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Li was born Qian Zhenzhen in Beijing, 1915. Her father, Qian Zhuangfei, was an important figure among the early heroes of the Communist Party. In 1927 she moved to Shanghai, where her father encouraged her to join the China National Song & Dance Troupe, later renamed Bright Moon Song and Dance Troupe. Li Jinhui, later known as the Father of Chinese popular music, was the conductor of the troupe and adopted her as his god-daughter, and she adopted his surname.<br/><br/> The troupe were very popular in 1920s Shanghai. Li Lili, Wang Renmei, Xue Lingxian and Hu Jia were known as the Four Divas. The troupe joined the Lianhua Film Company in 1931, and disbanded the troupe the next year. Li became an actress, and starred in Sun Yu's 1932 Loving Blood of the Volcano. Set in the South Seas with plenty of dancing, this allowed Li to play to her strengths. She and Wang Renmei then acted together in Poetry Written on the Banana Leaf.<br/><br/> After war with Japan broke out in 1937, she joined the China Film Studio in Chongqing. There she met and married Luo Jingyu, a section head, who became head of the studio. In 1939 she filmed Cai Chusheng's Orphan Island Paradise in Hong Kong; it was another hit. Back in Chongqing, she starred in another hit film Storm on the Border, for which she was highly praised.<br/><br/> Li travelled to the United States in 1946, studying acting at Catholic University in Washington, language and singing in New York, and make-up at the University of California. She also observed filmmaking at Hollywood. She returned to China, and to acting at the Beijing Film Studio. In 1955, she studied at Beijing Film Academy, and later taught in the acting department. Her son, Luo Dan, married the daughter of Marshal Ye Jianying; Ye became China's head of state in the late 1970s.<br/><br/> During the Cultural Revolution, Li and her husband were denounced and tortured on the orders of Mao's wife Jiang Qing. Li had acted with her, and outshone her, in films such as Blood on Wolf Mountain. Li later told her family that she refused to denounce anyone. Luo, however, was killed.<br/><br/> In 1991, she was given the 'Special Honour Award' by the Chinese Academy of Motion Picture Arts. By the end of her life, Li Lili was the last living Chinese movie star from the silent era. She died of a heart attack in Xuanwu Hospital, Beijing on August 7, 2005, aged 90.

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