Mao Amin

Mao Amin (; born 1962) is a Chinese singer. Rising to fame in the late 1980s, she is one of China's earliest and most prominent pop singers after the Mao era, known for her rich, powerful, and dignified voice, which has made her a staple of televised galas.

Biography Mao was born into a worker's family in Shanghai. She developed a love for music during her childhood, influenced by her mother's fondness for the Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng, whose songs were officially banned but privately popular in China at the time. After graduating from middle school in 1983, she became an electrician at her father's factory, while pursuing her music dream by part-time singing. In 1985, her performance in Shanghai caught the attention of Hou Yaowen, who came to backstage and encouraged her to pursue a professional career. Inspired, she auditioned and joined the Nanjing Military Region's Frontline Song and Dance Troupe that same year and released her debut album, Boiling Hot Coffee.

In 1986, Mao represented Jiangsu Television in the 2nd CCTV National Young Singers' Contest, winning the third prize in the category of professional pop singers and drew the attention of the judge Gu Jianfen, who became her mentor and began writing songs for her, including A Leaf's Devotion to Its Root and Mom in the Candlelight. In December 1987, at the recommendation of Gu, Mao participated in the Yugoslavian International Music Festival. With her performance of A Leaf's Devotion to Its Root, she won Third Prizes in both the Performance and Audience Choice categories, making her the first Chinese pop singer to win an award at an international competition.

Mao rose to household fame with her performance of Yearning on the 1988 CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, the most watched show in China and the world. Zhang also revealed that the reason for their breakup was the influence of a female singer, who told Mao that she was out of Zhang's league. Through the singer's introduction, Mao met a wealthy British businessman based in Singapore and began an affair before Zhang left China. Zhang's relationship with Mao is detailed in his memoir, published in 2004.

In 2002, Mao met businessman Xie Zhikun, founder of Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, and married him the next year. Xie was listed on the 2014 Hurun Rich List with a net worth of 12 billion yuan. The couple have a daughter, Xie Fengming (also known as Xie Jiatong), born in 2004, followed by a son, born either in 2006 or 2008. In 2021, Xie Fengming appeared in the film Chinese Doctors, which was produced by Bona Film Group, a company indirectly backed by the Zhongzhi Enterprise Group. Mao also has a stepdaughter, Xie Rutong, born in 1986, from Xie's first marriage, Xie died from a heart attack in 2021.

Filmography Love on the Cloud (2014)