Lim Cho-cho

Lim Cho-cho
Born	Florence Lim (1905-01-21)January 21, 1905 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Died	February 16, 1979(1979-02-16) (aged 74) British Hong Kong
Other names	Lin Chu-chu, Lam Cho-cho, Lam Chor-chor, Lim Cho-cho, Lin Chuchu, Lin Cho-cho, C. C. Lin, Florence Lim
Spouse	Lai Man-Wai ​ (m. 1920⁠–⁠1953)​
Children	9
Relatives	Lai Hang (son)
Chinese name
Chinese	林はやし楚すわえ楚すわえ
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lín Chǔchǔ Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Lam4 Co2 Co2
Original Chinese name
Chinese	林はやし美よし意い
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lín Měiyì Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Lam4 Mei5 Ji3

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lim.

Florence Lim (21 January 1905 – 16 February 1979), better known as Lim Cho-cho, was a Chinese Canadian actress in the cinema of the Republic of China and British Hong Kong from 1925 to 1954. She was the second wife of filmmaker Lai Man-Wai and the mother of actors Lai Hang and Lai Suen. Gigi Lai is her granddaughter.

Early life

Florence Lim was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where her grandfather, an immigrant from Xinhui (now part of Jiangmen), Guangdong, China, owned a rice shop. Her father died when she was 3. She attended Chinese Public School in Victoria which allowed her to be proficient in both English and Chinese. When she was 9, her widowed mother went to Hong Kong to receive medical treatment, and at age 12 Lim joined her in Hong Kong, having completed primary school. In Hong Kong she enrolled in Ying Wa Girls' School. One of her classmates named Lai Hang-kau (who would later become known as Lai Cheuk-cheuk) introduced her to her uncle Lai Man-Wai. Even though he was 12 years her senior and already married, Lim married him as his second wife in 1920, when she was 15.

Career

Lim Cho-cho's acting career started in Hong Kong when she played the lead role in Rouge (1925), the first film produced by her husband's China Sun Motion Picture Company. In 1926, China Sun relocated to Shanghai, and there Lim continued to star in silent films such as A Poet from the Sea (1927) and Romance of the Western Chamber (1927). Her credits after China Sun became the Lianhua Film Company in 1930 included A Spray of Plum Blossoms (1931), Song of China (1935), National Customs (1935), and Song of a Kind Mother (1937). Lim particularly excelled in mother roles. Her son Lai Hang also appeared in many films around this time. In 1931, she also acted in the Indian film Kamar-Al-Zaman, an adaptation of a tale from the Arabian Nights directed by Shah G. Agha, where she appeared in the role of princess Budur.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the Lais first returned to Hong Kong when Japan invaded Shanghai in 1937. In Hong Kong Lim continued to act in films, many patriotic and anti-Japanese in nature. Following Japan's invasion of Hong Kong in 1941, the family escaped to mainland China, first to Chikan, Kaiping, Guangdong, where at one point Lim had to peddle old clothes on the street to make ends meet. When Japanese soldiers overran Kaiping in 1943, they fled again, this time to Guilin, Guangxi, where they ran a photographic studio. After the war ended, the family returned to Hong Kong, and Lim acted again for another 8 years. She retired after her husband's 1953 death to raise their 9 children. She visited mainland China in the 1970s before her death in Hong Kong in 1979.

Lim Cho-cho on the cover of The Young Companion, September 1926.

Filmography

Year	English title	Original title	Role	Notes
1925	Rouge	胭脂	Rouge	Lost
1926	Why Not Her	玉たま潔きよし冰清	Qian Mengqi	Lost
	The God of Peace	和平わへい之の神かみ		Lost
1927	A Poet from the Sea	海うみ角かく詩人しじん	Yin Meizhen	Partially lost
	A Reviving Rose	復活ふっかつ的てき玫瑰		Lost
	Romance of the Western Chamber	西にし廂ひさし記き	Cui Yingying	Partially lost
1928	Avalokitesvara's Way	觀音かんのん得道とくどう		Lost
	Five Revengeful Girls	五ご女じょ復仇ふっきゅう		Lost
	The Retrieval of Huang Leung	再さい世よ因緣いんねん		Lost
	Mulan Joins the Army	木蘭もくれん從軍じゅうぐん		Lost
1930	Dream of the Ancient Capital	故こ都みやこ春夢しゅんむ		Lost
1931	A Spray of Plum Blossoms	一いち剪梅	Shi Luohua (Sylvia)
1932	Conscienceless	人道じんどう	Wu Ruolian	Lost
	Another Dream of the Ancient Capital	續ぞく故こ都みやこ春夢しゅんむ		Lost
1933	Night in the City	城市じょうし之の夜よる		Lost
1934	Life	人生じんせい		Lost
1935	National Customs	國風くにぶり	Zhang Jie
	A Little Angel	小しょう天使てんし
	Song of China	天てん倫りん	Grandmother
1936	Mother's Love	母はは愛あい	Liu Fen
	Gateways of Body and Spirit	靈肉れいにく之の門もん
1937	A New-Comer's Way	新人しんじん道どう
	Song of a Kind Mother	慈母じぼ曲きょく	Mother
	The Bomber Wen Shengcai	溫ぬる生なま才ざい炸孚琦
1938	Love in Wartime	戰雲せんうん情じょう淚なみだ
1939	Scent of a Woman	女兒じょじ香が
1940	The General	岳たけ飛ひ	Yue Fei's mother
	Flower in a Sea of Blood	血ち海うみ花はな
1941	The Good Father	天涯てんがい慈父じふ
	On My Own	陌路妻つま兒じ	Madam Chan
	Song of Retribution	正氣しょうき歌か	Wang Zhiming's mother
1946	The Storm	大だい雷雨らいう
1947	Li Chunhua	麗うらら春はる花はな
1949	Gia Liang Kiang Be My Destiny	靜靜しずしず的てき嘉よしみ陵りょう江こう
1953	How the Valiant Dog Saved the Pretty Girl	義ぎ犬けん救すくい美び		also co-producer
1954	Better Your Better Half	改造かいぞう太ふと太ふと	Ling Ping's mother

In popular culture

In the 1991 film Center Stage, Lim Cho-cho is portrayed by Cecilia Yip, who spoke Cantonese, Mandarin and English in her role.

References

• Meyer, Richard J. (2005). Ruan Ling-Yu: The Goddess of Shanghai. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-209-395-7.

External links

• Cho-cho Lam at IMDb
• Lin Chu-Chu at the Hong Kong Movie Database