殷明珠

简介

Yin Mingzhu (1904–1989), born Yin Shangxian, was from Beichangtian Village, Lili Town, Wujiang County, Jiangsu Province. She was one of China's first-generation film actresses, nicknamed "Madame F.F." (Foreign Fashion), meaning a "Westernized" person. She came from a scholarly family; her great-great-grandfather Yin Zhaoyong was a Hanlin Academy scholar during the Daoguang era, her grandfather Yin Mengqin was a provincial graduate, and her father Yin Xinghuan became a painter. She began learning painting at age 5, and her father died when she was 13. At the end of 1917, due to war in her hometown, she moved with her mother to Jiaxing, Zhejiang, and six months later to Shanghai. At 14, she entered a Chinese-English girls' school in Shanghai, where she excelled in sports, learning horse riding, cycling, football, swimming, and even driving. In 1921, she starred as the heroine Fuzhu in the film "Hai Shi" (A Maritime Overture) produced by Shanghai Shadow Play Company. She went on to star in nearly 30 films including the silent films "Pansi Dong," "Chongfan Guxiang," "Chuanjia Bao," "Feixing Dadao," "Jingang Zuan," and "Nanhai Xiaoren," and the sound films "Meiyan Xia," "Huashi Qi'an," "Dofu Xishi," "Guwu Guairen," "Dongfang Yetan," "Taohua Meng," and "Fuchun Jiangshang." On February 1, 1926, she married director Dan Duyu in Hangzhou, and they had a daughter, Dan Dudi. She retired from the film industry in 1935 after starring in "Taohua Meng." When the Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, she and Dan Duyu moved to Hong Kong. In 1952, her daughter Dan Dudi entered the Hong Kong Pageant without telling her; Yin Mingzhu initially asked her to withdraw but changed her stance when her daughter reached the finals and supported her. Dan Dudi won the 1952 Miss Hong Kong title and placed fourth at the Miss Universe pageant that same year. Yin Mingzhu and her husband remained in Hong Kong, where she passed away in 1989.