A director, and three actresses

The Soong Sisters, the notes begin, is a film by 장완정, Mabel Cheung, who had also made Autumn’s Tale — they write the title 가을날의 동화 — and the film they title 유리의 성. It tells the story of the three sisters of the Soong family, figures modern Chinese history can hardly leave out.

Of the three, the eldest, Soong Ai-ling, is played by 양자경, Michelle Yeoh, an actress they remember from martial-arts and contemporary films for striking action scenes. The second, Soong Ching-ling, is played by 장만옥, Maggie Cheung, a well-known actress who had also served as a juror at Cannes and had won awards at the Berlin and Cannes festivals.

The third sister, and a role as Wenxiu

The youngest, Soong May-ling, is played by 오군매, Wu Junmei. The notes say she had appeared in The Last Emperor as Wenxiu, a concubine of Puyi — they write 부의 and 문수 — and they record her career with the typo 경렬, clearly meaning 경력. Because each actress brought a distinct presence, and because they were so strong as performers, the notes think the film could carry a true Chinese story properly onto the screen.

A late-nineteenth-century house, and an unusual education

The three sisters in the film, they write, were famous people born in China at the end of the nineteenth century. Their father was a wealthy Christian who had gone to America to study; their mother was a devout Christian. In those years most Chinese women did not even receive a basic education, and the times were hard; even so, these three went to America at a young age and were able to complete a university education.

The notes leave the film at that household and that schooling, before a later table that takes up quarrels among the sisters. This stretch ends here. The same Korean report, in a longer form, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. The notes, a student reading of The Soong Sisters: Mabel Cheung’s film, three leading actresses, and sisters who went young to university in America.

Last updated: 15 November 2026