Chinese Film Stars

With an interdisciplinary, comparative examination of stars and stardom in Chinese cinema from the silent period to the current era of globalization, this volume offers exemplary readings of the historically, geographically and aesthetically multifaceted star phenomena in China.

Mary Farquhar is a Professor at Griffith University, Australia. She studied at Beijing University and specializes in China studies. Her Children's Literature in China: From Lu Xun to Mao Zedong (M.E. Sharpe, 1999) won an International Children's Literature Association Award for the most distinguished, scholarly book. She is the co-author with Chris Berry of China Onscreen: Cinema and Nation (Columbia, 2006). Yingjin Zhang is Director of Chinese Studies Program and Professor of Comparative Literature and Film Studies at University of California, San Diego, US. Among his eight English books are Encyclopedia of Chinese Film (Routledge, 1998), Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943 (Stanford, 1999), Screening China (Michigan, 2002), Chinese National Cinema (Routledge, 2004), From Underground to Independent (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), and Cinema, Space, and Polylocality in a Globalizing China (Hawaii, 2009).

1. Introduction: Chinese Film Stars Yingjin Zhang and Mary Farquhar Part I: Early Cinema: Crossing Race and Class Divides 2. Anna May Wong: A Border-crossing 'Minor' Star Mediating Performance Yiman Wang 3. Ruan Lingyu: Reflections on an Individual Performance Style Mette Hjort 4. Li Lili: Acting a Lively Jianmei Type Sean MacDonald Part II: Socialist Cinema: From Film Star to Model Worker 5. Mei Lanfang: Facial Signature and Political Performance in Opera Film John Zou 6. Zhao Dan: Spectrality of Martyrdom and Stardom Yingjin Zhang 7. Zhang Ruifang: Modelling the Socialist Red Star Xiaoning Lu 8. Zhong Xinghuo: Communist Film Worker Krista Van Fleit Hang Part III: Taiwan Cinema: Diaspora, Transvestism, Non-professionalism 9. Ling Bo: Orphanhood and Post-war Sinophone Film History ZHANG Zhen 10. Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia: Last Eastern Star of the Late Twentieth Century Tony Williams 11. Lee Kang-sheng: Non-professional Star Michael Lawrence Part IV: Hong Kong and Transnational Cinema: Action, Gender, Emotion 12. 'Bruce Lee' after Bruce Lee: A Life in Conjectures Brian Hu 13. Jackie Chan: Star Work as Pain and Triumph Mary Farquhar 14. Chow Yun-fat: Hong Kong's Modern TV Xiaosheng Lin FENG 15. Leslie Cheung: Star as Autosexual Julian Stringer 16. Jet Li: Star Construction and Fan Discourse on the Internet Sabrina Qiong Yu