• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / Testimonies China

Qin Yi: Actress Who Died at 100 Celebrated for Anti-Falun-Gong Videos

08/17/2022Yang Feng |

Zhou Enlai called her “the most beautiful woman in China.” In her 90s, the CCP used her for a slander campaign against Falun Gong—which is still going on.

by Yang Feng

Qin Yi in her days of glory. From Weibo.
Qin Yi in her days of glory. From Weibo.

Qin Yi, one of the most famous Chinese actresses, died this year on May 9, three months after she had turned 100. It is not surprising that Chinese state television showed in the months following her dead some of her old movies, including “Woman Basketball Player no. 5.” Despite including a propaganda element, they allowed Qin Yi to show her considerable skills—not to mention that Chinese premier Zhou Enlai once famously called her “the most beautiful woman in China.”

However, Chinese TV audiences continue to be offered also videos that Qin Yi recorded after she turned 90, where she vituperates against Falun Gong calling it a criminal organization. Since she has also starred in historical plays as a theatre and movie actress, she claims in these videos to be an expert in traditional Chinese culture and states that Falun Gong’s shows misrepresent it. She accuses the United States to conspire with Falun Gong to promote anti-China campaigns.

Poster for the 1957 movie “Woman Basketball Player no. 5.”
Poster for the 1957 movie “Woman Basketball Player no. 5.” Credits.

There is no doubt that Qin Yi was a Communist and, unlike other movie stars of her generation who escaped to Hong Kong or Taiwan, decided to remain in Mainland China after the CCP victory and work with the Party. However, she maintained a somewhat independent spirit and was severely persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. She was prevented from acting and was sent to work as a peasant in an agricultural commune. Her son, a painter who suffered from schizophrenia, was denied proper medical care. 

Qin Yi was rehabilitated under Deng Xiaoping and resumed her career, including through television series. She also took care of her schizophrenic son, until he died in 2007.

Qin Yi vituperates against the xie jiao in a propaganda video she did in her 90s. From Weibo.
Qin Yi vituperates against the xie jiao in a propaganda video she did in her 90s. From Weibo.

One would like to remember Qin Yi as a woman who became internationally famous for her beauty, a devout mother, and a talented actress. It is sad that the CCP decided to exploit a ninety-year-old woman for propaganda purposes. The anti-Falun-Gong videos do not add anything to the glory of Qin Yi, while they testify that to achieve its own purposes the CCP does not respect anybody or anything.

It is not useful to analyze the content of the videos. Qin Yi had been obviously coached to repeat the official disinformation. They do not tell us anything meaningful about Falun Gong—and not even about Qin Yi. But they do tell us something about the ruthless tactics of the CCP.

Tagged With: Chinese Communist Party, Communist Propaganda, Falun Gong

Related articles

  • Zhejiang Party Leader Punished for Seeking Promotion Through Feng Shui

    Zhejiang Party Leader Punished for Seeking Promotion Through Feng Shui

  • China, Beware of the New Anti-Espionage Law

    China, Beware of the New Anti-Espionage Law

  • Another Scandal: France’s Cultural (and Anti-Cult) Diplomacy Is Financed by the Chinese Communist Party

    Another Scandal: France’s Cultural (and Anti-Cult) Diplomacy Is Financed by the Chinese Communist Party

  • Chinese Told to Spy Each Other on the Web

    Chinese Told to Spy Each Other on the Web

Keep Reading

  • China’s Crackdown on “Script Killing,” Act 2
    China’s Crackdown on “Script Killing,” Act 2

    After the 2021 regulations, the CCP wants to put the immensely popular offline “script entertainment” games under even tighter control.

  • CCP Scholars Suggest to Build China’s “Second Capital” in Xinjiang
    CCP Scholars Suggest to Build China’s “Second Capital” in Xinjiang

    This political move would solve an intractable historical problem: East Turkestan (Ch. Xinjiang) lies outside China’s Great Wall.

  • Falun Gong’s Report on Persecution in 2022: 172 Killed, 633 Sentenced
    Falun Gong’s Report on Persecution in 2022: 172 Killed, 633 Sentenced

    Believable figures show that practitioners continue to be mercilessly hunted.

  • How China’s “Techno-Mediatic Socialism” Controls Global Information
    How China’s “Techno-Mediatic Socialism” Controls Global Information

    The level of the CCP’s media control throughout the world is already immense. It may become worse, says Joshua Kurlantzick in a new book.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Sinicization of Christianity Comes to Hong Kong by Gladys Kwok
  • Is Netflix a Threat to Religious Liberty? by Massimo Introvigne
  • Trial for the Dissolution of the FECRIS: The Anti-Cultists Lose the First Round by Massimo Introvigne
  • The Last Words of a Uyghur Father: A Son’s Memory by Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur
  • China: Theological Seminaries Inspected to Check How “Sinicized” They Are by Zhang Chunhua
  • Falun Gong: Xu Na’s 8-Year Sentence Confirmed On Appeal by Yang Feng
  • Yang Taoming: “China’s Tony Robbins” Detained by Zhao Zhangyong

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY