Remembering Hong Kong Legend: Cheng PeiPei

[FWN Adm]

Remembering Hong Kong's great actress Cheng Pei-Pei (6 January 1946 in Shanghai, China - 17 July 2024 in San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA) whose career continued on for decades with over a 100 films behind her, making a name for herself among the best-known actors. She was lead actress in King Hu's 1966 film Come Drink With Me, played Jade Fox in the Ang Lee directed 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and also acted in Disney's 2020 remake of Mulan.

She was born Jiang Pei-Pei in Shanghai. she was the eldest of four siblings; she had a brother and two sisters. Her father, Jiang Xuecheng, was a Kuomintang member who worked for the Shanghai Municipal Police in Shanghai International Settlement. After World War II, Jiang established China's first ink factory. In 1952, when Cheng was 6, her father was labeled a counter-revolutionary and sent to a labor camp in Inner Mongolia; she never saw him again, he died in 1963 without his family knowing. Cheng's mother was initially her father's secretary and later decided to change the children's surname to her own to protect them from their father's political consequences.

Cheng attended World Elementary School in Shanghai where she was a schoolmate of future movie stars Grace Chang and Chen Hou. She went to the Shanghai No. 3 Girls' High School, where she was a schoolmate of Lydia Shum. She also studied ballet for six years in Shanghai. In the mid-1950s, Cheng's mother and siblings moved to Hong Kong, leaving Cheng in the care of a nanny in Shanghai before the nanny also left. Cheng lived independently for several years and following her mother finally moved to Hong Kong in 1960. In 1963, she was admitted to the training program at Shaw Brothers Studio. After graduating she joined the studio and made her film debut in The Lotus Lamp (1965), playing the male scholar Liu Yanchang opposite Lin Dai. Cheng followed this with her first female lead role in the Taiwanese drama film Lovers' Rock (1964).

Due to her Mandarin skills and dance background, she quickly worked her way up in the Hong Kong film industry at a time when the Mandarin-language productions commanded higher budgets and wider distribution than Cantonese works. Cheng gained fame for starring in the Hong Kong wuxia film Come Drink with Me directed by King Hu in 1966. The story of the film was set during the Ming Dynasty, Cheng playing 'Golden Swallow' who is a skilled swordswoman on a mission to rescue her brother. Cheng continued to play expert swordswomen in a number of films throughout the 1960s.

In 1970, at the peak of her career, Cheng married and subsequently retired from acting, moving to the United States for her husband's business endeavors. She attended business school at the University of California, Irvine and also taught Chinese dance in Southern California. In the 1980s she founded a television production company in the United States and traveled across Hawaii and Northern California at her own expense to produce a documentary series about Chinese Americans. Both Cheng's TV business and her marriage failed around the same time. In 1987 she divorced from her husband but continued to live with him for two years. In 1989, her company declared bankruptcy and Cheng moved out of their house.

With the comedy Flirting Scholar (1993), Cheng successfully returned to acting in the 1990s Hong Kong. In 2000, she returned to international attention with her role as Jade Fox in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  directed by Ang Lee, whom Cheng had befriended in the 90s when she was host of KSCI's Mandarin talk show, Pei-Pei's Time.

Into the 21st century, she became active across Greater China with Chinese TV dramas such as Young Justice Bao (2000), Chinese Paladin (2004), and The Patriot Yue Fei (2012), as well as Singaporean TV dramas Spring of Life (2002) and Women of Times(2006). She gained new popularity among the younger generation with Chinese reality show Divas Hit the Road (2014). Her notable international credits included the action film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009), the British drama Lilting (2014), the Canadian drama Meditation Park (2017), and Disney's live-action remake of Mulan (2020) as the match maker.

Upon receiving a lifetime achievement award in Hong Kong in 2015, Cheng reflected on her acting career as follows: "I always remember that I represent the Hong Kong people. So no matter where I am in the world, I will always identify myself as a Hong Kong actress and maintain the professionalism that a Hong Kong actress should have."

Filmography

2022        The King of Wuxia - as Self
2020        Mulan - as The Matchmaker

2019        Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks - as Self
2019        Bell Chamber - as Qin Yi
2019        In a New York Minute - as Amy's Mother
2019        Flirting Scholar from the Future - as Mistress Hua
2017        Meditation Park - as Maria
2017        Blind Date (52 episodes)
2017        Little Valentine (40 episodes) - as Niu Zhenzhen
2016        Goldstone - as Mrs. Lao
2016        Dragon Girls! - as Herself
2016        Good Take, Too! - as (segment "The Lighthouse of My Life")
2016        The Sleeping Beauty (80 episodes) - as 秦奶奶
2015        Lost in Wrestling - as Yuanyuan
2015        回到未來錢 (1 episode)
2014        The Eyes of Dawn
2014        The Scroll of Wing Chun White Crane
2014        Lilting - as Junn
2014        Divas Hit the Road (8 episodes)
2014        The Legend of Run Run Shaw - as Herself
2013        千金归来 (50 episodes) - as Mother Rong
2013        Legend of Hua Mulan (57 episodes) - as Grandma Xia
2012        Singular Cay
2012        非常后妈 (30 episodes) - as 杜奶奶
2012        自古英雄出少年 (38 episodes) - as 贝婆婆
2012        Time and Tide Wait for No Man: A Touch of King Hu - as Self
2011        Speed Angels - as Auntie Fen
2011        Coming Back - as God Ni
2011        Legendary Amazons - as She Taijun
2011        Shanghai Legend (16 episodes) - as 毛坚
2011        The Guardsman
2011        My Wedding and Other Secrets - as Mrs Chu
2010        一一向前冲 (28 episodes) - as Dr. Tian
2010        A Weaver on the Horizon (36 episodes)
2010        Flirting Scholar 2 - as Madame Wah
2010        Fortune King Is Coming to Town! - as Mrs Liang

2009        Remembrance Of Dreams Past (42 episodes) as 陆老夫人
2009        Blood Ties - as Madam Lee
2009        Taishan Kung Fu
2009        Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - as Zhilan
2009        Basic Love
2008        Kung Fu Killer 2 - as Myling
2008        Kung Fu Killer - as Myling
2008        Love Under the Sign of the Dragon - as Tham
2008        Special Boys - as 兰姑妈
2007        They Wait - as Aunt Mei
2007        The Counting House - as Lia
2007        Shanghai Baby - as Conny
2006        Book and Sword: The Final Battle
2005        House of Harmony - as Amah
2005        李卫辞官 (42 episodes) - as 李卫母
2005        Dandelion (22 episodes)
2005        Strange Tales of Liao Zhai (36 episodes) - as 苗婆婆【阿宝】
2005        A Century of Light and Shadow - as Herself
2005        Insuperable Kid Huoyuanjia
2004        The Miracle Box - as Joanna's Mom
2004        Shui yue dong tian (30 episodes) - as 龙婆
2003        Cinema Hong Kong: The Beauties of the Shaw Studio as Herself
2003        Cinema Hong Kong: Wu Xia - as Herself
2002        Springs of Life (1 episode) - as Yun Shu Heng
2002        Naked Weapon as Faye Ching
2002        The Art of Action: Martial Arts in the Movies - as Self
2002        Romance of Book and Sword (46 episodes) - as Empress Dowager Chongqing
2002        Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger - as Liu Ru Yan
2002        Book and Sword - as Huang Tai Hou
2001        Grit & Polish: Heroines from Hong Kong - as Self
2001        Shadow Mask - as Red Goddess
2001        Legendary Fighter: Yang's Heroine (40 episodes) - as 佘赛花
2001        Heroes in Black (20 episodes) - as 冯 母
2000        Lavender
2000        Young Justice Bao (40 episodes) - as Bao's Mother(包夫人)
2000        Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - as Jade Fox
2000        Fist Power - as Brian's mother

1999        The Truth About Jane and Sam - as Sam's mother
1999        A Man Called Hero - as Bai Sulian
1999        Hua Mulan (48 episodes) - as Li Liang's Mother
1999        Four Chefs and a Feast
1999        Young Master Of Shaolin (40 episodes) - as Wumei
1999        Lord Of Imprisonment (56 episodes) - as 老板娘
1998        马永贞之争霸上海滩 (22 episodes)
1997        Master Ma (42 episodes)
1996        Top Fighter 2 - as Self (Archive Footage)
1996        How to Meet the Lucky Stars
1996        Wong Fei Hung Series : The Final Victory
1995        Wong Fei Hung Series (20 episodes)
1994        From Zero to Hero
1994        Lover's Lover
1994        The Gods Must Be Funny in China
1994        Wing Chun - as Ng Mui
1994        Kung Fu Mistress
1993        Kidnap of Wong Chak Fai - as Kung Tse Sam
1993        Flirting Scholar - as Madame Wah
1988        Painted Faces - as Ching

1984        Huo Dong Ge (30 episodes) - as 陈士超
1983        All the King's Men
1982        Lady Piranha- as Jo 'Lady Piranha' Chan

1974        Whiplash - as Hu Pien-Tze
1973        None But the Brave - as Shao Ying
1972        The Yellow Muffler - as Singer
1971        The Shadow Whip - as Miss Yun/Yang Kai Yun
1971        The Lady Hermit - as Leng Yu Shuang (Lady Hermit)
1970        Brothers Five - as Heroine Yen Hsing-kung
1970        Lady of Steel - as Fang Ying Qi

1969        The Golden Sword - as Ngai Jin-Feng
1969        Raw Courage - as Shangguan Xiuyi
1969        The Flying Dagger - as Yu Ying
1969        Dragon Swamp - as Qing-Erh / Fan Ying
1968        The Jade Raksha - as Leng Qiu Han (The Jade Raksha)
1968        That Fiery Girl - as Hot Chilli/Pearl
1968        Golden Swallow - as Golden Swallow Xie Ru Yan
1967        Operation Lipstick - as Li Bing
1967        Blue Skies - as Chen Yun
1967        The Dragon Creek - as Kuo Erh Niu
1967        The Thundering Sword - as So Jiau Jiau
1967        Hong Kong Nocturne - as Chia Chuan Chuan
1966        The Joy of Spring - as Herself (Cameo)
1966        Princess Iron Fan - as White Bone Demon
1966        Come Drink with Me - as Golden Swallow
1965        The Lotus Lamp - as Liu Yan-Chang
1965        Song of Orchid Island - as Olan
1964        Lover's Rock - as Lin Chiu-tzu
1964        The Last Woman of Shang - as Dancing girl