Pak Yin (1920–1987), born Chan Yuk-ping in Guangzhou to a Huizhou family, was a leading Hong Kong actress of the 1950s and 1960s, nicknamed 'Bin Je'. Interested in films from youth, she joined the Guangzhou Guolian Film Company in 1936 and shot her first film, Twin Lotus, which was never completed for lack of funds. Invited by the director Chan Tin, she came to Hong Kong in 1937 and starred in Splendid Rivers and Mountains, then rose to fame the next year with Shanghai under Fire (1938). During the war she fled to Guangzhou and further inland, returning after the victory to star in Hong Kong's first post-war Cantonese picture, The Night the Swallows Returned (1947). Over the 1950s and 1960s she led more than 200 Cantonese films, including Xiao Yuebai (1949), The Prodigal Son (1952), Spring (1953) and Cold Nights (1955). In 1952 she co-founded the Zhonglian Film Enterprise and served as vice-chairman and, from 1961, chairman; she also formed the Shanzhong company with Cheung Wood-yau and Ng Wui, producing Yu Niang (1954). She retired in 1964 and died in Hong Kong in 1987.
Pak Yin's image of gentle, long-suffering wives and mothers earned her the title 'Queen of South China cinema', with over 300 Cantonese films. By co-founding the Zhonglian company and serving as its chairman, she pushed post-war Cantonese cinema toward serious, realist production.
Achievements
- 1937 · Came to Hong Kong at director Chan Tin's invitation and starred in Splendid Rivers and Mountains
- 1938 · Rose to fame with Shanghai under Fire, becoming a leading pre-war Hong Kong actress
- 1952 · Co-founded the Zhonglian Film Enterprise and became its vice-chairman