Arts and Entertainment, 1st prize
Wang Yao
China News Service
China News Service
01 January, 1999
In her youth, Chen Ailian (60), was known as the 'Queen of Chinese Dance', and won four gold medals in an international competition. But in 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, she was forced to abandon her career and to go and live in the country. Returning to the profession in the 1980s, she opened a private academy to promote Chinese dance. In 1999 she made a stage comeback, taking the leading role, of a 15-year-old girl, in the classical dance Dreams of the Red Mansion. Fans were enthusiastic, but the physical demands of the role, and a tour that covered a city a day, took their toll.
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