The 7 Singing Stars of Shanghai - Part 2

Tonight's programme looks at:
Chinese cinema’s ultimate bad girl ‘White Light’ Bai Guang (pictured, thanks to Durian Dave), ‘White Rainbow’ Bai Hong, ‘Big Sister’ Gong Qiu Xia and the controversial star with an identity crisis Li Xianglan
Playlist:

• If Only - Li Xiang Lan
  
• Candy Peddling Song - Li Xiang Lan
  
• Shina No Yoru (from the film 'Chinese Nights') - Li Xiang Lan
  
• Mei Hua, Plum Blossom - Li Xiang Lan
  
• Sunset - Bai Guang
  
• I'm a Female Bodhisattva (from the film 'Courage in the Spy World') - Bai Guang
  
• Listen Up - Bai Hong
  
• Spring Love song - Gong Qiu Xia
  
• Longing for You - Gong Qiu Xia
  
• The Flavour of Yearning - Zhou Xuan
  

Listen live 7pm Resonance 104.4FM

Further reading:
Beautiful Girls by Lisa See. A historical novel about two sisters who are models (beautiful girls) for the calendars and adverts in Shanghai in the late 1920s/early 30's. The sisters flee to America when the Japanese invade Shanghai. the first part of the book paints a vivid and insightful portrait of Shanghai and its inhabitants.

China Modern by Ou-Fan Lee (Harvard University Press). Contains chapters on early Chinese cinema, novelist Eileen Chang and Hong Kong films set in the Shanghai of the 1920s and 30s.

Websites:
Mirror Cities, Fascination & Nostalgia
Ambuscade from Ten Sides
Shanghai exhibit at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco
The Golden Age of Chinese language Cinema
Soft Film: Vintage Chinese Cinema