Xia Meng was born Yang Meng in Shanghai in 1933 to a Suzhou family. She left the Shanghai Chinese Women's Middle School and moved to Hong Kong with her family in 1947, attending Maryknoll Convent School. Raised by Peking-opera-loving parents, she often played the female dan roles in family theatricals and was drawn to performance. In 1950 she was spotted by Yuan Yang-an, managing director of Great Wall Movie Enterprises and, promoted by the director Li Pingqian, took the female lead in Marriage Prohibited (1951), which made her an immediate favourite and became her breakthrough. She went on to star for Great Wall in films such as A Family Reunion (1952), Happy Couple (1954) and The Tender Age (1958), and for Phoenix in The First Night of Marriage (1956) and Spring in the Garden (1961); her cameo in The Feast of a Rich Family (1959) was her only Cantonese-language appearance. Elegant in period costume, she played complex characters in Nie Hai Hua (1953), Dong Xiaowan (1963) and The Peerless Beauty (1953), scripted by Jin Yong (Zha Liangyong) under the pen name Lin Huan and written specially for her, and showed her range in contemporary films such as Niang Re (1952), Sunrise (1956) and The Person in the Room (1960). To prepare for the Yue-opera films Three Glimpses of Princess Liu Jinding (1962) and The Princess's Jade (1964) she studied movement at the Shanghai Yue Opera Theatre. In more than forty films, many for Phoenix or Great Wall under Zhu Shilin, she became known as Great Wall's 'princess'. She retired after Winter Jasmine (1968), moved to Canada, returned to Hong Kong two years later to run a garment business until 1978, and then founded Blue Bird Film Company, producing three films: Boat People (1982, directed by Ann Hui), which she produced; Little Heroes of Ancient Times (directed by Mou Dunfei); and Homecoming (1984, directed by Yim Ho), which she both produced and presented. Her two later features won Best Film at successive Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2015 the Hong Kong Film Archive mounted a retrospective, 'Summer Dreams: Celebrating Sixty-five Years of Hsia Moon'. She died in Hong Kong on 28 October 2016.
Hsia Moon became Great Wall's leading star after Marriage Prohibited (1951), and her elegant period heroines and modern women came to define Mandarin cinema of the 1950s and 60s. Years after retiring she founded Blue Bird Film Company and produced Boat People (1982) and Homecoming (1984), which won Best Film at successive Hong Kong Film Awards. Her eye for subject matter, directors and new talent helped steer Hong Kong filmmaking into a fresh era. She thus bridged the studio age and the 1980s new wave, and her influence outlived her years on screen. She died in 2016 at the age of 83.
Achievements
- 1951 · Starred in her first film, Marriage Prohibited, becoming an instant favourite.
- 1982 · Produced Boat People, which won Best Film at the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards.
- 1984 · Produced and presented Homecoming, which won Best Film at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards.