Bai Ling: Two Faces of a Sorceress
Bai Ling first appeared on Chinese screens playing a country girl who moves to the city, becomes a factory worker, and falls for her cousin. The domestic tearjerker was huge hit with Chinese audiences. But her real breakthrough came in 1988, when she played a mentally disturbed woman in the movie “Arc Light.” That performance signaled the beginning of Bai Ling’s rise, which eventually led her to the kind of Hollywood sex-symbol status that makes conservative Beijing uneasy.
Bai Ling first appeared on Chinese screens playing a country girl who moves to the city, becomes a factory worker, and falls for her cousin. The domestic tearjerker was huge hit with Chinese audiences. But her real breakthrough came in 1988, when she played a mentally disturbed woman in the movie “Arc Light.” That performance signaled the beginning of Bai Ling’s rise, which eventually led her to the kind of Hollywood sex-symbol status that makes conservative Beijing uneasy.
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