Rong Hailan: Legendary Family "Strange Woman"

The picture shows Rong Hailan (Image source: provided by Rong Hailan)

Born in Hong Kong and raised in the Midtown East District of New York, USA, Rong Hailan is the third generation of the century-old legendary Rong family, and was once called "Strange Woman" by the great dramatist Cao Yu.

I love Chinese culture

Influenced by her grandmother since childhood, she deeply loved Chinese culture, immersed herself in the performing arts, studied dance since childhood, and entered the film directing department of New York University.

At the age of 7, Rong Hailan was discovered by the star scouts as a model and has since stepped onto the stage. It wasn't enough to walk on the catwalk, she also made a movie. In those years, there were very few Asians in the Film and Television Circle in the United States, and she naturally became one of the most eye-catching.

The elders of the family wanted Rong Hailan to manage the family business, but she was more interested in culture and art. In the 1980s, she began to shoot films and television in Taiwan, and she liked to be innovative, and she founded the "Dragon Clan Theater" in Taiwan, which was commented by Lianhe Pao as "bringing the small theater movement to Taiwan". In her mind, the spirit of the "Dragon Clan" Chinese dragon is the "great unity of the Chinese nation".

In 1986, she came to China with Rong's relatives, visited many theaters, song and dance troupes, and observed theater, dance and other performances. In 1987, he studied and produced Chinese costumes in Suzhou and Shanghai, and studied Meipai figures. Cao Yu, who had forgotten her year, once wrote to Rong Hailan, calling her a "strange woman", and the brush letter Rong Hailan has preserved to this day as an encouragement to her life's spirit.

Engage in philanthropy

In 2002, when he arrived in China, Rong Hailan devoted himself to Chinese charity, donated money to build many schools in the China Charity Federation, and then established the China Charity Federation Child Care Fund, often going deep into the mountainous areas to carry out various charity work.

In 2005, she founded the Dragon Clan Fund. Rong Hailan started the "Warm Project" project, which helped many children in poor areas who had not even been to the county seat to learn about the world they had no concept in the big city. Seeing the spirit of children with disabilities working harder and harder, and seeing the children's changes, she has a deeper understanding of China's national conditions in the process of being deeply moved.

From the United States to China, Rong Hailan has devoted herself to donations and practical charity actions, such as the construction of schools in poor mountainous areas, the establishment of love bookstores, the renovation of kitchens, the setting of nutritious lunches, the selection of the top ten true stories in 2005 cooperated with Jiangsu Satellite TV, and the chief planning, liaison and execution of the Day Column of China Charity Spring Festival Gala and Nanjing Radio and Television Group. Rong Hailan's enthusiasm for charity is not a whim of a rich woman, but is related to another tradition of the family and her own education since childhood. Rong Hailan knew that his grandfather often said to his children, "When you eat, don't forget those who didn't eat." "This simple wealth-sharing concept of the Rong family and the family training to give back to the society are the initial germ of Rong Hailan's philanthropy.

In 2015, Rong Hailan established the "Dragon Clan Special Fund" under the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation to support large-scale public welfare projects with the theme of "Dream Realization Plan". She said that this is different from sending cattle and sheep to Inner Mongolia in the past, inviting Ophthalmologists from the United States, and building love book houses in rural primary schools, etc. This project will integrate potential intelligence development, psychological counseling, dream stimulation, personality training, physical and mental unity response ability training, etc., to bring children something that others can never take away - "wisdom".

Promote Cultural Exchanges between China and the United States

In 1991, Rong Hailan established the "Dragon Sino-American Culture and Art Exchange Center" in New York, USA, which is a non-profit art institution. The center performed the song and dance drama "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" and "Painting the Soul" in the Broadway Theater, which was valued by the American small theater industry, and later performed "The Legend of the White Snake", "Pan Jinlian", "The Wind From the East", "Leng Er", "Huatian Mistake", "Sun Wukong Made a Big Fuss in New York", "Sun Wukong Made a Big Fuss about the Silk Cave", "Marco Polo's Dream" and so on.

In May 1997, Rong Hailan planned the first Sino-US cultural exchange activity with the theme of Chinese culture, art, folklore, religion and commerce, which was hailed as the most successful display of Chinese culture and art.

There are still many dreams

In an exclusive interview with this reporter, Rong Hailan admitted that in the process of her life, she continued to work hard to learn. In the process of studying, she also weaves a lot of dreams, including working with many people to find a beautiful home that is most suitable for human habitation - to create a number of characteristic towns. She believes that this is the best "poverty alleviation plan" that can drive the development of local economies, ecology and industries.

In 2016, Rong Hailan led a group of entrepreneurs with a sense of social responsibility to visit Dingshu Town, Yixing City, Jiangsu Province for the first time in China. During this inspection, they had a deep understanding of the development and construction of characteristic towns and signed the "Cooperation Intention" with the local government.

In April 2017, Rong Hailan was invited to Xinjiang to investigate, she is very interested in the unique terrain and multiculturalism of Karamay City and Turpan City, and she plans to build a characteristic town at an important node on the "Belt and Road".

According to her, the Dragon Group intends to plan and invest in innovative towns in China, and has now planned innovative towns in 7 cities in China, planning Guilin Taocheng Town in Yixing, Zhuhai, Guangdong, Guilin, Karamay and Turpan, Fujian, Hubei and other places, building Turpan Dragon International Silk Road Jinhua Cultural City, Karamay Universe Town, Hubei Jingchu Town, Yixing Kangyang Town and other characteristic towns with different themes in Yixing, Zhuhai, Guangdong, Guilin, Hubei and other places.

She is willing to be a messenger of love and beauty, creating a beautiful, mobile home for a new generation of people in her beloved land, which she calls "walking home". The town, for her, is "a sparrow although small and complete", where all the "Chinese dreams" of Rong Hailan will become a reality.