Evergreen of the silver screen: Tsai Chin on China Daily

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By Liu Wei
link:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2008-10/21/content_7125156.htm

Tsai Chin Zhou's lifelong interest in performing makes her still
active on stage at the age of 75. Jiang Dong

It is hard to believe the woman sitting before me is 75; it is even
harder to believe her jet-black hair isn't dyed. She has a fair
complexion, which makes her large eyes appear brighter and sharper.

One gets the feeling that even without her graceful black pearl
necklace and two big ivory bracelets, young or old, she is a beauty.
Moreover, she has great charisma, employing dignified gestures and
looks that allow no one to ignore her presence.

She is Tsai Chin Zhou, daughter of iconic Peking Opera actor Zhou
Xinfang (1895-1975).

She is also a noted stage actress, best known for The World of Suzie
Wong, and also a star of The Joy Luck Club and two James Bond
pictures.

Having left China at the age of 16, Zhou speaks fluent English, not-so-
bad Mandarin and an old-fashioned Shanghai dialect. She currently has
many opportunities to practice her Mandarin while performing the role
of Grandma Jia in the TV adaptation of the classic novel A Dream of
Red Mansions (Honglou Meng).

Although she calls herself a "very bold woman", Zhou says she was
"shocked" when director Li Shaohong called her for the role. Her first
word was: "What?" and her second and third were: "Terrific!
Magnificent!"

Zhou owns a 1953 version of the novel, which she reads again and
again. Between the lines are penciled-in annotations in both Chinese
and English.

At first she concealed her excitement, but asked Li for her
interpretation of the character to make sure they were on the same
page.

In one short paragraph, the director described Grandma Jia as "a
strong woman who saves the family". Zhou took the role.

Tsai Chin Zhou plays Grandma Jia, the "spiritual leader" of the Jia
family in the TV adaptation of the classic novel A Dream of Red
Mansions. File photos

"Actually, I did not need much persuasion," she says. "Look at any
literature and you'll see that not many writers created such a
character - an old Chinese woman in power.

"In Western culture we have Queen Elizabeth, but she was young at
first.

"Grandma Jia came to us old. It's a role in which the more I play it,
the more I feel every actress in the world would want it."

In most adaptations of perhaps the most famous classic novel in China,
Grandma Jia is not portrayed as a very meaty character. Sometimes she
is depicted as a doting grandmother who spoils her grandchildren
against her sons' will; at other times, she seems determined to
intervene in young people's love affairs.

But Zhou was always confident she could give the character a deeper
dimension, particularly because she has herself led a very colorful
life.

Eccentric lifestyle

Zhou describes herself as "eccentric", which in England, where she
lived for decades, is a positive word referring to individuality.

Zhou attributes her "eccentricity" to her family. Her mother abandoned
her Westernized family to elope with her father, who was not then yet
divorced. They had three children before their marriage - news that
made headlines in 1930s Shanghai.

Zhou recalls her mother enjoyed playing hide-and-seek with them. Her
sister once brought a boyfriend home to find their mother hiding under
a table.

Her mother's "eccentricity" led her to make a bold decision. She sent
both Tsai Chin and her brother Michael Chow, who would establish the
high-end Mr. Chow chain of restaurants, to England.

Tsai Chin had to live by herself at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London. Her onstage talent, which had been apparent in her middle
school days in Shanghai, blossomed there. Her stage career peaked in
1958 when she landed the title role in The World of Suzie Wong, one of
the most popular dramas of the time.

The days Zhou shined on London's stages were also the hardest moments
of her personal life. During the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), her
parents were sanctioned and lost contact with her for eight years.

At 40, she lost everything because of an investment gone wrong. She
had married and divorced twice.

"It was like having your back against the wall," she recalls. "You
kill yourself or live on - every time I stood up again, I became
stronger."

Despite the hardships, Zhou says she would still choose a bumpy but
dramatic life over a peaceful but mediocre one. Put simply, she
wouldn't want to be bored.

In the mid-1980s, she returned to China for a six-month teaching
program at the Central Academy of Drama. She fell in love with Chinese
theater and attended a class on the subject every Thursday. She has
been reciting ancient Chinese poems for five years as part of her
Chinese literature reading project.

Charismatic personality

Zhou calls herself "almost a star" in the West, but fame isn't most
important to her. She says that performing interesting roles is what
really matters.

The best role for her so far has been Clytaemnestra in a stage
production of The Oresteia, adapted from Greek tragedy.

She raises her voice and makes sweeping hand gestures when speaking of
the classic. At one point, she suddenly stops and commands her
assistant, a 20-something woman, to stop working.

"Come here, I want you to know this," she says like a teacher.

Her love for complicated and powerful roles, such as Clytaemnestra,
explains why she would not talk about her Bond girl experience.

"I am not ashamed of it, but it is nothing to me," she says. "I did it
only for the money. I had to eat."

While shooting A Dream of Red Mansions, she scolds young actors she
feels are not trying their best and does not hesitate to argue with
director Li Shaohong when they differ about things.

For young Chinese actors eager to achieve stardom in Hollywood, it
takes much more than a pretty face, Zhou says.

"I tell young actors to read, and they ask me why. They only want to
be a star, not an actor," she says.

"You have to learn the language and culture - Western culture, not
Hollywood culture.

"Hollywood culture sucks! Detroit is a car factory; Hollywood is an
entertainment factory."

Actors' worth, she says, doesn't merely come from their physical
appearance. Zhou refers to Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh, two Asian actresses
who may not be exceptionally beautiful but have built up solid careers
in Hollywood.

"Actors are about charisma, the quality that makes audiences look at
you," she says. "By learning and thinking, you can develop your
charisma. People don't change, but they can develop."

Zhou believes that she shares a lot of similarities with Grandma Jia,
the Jia family's most senior member and "spiritual leader".

The crew, young and old, call her Sister Tsai Chin. Some call her "Lao
Zuzong" (Old Ancestor), an affectionate name for Grandma Jia in the
family.

She is OK with "lao", which means "old" in Chinese. The only title she
hates that is often connected with "lao" is "lao taitai", because
"taitai" is like "Mrs" in English.

"I don't want to be called Mrs," she says. "I am an independent
individual and don't belong to anybody else."

(China Daily 10/21/2008 page19)