Yu So-chow (; 9 July 1930 – 12 May 2017) is a former Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Yu has a star at Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong.

Early life

Yu was born in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. Yu comes from a

Peking opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

family. Yu's father was

Yu Jim Yuen Yu Jim-yuen (September 5, 1905 – September 8, 1997) () was a Chinese martial artist, actor, teacher and the master of the ''China Drama Academy'', one of the main Peking Opera Schools in Hong Kong from which Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen B ...

, who ran the ''China Drama Academy'', a

Peking Opera School Professional schools for Chinese opera, known as ''keban'' (), existed in China from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) to the 20th century. Formerly attached to performing troupes, many ''keban'' became independent boarding schools by the late 19th c ...

in Hong Kong.

Career

Yu learned Peking Opera at the age of eight and made her stage debut at the age of nine. She specialized in playing female warrior roles in which she could skillfully demonstrate her footwork by continuously juggling and kicking back twelve red-tasselled ''tuo shou'' (脫手) spears, as seen in one of her famous stage Peking operas, ''

The White Snake "The White Snake" (German: ''Die weiße Schlange'') is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 17). It is of Aarne–Thompson type 673, and includes an episode of type 554 ("The Grateful ...

'' (白蛇傳), and in the 1951 film ''Amazon on the Sea'' (海上女霸王). Yu started her acting career in 1948. Yu made over 240 films in the

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

, action, detective and Cantonese opera genres. Her films were successful at the

box-office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is freq ...

and she was one of the most popular superstars of the 1960 in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Her first movie was made in 1948. She was one of the three actresses in the 1950s who really knew

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

. Off the screen, she was virtually a heroine: at the age of sixteen, she alone successfully fought off a group of gangsters with only a silky belt on the streets of

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. Her early wuxia pictures from 1948-57 were in both Mandarin and Cantonese dialogue, with stories intended to increase cooperation of the Northern Style and Southern Style of martial arts, as seen in ''The heroine of deadly darts'' (女俠響尾追魂鏢) in 1956. These remarkable wuxia films were mostly based on kung fu novels, e.g. ''Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery Pt 1 & Pt 2'' (火燒紅蓮寺) in 1950, ''The Golden Hairpin Pt 1 & Pt 3'' (碧血金釵) in 1963, ''Buddha’s Palm'' (如來神掌), a four-part film, in 1964 and ''The Burning of Pingyang City'' (火燒平陽城) in 1965. Her performances in Cantonese opera were quite different; she brought in a mixture of Peking Opera, in which she performed a lot of footwork, as in ''Suet Ting Shan and Fan Lai Hua - Meeting on the Weedy River'' (蘆花河會母) in 1961, ''Giving birth on the bridge – the White serpent'' (斷橋產子) in 1962 and ''How Zhong Wuyan Conquered the West'' (鍾無艷掛帥征西) in 1962. She also played a male lead as seen in movies ''Execution of Lui Po'' at Pak Moon Lau (白門樓斬呂布) in 1961, ''Two hunters in a pursuit'' (文武狀元爭彩鳳) in 1962 and ''The beauties'' (陣陣美人威) in 1964. Apart from action films, she did a few rare contemporary and

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

films, for example ''Midsummer night’s romance'' (夏夜之戀) in 1953, ''Bachelors beware'' (溫柔鄉) in 1960 and ''Two mouthy ladies from the north and south'' (南北鐵咀雞) in 1965. Her

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

of filming was between 1963 and 1966, when she made at least thirty movies in a year. Her surprise roles in ''The big revenge part 1 and 2'' (灕江河畔血海仇) (1963) and ''Heaven, Hell and Crystal Palace'' (天堂地獄水晶宮) (1965) did not destroy her popularity nor upset her fans; instead they won the hearts of the audience. Her last major movie was filmed in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

(''Decree of the fire dragon'' (血火龍令) in 1968) and she made a guest appearance in ''Secret agent no.1'' (神探一號) in 1970. In 2004, Yu was one of the celebrities honoured on the

Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong The Avenue of Stars (), modelled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an avenue located along the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. It honours celebrities of the Hong Kong film industry. History Establishment In 198 ...

. To date, Yu still holds the record among actresses of making more than 170 wuxia movies.

Personal life

Yu ended her acting career after she married, in 1966, Mak Bing-wing (; 1915–1984), a Chinese actor active in

Cantonese opera Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of Ch ...

. Mak Bing-wing began his acting career in the 1930s. He left Hong Kong in 1941 for a tour of the United States, returning in 1947 after the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

had ended. While in the United States, Mak appeared in numerous Grandview Film Company productions. Yu So-chow was his second wife. They had three children and later moved to the United States. On May 12, 2017. Yu died of pneumonia in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. She was 86 years old.

Filmography

Films

This is a partial list of films. * 1949 ''The revenge of the great swordsman Assassin Zhang Wenxiang'' (大俠復仇記) * 1951 ''The five heroes'deadly spears'' (五虎斷魂槍) * 1952 ''A story of three lovers, pt 1 & 2'' (啼笑姻緣上下集) * 1952 ''A heroine from Mount Emei'' (峨嵋女俠) * 1957 ''The dragon-phoenix swordsmen''(龍鳳雙劍俠) * 1960 ''The strange hero conquered the dragon''(怪俠赤屠龍) * 1961 ''Conqueress''(無敵楊家將) * 1961 ''Secret Book (Part 1, Part 2)'' (aka The Magic Crane) - So Fei Fung * 1962 ''The village militia, pt 1 & 2'' (魔鏡神珠上下集) * 1962 ''The blonde hair monster''(黃毛怪人) * 1962 ''The birth of the Monkey King''(馬騮精出世) * 1962 ''The Road to the west''(唐三藏取西經) * 1962 ''Ingentious swords, pt 1 & 2'' (白骨陰陽劍上下集) * 1963 ''Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery pt 1 & 2'' (火燒紅蓮寺上下集) * 1963 ''Valiant Pan An'' (武潘安) * 1963 ''The iron wild goose pt 1 & 2''(鐵雁霜翎上下集) * 1963 ''The tiger in hunting''(臥虎藏龍) * 1963 ''Pat cham lau lan sai pat wan'' (不斬樓蘭誓不還) * 1964 ''Spring blossoms''(花開富貴錦城春) * 1964 ''

The Flying Fox ''The Flying Fox'', also known as ''The Purple Lightning Sword'', is a 1964 Hong Kong ''wuxia'' film produced by Gam Wing and directed by Siu Sang. Cast *Yu So-chow as Tik Siu-ching *Cheung Ying-choi as Man Lei-wan * Connie Chan as Tung-fong Mi ...

''(萬變飛狐) - Tik Siu-ching * 1965 ''The invincible kid Fang Shiyu''(無敵神童方世玉) * 1965 ''The all-powerful flute pt 1 & 2''(簫聲震武林上下集) * 1966 ''Hero of midland''(中原奇俠) * 1966 ''Fire dragon and the mythical pearl''(火龍神珠) * 1966 ''Heroic days of the Great Ming Dynasty'' (斷臂神龍劍) * 1966 ''The avengers' tale pt 1 & 2'' (鐵血恩仇錄上下集) * 1967 ''The Three Swordsmen''

Awards

* Star. Avenue of Stars. Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in Hong Kong.

References

External links

Iconic Heroines in Cantonese Opera FilmsYu So Chau at Hong Kong Cinemagic
* * as Suqiu Yu * as So-Chow Yu {{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, So-chow 1930 births 2017 deaths Hong Kong film actresses Peking opera actresses Singers from Beijing Chinese film actresses Actresses from Beijing Deaths from pneumonia in California Actresses from San Francisco American people of Chinese descent 21st-century American women