A California man had to wait until after his grandmother died this February to get a chance to look through her old photo albums — and he was amazed to discover how truly glamorous her life was.
Johnny Quan’s grandma Leung Ping (梁萍, also called Teresa Leung) died earlier this year at age 93, and it after her funeral that he was able to look back on her life as a model and prominent ‘shidaiqu’ pop singer under EMI/Pathé in Shanghai.
She ‘grew up in and witnessed hardships during the Chinese Civil War, Sino-Japanese War/WW2, and Communist Revolution. [During] the latter, shidaiqu was banned, deemed “Yellow Music” (in Chinese, “yellow.” 黄, is a pun for “pornographic”),’ he wrote for Bored Panda. ‘She fled to and continued singing in Hong Kong, then Singapore, before mostly retiring in San Francisco.’
‘She was very private of these photos — I’d never seen them before she passed,’ he added. ‘My aunt reflected how she once asked her if she could look at them, and she smirked, “You can look at them when I go.”
Now, he’s sharing the snaps of his grandma’s life through the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, showing her modeling, singing before large crowds, and posing for pictures with stars like Elizabeth Taylor.
Treasure trove: Johnny Quan’s grandma Leung Ping (梁萍, also called Teresa Leung) died earlier this year at age 93
Proud: She wouldn’t let family look through her photo albums when she was alive, so Johnny (pictured) has gone through them since her death
Iconic: He found photos of her with Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd, And Run Run Shaw in Singapore, November 1957
Megastar: Shaw asked his grandmother be a representative of the Singaporean entertainment industry to greet Taylor
Singer: She was a model and prominent ‘shidaiqu’ pop singer under EMI/Pathé in Shanghai
Hobnobbing: His grandma poses with Marian Anderson, a famous American singer, in 1957
Putting on a show! Leung Ping is pictured singing for a large crowd
Work it! His grandmother was a also a model and competed in the Miss Hong Kong pageant
Major moments: She ‘grew up in and witnessed hardships during the Chinese Civil War, Sino-Japanese War/WW2, and Communist Revolution’
History lesson: During the Communist Revolution, shidaiqu was banned, deemed “Yellow Music” (in Chinese, “yellow.” 黄, is a pun for “pornographic”)
‘She was very private of these photos — I’d never seen them before she passed,’ Johnny said
He added: ‘My aunt reflected how she once asked her if she could look at them, and she smirked, “You can look at them when I go”‘
Belting it out: HIs grandma is pictured during a musical performance
Lookin’ good! She appears to have possessed quite an impressive wardrobe
Selling stuff: She also appeared in advertisements, like this one for beck’s Kunchi Beer
Looking back: The photos are mostly from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s
Put that record on! Johnny shared a photo of one of his grandmother’s old albums as well
She does! She is pictured in her very glamorous white gown on her wedding day
Keeping: Johnny has been spending time scanning the photos during the pandemic
Baby: Some of the photos show her personal life, including this one with her daughter, Johnny’s mom
Smile! In her younger years, his grandmother competed in beauty pageants
Cinematic: Grandma is seen presumably after disembarking from a plane
Later: He marveled at how beautiful she was even as she got older
Missing her: Johnny, as a baby, is pictured with his grandma