Christine Zhou in front of Zhou Xuan's portrait. Photos: Courtesy of Christine Zhou

By Vera Penêda

In 1951, China's greatest film star Zhou Xuan was removed from the set of her last movie after fainting, and placed in a mental hospital where she was kept apart from her family, drugged and left to die alone. Her Canadian granddaughter has returned to China and pledged to make a film to reveal the truth about the silent mystery of Zhou Xuan.

The memorial documentary named What Is The Color Of Your Heart? (你的心 é»'不é»'), endorsed by the Beijing International Movie Festival (BIMF) 2010, was launched online in an attempt to quickly source finance and guarantee the participation in the film of the people who met Zhou Xuan during her heyday, although many are over 90 years old and may pass away soon. The project aims to solve Zhou Xuan's mystery with a promise: "There will come a day when the waters will recede and the stone will be seen, just you wait!"

Searching for truth

"I want to find out the truth and talk about the unspoken mystery about my grandmother's death," said Christine Zhou, named after her granny as "Little" Zhou Xuan (Zhou Xiao Xuan), the initiator of the project. "The purpose of this documentary is to raise awareness, to reach out for people who love Zhou Xuan and cherish her memory and contribution to music and film," the young woman said, moved by a slender hint of personal pledge. "The place where Zhou Xuan was buried was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and hasn't been replaced. I feel she deserves a memorial site," explained Christine Zhou.

Although the name Zhou Xuan might not ring a bell to younger generations in China, many grown-ups and older folks immediately recognize the mandopop (mandarin popular music) icon from Shanghai's golden era and Hong Kong movies, who was nicknamed "Golden Voice". A Facebook page was even started for the singer-actress who's No.15 on Hong Kong's Avenue of Stars; and Zhou's sweetly smiling portrait is often found among the vintage posters for sale at antique markets in Beijing and Shanghai. The stardom days of Zhou Xuan inspired theater plays, movies, miniseries and a stage musical based on her life was presented in Beijing in 2005.

"There have been other documentary films made before about Zhou Xuan," noted Christine Zhou, "but all of them only tell half the story. They include her debut in the 1936 hit Street Angel, her rapid rise to become Asia's greatest star, her iconic songs and movies, but little, if anything, is said about her death."

"I knew she was famous but that didn't have a strong impact on me," recalled Christine Zhou, 27, who was raised in Canada from the age of six. Little Zhou's image of her Grandma Xu came from listening to Zhou Xuan's music, watching her films, and reading what made it to the history books. "But my parents named me after her, they went on a search to find the family roots and went through a turbulent court battle in China to regain the official documentation of our family lineage," she said.

Film heritage

Christine Zhou came to China for the first time in 2007, to attend the celebrations of Zhou Xuan's 50th death anniversary in Shanghai and meet with people who knew her grandmother. "I realized how strong her memory is in China and even in Asia and I started getting more curious about her," she recalled. "She [Zhou Xuan] was everywhere", from songs on the radio to a Facebook page dedicated to her with 'friends' from all backgrounds and ages. Left with blocks of her grandmother's diary and a family story with lots of holes, Christine Zhou returned to China in 2008 and the memorial documentary became her full-time job.

Born to an impoverished family who sold her to a procurer at the age of three, sent to a brothel to be a courtesan, adopted, cast to be a star, idolized and betrayed before she died in unclear circumstances, Zhou Xuan's biography features all the items for an engaging plot for the big screen.

There are also two conflicting biographies on Zhou Xuan that will contribute to the movie outline. The books expose the family's quarrels that make it difficult to trace the Chinese star's life and death thoroughly. My Mother Zhou Xuan (æˆ'çš„ 媽媽å'¨ç'‡) was written by Christine Zhou's parents, Zhou Wei and Chang Jing (常晶); while a later book, Zhou Xuan Diary (å'¨ç'‡ 日記), was written by Zhou's uncle, Zhou Wen, the older son of the Chinese legend.

The past two years have taken Christine Zhou in a quest to compile archival footage, recordings, Chinese documents, interview subjects, and gather support among friends and professionals from international film festivals, production, and distribution companies. The two major setbacks are access to the sources, because Christine Zhou doesn't read fluent Chinese, and to financial resources, although Zhou hopes to get funding and support.

Animation and politics

Zhou aims to release a 90-minute documentary next year.

Six other people, including the director of BIMF Peter Salladé, are working on the project. The most important addition to the team is Israeli director Ayelet Heller, well known for projects that often use music as a bridge for a deep look into humanity. After watching Heller's documentary Americans in Pyongyang, about the unprecedented New York Philharmonic's historic concert in North Korea, Zhou contacted the director. "Christine asked me to join in the project. I researched online about Zhou Xuan and thought: This is a great story," said Heller when she was recently in Beijing to introduce her documentary at BIMF and start working on the documentary.

The movie is to be shot in Toronto, Beijing and Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and possibly in Singapore and Japan, where Zhou Xuan was highly acclaimed.

Without spoilers, Heller said action will start with "Little" Zhou Xuan standing before five doors that lead to the answers she's looking for. Heller hopes to use new footage and animation for a vivid portrait of Zhou Xuan in 30s and 40s movies.

"It's also political," Heller stated, "Politics affects our lives. This story unfolds at a time of change, when the Communist Party was living in a turning point," the director added. Zhou Xuan became famous as one of the seven great singing stars (七大歌星, qÄ« dà gÄ"xÄ«ng), a group of Chinese female singers that made it into films and whose music played a major role in developing the cinema of China in the 30s and 40s. In 1949, the Communist Party of China classified their mandopop as pornography and "Zhou Xuan was criticized for being a traitor". The movie star died in a mental asylum in Shanghai at the age of 39, during the Anti-Rightist Movement, probably due to encephalitis induced by a nervous breakdown. Zhou Xuan would be 90 if she was still alive.

To support the project visit: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1984550238/whatis- the-color-of-your-heart This project will only be funded if at least $8,888 is pledged by Thursday July 29, 12 pm EDT.

verapeneda@globaltimes.com.cn