Liu Yifei channels her inner ballerina in this stunning image by Liu Zongyan for the cover of Harper's Bazaar China. Inside the pages Yifei transforms into a rockstar. It was announced at the end of last year that the fresh faced 30 year old actress who also goes by Crystal Liu was cast in the titular role in Disney's live-action movie version of Mulan. Following a yearlong casting process that spanned across five continents, Yifei beat out nearly 1,000 candidates for the role of Hua Mulan, who posed as a man in order to take her father's place in the army in fifth century China.. While she may be a relative newcomer to Hollywood, Liu had previously starred in The Forbidden Kingdom with Jackie Chan and in Outcast alongside Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen.
The former child model trained at the Performance Institute of Beijing Film Academy and made her acting debut at 15 years old in The Story of a Noble Family, the highly successful period drama based on Zhang Henshui's novel of the same name. I watched that series and thought she was a little too young for the role but one could see her potential. Since then Crystal has been working steadily in film and television, building up her resume. She speaks fluent English and already has a big following in Asia. It felt like a small victory when it was announced that an ethnically Chinese actor would be playing Mulan and all of the film's significant roles will be filled by Chinese actors like Gong Li, Jet Li and Donnie Yen. This is important given Hollywood's long history of “whitewashing. Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson and Emma Stone have all played characters who were Asian in the source material. And they originally tried to change the central character in Crazy Rich Asians into a white woman which would've undermine the film’s central narrative not to mention it's supposed to be about Asians. It's ridiculous that Asians are still fighting for diversity and inclusivity. Our stories are valid too. Hollywood also needs to realize that different groups of Asians aren't interchangeable and that we don't all look the same.
Photos: Sina
19 comments
Outstanding cover she is beautiful have a lovely weekend.
Beautiful photos! Very classy and elegant!
She's soooo gorgeous and this spread is just breath-taking. I don't think I've seen The Forbidden Kingdom...wut!?!? And I'm really excited to see Mulan, and I hope it does as well as Black Panther.
Happy Friday, chingu:)
How is she 30 already? Fresh faced is a good description.
Anne|Linda, Libra, Loca
She's incredibly photogenic, wow! All of these photos are spectacular, although my favourite would have to be the image of her spread out on the floor with pools of golden material from the skirt surrounding her. Stunning!!
Gabrielle | A Glass Of Ice x
So beautiful!
-Kate // http://www.classyandkate.com/capsule-jewelry-inspired-by-my-3-favorite-trips/
How lovely does she look here?
Amazing editorisl!
Kisses, Paola.
Expressyourself
Yes to finally an Asian landing a lead role and I too feel that this is such a victory. I don't understand why Hollywood feels the need to cast a Caucasian and white wash a role all the time so hopefully this will end that soon. She's absolutely gorgeous and while I am not familiar with her work, I will be following her career from now onwards.
Shireen⎜Reflection of Sanity
I've been working on some ballerina drawings lately and seeing how beautiful Liu Yifei looks in this editorial makes me want to draw her too. She is truly stunning. She is working both the ballerina and the rock star theme so well! love that photo of her sitting on a floor in a gold plaid skirt...so utterly gorgeous.
Great news about the new Mulan movie. Hollywood's whitewashing was getting pretty ridiculous. I'm not familiar with Liu's work, but judging by this editorial, she definitely has some talent.
So lovely pics!
Have a nice week-end!
Gil Zetbase
Is she really that old? She looks very young. What a beauty!!!! Have an outstanding first weekend of Summer Rowena.
https://www.fashionablyidu.com/
Truly an Asian beauty! Happy weekend, babe! xoxo
Love the inspiration! Everything looks amazing
Such a beautiful woman and the cover is great.
fabulous pictures
new review A guide to summer fabrics
have a nice day
WOW!! She's gorgeous and these photos are amazing x
What a beautiful editorial! Kudos to her for getting the title role and to other prominent Asian actors filling out the cast. It's extremely frustrating when Asian characters are played by white actors. Hopefully the tide is turning!
Very cool!
Ah she looks so stunning! I've been a fan of Liu Yifei ever since she starred in Return of the Condor Heroes, and was so excited when I found out she was cast as Mulan! Though I feel like Asians are still an underrepresented minority in Hollywood, it's always good to see that progress (no matter how small) is being made!
Jenny // Geeky Posh
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