In 1905, Ren Qingtai of Beijing Fengtai Photo Studio, in order to wish the famous Peking Opera veteran Tan Xinpei a birthday, filmed a Peking Opera "Dingjun Mountain" starring him, so Chinese cinema was born. The development of Chinese cinema has experienced the era of silent, sound, stereo and now stereo films, and in the early silent era, the first film stars in China were born. The protagonist of this article is one of them, Yang Naimei, who is known as the first star of the Republic of China.
Stills from the movie "Dingjun Mountain"
Yang Naimei, whose real name is Yang Lizhu, was born in Shanghai in 1904, the eve of the birth of Chinese cinema. Yang Naimei's father was a huge rich man on the beach, but his heirs were not prosperous, and he found several aunts and wives but only gave birth to this one daughter. Therefore, the love for Yang Naimei can be imagined, so she has developed her selfish and willful, profligate personality.
Wu Ben Female High School
When she was studying at Wuben Girls' High School in Nanshi, Shanghai, Yang Naimei had already come out of the pavilion and was known as the "Girls' Middle School Flower". Although the results are not good, but is a small literary and artistic expert, singing, dancing, acting can participate, but also the school flower, that is really a countable "storm figure". Fortunately, the notoriously strict management of the women in the house, with teachers and school rules constrained, but nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Student of the Girls' School of the Republic of China
In 1923, Yang Naimei graduated from the Middle School of The Woman, and without restraint, she was really high in the sky. Coupled with its own keen socialism, love to be in the limelight, often in and out of cocktail parties and other social occasions, it has become a famous social flower in Shanghai Beach. It was during this time that she became acquainted with Zheng Zhengqiu of the Star Film Company. Old Zheng just happened to be preparing to shoot the new movie "Jade Pear Soul", the heroine has already fixed Wang Hanlun, and the role positioning of the female partner of the pampered rich lady has not been able to find a suitable candidate.
After Yang Naimei heard about this, she painted a delicate little makeup and drove to the star film company to find Zheng Zhengqiu and introduced herself. Zheng Zhengqiu is also a bright eye, and he is very recognized by this rich lady playing a rich lady.
Zheng Zhengqiu
After the release of "Jade Pear Soul", the audience masters responded warmly to Yang Naimei's true color performance, and the film company also believed that she had the potential to become a big star, so it let her star in "La Traviata" and "Seduction". In these three films, Yang Naimei's role positioning is the image of a courtesan flower, especially Seduction, which directly pushed her to the throne of the first star in Chinese film history.
Stills from "Seduction"
At this time, Yang's father has been running a study abroad for Yang Naimei, but ushered in Seduction, seeing his daughter degenerate into a star Old Yang angry, directly ordered Yang Naimei not to participate in any more film performances. Of course, Yang Naimei was not accustomed to old Yang, and directly ran away from home and broke off relations with his family.
Without the constraints of the family, Yang Naimei indulged herself more and more, and she either made movies or went in and out of social places all day long. During this period, she starred in a number of movies called "Famous" and became more and more famous, and at the same time, the contradictions with the film company were also getting bigger and bigger.
At this time, Yang Naimei heard the story of Yu Meiyan, a Strange Woman in Guangdong, and she felt that this was the life she longed for, so she suggested to the film company to make a movie "Strange Woman" based on Yu Meiyan. Star film companies at that time lack of interest in this, it directly rejected Yang Naimei, coupled with the past contradictions between the two sides, Yang Naimei is not accustomed to film companies, the two sides parted ways, and Yang Naimei also began to set up his own film company.
Opening a film company is not a matter of registering to get a certificate, but also needs a lot of financial support, Yang Naimei has broken off relations with his father Lao Yang, otherwise he can seek support from Lao Yang. Just when she was at a loss for this, Zhang Zongchang, a great warlord in Shandong, invited her to Jinan for a gathering, one is a great warlord known for his lust, and the other is the top star on the beach. The clear-eyed people knew that they all advised Yang Naimei not to go, but she resolutely went north, thinking that it was not a deal to say that it was not a deal?
Zhang Zongchang
Yang Naimei stayed in Jinan for ten days, returned to Shanghai Beach safely with her pocket bulging, and the movie "Strange Woman" began filming, and she took herself as the heroine. However, under the influence of Yu Meiyan's deeds, Yang Naimei felt that she was also a strange woman and began to smoke and gamble. Before the film was finished, the capital chain was broken again, and the mortgage on the property did not say that the loan shark was borrowed, even so, the shooting was still difficult to continue.
The streets of Jinan during the Republic of China
Just when Yang Naimei was at a loss and even wanted to learn Yu Meiyan's suicide, a handsome young man in a suit and leather shoes appeared in front of her and told her that she had paid off all her debts and provided follow-up financial support for the film shooting. It turned out that Lao Yang had been paying attention to his daughter, seeing that she was in debt, and finally yu couldn't bear to take a shot.
This time the change of events touched Yang Naimei greatly, and she decided to end her life as a drunken gold fan and return home to be a good girlfriend of old Yang. Good things came in pairs, and the handsome guy who came forward to pay off Yang Naimei's debts on behalf of Lao Yang in the front actually proposed to her. The young man's name is Chen Junjing, the son of yang's friend, a doctor of economics who returned from staying in the United States, he does not care about Yang Naimei's past, but appreciates her artistic talent and professionalism.
Yang Naimei and Chen Junjing
The two held a simple wedding, and after the marriage, Yang Naimei almost changed into a person, quite a bit of "wash away the lead, make soup for Jun" with plain hands, and gave birth to a daughter to Chen Junjing. But the good times did not last long, and the years of war caused Chen Junjing's industry to be unable to continue, and the two moved to Hong Kong in poverty, and their daughter married a Kuomintang officer and later went to Taiwan.
In his later years, Yang Naimei
Later, filmmakers who often came to the mainland said that they could often see begging Yang Naimei on the streets of Kowloon. After her daughter learned, she took her to live in Taiwan, and in 1960, she ended her legendary life. On his deathbed, he left behind eight-character last words: "A spring dream, take me as a lesson."
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For the story of Yu Meiyan, please see the previous part "The Strange Woman of the Republic of China, Lovers All Over Guangzhou, Died in the Yearning for Pure Love"