Posted by fans of maggie --Previous Message--
on June 1, 2005, 4:55 pm, in reply to "Maggie will play Tung Chu Kwan in new series"
: Maggie will play this legendary woman written
: about below. Miu Kiu Wai will play Xia I
: think.
:
:
: What kind of series is this. Is this a TVB series because it sound really interesting.
:
:
: Legendary Tung makes the Jinjiang a legend
: Shanghai Star. 2000-10-10
:
: RICHARD Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Margaret
: Thatcher were just a few of the clientele of
: the Jinjiang Hotel, formerly the Cathay
: Mansions.
:
: But shadowed by these famous names was a
: less widely known woman who had contributed
: more than anyone, to make the Jinjiang Hotel
: a legend. Her name was Tung Chu Kwan
: (1900-98), one of a small handful of
: brilliant women entrepreneurs who broke into
: the male hierarchy in old Shanghai.
:
: Born into a humble family in Shanghai, Tung
: was sold, at an early age, into an upscale
: brothel. Fortunately she met a Kuomintang
: revolutionary named Xia Zhishi when she
: first arrived and was still a virgin. Xia
: was willing to buy her freedom and marry
: her. But a strong-headed Tung would not be
: sold and refused to become a concubine since
: Xia had a wife at his hometown.
:
: It was not until Xia's wife died of illness
: that Tung followed him to Japan in exile. At
: that time Tung was 14 and Xia was 26.
:
: In Japan, Xia's comrades looked down upon
: Tung, thinking she was just a former
: prostitute. But Tung rose above all of this.
: She displayed her ability and talent and
: proved she was more than just a brothel
: singer or housewife. In less than four
: years, she finished her university courses
: in addition to working as a housewife and
: bearing and bringing up children.
:
: Tung later followed her husband to his
: hometown in Southwest China's Sichuan
: Province.
:
: Xia was gradually reduced to a gambler,
: drug-addict and male chauvinist. Finally in
: 1929 Tung had enough and took her four
: children and fled the feudal family for
: Shanghai, her hometown.
:
: Tung became the first woman in Shanghai to
: open a factory. But her textile factory was
: destroyed by the Japanese bombing. In 1935,
: Tung pulled herself together and opened the
: Jinjiang Sichuanese Restaurant. She took on
: the role of head chef. One year later she
: opened Jinjiang Tea House.
:
: After the liberation in 1949, Shanghai
: needed a hotel to accommodate senior
: leaders. Tung was chosen as the person to
: run it.
:
: So began her legacy. In 1950, authorized by
: the municipal government, Tung moved her
: Jinjiang restaurant and tea house into the
: Cathay Mansions and the Grosvenor Mansions.
: And then the Cathay Mansions became the
: north building of the Jinjiang Hotel.
:
: In 1990, Tung was appointed as senior
: consultant of the Jinjiang Hotel. She died
: in 1998 in Beijing. Most of her children and
: grandchildren have ended up overseas.
:
: (By Joshua Shi)
:
:
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