Gong Li


Wow, what an actress. Beautiful and great range. I don't appreciate people calling Zhang Ziyi the best Chinese actress ever while they haven't even seen movies like Raise the Red Lantern or Farewell my Concubine. "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger" are not the only good Chinese movies out there.

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I'm not so sure he's the BEST director in Chinese cinema.

Don't forget Sir Run Run Shaw's epic film - "The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires."

(this is a joke, by the way)

Cats are delicate dainty animals who suffer from a variety of ailments ... except insomnia.

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Yes,like Gong Li very much.I agree to you that she is the best chinese actress.

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Agreed, Li Gong is a very talented actress. Zhang Ziyi is less than half her age lets not forget that, but it was Li Gong(perhaps one other)that paved the way for all modern Chinese leading ladies to break into the mainstream. She is also still drop dead gorgeous at over 40. Don't believe me? Check out her new movie, Memoirs of a Geisha. Lets hope she doesn't let us down with Miami Vice.

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While Gong Li is utterly beautiful and also a very good actress, i wouldn't call her the best. I think that title should belong to Maggie Cheung, one of the greatest actresses ever. (not in Hero though, I thought that was a rather poor performance actually)


*********
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.

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While your opinion is different from mine, at least I respect it because Maggie Cheung has been in the business very long and has proven herself in many good movies.

I'm only slightly annoyed when people calling younger actresses like Ziyi as best ever when she has only been in a handful of films, and some of the roles are very similar to each other. I say let's wait until they prove that they can sustain a long career of quality films before putting them on their pedestals.

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Actually, I believe within China and Taiwan, Zhang Ziyi isn't liked very much, if at all. She appears to be very big with Westerners, and I'll admit she is certainly one of my favorite actresses (if not my favorite, just beating out Olivia Hussey and Audrey Hepburn). Certainly talking with Chinese friends, as well as waitresses in resturants (hey, I got to practice ya know what I mean), they usually say "wo bu xihuan Zhang Ziyi" when I usually say afterwards "Shi ma? Zhang Ziyi shi wo zui xihuan de mingxing." So, just to sum it up, it appears that within China Gong Li is loved, and the fasanation with Zhang Ziyi appears to be only Western (at the moment; I should state I did get a good Shanghainese friend of mine to lighten up on Zhang).

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thats funny because I had never seen Gong Li or heard of her...but knew of Zhang Zhiyi and my mom and her friends (Chinese) were talking about how ugly Zhang was. Not that she's ugly- but extremely ordinary looking, very commonplace, plentiful in China. I was dumbfounded. I think she's hot ! and perfect! They insisted that Gong Li was a true beauty, a real rarity. Now I think they're quite right. Gong Li's face is too fine to be human.

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Her face is so expressive. She can be aloof and impenetrable one minute and smiling and making small talk the next. I think Zhang Ziyi is too melodramatic, and while there is a place for that sort of thing, it doesn't require as much talent as an understated performance does.

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Gong Li is phenomonal! I like Maggie Cheung very much also.

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She's a fantastic actress. Zhang Ziyi is good, but she's not the actress Gong Li is.

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There is not (yet?) much depth to Zhang Ziyi's acting. Going Li rules as far as I am concerned, especially when one remembers the variety of characters she has played.

And yes, I am a fan

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Zhang Ziyi is a realy good actress... but the golden pair is still GONG LI & YIMOU ZHANG... no doubt...

and seeing Ziyi and Gong Li together in memoirs of a geisha was utterly cool :) even though Gong Li played the B*tch... she's the best B*tch of all :) hihi...

Raise the red lantern is the best :D :D :D

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Actor? You mean actress?

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ghehe :D sorry... :D my mistake :P

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For some of Gong Li's other great performances try "THe Story fo Qiu Jiu" or "To Live" (also by Zhang Yimou). And no, Hero and CTHD definitely aren't the only decent Chinese films- check the works by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee for mainland China and Taiwan, and John Woo and Wong Kar-Wai for Hongkong. All these directors have made iconic works, some of which are barely even known in the "West".

Nadine :)

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"Zhang Ziyi the best Chinese actress ever "


The press does not call her that.

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<<While Gong Li is utterly beautiful and also a very good actress, i wouldn't call her the best. I think that title should belong to Maggie Cheung, one of the greatest actresses ever. (not in Hero though, I thought that was a rather poor performance actually)>>

Ooh, I love Maggie Cheung, too - I loved her in Hero, though.
Gong Li fascinates me; she was amazing in this movie and also made "Memoirs of a Geisha" worth watching. I hate not being able to remember her name, but I thought the actress who played Meishan did a great job, too.


"Just close your eyes...but keep your mind wide open."

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Cheese Louise, ripened is correct. Her bosom overfloweth now that she is older. The screen shots of her in Curse of the Golden Flower in a tight bodice caused a buzz in China. (Think Marie Antoinette bodice))
She is not a shy dresser at all in her publicity shots either. She's got it going on every which way.
I prefer her as she was in Light the Red Lantern 'tho. But she can "eat crackers" ANY time...
For any non US folks, ask some American friend what that means.

OK, OK, it's a silly American saying: "I wouldn't throw HER out of bed for eating crackers!"

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The woman is simply breathtaking. Hard to belive she is almost 42.

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Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder. Why does that not apply when the topic is Li Gong? Lack of objectivity.

I don't consider her to be all that attractive. And it's a bit unfair to compare her acting with that of Zhang Ziyi: she's fifteen years older than Ziyi.

And Michelle Yeoh is both better looking, and a better actress, than Li Gong.

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(And Michelle Yeoh is both better looking, and a better actress, than Li Gong.)



STRONGLY disagree on both counts.
beholder indeed.

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Take another look, keeping in mind that assessment of beauty is subjective.

As for the acting: how is Gong Li at martial arts?

And what explains that petulance she shows, regardless role?

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"What I love about Gong Li is that she only gets more ravishing as she ages."

Oh yeah.

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Michelle Yeoh played Meisham. She's from Malyisia. But I would consider her as one of the best Asian actresses... Along with Gong Li.

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That was absolutely NOT Michelle Yeoh... Third Mistress was played by Saifei He.

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Yeoh has never done a Yimou film.

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"And no, Hero and CTHD definitely aren't the only decent Chinese films- check the works by . . . Ang Lee . . . ."

Such as, for example, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- "CTHD"?

As for what the "press" says about Zhang Ziyi? Which press? Hong Kong tabloids?

And as for the Chinese who say she "isn't really pretty in China" -- have they met every Chinese woman in China? Or are they simply jealous, and slamming her?

Zhang Ziyi is the media's favorite punching bag. And of those who hate anyone who takes roles outside the politically correct/bigoted limits of many Chinese -- and many Japanese.


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She looked a bit chubby. Did she gain weight for this film to have that "country girl look/figure"? I say this because she's usually pretty lithe and slim.

I Kill Kids!

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the best actress China has produced so far, she's much better than Zhang Ziyi

her filmography is also the most impressive





so many movies, so little time

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