Born Wan Sau-ying in Hangzhou, Tong Yuejuan took the stage name Tung Yue-kuen after training in Peking opera at sixteen and soon met Zhang Shankun, who invited her to Shanghai to star in the operatic hit The Red Sheep Heroes, a great success. She married Zhang in 1933, the year he founded Xinhua Film Company, and appeared in its inaugural production, The Red Sheep (1935), followed by films such as Peach Blossom Dream and Soaring Ambitions (both 1936). After the war the couple settled in Hong Kong, where she supported Zhang's ventures with Wing Wah, Great Wall, Far East and the new Hong Kong Xinhua, producing films including China's first Eastmancolor feature, Begonia Red (1955). After Zhang's death in 1957 she took over Xinhua, completing such colour musicals as Lang Ru Chun Ri Feng (1957), and went on to produce more than thirty films until her last in 1984. She helped organise the Hong Kong and Kowloon Free Film Workers' Association, was elected its chairman in 1973, received a Golden Horse special award in 1969 and a lifetime achievement award in 1994, and died in Shanghai on 6 January 2003.
Tong Yuejuan worked as actress, producer and presenter, and after Zhang Shankun's death in 1957 she sustained Xinhua Film Company alone, producing more than thirty films. She spent years organising the Hong Kong and Kowloon Free Film Workers' Association and served as its chairman, playing an important role in linking film communities across Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shanghai.
Achievements
- 1933 · Married Zhang Shankun, who founded Xinhua Film Company the same year.
- 1957 · Took over Xinhua after Zhang's death, serving as producer and presenter.
- 1973 · Elected chairman of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Free Film Workers' Association.