There is an old Chinese folk saying which says, contemptuously, that "actors are false, prostitutes untrue." (戏子无情，婊子无义 xìzi wúqíng, biǎozi wúyì) What is expressed between the lines is the scorn people in olden times had for these two major service professions, and even more so indicates the principal targets of that disdain were women.

So when this new cultural form of motion pictures unexpectedly became a popular form of entertainment, it is not surprising the image of this new profession of movie actress appeared in the eyes of much of the public as ranking similarly low with that of brothel inmates, if not merged. And while actresses naturally had many admirers, traditional attitudes barred them from moving up to a higher social status.

By the mid-1920s, Chinese movie stars of both sexes were becoming celebrities. Their names began showing up frequently in newspapers, especially those of actresses, for whom the public had a particular fascination. As mentioned in an earlier post, in 1926 a popular Shanghai magazine conducted a fan poll to choose the top female stars, the Mingxing studio's "four great dan." The small quantity of film that survives from that era provides only a faint glimpse of their beauty and acting ability, which as representatives of their generation of film actresses, makes their life stories even more sad.