Zhou Haimei died: goodbye, "the most beautiful Zhiruo"

On December 12, a cold night after a heavy snowfall, Zhou Haimei's studio released a message to inform the public that the famous Hong Kong actor Zhou Haimei passed away. The day before, the news of Zhou Haimei's death had broken out, but after several reversals, it could not be confirmed, and her fans were expecting it to be fake news, but a day later, they still got a painful answer. She is loved by the audience because of her roles such as Li Hua in "Intolerable Love", Zhou Zhiruo in "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", and Nalan Ruyi in "The Last Emperor's Sun", and she just celebrated her 57th birthday a few days ago. In the birthday video screen released by Zhou Haimei's studio, her appearance is as bright and moving as more than 30 years ago, and she is in excellent condition, and she can't see anything unusual about her body.

Photo/Zhou Haimei's studio Weibo

The sudden death brought Zhou Haimei back into the public eye and activated people's memories. In people's hearts, Zhou Haimei is one of the more special "Hong Kong style" beautiful actresses. In the 90s of the 20th century, in Hong Kong, where capable, intellectual beauty is popular, Zhou Haimei was born with a gentle appearance, and because of her anti-trend temperament, her costume drama image will express the plot so accurately and penetrate into the hearts of the audience.

However, Zhou Haimei in real life is a "Hong Kong girl" who dares to think and rush, which is different from the TV image. She likes to laugh and make faces, but she doesn't like her wonderful "crying scenes" that netizens talk about. She makes decisions that are straightforward and even a little rebellious, but she rarely regrets this rebellious impulse. Whether she chose to change her career direction when she was young, got married, divorced, or suddenly gave up her career in Hong Kong and moved to Beijing, all her choices were to follow her heart and rarely be shaken by others. Behind those beautiful images projected by countless people, she almost never expressed her true self on the screen - the humorous, straightforward and assertive "rebellious girl".

"The most beautiful Zhou Zhiruo"

Speaking of Zhou Haimei, the role that people are most familiar with is naturally Zhou Zhiruo in the 1994 version of "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", this role is known as "the most beautiful version of Zhou Zhiruo". Those who are familiar with Jin Yong's novels know that the character of this character spans a lot, from being kind and well-behaved when he was young, to being rebellious and vicious in the later stage, this kind of highly complex role has high requirements for actors, Zhou Haimei was only 28 years old at that time, but she deeply rooted this role in the memory of the audience through her own reflection and interpretation, and became one of the most glorious roles in TV history.

Photo/Screenshot of Zhou Haimei's social platform

With a costume drama that has been so highly praised and remembered by the audience for nearly 30 years, it was Zhou Haimei who met her at the right time, in the right place. In 1992, Zhou Haimei, who became popular in Cantonese-speaking areas through several TVB TV series, entered the field of vision of Asian audiences through Jacky Cheung's song "Kiss Goodbye". In the song's MTV, Zhou Haimei has no lines, relying solely on a sexy and bright image and a few excellent eye scenes, which is impressive, and with the spread of the song in video stores, video halls and TV stations, her image has entered the field of vision of thousands of households. In those years, she was also continuously named "the most popular actress in Hong Kong".

has achieved such great achievements at a young age, and Zhou Haimei's star journey is smooth. However, a sense of boredom has lingered in Zhou Haimei's heart. During that time, Zhou Haimei, who was born in a wireless artist training class and has become a professional actor, has been thinking about transformation, because of her natural beauty, Zhou Haimei always receives relatively gentle or highly feminine roles, but she is very strong and straightforward by nature, and she also likes to try new things, she likes the job of acting, and naturally hopes to make a breakthrough in the role, but the scripts she received at that time are often of the same type, which makes her feel confused about her future.

At this time, Chinese Taiwanese producer Yang Peipei and director Lai Shuiqing invited Zhou Haimei to play Zhou Zhiruo in the new version of "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", but Zhou Haimei directly refused. This role is complex enough, and it will definitely be a breakthrough if it is played well, but Zhou Haimei doesn't feel it, because she has read the original book, and at that time she felt that Zhou Zhiruo's blackened plot because of emotional injury seemed a little retribution, and this kind of behavior made her very incomprehensible personality. Later, director Lai Shuiqing flew from Taiwan to Hong Kong to lobby her for this role, telling her that this role can be understood as a victim of love, and she can freely interpret it in her own way, and the director's words finally persuaded her to take the role.

After the TV series was broadcast, Zhou Haimei's version of "Zhou Zhiruo" really left an extremely deep imprint in the hearts of the audience. Some people commented that her every move was as perfect as it came out of the book. Some people feel that Zhou Haimei's appearance and temperament are really attractive, even Zhou Zhiruo after the great change in temperament in the later period, it seems that it is not so abrupt under her interpretation, but makes the audience feel sympathetic. In fact, everything is not entirely because of her appearance, but because Zhou Haimei worked hard to get close to Zhou Zhiruo's heart and accurately convey this emotion. Later, Jin Yong himself even spoke highly of Zhou Haimei's version of Zhou Zhiruo, he said that if he knew that it was Zhou Haimei who would play Zhou Zhiruo, he would be willing to revise the script for her, so that she and the actor Zhang Wuji would eventually become married. Being able to get such a high evaluation from the original author is indeed Zhou Haimei's glory as an actor.

A rebellious soul beneath a gentle exterior

People who come into contact with Zhou Haimei in life can feel at a glance that there is a strong contrast between the real her and her image on the screen. When she was young, she was often remembered by the audience as the gentle and affectionate little sister next door, or the pitiful "early Zhou Zhiruo", but in life, as soon as she opened her mouth, she had a feeling of being quick to talk, giving people the feeling of being chivalrous and direct and generous. Some media once asked Zhou Haimei, Zhou Zhiruo in the 1994 version of "Heaven and Dragon Slayer" and Zhou Zhiruo's master's extermination master in the 2019 version of "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", both roles are played by her, so which role is closer to her nature? Zhou Haimei replied dryly: "Neither is the same." ”

This straightforward reply is quite in line with Zhou Haimei's own character. Born in Hong Kong, Chow Haimei grew up like a wild child with her grandparents on the island with nature as a child. When she was a child, Zhou Haimei was not small, because she was naughty and outgoing, and even once fought with a neighbor over her dog being poisoned. Zhou Haimei's father is a Manchu living in Hong Kong, because of the family tradition, her father has always had some etiquette requirements in her education, seeing her so wild and untamed, she began to worry that she "can't get married", but she still turned a deaf ear. In addition, she didn't feel that she was naturally beautiful, she only remembered that she was deeply myopic when she was a child, and she wore glasses with very thick lenses every day, and when she took off her glasses, she couldn't even see her appearance clearly.

When she was 18 years old, Zhou Haimei's father secretly signed her up for the Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant, the original intention was to let her learn Xi through beauty pageant training and learn to be more dignified and ladylike. As a result, Zhou Haimei's nature is difficult to change, and she often grins unconsciously in front of the camera when she runs for election. The TV station asked her if she liked watching TV, and she answered "no" directly. After the competition, she lost as she wished, only finishing fifteenth, and she also excitedly shook hands with other Hong Kong sisters, congratulated them, and ran around like a child. Even if she is so informal, Zhou Haimei is still favored by Hong Kong TVB TV because of her dazzling appearance and signed into it as an actor.

What the TV station likes is naturally Zhou Haimei's dazzling appearance. Therefore, in the first few years as an actress, most of the scripts she took on were gentle girls who matched her innate appearance. In that era, people had a natural imagination of black hair, red lips, and fashionable "Hong Kong women", and in addition to these characteristics, Zhou Haimei's image added tenderness and affinity to the "Hong Kong girls", and naturally quickly became the dream lover of many men in that era. According to her recollection, when she came to the mainland to film in her thirties, she could still see posters of her past in hairdressers in Beijing, which made her feel very familiar. But soon, Zhou Haimei became troubled by "becoming part of the inner projection of the public", because that projection was not the real self.

Fortunately, Zhou Haimei's rebellion inspired her to act and decisive. She is determined not to renew her contract with the TV station, preferring to precipitate without a fixed income for a period of time, and to find out where her future career direction is. For a while, she couldn't even pay the rent, but she still didn't give up because of financial pressure. It is precisely because of this persistence that she finally waited for Zhou Zhiruo, a popular role all over Asia, and also started her new career as an actor. And it is the contrast between the gentleness on the outside and the strength on the inside that allows her to interpret and experience the characters at various levels from Zhou Zhiruo, Nalan Ruyi to the extermination master Tai as she grows older, and strives to transcend the limitations of her appearance and completely convey the complexity behind these characters.

Live your life casually and never regret it

Around 2002, Zhou Haimei suddenly moved her career focus to an unfamiliar city: Beijing. That year, she was filming in Beijing, and during the filming, she happened to catch a heavy snowfall, she played excitedly in the snow, and fell in love with the city at once, and soon, she made a decision to insist on coming to Beijing despite the reluctance of her family. In her story, her yearning for Beijing comes from two points, one is that she likes Beijing's atmospheric and spacious urban environment, and the other point she has also admitted is that it is because at that time, she fell in love in the mainland, "for the sake of patting".

This choice is very in line with Zhou Haimei's self-perceived personality, in addition to being strong and rebellious, she also knows her casualness in life, and happily accepts her own character. Back then, when she was in her twenties, she chose to marry actor Lu Liangwei in a flash, but she didn't think too much about it, and made a choice based on intuition. Soon, because of the irregular life of the actor and the conflict with family life, she also chose to divorce Lu Liangwei quickly without any delay, without the eyes of the unexpected world. It can be seen from this incident that Zhou Haimei's casual and simple personality has never changed, she will make some choices because of impulse, and when she finds that this choice is not correct, she will also revise it in time and resolutely implement it. She has said that she is not a person who likes to look back.

Coming to Beijing from Hong Kong, she has rearranged her acting career, and is also responding to the new changes in the film and television industry, striving to diversify and expand her roles and learn Xi from young people. In recent years, she has taken on a lot of roles that are different from her previous image, and because of these roles, she has also been subject to a certain amount of controversy. In 2018, in the hit drama "Fragrant Honey Sinks Like Frost", Zhou Haimei played the villain role Tu Yao, and her acting skills were controversial, and many comments have involved personal attacks. In this matter, Zhou Haimei chose to quit Weibo directly. "What do you want in life, who cares about praise and curse. Hello stranger, thank you for your love and perverseness, goodbye on Weibo, continue my land is wide and long. This was the last message she left. Since then, Zhou Haimei's information will be released through the studio and video platforms, and her personal Weibo has not been updated again, resolutely "no regrets, no looking back".

Leaving the complex field of public opinion, Zhou Haimei found her own purity, and she put part of her energy into enjoying life. Today, she has cats and dogs in her Beijing residence, and she also likes to go to various places to taste food and snacks and show off her cooking skills. Some people joke that Zhou Haimei is like a "food blogger". She has a young mentality, and the actors in the same crew always break the news that she loves to laugh, play, and make faces. It is conceivable that that sunny appearance is just like her on the Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant stage thirty years ago, with a wool curly hairstyle and a bright colorful swimsuit, the kind of free to be herself regardless of the eyes of others.

Few people can do it for decades without changing themselves with their circumstances, but she did. Now, Zhou Haimei, who has lived in Beijing for more than 20 years, left on a snowy night she loved.

Author: Qiu Guangyu