site, and doesn’t show up in a Google image search.

  28. Agreed, SherBo. There is a picture on the first page of khong’s link where it looks as though Crystal is wearing the same earrings as in the 1st pic in this post.

  29. While I am largely hostile to modern American feminism and think 99% of it is total bs, I am offended by the title “China Dolls”. They are people: call them girls, babes, women, whatever, but don’t forget they are people.

  31. Luvgirls you are correct.. they are people, not objects..
    Does anyone know where the Saying “China Doll” comes from. I have always heard pretty Chinese woman being called China Dolls…..
    Like people calling you a “Stud”

    I prefer Babe….

  32. luvjgirls, I think you are being a little too PC! We have a few Chinese female contributors here, but they don’t seem to be ofended by it. I think they understand the spirit in which it is intended.

    Regarding the “mystery pic”, I remain of the opinion that it is indeed Crystal, but I’d still like to see an independent and reliable attribution of this pic to be absolutely 100% certain. As I said before, highly stylised pics like this one can be misleading, but it really does look like Crystal (not Tang Wei).

  33. SherBo, very funny. :#) My feet are actually fairly small. I always use the handle “The Dean” in forums. It was unavailable here (I think because I registered a while back, as The Dean, but something went wrong).

    As I used a “bigfoot” domain email address to register here, it was just easy to substitute “Bigfoot” for “The”. Damn, I wish that was a better story.

    luvgirl, I have to agree with the Doc on this one. If you have a preference, that’s fine, and you certainly should air it.

    I am actually quite PRO most feminist issues and causes, but don’t see a major issue here.

    If you want to get literal, “Chick” is a bird, “Babe” is downright sick, bordering on pedophelia. I don’t actually believe that, but the same case you make against “China Doll” could be made against those terms.

    I think the “Doll” in China Doll, is the same “Doll” in Guys and Dolls. If the woman is Chinese, China Doll becomes a pun, playing off of Doll and, of course actual China Dolls (made of porcelain).

    To me, the insult or disrespect is in the use of these sorts of terms. My female friends (and I, with them) use the term “Broad” all the time. “What a great broad!” But, in the hands of others, it can seem quite offensive. (Basically, I’m saying it’s OK if I use it.)

    :#)

    Addressing someone as “dear” or “honey” can either be endearing, cute or quite condescending and offensive, depending on the situation.

  34. Bigfoot…I agree dear and honey…should only be used with close friends…

    Broad, thats interesting, I think people who grew up in the 50’s the used the term Broad for all good looking woman…

    I think the China Doll comes from the Porcelain China Dolls from before WW2

    I think (not Sure) the Doll from Guys and Dolls was not a term used for woman on a wide scale. I think it was the Show Guys and Dolls and after that Sinatra would use the term Doll, but I think he used Broad more then Doll..

    PS I have big feet…that means I have big shoes..

  35. A new feminist revision of “Guys & Dolls” just opened on Broadway. It’s called “Worthless Male Oppressors & Independent Womyn [sic!] Of Strength & Character”! :p

  39. I agree with Classyclassy 100 percent. The pic sure looks like Crystal Liu, but at all like Tang Wei.

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