The old Shanghai was glamorous from the 1920s to 1940s. Although most of those well-known ladies in this period have passed away, they are still remembered for their charm and uniqueness.

10. Gong Qiuxia
Gong Qiuxia, born in 1918 in Jiangsu Province, was a famous actress and singer who became popular after starring in "Strange Case in an Ancient Pagoda" (1937) and singing a song in the film. By the 1940s, she had become one of the seven great singing stars in China. Known for her acting skills, she was in more than one hundred films in her life. She died of a heart attack in Hong Kong in 2004.

9. Qin Yi
Qin Yi was born into a feudal family in 1922 in Shanghai. She left Shanghai in 1938 for Chongqing, where she joined Zhongwan Troupe and began her career as an actress in the midst of civil war. Qin played revolutionary characters, calling upon young people to rise up against foreign invasion. She won fame rapidly and in the 1940s Qin was honored as one of the Top Four Actresses in China. In an acting career that spanned more than 60 years, Qin made a deep impression on audiences at home and abroad by starring in 35 movies, more than 30 stage operas and eight TV series. She is now the chairman of the board of the Shanghai Film and Television Company.

8. Li Lili
Li Lili was born in Beijing in 1915 and moved to Shanghai in 1927, where she joined the China National Song and Dance Troupe. Soon, she turned to films, starring in "Loving Blood of the Volcano." She won fans with her fashionable and energetic image and earned the nickname Sweet Sister. From 1935 to 1937, she starred in eight more films and then joined China Film Studio in Chongqing. After starring in several more hits, Li went to the U.S. in 1946 to study acting at Catholic University in Washington, language and singing in New York, and make-up at the University of California. In 1955, she studied at Beijing Film Academy, and later taught in the acting department. Li was the last living movie star from the silent era when she died of a heart attack in Beijing in 2005 at the age of 90.

7. Shangguan Yunzhu
Shangguan Yunzhu was born in 1920 in Jiangsu Province. In 1937, she and her family were forced to leave for Shanghai to escape from the chaos caused by war. There, she was admitted to a drama school. Shangguan made her first movie in the 1940s and began to distinguish herself in film circles. Many of her movies in the late 1940s became classics in China's movie history. She was famous for her films such as the Crow and the Sparrow and Spring River Flows East. Shangguan was harassed to death during the Cultural Revolution in 1968.

6. Wang Renmei
Wang Renmei was born into a scholarly family in 1914. At the age of 13, she joined the Bright Moon Troupe. The record-breaking film "Song of the Fisherman" established Wang as a household name, and her bold screen persona gained her the nickname Wild Cat. In the film, she played a character quite similar to herself in many ways. Her outgoing and bold personality was a hit with movie-goers. After her marriage to Jin Yan, also a famous film actor, her career went downhill. Her company would not renew the contract, claiming that as a married woman she could not be as popular. The pressures of the marriage also played a part in her professional decline. In 1985, Wang Renmei's memoir "My Rise to Fame and Unhappiness" about her life in the Shanghai film industry during the 1930s was published. She died after falling into a vegetative state in 1987 at age 73.

5. Pan Yuliang
Pan Yuliang was a female painter known in China more for her legendary life than her artistic achievements. Born in 1895, Pan was sold to a brothel at 13 where she later met Pan Zanhua, a customs official. Pan bought her out and married her as a concubine. She started learning painting from their neighbor and was admitted to Shanghai Art Institute, becoming its first female student. After studying in Paris, Pan returned in 1929 after receiving an invitation to teach at Shanghai Art School. She left Shanghai for France again in 1937 and settled down in Paris. She was selected by the overseas Chinese artists in France to be the chairman of the Chinese Art Association. She died in 1977 in Paris, and her works were sent back to China in 1985. Her works are now in a collection at China National Art Gallery in Beijing and Anhui Provincial Museum in Hefei.

4. Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan was once the most popular actress in China's entertainment industry. She was born Su Pu in 1920 but was separated from her parents when she was very young and raised by adoptive parents. At the age of 13, she took Zhou Xuan as her stage name. Zhou had enormous success in her lifetime. By the time she died, she was one of China's highest paid entertainers. Her movie "Street Angel" was named one of the 10 classic Chinese films from the twentieth century. Zhou Xuan was also selected as China's most outstanding actress. She died of cephalitis in 1957.

3. Hu Die
Born in 1908, Hu Die was a film actress from the late 1920s to the 1960s. She had her most brilliant period in the 1930s and 1940s. She played the leading role in China's first sound film, "The Singsong Girl." She appealed to a broad audience and her starring roles broke box-office records. Hu was one of the few formally trained actresses. In 1924, she enrolled in the China Film School and began her meteoric rise to stardom. She was crowned China's first Film Queen in 1933 when she was 25. She moved to Canada in 1975 and died in 1989.

2. Zhang Ailing
Zhang Ailing, born in Shanghai in 1920 to a renowned family, was a writer. Her works frequently deal with the tensions between men and women in love and are considered to be among the best Chinese literature. Even in secondary school, Zhang Ailing already displayed great talent in literature. Her writings were published in the school magazine. In 1939, Zhang received a scholarship to study at the University of London, though she passed on the opportunity because of war in China. She then went on to study literature in the University of Hong Kong. Zhang died from cardiovascular disease in 1995 at the age of 75. Her well-knonw works include Eighteen Springs and Lust, Caution.

1. Ruan Lingyu
Ruan Lingyu, born in 1910, is one of the most prominent Chinese film stars of the 1930s. Her first screen appearance in 1927 was in the film "Husband and Wife in Name." In spite of her lack of formal education, she was diligent and scrupulous in every detail of her acting. Contrast to her success on the screen, her personal life was a tragedy. She fell in love with Zhang Damin, the young master of the house her mother worked, before starting her film career. But in a class-divided society they could not marry. Their relationship deteriorated when she became a successful actress. She later left Zhang and lived with a businessman, Tang Jishan. Zhang created a scandal when he sued Tang for damage in the 1930s, and Ruan was hounded by the tabloid press. Under severe pressure, Ruan poisoned herself with an overdose of barbiturates in Shanghai in 1935, at the age of 25.