Zhou Xuan

Biography

Zhou Xuan was born on September 12, 1920, in Wujin County, Jiangsu Province, into an intellectual family. Originally named Su Pu, she was trafficked by her opium-addicted uncle to Jintan County during childhood, losing contact with her biological parents. At age six, she was adopted in Shanghai and renamed Zhou Xiaohong. She joined the Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe in 1931 and received her stage name "Zhou Xuan" after performing the song "Light of the Nation" in 1931. She excelled in both acting and singing, gaining fame in the early 1930s. She placed second in the Three Major Radio Singers competition in 1934. In 1937, her leading role in the film "Street Angel" was highly acclaimed, making her a major star in Shanghai. She starred in around twenty films and became widely known across China. In the 1940s, she gave highly successful concerts in Shanghai theaters. One of China's most famous singers of the 1930s and 1940s, and one of the Seven Great Singers of Shanghai in the 1940s. She married composer Yan Hua in 1938 and divorced in 1941. After her divorce, she had other public relationships but never remarried. She retired from acting in 1951 during the filming of "Dove of Peace" due to illness, then briefly returned in 1957. She died on September 22, 1957, at age 37.