The Chinese entertainment world was taken by surprise when actor and scriptwriter Chen Sicheng, famous for directing the hugely profitable Detective Chinatown movie series, announced this week he and actress Tong Liya were divorcing.
The news came on May 20, an unofficial lovers’ holiday in China because its short form, “520”, sounds similar to wo ai ni, which in Chinese means “I Love You”.
Tong, 36, is a member of the Xibe ethnic minority that lives in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in China’s far west.
With features that differ from those of the majority Han people in China, and known for their extraordinary beauty, actresses from Xinjiang ethnic minorities such as Tong have a huge fan base in the country. Here are the five who are best known:
1. Tong Liya
Tong is one of the most celebrated actresses from Xinjiang working in Chinese show business. She cut her teeth in the 2008 romance TV series New Endless Love.
A graduate in dance of the Xinjiang Arts Institute, she was a member of the Xinjiang Singing and Dancing Troupe before studying acting at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing.
Her work in period dramas, including The Queens (2008) and Jade Palace Lock Heart (2011), earned her many fans. She often starred in productions directed by her now ex-husband, and she and Chen played a couple in the movie Beijing Love Story (2014).
2. Dilraba Dilmurat
Born in Urumqi, Xinjiang, the 28-year-old of Uygur ethnicity became a household name in China for her glowing performance in TV series Eternal Love (2017).
A graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, she first appeared on Chinese TV in the drama Anarhan in 2013. Actress Yang Mi discovered the stunning beauty and signed her to her media agency and entertainment company.
In 2019, Dilmurat performed in state broadcaster CCTV’s new year gala for the first time, in an appearance seen as important recognition by show business celebrities. Last year, she was ranked by German consumer data analytics firm Statista as the second most popular celebrity on short video platform Douyin, China’s version of Tiktok, with 55.6 million followers.
3. Gulnezer Bextiyar
Born in Urumqi, the 29-year-old Uygur, better known as Gulnazar, Gulinazha, or simply Nazha, graduated in dance from Xinjiang Arts University. She made her acting debut in the TV series Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of Sky (2012). Movie roles soon followed.
Her performance in Black and White: The Dawn of Justice (2014) as a righteous and optimistic policewoman earned her the best newcomer award from the China Film and Performance Art Institute in 2015.
Gulnazar was the female lead in the Fantasy TV series Fighter of the Destiny, which topped the TV ratings when it was released in 2017.
4. Reyizha Alimjan
Of Kazakh ethnicity, Alimjan was born in Beijing after her parents moved to the Chinese capital from Xinjiang in the 1970s. The Beijing Film Academy graduate made her acting debut in the movie The Tropic of Cancer (2008).
The 36-year-old gained widespread popularity recently for her critically acclaimed performance in the viral TV series Mining Town, about the ways local governments in China eradicated abject poverty in the 1990s. She plays a determined and optimistic girl who rebels against her father’s decision to marry her off for the dowry of two sheep, a mule and some chickens.
Since announcing that she had given birth to a daughter as a single woman last year, Alimjan has been feted as a feminist heroine by some in China and as a woman undaunted by restrictive views of women’s role in society.
5. Hankiz Omar
Born in Urumqi, the 25-year-old first rose to prominence in 2018 in Chinese streaming platform iQiyi’s reality TV show The Chinese Youth. She performed ethnic dances on the culture show while other contestants played the guzheng, a Chinese plucked zither.
A graduate of the Xinjiang Arts Institute, Omar made her acting debut in the period drama series Dance of the Sky Empire (2020). In the same year, she made her big-screen debut in the fantasy movie Soul Snatcher, where she plays the female lead – a lotus sprite.
