‘Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown’

Abstract

Inspired partly by the Academy Awards for Best Actress at Hollywood, the public elections of China’s movie queen in 1933 and 1934 were more than just splendid entertainment spectacles. Rather, a historical examination of the campaigns help us understand Chinese fandom and celebrity culture as well as providing insight into the social mentality of 1930s China. Using two major Chinese actresses, Butterfly Wu and Chen Yumei, as case studies, this article argues that the election campaigns were a product of negotiation between what was globally available and what was locally demanded. They point to an unravelling of an ‘extra-filmic discourse’ that converged with discourses on semi-colonialism, democracy, feudalism, and morality. These overlapping discourses were often gendered, revealing conflicting social expectations and responsibilities of actresses.