RIP Diana Chang Chung-wen

[GeneChing]

‘Mandarin Marilyn Monroe,’ famous for song about barbecue pork buns, dies aged 82
By Coconuts Hong Kong Feb. 18, 2019


Diana Chang Chung-wen in the starring role of the Shaw Brothers film The Amorous Lotus Pan. Screengrab via YouTube.

Diana Chang Chung-wen, one of Hong Kong’s brightest starlets from 1960s, has passed away at the age of 82.

Headline Daily reports that Chung’s family confirmed today that she died in Texas on Friday, Feb. 15 of natural causes.

Chang was born in 1936 in Hubei, China, and rose to fame during the 50s and 60s, appearing in more than 30 films by the famed Shaw Brothers Studio.

One of her most famous film appearances was her starring role in the 1964 Shaw Brothers film The Amorous Lotus Pan about a woman in an arranged marriage who falls in love with her husband’s brother.



To promote the film, Chang embarked on a three-month US tour accompanied by Bruce Lee, who would not only dance the cha-cha with her on stage each night, but also acted as her bodyguard.

(It was during this three-month tour that the infamous Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man fight took place in San Francisco.)

Hong Kong starlet Diana Chang Chung-wen ("the Mandarin Marilyn Monroe") photographed with Bruce Lee in late summer of 1964 during a promotional tour of the U.S. west coast in support of her latest film. This brought them to the Sun Sing Theater, in the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown where Bruce's martial arts demonstration (and critical lecture) nearly resulted in an on-stage brawl in front of a riotous audience. Weeks later, Bruce would face down Wong Jack Man in a legendary behind-closed-doors high noon showdown, based largely on comments he made from the stage of the Sun Sing Theater, as well as long list of incidents with other members Chinatown's martial arts community. (Photo courtesy of UC Berkeley)

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[GeneChing]

A newspaper photograph of 23 year-old Bruce Lee with Hong Kong starlet Diana Chang Chung-wen during her promotional tour through American Chinatowns in the late summer/early autumn of 1964. Note that Bruce is referred to as "a local dancer," being that this happened a couple years prior to his role on (and fame from) The Green Hornet.

Through his father's show business contacts back in Hong Kong, Bruce was brought on to accompany Diana on this tour, in which he would dance the Cha-Cha on stage with her each night and (by some accounts) serve as a bodyguard as well.

The article info here is interesting (which I've never seen before) in specifically citing the cities on their tour (something I've discussed just recently for an upcoming Bruce Lee biography). It's also interesting that the article states that the promotional tour is in support of Diana's film The Mixup (1963), not The Amorous Lotus Pan (1964) as is typically cited.

Bruce Lee's controversial kung fu demonstration during a down moment at their San Francisco date of this tour (at the Sun Sing Theater) riled up the local martial arts scene and is often cited as a core reason for his infamous fight with Wong Jack Man later that fall.

For more: tinyurl.com/ydchpenn

And for my VICE article on the Bruce Lee / Wong Jack Man fight: http://fightland.vice.com/blog/bruce...-of-the-dragon

Chang was known for her sex appeal, and was given many nicknames by reporters covering her tour, including “the most beautiful creature,” “the fire-breathing lass,” and “the Mandarin Marilyn Monroe.”

Ming Pao reports that Chang retired from the film industry in 1966 after marrying a German man, and later settled in the US.

She’s most famous for singing the Mandarin version of the Rosemary Clooney hit Mambo Italiano — only the Mandarin version is actually an ode to “char siu bao,” or “steamed barbecue pork buns.” The chorus literally translates to, “Barbecue pork buns, who likes to eat barbecue pork buns?” instead of Clooney’s “Hey, mambo, mambo Italiano.”

(The Mandarin version celebrates other buns, too, including lotus seed buns, Shanghai buns, “mantou” rice buns, cabbage and pork buns, and so on.)

I only knew her by her Bruce Lee connection.