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In 1905, Huang Liushuang, whose ancestral home was in Taishan, Guangdong Province, was born in Los Angeles, the United States, and his family ran a laundromat to make a living.
More than 20 years ago, Huang Liushuang's grandfather began to move from the mainland to the United States, and after gaining a firm foothold in the local area, he began to marry and have children. As a result, she is a third-generation Chinese-American.
Because they don't have white American ancestry, the Huangliushuang family has to live in a backward neighborhood, surrounded by lazy Mexicans and black people with high crime rates.
Even in school, because of her skin color, Huang Liushuang was often the object of ridicule by other students, and she had no choice but to go to the Presbyterian Chinese school, after all, there would be much less bullying.
At this time, coinciding with the migration of the American film industry from east to west, many companies came to shoot movies near Huang Liushuang's home, including the famous Nickelodeon Cinema.
Once, she was arranged by her father to deliver washed clothes to a customer, and when she finished delivering the clothes and was ready to leave, she was suddenly stopped, so she had a large tip on her hand.
After having money in his pocket, Huang Liushuang did not go to buy snacks to eat, but came to the door of the movie theater, took out a tip that was not yet hot with his small hand, and asked the staff for a ticket.
A few hours later, 9-year-old Huang Liushuang watched the first movie in her life, and since then she has been fascinated and gradually has the idea of acting in a movie.
However, her father was very disgusted with her desire to act in movies, believing that this would seriously affect her studies, and that the identity of "actor" was somewhat unprofessional.
However, her father's opposition did not make her retreat, and in addition to often skipping class and sneaking to the cinema, she also spent a long time watching the filming and constantly asking various questions to the staff.
In 1919, Huang Liushuang secretly asked one of her father's friends to help her find a role.
In the end, she successfully participated in her first film "Red Lantern", playing a British mistress, officially starting the road to acting.
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In the first two years of entering the show business circle, Huang Liushuang basically acted as an extra, and got some dispensable small roles, and the status was similar to that of group performances.
She was still in a high school in Los Angeles, and she had to take classes while filming, so she decided to drop out of school and start a full-time acting career.
In 1921, she was able to participate in the American film "Life", in which she played the wife of the male protagonist and appeared on the cover of a British magazine for her excellent performance.
The following year, she won the first protagonist in her life: playing the Chinese girl Lotus in the movie "The Death of the Sea", and was highly recognized by the American "Variety" magazine.
Having just left school to achieve such good results, Huang Liushuang not only raised her eyebrows, as if the next road would be as smooth as it is now. However, at this time, she did not know that the bitterness of racial discrimination was coming.
Despite her good acting skills, due to her Chinese identity, Hollywood has always been reluctant to create a starring role for her, and American filmmakers cannot regard her as a heroine.
David, chief planner at the Dynamic Museum in New York, lamented: "She has established a certain level of star status in Hollywood, but Hollywood does not know how to place her." ”
It's not that Hollywood doesn't know how to place Willow Cream, and their approach is simple: downgrade Yellow Willow Cream to a supporting role. Anyway, a Chinese with no background, everyone has the courage to offend.
Despite claiming to have been born and raised in Los Angeles, Americans still see her as an "outsider" and she has never been able to take on a good role since.
Playing a concubine who didn't play a role in "Drifting", playing a slave in "The Thief of Baghdad", running a dragon suit in "Alaska"...
Love films that were popular with the American people at that time also closed the door to Huang Liushuang, because under the anti-intermarriage law in the United States at that time, Asians were not allowed to kiss people of other races.
That is to say, if Huang Liushuang wants to play the female lead, she must find a male protagonist who is also Asian. At that time, it was a pipe dream to get American investors to spend money to make movies for two Asians.
In 1928, in order to get rid of Hollywood's discrimination against Chinese, Huang Liushuang left the United States and went to Europe to break in.
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When she first arrived in Europe, Huang Liushuang shocked the European film industry at that time with a "Butterfly on the Road", and German critics praised the Chinese star as having extraordinary talent.
In the performance of the play "Chalk Circle", Baron Olivier, known as "the three great male actors of England in the 20th century", was excited to get the opportunity to perform with Huang Liushuang.
Starring in the British film "Dream of Prosperity in Chinatown", once it was broadcast, it caused a sensation, covering every corner of London, England, she was evaluated as "more dazzling than the star", and was invited to attend the British royal banquet.
At this time, the film company on the Hollywood side saw the success of Huang Liushuang, and while regretting it, it also moved to eat the "back grass".
In 1930, Paramount Films, which had produced excellent films such as "The Godfather" and "Forrest Gump", paid huge salaries, plus the conditions for starring in the main role, and brought Huang Liushuang back from Europe to the United States.
Since this time, Huang Liushuang is no longer the small role that was called around by others before, but a veritable big star.
After her status improved, she also began to use her influence to speak out against China's injustices: "Why are Chinese on the screen always villains?" So ferocious and treacherous, we are not like that. Do we have a much older civilization than the West? ”
At that time, it was the Anti-Japanese War, and Huang Liushuang was also angry and screaming for the anti-Japanese cause, writing articles on Japan's invasion of China and publishing it so that more people could know about this act of aggression.
Her approach also caused dissatisfaction among the film company, which did not want her to pay too much attention to the War of Resistance Against Japan and put her time into making films, and the relationship between the two sides became more and more tense.
In 1936, she fell out with Hollywood again because of the pro-Chinese writer Pearl Buck's Nobel Prize for Literature, "The Earth", which depicts the simplicity of Chinese and was to be adapted into a movie. Huang Liushuang strives to play the main role, but loses to a white man because of racial discrimination.
After losing the heroine of "The Land", Huang Liushuang was disappointed in Hollywood, and after being angry and angry, announced that she would go to China for a one-year tour plan and return to her grandfather's hometown to see.
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After coming to China's hometown, unlike the imaginary welcome, few people come to greet you.
Not only because Huang Liushuang's Mandarin is not very good, it is difficult to communicate with others, and there is a gap in communication that is difficult to cross.
The most important reason is that she is not welcomed by Song Meiling, because the latter believes that her previous supporting roles in Hollywood are really detrimental to the image of the Chinese.
At that time, the National Government still had the final say, and as soon as Song Meiling's golden mouth was opened, many literati began to criticize Huang Liushuang, which naturally made the people in China fearful of her.
Originally planned to do a year lecture tour in China, seeing this situation, coupled with the fact that the contract with Paramount had not yet expired, Huang Liushuang had to terminate most of the plans and embark on the return journey back to the United States early.
"I firmly believe that I will never be able to perform in a Chinese theater and that being rejected is a very sad situation because I am 'too American' and an American producer."
After returning to the United States, she will still give speeches in the American film industry, calling on the American people to actively support the Chinese War of Resistance, and sell her own jewelry for charity, and all the money will be remitted to China to support the War of Resistance Against Japan.
After witnessing Huang Liushuang donate the proceeds from filmmaking to China many times, the California Chinese Charity Association recognized her work in supporting Chinese refugees and called on Chinese in the United States to learn from her.
In 1949, because she could not accept the news of her father's death, she spent all day with alcohol, resulting in a series of health problems.
Since then, she has been filming and treating, during which she also hosted a documentary about China, but her physical condition was indeed much worse than before.
In 1960, at the inauguration of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Huang Liushuang was able to "stay on the stars" on it because of his special contribution to the film industry.
"Staying stars" is an honor, which means that she has made great contributions, and the Chinese or Chinese actors who can "stay in Hollywood" later include Bruce Lee, Liu Yuling, and Jackie Chan.
In February 1961, Huang Liushuang suffered a heart attack at home and died.
After her death, many events were held to commemorate her.
In 2004, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, on the occasion of her birthday, showed her masterpiece "Dream of Chinatown Prosperity".
In 2011, at the 29th Asian American Film Festival, her documentary was screened publicly.
In 2015, during the Shanghai Film Festival, Huang Liushuang's film works were screened.
In 2021, Hollywood's first Chinese-American movie star, Huang Liushuang, will be listed on the US 25-cent commemorative coin.
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There is no doubt that the yellow willow cream does have a great credit to our nation.
Not only donated money and materials during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but also repeatedly spoke out for the suppression of Chinese Americans in Hollywood, paving the way for those who came after them as much as possible.
For her previous supporting roles in Hollywood, there is no need to be too harsh, let alone think that she has lost the face of the Chinese, after all, this is not her intention.
Against the backdrop of discrimination against Asians, she has done her best to accomplish her mission.
Today, when she hands this baton to her current actors, she only hopes that the people who take the baton will not live up to her expectations and continue to write brilliantly in Hollywood.
Resources
"The Image of Chinese in Hollywood Movies" NetEase Community
"Huang Liushuang Female Star Banned by Song Meiling" China Net Youyou
"Photo: Remembrance of the Legend of Chinese Actress Huang Liushuang in Hollywood for a Hundred Years" China News Network Xie Chaozong
"American Overseas Chinese Daily Network Review: Huang Liushuang Deng American Coin Chinese Continue to Write Hollywood Legends" China News Network Cheng Ran
"Shanghai: Commemorating the 110th Anniversary of the Birth of Chinese Cinema, the Shanghai Film Festival Looks Back at the Century of Light and Shadow" Oriental Network