"She was so young at the time, and I always kept her at a safe distance as if she were a little sister."
In 2016, when Jet Li was asked in an interview whether he had had innocent love with Ding Lan, he said this.
Ding Lan, like Jet Li, became popular because of "Shaolin Temple", but when her career was in full swing, she married a Singaporean tycoon and changed her nationality, and her fame plummeted after marriage and ended in divorce.
In the face of the ups and downs of life, others do not know whether she regrets it, but she already has a positive answer in her own heart.
Born in 1964 in a relatively wealthy family in Henan, Ding Lan began to learn dance at the age of five, and was admitted to the Henan Opera School at the age of 12.
After graduating in 1981, he entered the Henan Repertory Troupe and became a full-fledged drama actor.
This year is also when "Shaolin Temple" directed by Zhang Xinyan is being prepared.
The reason why the "shepherdess" played by 16-year-old Ding Lan that year was flawless was that director Zhang Xinyan searched for a long time before he found it.
When Zhang Xinyan was preparing for the filming of "Shaolin Temple", after almost all the actors had been found, the female number one "shepherdess" Bai Wuflawless did not find a suitable actor, even though round after round of interviews was launched, Zhang Xinyan could not be satisfied after all.
The white and flawless that Zhang Xinyan was looking for not only had the pure and simple side of a shepherd, but also had the agility of a kung fu disciple, and the beauty of a girl.
One requirement may not be difficult to achieve, but actors who fulfill multiple requirements at the same time are really difficult to find.
At that time, although Zhang Xinyan was anxious because he could not find a suitable "shepherdess", he was unwilling to lower his requirements.
Unable to find suitable candidates among the actors interviewed, Zhang Xinyan had to take other methods and personally go to many drama academies and drama troupes to find them.
And because he has not been able to find the ideal role but is unwilling to give up, Zhang Xinyan can only do other work first, such as arranging the crew to prepare at the filming location first.
Some of the more important shots in "Shaolin Temple" were filmed in Songshan, Henan, and after Zhang Xinyan and the crew arrived in the local area, they began to look for the "white and flawless" in his mind.
Later, when Zhang Xinyan visited the Henan Repertory Troupe, he saw Ding Lan, who was rehearsing the drama, and he fell in love with her.
According to what Zhang Xinyan said in an interview later, when he saw Ding Lan, who could play and dance in the drama and was only 16 years old, his eyes lit up and he felt that Ding Lan was the "white and flawless" he was looking for.
At that time, Ding Lan never imagined that she had just graduated and ushered in the opportunity to be popular all over the country, and even when director Zhang Xinyan invited her to participate in "Shaolin Temple", she once did not dare to accept the invitation because she was not very confident in her acting skills, and finally with the encouragement of director Zhang Xinyan, she put aside her concerns and concentrated on taking on the role of "Shepherdess".
In order to portray the role of "Shepherdess" better, Ding Lan, who was only 16 years old when she participated in the filming, let the director see the preciousness.
She took the initiative to learn horseback riding, swordsmanship, sparring and other skills that need to appear in the play, and when learning these skills, she stumbled countless times and encountered bruises and swelling, even broken skin and bleeding, and fell off the horse countless times and almost had an accident, but she gritted her teeth and never slack.
In 1982, with "Shaolin Temple", in addition to the male No. 1 Jet Li, there was also the female No. 1 Ding Lan.
"Shaolin Temple" opened a new era of mainland martial arts films with a box office of 160 million yuan, and the image of the "shepherdess" played by Ding Lan, who was 16 years old, has become the white moonlight in the minds of the majority of audiences.
She almost perfectly presents the "shepherdess" white and flawless pure and flexible in peacetime, and the chivalrous demeanor in turbulent times.
She undoubtedly contributed indelible power to the box office of "Shaolin Temple" with her hard work and talent.
In the play, the emotional drama between Bai Wuflawless and Jueyuan makes the audience naturally pay more attention to the relationship between Ding Lan and Jet Li.
In the years since the broadcast of "Shaolin Temple", the topic of them being "golden children and jade girls" has been circulating, and the public is very concerned about whether this pair of beautiful talents will come together and cultivate a positive relationship.
In 1985, Ding Lan and Jet Li caused heated discussions because they once again starred in "Disciples of Shaolin Temple" directed by Zhang Xinyan, and the most heated was of course whether there was really a "drama" between the male and female protagonists outside the play.
At that time, Ding Lan was hospitalized with a foot injury during filming, and Jet Li rushed to the hospital with a worried face, which caused many media reports.
Although the outside world was full of rumors about the two of them, the two of them never stood up and poked the layer of paper, let alone clarified, so that the relationship between the two of them has always been in a hazy state.
After many years, Jet Li only had a relevant answer to this question in an interview.
Jet Li said that at that time, actors and actresses did not dare to have contact at all, did not dare to have too much contact in the open, and even more dared in private, because the social atmosphere in the early eighties was particularly conservative, actors and actresses were people with units, they must pay attention to social influence, and actors and actresses did not even dare to look at each other, and most of the cases were only contacted when the two had scenes together.
And because when "Shaolin Temple" was filmed, there were more than a hundred men, only Ding Lan was a woman, not to mention that she was so young at that time, everyone treated her like a little sister.
Jet Li also said that she was so young at the time, only 16 years old, and he had always regarded her as a sister and kept her at a safe distance.
Ding Lan did not spark with Jet Li in the play, but when filming "Peach Blossom Fan Blood" in Singapore, he formed a marriage with a wealthy businessman in Singapore.
When participating in "Peach Blossom Fan Blood", Ding Lan was already a first-line female star who participated in many screen awards, and only then attracted countless suitors to fall under her pomegranate skirt during filming in Singapore.
At that time, Singapore's wealthy businessmen were the most fierce pursuit of Ding Lan, and they did not hesitate to spend thousands of dollars for her to respond to her needs, in order to hug the beauty back, they also personally held the bouquet of flowers every day and waited at Ding Lan's door just to win a smile from the beauty, and even took the initiative to use their connections to help Ding Lan connect with Singapore's radio and television stations.
In 1991, Ding Lan was impressed by the love and strength of a wealthy businessman, and not only married him, but also gave up her nationality and became a Singaporean in order to become a permanent resident in Singapore and join Singapore Radio and Television.
decided to marry a wealthy Singaporean businessman and naturalized Singapore, it is estimated that Ding Lan at that time thought that she would not only get the happiness of love, but also think that she could get better career development.
But apparently, she had misjudged it.
After marriage, because she just joined Singapore and did not have high popularity in China, Ding Lan was in a situation of no drama to film for a long time, even though "Shaolin Temple" was first released overseas at that time and Ding Lan also gained good popularity overseas, but after all, when she got married (1991) and went to Singapore to settle down, nearly ten years had passed since the release of "Shaolin Temple" (1982), and her fame also declined as the drama faded in popularity.
At the beginning, Radio Singapore also thought that Ding Lan could pick a big beam with the influence of the world-famous heroine of "Shaolin Temple", so he arranged for her to appear in the female number one of several plays; It was also unexpectedly discovered that Ding Lan's reputation had seriously declined.
After that, Radio Singapore arranged some supporting roles for her, and even increasingly marginalized roles, which made Ding Lan frustrated her career, but after signing a ten-year contract with Radio Singapore, she could not have a seizure and could not find other better developments.
When her career is struggling, she has plenty of time to focus on her family.
When she focused on the family, she found that her husband was not her good person.
Her husband is a businessman and almost always looks at problems from a business perspective and interests; Ding Lan has been an art student since she was a child, and she looks at problems more emotionally and romantically.
Two people with different values and life concepts will not have a better relationship because they spend more time together in daily life, but will lead to more quarrels.
The couple, who were originally dominated by contradictions, decisively chose to divorce after her husband cheated on her.
When she divorced, Ding Lan found out that she had sacrificed her career and left her hometown for an encounter with a man, and even had a family because of changing her nationality.
After the divorce, it is undoubtedly the darkest stage of her life, on the one hand, the failed marriage and the hometown that cannot go back, on the other hand, the contract with the company has not expired and her career cannot be better developed.
She held on to her obsession with going home, and continued to fulfill the contract with the brokerage company in Singapore, as long as it was the company's request, she had to accept the timid role.
Because the Singapore government protected the property of the parties at the time of divorce, Ding Lan did not receive much in the division of divorced property, so she had to work hard to earn money to support herself and try to pick up her career again.
In 2001, her ten-year contract with Singapore Radio and Television finally expired and she packed her bags and returned home.
Returning to China is both to go home and to seek better development on the road of acting.
But after returning, she once again faced the fact that there were almost no scenes to film, and when she left China, she was a hot first-line actress, and there was no shortage of big directors in the mainland and Hong Kong who rushed to invite her to film.
At that time, even Wang Fulin, the director of the classic 87 version of "Dream of Red Mansions", invited her to participate, and the Jia Xichun she played in it is still amazing after many years of her appearance and acting skills.
Back in China again, she not only became less famous than before, but also caused many audiences to be disgusted because she was naturalized in Singapore, and even some audiences angrily called her a "traitor" because of love and hatred, which also led to her participating in several works after returning to China without stirring up splashes.
Look at Jet Li, who debuted with her, not only became a big star in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, but also has a high reputation overseas, which makes Ding Lan very emotional, sometimes fate is like this, one wrong step will change a lot of things, and even change the original trajectory of life.
She also knows that self-pity is difficult to get herself out of the predicament, and she may find a way out by packing her bags and starting again.
It was also at that time that she gradually faded out of the show business industry and embarked on the road of business, which may have been inspired by her ex-husband's wealthy businessman in Singapore.
In the years after marriage, she was more or less exposed to her husband's business model, coupled with a few years in Singapore, which was able to provide favorable support for Ding Lan when considering what to run given that Singapore's economy was ahead of the mainland at that time.
Eventually, she decided to run a family boutique and set up a corresponding company in Beijing.
The needs of the development of the times confirm the correctness of Ding Lan's decision, the demand for family boutiques is rising with the development of the mainland's social economy, and her company has continued to grow bigger and stronger, becoming a national chain store.
The business landscape continues to expand, and she has become a business tycoon and a female entrepreneur among others.
Perhaps the public only knows that her life is very lucky, and she became a hot first-line actress at the peak of her debut, and later even if her marriage failed, it did not affect her success in business and became a rich woman.
But it is estimated that no one knows how she was not crushed by the torrent of fate in her ups and downs in her life.
When someone asked her whether she regretted and saddened her after 30 years of divorce and remained single and had no reason for the film and television industry, her answer was that it was no longer important to regret it, and the single life in the past 30 years did not feel that she lacked anything, but the single life was quite suitable for herself, and she could have more time to study and enjoy life.
Perhaps in the decades-long experience of life, she has already seen and thought clearly between gains and losses.