Li Yuchun

Li Yuchun (born March 10, 1984, Chengdu, China) is a Chinese singer and actress who became one of the country’s top pop stars after winning a nationally televised talent contest in 2005.

Li (who calls herself Chris Lee or Chris Li in English) was born and raised in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province in southern China. The daughter of a railway policeman and a housewife, she received no formal musical training while growing up but put on stage performances for her schoolmates. Li’s parents did not encourage her singing ambition but supported her in a successful quest to enter the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, which she attended in 2002–06.

In 2005, while Li was still a student, she entered the Super Girl televised singing contest, a nationwide females-only competition similar to the show American Idol in the United States. She was one of some 150,000 aspirants initially. Although she did not have the best voice or dancing skills among the top contestants, Li captivated and won over audiences with her iconoclastic boyish looks and passionate delivery. By the final night of the competition, an estimated 400 million viewers were tuned into the show as Li beat out her closest opponent by more than a quarter of a million votes.

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Overnight, Li was a sensation in China, and her life became a whirlwind of performances and public appearances. She recorded and released her first studio album, Huanghou yu mengxiang (“The Queen and the Dreams”), in September 2006, and more discs followed, including her self-titled Li Yuchun (or Chris Lee) in 2009 and Hui tiaowu de wenyi qingnian (“A Dancing Artistic Youth”) in 2011. Her concerts were wildly popular and included several annual shows titled “Why Me,” which were staged to thank her fans (who consisted mostly of teenage girls). Many of those fans referred to themselves as “corns,” a play on the Chinese yu mi, one set of characters meaning “Yu’s fans” and the other “corn” (i.e., maize).

Her popularity soon spread beyond China, as indicated by the nod MTV gave her at its 2008 Asia Awards ceremony, where she was named favourite artist from China, and by the enthusiastic reception she received while performing at the 2009 Asia Song Festival in Seoul, South Korea. In 2013 Li won in the worldwide act category at the MTV European Music Awards (EMA), another indication of the extent of her international appeal.

In 2009 Li’s career took another turn when, in her first-ever acting experience, she landed a major role in the 2009 Hong Kong-produced film Bodyguards and Assassins (Shiyueh weicheng). In it she plays a young kung fu expert who, in 1906, helps protect revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen from would-be assassins sent by the Chinese imperial government. Li’s performance earned her two nominations (for best supporting actress and best new artist) from the judges for the 2010 Hong Kong Film Awards. In addition, the film’s theme song, “Fenmo” (“Dust”), which she had sung for the film, was nominated for best original song. Although neither Li nor the song won, this recognition of her acting talent only further enhanced her position at the top of the Chinese pop music world. Li also had significant roles in the action films Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011; Longmen feija) and The Guillotines (2012; Xuedezi).

Her musical career continued with albums that included Zaibu fengkuang women jiu laole (2012; “Old If Not Wild”) and Wa (2019). She also appeared in the movies From Vegas to Macau III (2016; Du cheng feng yun III), See You Tomorrow (2016; Bai du ren), and Monster Hunt 2 (2018; Zhuo yao ji 2).

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