Li Lili
| Li Lili | |||
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Li Lili
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| Background information | |||
| Chinese name | 黎莉莉 | ||
| Pinyin | Lí Lìlì (Mandarin) | ||
| Birth name | Qian Zhenzhen | ||
| Born |
2 June 1915 Beijing, China |
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| Died | 7 August 2005 (aged 90) Beijing, China |
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| Occupation | singer, actress | ||
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Li Lili (Chinese: 黎莉莉; 2 June 1915 – 7 August 2005) was a Chinese film actress and singer. Her films Little Toys, The Big Road and Storm on the Border were blockbusters of the 1930s and 1940s. She was sometimes called "China's Mae West".
Li was born Qian Zhenzhen in Beijing, 1915. Her father, Qian Zhuangfei, was a famed secret agent and hero of the Communist Party of China. In 1927, she moved to Shanghai, where her father encouraged her to join the China Song & Dance Troupe, later renamed Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe. Li Jinhui, later described as "the Father of Chinese popular music", was the conductor of the troupe and adopted her as his god-daughter, and she changed her surname to his.
The troupe were very popular in 1920s Shanghai. Li Lili, Wang Renmei, Xue Lingxian (薛玲仙) and Hu Jia (胡笳) were known as Bright Moon's "Four Divas" (四大天王). The troupe was merged into the Lianhua Film Company in 1931. Li became an actress, and starred in Sun Yu's 1932 Loving Blood of the Volcano. Set in the South Seas with plenty of dancing, this allowed Li to play to her strengths. She and Wang Renmei then acted together in Poetry Written on the Banana Leaf.
Sun Yu wrote Queen of Sports and The Big Road for her to star in, and she won audiences with her fashionable and energetic image, gaining the nickname "Sweet Sister". Magazines characterized her as being interested in music and books. From 1935 to 1937, she starred in eight more films with the Linhua Film Company.
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