Wang Hanlun

Wang Hanlun (traditional Chinese: 王漢倫; simplified Chinese: 王汉伦; pinyin: Wáng Hànlún, 1903 – 17 August 1978), also known as Helen Wang, was a Chinese actress active primarily between 1923 and 1930. Born to a wealthy family from Suzhou, Anhui, she travelled to Shanghai to attend St Mary's Hall. After a short and unhappy arranged marriage that brought her to Fengtian, she returned to Shanghai where she was discovered in 1922 by Zhang Shichuan of the Mingxing Film Company. Abandoning her birth name Peng Jianqing and severing ties with her disapproving family, she found critical acclaim with her debut film Orphan Rescues Grandfather (1923) and became China's first female film star.

Known primarily for her tragic roles, Wang completed films for companies such as Mingxing, Tianyi, and Great Wall. She became a fashion icon, representing modernity for film audiences while simultaneously promoting a spirit of independence. At the same time, she was frequently frustrated by their failure to pay her salary. In 1929, she appeared in, co-directed, produced, and edited Revenge of an Actress, which she intended to be her final film. Retiring from cinema, she opened her own beauty salon in Shanghai, operating it until the Japanese occupation in 1937. In her final years, Wang took smaller parts for the Shanghai Film Studio.