Xia Meng

Xia Meng (16 February 1933 – 30 October 2016), a.k.a. Hsia Moon and Miranda Yang, born Yang Meng, was an actress and film producer from Hong Kong. She appeared in Hong Kong films in the 1950s and 1960s, and was involved in the region's left-wing film scene. In the 1980s, Xia Meng worked as a film producer and was involved in the Hong King New Wave.

Xia Meng
Born	Yang Meng (1933-02-16)16 February 1933 Shanghai, Republic of China
Died	30 October 2016(2016-10-30) (aged 83) Hong Kong
Spouse	Lin Baocheng
Awards	Golden Phoenix Awards 1993 Special Contribution Award Hong Kong Film Awards – Best Film 1983 Boat People
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	夏夢
Simplified Chinese	夏梦
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xià Mèng Wade–Giles Hsia4 Meng4 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping haa6 mung6
Yang Meng
Traditional Chinese	楊濛
Simplified Chinese	杨蒙
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yáng Méng Wade–Giles Yang2 Meng2 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping joeng4 mung4

Early life and education

Xia Meng was born Yang Meng on 16 February, 1933 in Shanghai.

She was first exposed to drama at McTyeire School, an elite girls' school established by Methodist missionaries in Shanghai. In 1947, she moved with her family to Hong Kong, where she attended Maryknoll Convent School. In 1949, In conjunction with an event at her school, She was chosen to play the leading role in McTyeire School's English-language production of Saint Joan.

Xia Meng's younger sister, Yang Jie, played on the China women's national basketball team from 1954 to 1957.

Film career

In 1950, Yang Meng (birthname) and her friends visited a film set of the Great Wall Movie Enterprises Ltd. This was where she was first spotted by the crews, as well as studio manager Yuan Yang'an. Through the help of Yuan's daughter, Mao Mei (an actress and ballerina), Yang Meng accepted his invitation and joined the studio at the age of 17. Inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the new actress decided to rename herself Xia Meng (literally "summer dream").

The Great Wall Crown Princess

Xia Meng shaking hands with Mao Zedong in Beijing in 1957. Smiling behind Mao is Deng Xiaoping.

She was given her first role as the title character in Li Pingqian's A Night-Time Wife (1951). The comedy was a hit and rocketed Hsia Moon to stardom. Many other roles followed, including a tragic demimondaine of Cao Yu's Sunrise and the virtuous widow of A Widow's Tears, both in 1956. She portrayed the scapegoat of the feudal moral value in the critically acclaimed film The Eternal Love (1960), the deprived bourgeoisie in HKFA Archival Gem's Romance of The Boudoir (1960), and played a man masquerading as a woman in The Bride Hunter (1960).

Xia Meng was one of the few Hong Kong movie stars whose films were released in the People's Republic of China before the Cultural Revolution. Xinhua News has compared her to Audrey Hepburn.

Cultural Revolution

In the summer of 1967, Xia Meng visited Guangzhou and witnessed the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Hong Kong cinema was soon influenced by the Chinese Communist Party, and Great Wall’s movies no longer had the same cachet as before. Xia Meng, who was pregnant at the time, excused herself from involvement in the political movement. She resigned from the studio in September of 1967, shortly after appearing in Oh, The Spring Is Here (1967), and quietly left for Canada before the film was released.

Return as movie producer

After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Xia Meng was invited by Liao Chengzhi, then vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), to attend the 4th National Congress of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles(CFLAC) held in Beijing from 30 October—16 November 1979. This is considered to be her first public appearance after her final screen performance in 1967. Under the encouragement of Liao, she decided returned to the movie industry as a producer after an absence of ten years.

In 1980, Xia Meng formed Bluebird Movie Enterprises Ltd, and produced the debut film Boat People (Ann Hui, 1982), a movie and landmark feature for Hong Kong New Wave, which won several awards including the best picture and best director in the second Hong Kong Film Award. After producing Young Heroes (Mou Dunfei, 1983) and Homecoming (Yim Ho, 1984), Xia Meng sold her film company to Jiang Zuyi. She had no involvement in film production after that.

Other

Awards

Xia Meng's performance in Peerless Beauty (1953) and A Widow's Tears (1956) won her the Greatest Individual Achievement Award given by the Cultural Ministry of the People's Republic of China. In 1995, Xia Meng was honored the Chinese Film Stars Special Award, in conjunction with 90 anniversary of Chinese Cinema.

Political activities

She was also involved in political activities, being selected as a committee member of the Chinese National Cultural Alliance and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Legacy

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Xia Meng has a star with a hand print and autograph by the name of Miranda Yang on the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, Hong Kong.

In August 2005, Meng was one of 128 movie stars recognized by China in a commemorative stamp collection marking 100 years of Chinese language cinema.

Print Pictorials and interviews

• Law Kar, Hsia Moon: episodes of a summer dream (Hong Kong 1995); ISBN 962-357-773-7
• Zhu Shunci et al., An age of idealism: Great Wall & Feng Huang days, (Hong Kong Film Archive 2001); ISBN 962-8050-14-1
• Liu Shu, The Peerless Xia Meng, China Film Press, Beijing, 2007; ISBN 7-106-02637-9

Filmography

Year	English title	Original title	Role	Notes
1951	A Night-Time Wife	禁婚記	Ying Xiazhi
1952	Father Marries Again	一家春
	Modern Red Chamber Dream	新紅樓夢
	Nonya	娘惹	Yang Yongfen
1953	A Torn Lily	孽海花	Jiao Guiying
	Marriage Affair	門	Kung Mei Feng
	Day Dream	白日夢	Wang Guoying Wang Guozhen
	The Peerless Beauty	絕代佳人	Ru Ji
	The Gold-Plated Man	花花世界	Mrs Wei
1954	Merry-Go-Round	歡喜冤家	Zhang Qingping
	Tales of the City	都會交響曲	Nancy
	Joyce and Deli	姊妹曲	Lu Deli
1955	Never Leave Me	不要離開我	Mu Sangqing
1956	Sunrise	日出	Chen Bailu
	The Three Loves	三戀	Bai Yiwen
	The Wedding Night	新婚第一夜	Lin Fang
	A Widow's Tears	新寡	Fang Mei
1957	Forever Waiting	望夫山下	Liu Wanlin
	Escape Into Trap	逆旅風雲	Xiao Jiaohong
	Whither Spring?	春歸何處	Zhang Ming
1958	Those Bewitching Eyes	眼兒媚	Yan Er-Mei
	The Way of Husband and Wife	搶新郎	Zhang Caifeng
	The Green Swan Club	綠天鵝夜總會	Qiu Lin
	Husband Hunters	夫妻經	Zhang Jingfen
1959	Sweet as Honey	甜甜蜜蜜	Ting Hui-Lan
	Feast of a Rich Family	豪門夜宴	Guest at banquet
	An Unfulfilled Wish	稱心如意	Wanfen
1960	Bride Hunter	王老虎搶親	Zhou Wenbin	Yue opera film, cross-gender acting
	A Mermaid's Love	碧波仙侶	Jin Mudan Carp Spirit	Musical film
	Romance in the Boudoir	香閨春情	Suxuan
	Rendezvous	佳人有約
	The Eternal Love	同命鴛鴦	Madam Liu
1961	Ah, It's Spring!	滿園春色
1962	The Princess Falls in Love	三看御妹劉金定	Liu Jinding	Yue opera film
	Let's Get Married	我們要結婚	Liu Ying
1963	Between Vengeance and Love	雪地情仇	Yinzhu
	Dong Xiaowan	董小宛	Dong Xiaowan
1964	My Darling Princess	金枝玉葉	Princess	Yue opera film
	Garden of Repose	故園春夢	Wan Zhaohua
1965	A Heroic Romance	烽火姻緣	She Saihua	Yue opera film
1967	The Fair Ladies	白領麗人	Jiang Yuhua
1968	Oh, the Spring's Here!	迎春花
1982	Boat People	投奔怒海	Does not appear	Producer
1983	Young Heroes	自古英雄出少年	Does not appear	Producer
1984	Homecoming	似水流年	Does not appear	Producer