Zhang Ziyi biography, quotes, song (Beauty Song/Jia Ren Qu 佳人曲）

Movie collection of Zhang Ziyi

Zhang Ziyi (also known as Ziyi Zhang) is China’s most famous and talented actress, you have seen her in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Rush Hour 2, Hero, and Memoirs of a Geisha. She has dazzled audiences with her powerful acting, martial arts grace, and stunning beauty. Her most recent action film to be released in the US was House of Flying Daggers. But Zhang Ziyi is not just an action star, she has won praise for her performance in the romantic drama 2046, and she won China’s most prestigious acting award for her role in Jasmine Women. In 2005 Ziyi made Memoirs of a Geisha, her first major Hollywood role. Her latest released film is The Banquet, a Chinese historical drama. Upcoming are The Horsemen and Mei Lanfang. For information on all her movies, check out the filmography.

In addition to being an actress, she is a natural model and is basically the most beautiful woman on earth, so be sure to see the pictures.

We have a large collection of video clips, head over there for highlights from her movies, commercials, and TV appearances. Make sure you see her awesome Matrix-insired Visa commercial “Dining Out” if you haven’t already.

About her name
You might wonder why she is called both Ziyi Zhang and Zhang Ziyi in the press. Chinese names differ from Western names in that the family name (Zhang) comes first before the personal name (Ziyi), hence in China she is named Zhang Ziyi. That is how she has been known for most of her career. But when a Chinese comes to the west, they usually reverse their names to match the western convention, in which case her name becomes Ziyi Zhang. She has asked the Western media to refer to her as Ziyi Zhang from now on, but half the time she is still called Zhang Ziyi. Her friends just call her Z.

Sections:

Biography – Promotions – Awards

Biography

Zhang Ziyi was born the 9th of February 1979, in Beijing, China. Her father worked as an economist and her mother was a kindergarden teacher. After some friends were expressed concerned she that was too frail, her parents encouraged her to take up dance and gymnastics to build up her strength.

So before Zhang Ziyi became an actress, she spent years training in traditional Chinese folk dance, first in elementary school at the Xuanwu District Children’s Palace, and later at the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy. Ziyi eventually won the Performance Prize at the 1994 Taoli Cup National Youth Dance Competition.

In each video below, the dance she performs is representative of the traditional style of one of China’s ethnic minorities. I believe the first two videos are from early rounds of the 1994 Taoli Cup competition or possibly 1993, although I am not certain of it. The Peacock dance video is from the finals of the 1994 competition.

See the videos and continue reading the whole article at: http://www.helloziyi.us/Biography.htm

Quotes of Zhang Ziyi

Absolutely not, because in acting I’ve found a domain that suits me perfectly. And that is so utterly rare.
Zhang Ziyi

Actually I ran away from school when I was 13. No one could find me, and the police were called. I was just hiding in a little thicket of grass at my school, and went to sleep.
Zhang Ziyi

After I learn more English, I’ll work hard and make more films.
Zhang Ziyi

From beginning to end I worried that Ang Lee wouldn’t be satisfied with my work. So I worked as hard as I could to earn his trust, because you only get a chance like this once.
Zhang Ziyi

I wanted to escape so badly. But of course I knew I couldn’t just give up and leave school. It was only when I heard my mom’s voice that I came out of my hiding place.
Zhang Ziyi

I’m not really interested in politics, because I think it’s just too removed from my own life. If there’s a war, though, or a disaster, I want to know what’s happening.
Zhang Ziyi

Men are different. When they are in love they may also have other girlfriends.
Zhang Ziyi

Most people spend their whole lives looking for the right job. There are others who never get an opportunity to do work that fulfils them.
Zhang Ziyi

Obviously I’d love to work with any of these great directors because every time I’ve worked with them I’ve gained a tremendous amount as an actor. Each director has his own way of pushing you towards improving yourself.
Zhang Ziyi

Ordinarily if an actor gets chosen for the lead in a film, he or she has already built up a repertoire, and everyone knows what he or she is capable of.
Zhang Ziyi

That whole environment was just incompatible with my beliefs and my personality. It was a dark time for me.
Zhang Ziyi

The atmosphere at my school was very competitive. Young girls were competing with each other every day for status, for leadership, for the affection of the teachers. I hated it.
Zhang Ziyi

There are actors who spend 20 years working and still don’t achieve what I’ve achieved so quickly. So I think my only course of action is to work as hard as I can, not just for the sake of the film, but also to prove to these people that I do have talent.
Zhang Ziyi

There are films you see that only reach your eyes. Then there are films that you can watch… that reach down to your throat, or reach your heart. “In the Mood for Love,” though, reached all the way to my belly.
Zhang Ziyi

See more quotes of Zhang Ziyi at

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/z/zhang_ziyi.html

Zhang Ziyi Beauty Song and photo video

To listen to the Beauty Song (十面埋伏 – 佳人歌) , click the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3UtcAzCOYA

In the movie 十面埋伏 (House of Flying Daggers) , there’s is this song 佳人歌 (The Beauty Song), which is a poem written around 80 BCE, and is used as the main theme of the film. Here’s the lyrics.
Merchant Circle

Title: 佳人歌 (Jia Ren Qu)
Singer: 章子怡 (Zhang Ziyi)
Lyrics：李延年 (Li Yannian)
Translation: 李杀 (Xah Lee)

北方有佳人,
絕世而獨立。
一顧傾人城,
再顧傾人国。
寧不知倾城与倾国。
佳人難再得。

bei3 fang1 you3 jia1 ren2
jue2 shi4 er2 du2 li4
yi1 gu4 qing1 ren2 cheng2
zai4 gu4 qing1 ren2 guo2
ning2 bu4 zhi1
qing1 cheng2 yu3 qing1 guo2
jia1 ren2 nan2 zai4 de2

In the North there’s a lady,
stunning and singular.
One look confounds a city;
a touch dooms an empire.
Rather not wishing to know, the ruination that may follow.
Rare beauty is here and now.

See more information about this song and the movie House of Flying Daggers’ screenshots, please see: http://xahlee.org/music/melbi_ninmu_berti.html

One of Zhang Ziyi’s movie (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) soundtract