The hot talk in Hong Kong recently is, of course, Anita Mui. Anita Mui was a “big sister” in the music world before her death. She was respected by people. In her 18th year of absence, her biographical films still achieved “phenomenal” box office in Hong Kong under the epidemic situation. It has exceeded HK $33million in less than two weeks of release, and is expected to become the top box office of local films in Hong Kong this year. This is a miracle of Hong Kong films in recent years.
The film Anita Mui also set a record: the film was released simultaneously in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan on November 12. This is the first time that a Chinese film was released on the same day in four places on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Perhaps it is the best gift given by the times to this “daughter of Hong Kong”. All Chinese who have been touched by her singing and acting skills have not forgotten her. Even miss her is not limited to the generation who grew up with her and experienced the glorious years of Hong Kong, but also the generation who grew up after her death and knew her more fragmented.
Then why are there so many stars in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry that only Anita Mui is called “the daughter of Hong Kong”?
Because Anita Mui is the ultimate embodiment of the spirit of Hong Kong.
Anita Mui was born in the 1960s. At that time, Hong Kong was still a typical immigrant city, transit station and shelter. The economy had not yet taken off. Poverty was the norm. Anita Mui’s family, like many other poor families, drifted to Hong Kong for a happy meal. Because they are poor, they have to work hard. Because they feel the same sickness, they can’t help each other.
The Mei family has four children, the eldest son Mei Qiming, the second son Mei Deming, the third daughter Mei aifang and the youngest Anita Mui. As Anita Mui’s father died early, her mother had to raise four children by herself. She was very strict on weekdays. Her stepfather, who was born in a local ruffian, abused her with rude words every day, “so much so that she had no self-esteem”.
When Anita Mui was four and a half years old, she went out to the Jianghu with her sister Mei aifang. The places where the two people go in and out most are not schools, but singing halls, lounges, streets and Liyuan. She once said frankly that she was not happy when she was a child. “I don’t think I had a childhood. I began to perform at the age of four and a half. This experience, which is thousands of miles away from my classmates, makes me more precocious than my peers.”
When Anita Mui was four and a half years old, she went out to the Jianghu with her sister Mei aifang.
Anita Mui also mentioned in her interview that when she was 11 years old, her mother ran a singing hall. In addition to singing on the stage, she also had to be a host or even a guest band member: “there is still no rest after stepping down, and she also has to be a waitress, serving meals, cleaning and wiping the floor.”
Looking back to her teens, Anita Mui used the four words “hell on earth”.
Until 1982, at the age of 19, Anita Mui took part in the first Hong Kong rookie singing competition and sang xuxiaofeng’s “season of the wind” with a profound voice of vicissitudes. Judge Huang Kai gave the only full score in her life and won the championship with an overwhelming advantage. Her childhood experience also made her a typhoon and steady when she made her debut. The composer gujiahui once lamented, “she is so young, but she has such a taste of vicissitudes.” In the following years, she almost won all the top awards that female singers could get at that time. However, in order to give the younger generation a chance, in 1990, Anita Mui, only 27, announced that she would no longer receive the singing competition award and “retire” ahead of schedule.
In the field of film and television, Anita Mui also continues the legend of one person with thousands of faces. At the age of 24, she won the Hong Kong golden statue award and Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Actress for her role in Rouge button. Director Er Dongsheng once commented: “Anita Mui is the kind of genius who can act without teaching. This kind of person is rare for thousands of years.”
Still photo of rouge button
In the 1980s, when Anita Mui was very popular, a large number of singers in their twenties and thirties emerged in Hong Kong, including “principal” Alan Tam and “brother” Leslie Cheung. Most of them came from the grassroots. They caught up with the era when Hong Kong, as the “four little dragons of Asia”, took off. With hard work and talent, they suddenly opened up a new Xintiandi. That was their era and the golden age of Hong Kong’s performing arts industry.
The 1980s was a golden age for the performing arts industry in Hong Kong.
Anita Mui’s legendary life of just 40 years has indeed gone through ups and downs with the city. Although different camps may selectively project some kind of imagination on her, I believe no one will fail to admire her perseverance, professionalism and courage: she works hard because of her perseverance, and can change from a little singer who dropped out of school to a “big sister” who can’t be matched by anyone; Because it is inclusive and bold in innovation, it can lead Hong Kong to create a pioneer in popular culture and become a “Oriental Madonna” with all changes; Because upholding justice but distinguishing right from wrong, we can take a positive view of national development, boldly condemn unscrupulous media, and “go all over the world” to uphold justice. It can be said that her life is just as the lyrics of “under the lion mountain” wrote: “life is inevitably rugged, and it is difficult to have no worries. Since we are all at the foot of the lion mountain and work together, abandoning distinction and seeking common ground”, “we are at the same cape and the sky, and work together to smooth the rugged”, and finally “work hard to write the immortal Xiangjiang famous sentence”.
Anita Mui outlined in the film Anita Mui may not be able to carry a thick, complex and real Anita Mui who has come to the world. But to recapture her story, you can understand the pop culture world in Hong Kong, and help you understand the story and spirit of Hong Kong.
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Editor Ma Xiaoxian
Oriental financial magazine oriental culture magazine
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