It is said that Heavenly Jealousy is red-faced, but in Xia Meng's body, it is not at all magical!
She is like a fairy daughter in the heavens, who has experienced everything and is spoiled by God everywhere, and all the suffering is what she herself begs to eat. But whenever she reached a crossroads, or had a uncertain future, God automatically went online, cleared the obstacles for her, filled the traps, and dragged her to a flower-filled road.
I have to sigh: what a fate!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" >01 Flowers for beauty</h1>
Xia Meng, formerly known as Yang Meng, is a Suzhou girl born in Shanghai in 1933.
The Yang family is an artistic family, starting from grandfather Yang Shuding, the whole family is obsessed with fans.
The six aunts all studied art from the Cheng Sect, and one of the aunts was also married to Wang Zhenghua, the mantle of the Cheng Sect.
In the summer of 1930, when the Yangtze River was flooded, Shanghai business celebrities held a charity disaster relief fundraising, and invited ten of the most beautiful ladies in Shanghai to sell flowers at any price.
The young master of the Yang family, who came to participate in the donation, saw at a glance that Miss Ge, who had bright eyes and bright teeth and elegant temperament, bid the highest price of 500 silver dollars for a rose, and wrapped 11 flowers in Miss Ge's hand.
Donate money to do good deeds, and give roses to beautiful people.
Xia Meng's parents, therefore acquaintances, after getting along, found that they were both ticket friends, and because of the drama, they became a couple.
They have a total of 5 children, and Xia Meng is the second oldest.
Since following her parents to immerse herself in the atmosphere of opera, she is also versatile, Peking Opera, Opera, Yue Opera, and even Huangmei Opera, she is good at it, erhu and other instruments of blowing and singing, but also easy to come by, and is good at swimming and baseball, tennis and other fashionable sports.
When she was a child, she looked particularly beautiful and pleasing, and when she was 4 years old, her family took her to the photo studio to take photos, and as a result, her photos were bought by the owner of the photo studio for money, and hung on the street window to do advertising endorsements, with a little fame.
At the age of 6, he participated in the "Shanghai Children's Photography Contest" held by the Mainland News, lived up to expectations, and won the championship in one fell swoop.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="110" >02</h1>
In 1947, at the age of 15, Xia Meng followed her parents and moved south to Hong Kong.
At this time, she was still called Yang Meng, and she studied at the Maryknoll Convent Girls' School, and learned a good calligraphy and literary style, especially keen on Shakespeare. Gradually, in the performances held by the school, he came to prominence, often singing a song and winning the applause of the whole hall.
After graduating from school, 18-year-old Yang Meng, who is already 1.72 meters tall, was invited by a famous director to apply for the Great Wall Actor Training Class, which is naturally cultivated as a star.
Yang Meng, who loves Shakespeare, gave himself a stage name, Xia Meng, taken from "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
Xia Meng graduated from the training class and officially played a role, playing a human wife in "Forbidden Marriage".
Sure enough, she lived up to expectations, her tall and graceful figure, her face full of classical charm, and a soft and sweet Wu language, plus a friendly and gentle personality, all of which added points to her and became a hot star.
At that time, the Hong Kong Great Wall Film Company intended to create the name of "Three Princesses" for the popular newcomers, and the age, seniority and conditions of the round selected Lin Dai, Xia Meng and Shi Hui.
However, fate began to be biased, because Lin Dai's father was Cheng Siyuan, the secretary of the Kuomintang Gui general Li Zongren, as the Great Wall Film Company, eventually abandoned Lin Dai and hid it in the snow, causing Lin Dai to be depressed and depressed, and almost committed suicide.
Therefore, Xia Meng naturally became the boss of the "Three Princesses", Shi Hui was the second, and the newcomer Chen Sisi was the third.
I have to be thankful that the Yang family's fathers are businessmen with their own duties, and they are readers who are indifferent to fame and fortune! By chance, Xia Meng replaced Lin Dai.
Indeed, the beauty of Xia Meng is a classical beauty, with a poetic charm, dignified and generous, beautiful and elegant, and romantic and handsome.
She demonstrated the possibility of a woman's beauty, and she told us that the beauty of a woman's skin is stunning, but the charm of the soul is more enduring.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="111" >03</h1>
Missing her first love, rushing to marry, and her loyalty to marriage made her reject Jin Yong's unrequited love.
Knowing Xia Meng, originally because of Jin Yong's obsession with him, stemmed from his famous saying: "How beautiful Xi Shi is, no one has ever seen it, I think she should be like Xia Meng." ”
It is said that jin Yong saw Xia Meng on the screen for the first time, and was shocked, not caring that he was already a divorced and remarried man with a family, and deliberately approached and pursued her, emulating Tang Bohu's romance of selling himself to Washington to pursue Qiu Xiang.
In 1957, Jin Yong, who was already a well-known writer in Ming Pao, took the initiative to join the Great Wall Film Company as an ordinary screenwriter, and its purpose was naturally for her.
Tailor-made the movie "Absolute Beauty" for Xia Meng.
However, Xia Meng, who was already married to a human woman, explicitly rejected him.
Although there is a good story between him and her, it is transparent and dust-free, and the boundaries are clear.
After leaving the Great Wall, Jin Yong wrote "Divine Eagle Hero", and the little dragon girl was based on Xia Meng.
The world always relished that the reason why Xia Meng rejected Jin Yong was that she had already been married, but in fact, it was not, at that time, in her heart, the most loved person was her first love, Cen Fan.
This is full of summer dreams, a love affair that can be sung and wept.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="113" >04</h1>
Cen Fan is an actor, formerly known as Cen Lifan, originally from Yulin, Guangxi Province. Born into a famous family, his ancestors were the famous Qing Dynasty general Cen Yuying.
He was also the nephew of Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Liangguang in the late Qing Dynasty, the president and chairman of the "Republic of China" Protector Military Government, and one of the founders of the Kuomintang.
Despite his eminent ancestors, Cen Fan himself recalled, "I never relied on these things, nor did I get any benefit from them." ”
In 1926, when Cen Fan was born in Shanghai, the Cen family had already fallen, and Cen Fan's father was only a small civil servant with a meager amount of money.
In 1945, Cen Fan studied in the Department of Economics of Nanjing Central University and wrote the first script "Brotherhood", discovering his talent in film and television.
At the invitation of director Zhu Shilin, he resolutely left the school, changed his career to film, and went to Hong Kong Nanyang Film Company to shoot films.
At that time, Cen Fan was charming, handsome in appearance, and he intended to be a director because of his superb appearance, and sometimes he would participate in the performance, and gradually became a star.
In 1951, a 17-year-old girl co-starred with cen Fan, who was 26 years old at the time and was very famous, in the movie "Dream Marriage", which became a hit, and since then she has been popular in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, and she is the future famous movie star Xia Meng.
At that time, Cen Fan was a handsome man of 1 meter 76, and he was a gentleman; Xia Meng was a beautiful woman of 1 meter 72, with a variety of styles. The two young people can also be regarded as a relationship because of the drama, and the love is secret.
PS: Although after Xia Meng's death, her sister Yang Jie denied this love affair in an interview, saying that it was just Cen Fan's unrequited love, and Xia Meng had no love for him.
But is this really the case?
Xia Meng was 17 years old at the time, which was the age of the young girl Huaichun, and it was reasonable to fall in love with the handsome Cen Fan.
Here is the dictation of the parties:
Cen Fan: "Once, a few of us were swimming in the sea, my foot was cut by the parasite on the reef, the blood flowed, someone called a basin of fresh water, Xia Meng immediately squatted down to wash my wounds." ”
There are also scenes corroborated by others: they are filming on the set, Xia Meng's scene is over, Cen Fan's scene is still filming, Cen Fan let her go back, she does not make a sound, just buy two bowls of rib noodles in the noodle shop next to the set, waiting for him.
Cen Fan: "After I finished filming, the noodles were cold, Xia Meng had a small appetite, and she always couldn't finish a bowl of noodles, so she picked a lot of them in my bowl." That's how we eat noodles in the corner. ”
All this proves that it is not Cen Fan's unrequited love, if Xia Meng has no intention of him, with her cold and dull personality, she must reject him decisively like rejecting Jin Yong.
However, this is not the case.
In 1952, when the country was in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, Cen Fan was eager to return to the interior to develop and build the motherland, and he told Xia Meng of the decision.
Xia Meng said without hesitation, "I will return when you return." ”
Through his brother who worked in the Guangzhou Military Control Commission, Cen Fan quickly helped him apply for a pass, and Xia Meng's pass was handled by the Great Wall Company, and it has not been done.
There are commercial interests involved: Xia Meng is one of the three princesses of the Great Wall, as a pillar of the company, how can she easily let her go?
So the pass was delayed again and again, and it was never able to be done.
At first, the two contacted through letters, and gradually, the letters sent by Xia Meng went into the sea, and they could no longer receive cen fan's letters, and two years later, someone told her conclusively that Cen Fan was married in the interior.
She must have been so sad that she didn't have to discern the truth from the false.
The truth is that every letter she sent to Cen Fan was received and treasured by cen Fan, and every letter that Cen Fan sent to her was intercepted by the Great Wall Company.
It was also the company's instruction to fabricate the lie that Cen Fan got married, which finally made Xia Meng dispel the idea of leaving the Great Wall.
A couple of lovers, framed and separated from each other.
Soon, she accepted the marriage proposal of the young wealthy businessman Lin Baocheng, who graduated from St. John's University and also liked drama, and even made cameo appearances in the crew.
After a few years, Xia Meng met Cen Fan in Beijing and learned that he was still alone, and Xia Meng was already married to a woman at that time.
Although they let go of their previous suspicions, they missed each other in the end. In Beihai Park, she said to Cen Fan, "From now on, you are my brother." ”
Since then, Cen Fan has been immersed in his career, directing "A Q Zheng Biography", the Yue opera version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", etc., and has never married.
As a famous director, he once said:
"If I had never known Xia Meng, my life might be like everyone else's." But when I met Xia Meng, others were no match for her. ”
In fact, there was a hidden pain in his heart: fortunately, she did not follow me back to the mainland, I could not even protect myself, how to protect her?
Someone asked him if he regretted that he didn't fight for love.
He said no regrets, as long as she lived happily!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="122" >05.Shadow from business, the pioneering work enabled Andy Lau, unique insight, popular superstar</h1>
Xia Meng had no scandals in her life, except for a regrettable first love with Cen Fan.
In the third year of her career, at the age of 21, she married a woman, her husband was a businessman, but not very noble, the two went through half a century of ups and downs, cherished each other for a lifetime.
This is a woman who lives a thorough life, has her own opinions on feelings, and the same is true for her career.
After 17 years from the film, the 34-year-old Xia Meng chose to retire in the golden period of her career and move to Canada with her husband to live a quiet life of husband and son.
In her own words: people can't ask for too much, and they must learn to accept when they see good.
Ten years later, she made a comeback and became a producer.
In 1979, Xia Meng founded the Blue Bird Film Company, boldly using the director Xu Anhua, who had only made two or three films at that time, and Andy Lau, who was a newcomer, and the first film he invested in was the very famous "To the Fury Sea" at that time.
The film received 12 nominations at the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards in 1983 and eventually won 5 awards.
Andy Lau said:
"Xia Meng is a noble person I can't forget in my life, she chose me and changed my destiny. Watching her life is as magical as a movie, illuminating the front and back of the screen. ”
But Xia Meng, who received such praise, never boasted of beauty and fame, never tended to be inflammatory, and her whole life was living for herself, like a quiet and open lotus, noble and elegant, living into a woman's most dusty appearance.
She came from the dream and came back to the dream.
In the early morning of November 3, 2016, 84-year-old Xia Meng, after his silver-blue film journey and golden perfect life, a generation of legendary actors Xia Meng passed away, leaving us with many eternal screen images.
She is known as the Oriental version of "Audrey Hepburn" and "God's masterpiece", and is the "first classical beauty" in the eyes of director Wong Kar-wai.
Xia Meng's life is like a movie of magic, illuminating the front and back of the screen. (Andy Lau review)
And she said: Don't call me the lover of my dreams, I will only be the master of life.
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