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Yu So Chow (于素秋) was  born in Beijing on
July 9 1930 to a Peking opera family.  She is the
daughter of late Master Yu Jim Yuen who ran  the
Chinese Peking Opera School, the teacher of many
well-known actors. 
  
Ms Yu learnt Peking Opera at the age of eight and
made her stage debut at the age of nine.  She
specialized in playing female warrior roles in
Peking opera in which she could skilfully
demonstrate her footwork by continuously juggling
and kicking back twelve red tasselled spears tuo
shou (脫手) as seen in one of her famous stage
Peking opera  The White Snake (白蛇傳) and in a
movie made in 1951 Amazon on the Sea
(海上女霸王).

She started her acting career in 1948 and had made
over 240 films of which were mostly wuxia, kung
fu, action, detective and Cantonese opera. She
recorded successful box-office and was one of the
most popular superstars of the 1960 in Asia and 
Hong Kong. 

Her first movie was made in 1948, a Mandarin
(linguistics)|Mandarin wuxia film called  The Kung
Fu Couple (宏碧緣 ).   In fact she was one of
the three actresses in the 50’s who really knew
marital arts.   Off the screen, she was virtually
a heroine, when she was at the age of sixteen, she
alone successfully fought off a group of gangsters
with only a silky belt on the street in Shanghai. 
 Thus, she could do all the stunts, punch and
acrobatic skills by herself in all action films. 
Her early wuxia pictures from 1948-1957, were in
both Mandarin and Cantonese dialogue, stories were
mainly to bring out the cooperation of  Northern
Style and  Southern Style of martial arts as seen
in   The heroine of deadly darts
(女俠響尾追魂鏢)   in 1956.

Her remarkable wuxia films were mostly based on
kung fu novels namely  Burning of the Red Lotus
Monastery Pt 1 & Pt 2 (火燒紅蓮寺)  in 1950, 
The Golden Hairpin Pt 1 & Pt 3 (碧血金釵)   in
1963,  Buddha’s Palm Pt 1 to Pt 4 (如來神掌)
in 1964 and  The Burning of Pingyang City
(火燒平陽城) in 1965.

Her performance in Cantonese opera was quite
different in which she brought in a mixture of
Peking Opera, in which she performed a lot of
footworks as in Suet Ting Shan and Fan Lai Hua -
Meeting on the Weedy River (蘆花河會母) in
1961, Giving birth on the bridge – the White
serpent (斷橋產子) in 1962 and  How Zhong
Wuyan Conquered the West (鍾無艷掛帥征西) 
in 1962. 

She also played a male leading as seen in movies
Execution of Lui Po at  Pak Moon Lau
(白門樓斬呂布) in 1961, Two hunters in a
pursuit (文武狀元爭彩鳳)  in 1962 and The
beauties (陣陣美人威)  in 1964.

Apart from action films, she did a few rare
contemporary and melodrama namely Midsummer
night’s romance (夏夜之戀)  in 1953, 
Bachelors beware (溫柔鄉)  in 1960  and Two
mouthy ladies from the north and south
(南北鐵咀雞)  in 1965. 

Her golden age of filming was between 1963-1966
when she had made at least thirty movies in a
year.  Despite her fame and leading position, she
did take part in movies as a bad lady, a  role
usually rejected by other actresses who were
afraid of damaging their images.  However,  Ms Yu
proved that her talent in acting was not limited
to action films. Her surprise roles in  The big
revenge part 1 and  2 (灕江河畔血海仇) in
1963 and  Heaven, Hell and Crystal Palace
(天堂地獄水晶宮)  in 1965 did not rocket
her popularity nor upset her fans but on the hand
won the hearts of the audience.

She was married to a famous Cantonese opera actor,
Mr Mak Bing Wing  in 1966.   Her last movie was
filmed in Taiwan Decree of the fire dragon
(血火龍令) in 1968 and had made a guest
appearance in  Secret agent no.1 (神探一號) in
1970.  Soon after that she was completed retired
from the limelight.

She is now settled in San Francisco with her three
children.

In 2004 Ms Yu is one of the celebrities honoured
on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars. To date, Ms Yu
is still on the top record of making more than 170
wuxia movies among other actresses. Though she has
not gained any international award before her
retirement  (because Hong Kong wuxia pictures are
accepted internationally recently), she deserves a
credit as a remarkable Queen of marital artist and
actress by her fans for her devotion and brilliant
success in wuxia films. 

==Selected filmography==

*The revenge of the great swordsman Assassin Zhang
Wenxiang (大俠復仇記) (1949)
*The five heroes'deadly spears (五虎斷魂槍)
(1951) 
*A story of three lovers, pt 1 & 2
(啼笑姻緣上下集) (1952)
*A heroine from Mount Emei（峨嵋女俠 ) (1952)
*The dragon-phoenix swordsmen（龍鳳雙劍俠)
(1957)  
*The strange hero conquered the
dragon（怪俠赤屠龍) (1960)
*Conqueress（無敵楊家將) (1961)
*The secret book, part one
(仙鶴神針上下三集) (1961)
*The village militia, pt 1 & 2
(魔鏡神珠上下集) (1962)
*The blonde hair monster（黃毛怪人) (1962)
*The birth of the Monkey King（馬騮精出世)
(1962)
*The Road to the west（唐三藏取西經) (1962)
*Ingentious swords, pt 1 & 2
(白骨陰陽劍上下集) (1962)
*Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery pt 1 & 2
(火燒紅蓮寺上下集) (1963)
*Valiant Pan An (武潘安) (1963)
*The iron wild goose pt 1 &
2（鐵雁霜翎上下集) （1963）
*The tiger in hunting（臥虎藏龍) （1963）
*Pat cham lau lan sai pat wan
(不斬樓蘭誓不還)（1963）
*Spring blossoms（花開富貴錦城春) (1964）
*The purple lighting sword（萬變飛狐)
(1964）
*The invincible kid Fang
Shiyu（無敵神童方世玉) (1965）
*The all powerful flute pt 1 &
2（簫聲震武林上下集)（1965）
*Hero of midland（中原奇俠) (1966）
*Fire dragon and the mythical
pearl（火龍神珠) (1966)
*Heroic days of the Great Ming Dynasty
(斷臂神龍劍) (1966)
*The avengers' tale pt 1 & 2
(鐵血恩仇錄上下集) (1966)

category:1930 births|Yu, So Chow
category:Chinese actors|Yu, So Chow
category:Film actors|Yu, So Chow
category:Hong Kong actors|Yu, So Chow

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Yu So Chow (于素秋) was  born in Beijing on
July 9 1930 to a Peking opera family.  She is the
daughter of late Master Yu Jim Yuen who ran  the
Chinese Peking Opera School, the teacher of many
well-known actors. 
  
Ms Yu learnt Peking Opera at the age of eight and
made her stage debut at the age of nine.  She
specialized in playing female warrior roles in
Peking opera in which she could skilfully
demonstrate her footwork by continuously juggling
and kicking back twelve red tasselled spears tuo
shou (脫手) as seen in one of her famous stage
Peking opera  The White Snake (白蛇傳) and in a
movie made in 1951 Amazon on the Sea
(海上女霸王).

She started her acting career in 1948 and had made
over 240 films of which were mostly wuxia, kung
fu, action, detective and Cantonese opera. She
recorded successful box-office and was one of the
most popular superstars of the 1960 in Asia and 
Hong Kong. 

Her first movie was made in 1948, a Mandarin
(linguistics)|Mandarin wuxia film called  The Kung
Fu Couple (宏碧緣 ).   In fact she was one of
the three actresses in the 50’s who really knew
marital arts.   Off the screen, she was virtually
a heroine, when she was at the age of sixteen, she
alone successfully fought off a group of gangsters
with only a silky belt on the street in Shanghai. 
 Thus, she could do all the stunts, punch and
acrobatic skills by herself in all action films. 
Her early wuxia pictures from 1948-1957, were in
both Mandarin and Cantonese dialogue, stories were
mainly to bring out the cooperation of  Northern
Style and  Southern Style of martial arts as seen
in   The heroine of deadly darts
(女俠響尾追魂鏢)   in 1956.

Her remarkable wuxia films were mostly based on
kung fu novels namely  Burning of the Red Lotus
Monastery Pt 1 & Pt 2 (火燒紅蓮寺)  in 1950, 
The Golden Hairpin Pt 1 & Pt 3 (碧血金釵)   in
1963,  Buddha’s Palm Pt 1 to Pt 4 (如來神掌)
in 1964 and  The Burning of Pingyang City
(火燒平陽城) in 1965.

Her performance in Cantonese opera was quite
different in which she brought in a mixture of
Peking Opera, in which she performed a lot of
footworks as in Suet Ting Shan and Fan Lai Hua -
Meeting on the Weedy River (蘆花河會母) in
1961, Giving birth on the bridge – the White
serpent (斷橋產子) in 1962 and  How Zhong
Wuyan Conquered the West (鍾無艷掛帥征西) 
in 1962. 

She also played a male leading as seen in movies
Execution of Lui Po at  Pak Moon Lau
(白門樓斬呂布) in 1961, Two hunters in a
pursuit (文武狀元爭彩鳳)  in 1962 and The
beauties (陣陣美人威)  in 1964.

Apart from action films, she did a few rare
contemporary and melodrama namely Midsummer
night’s romance (夏夜之戀)  in 1953, 
Bachelors beware (溫柔鄉)  in 1960  and Two
mouthy ladies from the north and south
(南北鐵咀雞)  in 1965. 

Her golden age of filming was between 1963-1966
when she had made at least thirty movies in a
year.  Despite her fame and leading position, she
did take part in movies as a bad lady, a  role
usually rejected by other actresses who were
afraid of damaging their images.  However,  Ms Yu
proved that her talent in acting was not limited
to action films. Her surprise roles in  The big
revenge part 1 and  2 (灕江河畔血海仇) in
1963 and  Heaven, Hell and Crystal Palace
(天堂地獄水晶宮)  in 1965 did not rocket
her popularity nor upset her fans but on the hand
won the hearts of the audience.

She was married to a famous Cantonese opera actor,
Mr Mak Bing Wing  in 1966.   Her last movie was
filmed in Taiwan Decree of the fire dragon
(血火龍令) in 1968 and had made a guest
appearance in  Secret agent no.1 (神探一號) in
1970.  Soon after that she was completed retired
from the limelight.

She is now settled in San Francisco with her three
children.

In 2004 Ms Yu is one of the celebrities honoured
on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars. To date, Ms Yu
is still on the top record of making more than 170
wuxia movies among other actresses. Though she has
not gained any international award before her
retirement  (because Hong Kong wuxia pictures are
accepted internationally recently), she deserves a
credit as a remarkable Queen of marital artist and
actress by her fans for her devotion and brilliant
success in wuxia films. 

==Selected filmography==

*The revenge of the great swordsman Assassin Zhang
Wenxiang (大俠復仇記) (1949)
*The five heroes'deadly spears (五虎斷魂槍)
(1951) 
*A story of three lovers, pt 1 & 2
(啼笑姻緣上下集) (1952)
*A heroine from Mount Emei（峨嵋女俠 ) (1952)
*The dragon-phoenix swordsmen（龍鳳雙劍俠)
(1957)  
*The strange hero conquered the
dragon（怪俠赤屠龍) (1960)
*Conqueress（無敵楊家將) (1961)
*The secret book, part one
(仙鶴神針上下三集) (1961)
*The village militia, pt 1 & 2
(魔鏡神珠上下集) (1962)
*The blonde hair monster（黃毛怪人) (1962)
*The birth of the Monkey King（馬騮精出世)
(1962)
*The Road to the west（唐三藏取西經) (1962)
*Ingentious swords, pt 1 & 2
(白骨陰陽劍上下集) (1962)
*Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery pt 1 & 2
(火燒紅蓮寺上下集) (1963)
*Valiant Pan An (武潘安) (1963)
*The iron wild goose pt 1 &
2（鐵雁霜翎上下集) （1963）
*The tiger in hunting（臥虎藏龍) （1963）
*Pat cham lau lan sai pat wan
(不斬樓蘭誓不還)（1963）
*Spring blossoms（花開富貴錦城春) (1964）
*The purple lighting sword（萬變飛狐)
(1964）
*The invincible kid Fang
Shiyu（無敵神童方世玉) (1965）
*The all powerful flute pt 1 &
2（簫聲震武林上下集)（1965）
*Hero of midland（中原奇俠) (1966）
*Fire dragon and the mythical
pearl（火龍神珠) (1966)
*Heroic days of the Great Ming Dynasty
(斷臂神龍劍) (1966)
*The avengers' tale pt 1 & 2
(鐵血恩仇錄上下集) (1966)

category:1930 births|Yu, So Chow
category:Chinese actors|Yu, So Chow
category:Film actors|Yu, So Chow
category:Hong Kong actors|Yu, So Chow