I'm quite impressed with Gong Li. Her comments seem very objective and genuine. I particularly agree with what she said about character. What is important is not whether she became a movie star or kindergarten music teacher - what matters is what she does with what she has. This is true for everyone.

It's not that she considers being famous unimportant - in the interview she says that if she's given the opportunity to introduce her work to more people, she'll take it. However, she says that she doesn't have a single fundamental goal, external to herself, that could be used to measure her life. In other words, it is who she is that matters, not what she is. Her quality as a person comes from herself, not her position.

Gong Li demonstrates that there is actual value in the phrase "traditional Chinese woman". She's not a piece of property with bound feet. She's a fiercely independent woman who identifies her own stubbornness as her greatest asset. She knows her own mind, and knows that real dignity can only come from a person, not a position.

Faced with the question of what Chinese culture should be retained in the face of change, it is my opinion that Gong Li provides a good example. She is pretty, wealthy and famous, but does not depend on these things. Rather, she draws her strength from her character and her family, just as anyone does. Her special position helps to establish the value of the ordinary. I'd like to thank her for that.

Thanks also to Joel for drawing my attention to something I would never have bothered to look at normally.

Best regards

I actually quite like Psychologies for this reason (referring to the above comment) as it has much more China-focused and China-derived content than most of the other imported magazine brands (the cover girl stories are usually pulled and translated from the French edition, but the rest is written by Chinese tv psychology personalities et al).