Shu Xiuwen

Shu Xiuwen (1915– 17March 1969), also romanized as Shu Hsiu-wen, was a Chinese film and stage actress, as well as the first voice actress in China. She grew up in poverty but made a name for herself in the drama and film industry of Shanghai before the Second Sino-Japanese War, and then in the wartime capital Chongqing. She starred in numerous films and stage plays, including her most acclaimed film The Spring River Flows East, and was recognized as one of China's top four actresses.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Shu was elected to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People's Congress. However, she was severely persecuted when the Cultural Revolution began in 1966 and died in March 1969.

Shu is known for her versatility and her performances greatly influenced later generations of Chinese actors. In 2005, she was voted as one of the 100 best actors of the 100 years of Chinese cinema.

Life Early life Shu Xiuwen was born in Anqing, Anhui Province, in 1915. She had three sisters. Her grandfather was a prominent Confucian scholar, but her family had become impoverished. When she was six her family moved to Beijing, When Shu was in high school herself, her father lost his job and she was forced to drop out to help her mother with the family's housework. Her parents both became addicted to opium and fell into debt. Her father tried to sell her to repay his debts, but she escaped and worked as an escort and dancing girl at a club on East Chang'an Street. She was also introduced to Chen Yumei, the star actress of Tianyi, who gave Shu a minor role in the film A Girl Named Yunlan 1932). Shu joined the mass exodus of refugees for the wartime capital Chongqing, where she worked for the government-run China Film Studio. She starred in several films such as Defend Our Land, A Good Husband, and Frontier Storm. When traveling to Inner Mongolia to shoot a film, she visited the Communist base at Yan'an and was received by Mao Zedong.

Shu returned to Shanghai after the war ended in 1945. She starred in several acclaimed films, including Killer, Weakness, Your Name Is Woman, and the most celebrated film of her career The Spring River Flows East.

Legacy Shu Xiuwen is remembered as one of the greatest actresses of her era, best known for her versatility. She was able to portray a wide range of roles both in film and on stage, including a rural woman forced to kill her newborn child because of abject poverty (Killing of an Infant), a naive but kind girl (Killer), and a polished but cruel social butterfly (The Spring River Flows East). In Flowers Fall in Spring City, she played two very different roles: a poor rural woman and her daughter who had been brought up in affluence in the big city.