The leading ladies of old Shanghai

Zhou Xuan (1918-1957)

One of the biggest Chinese stars in the 1930s who was famous for her acting and singing, Zhou had starred in more than 40 movies and recorded over 200 songs before she died in a mental hospital in Shanghai at the age of 39.

Many of the familiar melodies from 1930-40s Shanghai were originally performed by her, who is today still widely remembered as the "Golden Voice". Contemporary musicians have frequently mixed her old tunes with electronic dance music, a testament to the timeless allure of her songs.

Zhou had enjoyed singing since she was a child. In 1931, she joined the Bright Moon Singing and Dance Group led by Li Jinhui. In a time when recording and broadcasting technology were still new and foreign to the world, she quickly mastered the use of the microphone, learning how to optimize her voice to develop a distinctive style that captivated listeners.

As an actress, she often played the role of sweet and innocent young women before moving to portray Chinese beauties from ancient classics. The show that is known to have propelled her to national stardom is the 1937 movie Street Angel. Besides playing the role of the heroine, Zhou had also sang two of the theme songs, Four Seasons Song and The Wandering Songstress.

Following the success of Street Angel, Zhou entered the most productive period of her career in Shanghai and was in 1941 dubbed "the Queen of Films". However, she was quick to decline the honor, saying that too much fame was not good for her.

Zhou's life story is one that is as dramatic as those seen in her movies. She was raised by adoptive parents and had throughout her life searched for her biological father and mother. However, it was only after her death that their identities were discovered.

When she was three years old, her relative, an opium addict, sold her to a Wang family for money to fuel his addiction. When the Wang couple divorced, she was taken in by a Zhou family.

In contrast to her glamorous career, her personal life was marred with failed marriages, children born out of wedlock and suicide attempts, the combination of which is believed to have contributed to her mental-breakdown in 1951 while she was shooting the film Dove of Peace in Shanghai. She spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum, before dying of encephalitis in 1957.

Her former residence is the flat on the sixth floor of the Brookside Apartment, at 699-731 Huashan Road in Jing'an district.