Faye Wong (; pinyin: Wáng Fēi; born 8 August 1969) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actress. Early in her career, she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong (). Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong at the age of 18. She debuted as a singer with the Cantonese album Shirley Wong in 1989 and achieved her breakthrough with the Cantopop song “Fragile Woman” in 1992. She established her style by blending alternative music with Chinese pop, and since the late 1990s has recorded primarily in her native Mandarin.

One of the biggest names in the Chinese-speaking world, Wong has also gained followings in Japan and Southeast Asia. In the West, she is perhaps best known for starring in Wong Kar-wai's films Chungking Express (1994) and 2046 (2004). Upon her second marriage in 2005, she withdrew from the limelight and moved back to Beijing, though she has sporadically returned to the stage. Often titled "diva" or "heavenly queen" in Chinese, Wong has gained a reputation for her "cool" personality. In Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, Jeroen de Kloet characterised her as "singer, actress, mother, celebrity, royalty, sex symbol and diva all at the same time".

In 2000, Wong was recognised by Guinness World Records as the best selling Cantopop female artist, having sold an estimated 9.7 million copies of her albums by March 2000. In 2009, Wong was voted the second most influential Chinese celebrity of the past 60 years in a poll conducted by the State Council Information Office to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, receiving seven million votes and ranking behind only Teresa Teng.

Early life

Wong was born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Dongcheng District, Beijing in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. Her father was Wang Youlin (), a mining engineer and second son of (1901–1985), member of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China. Wang Youlin had been parentally betrothed to Li Min (), sister of Taiwanese writer Li Ao, but when Wang Zhaomin left for Taiwan upon the Communist takeover, Wang Youlin, then a left-leaning college student, stayed in mainland China and later wed Xia Guiying (), a revolutionary music soprano with China Coal Mine Art Troupe, who would be Wong's mother. Wong had a brother named Wang Yi (), who was two years older than her and died in his fifties due to illness.

Wong grew up in the Qingniangou area near Andingmen, where the residential communities affiliated with the coal mining industry were situated. She attended Ditan Primary School, where she served as the class's arts and cultural coordinator. She then attended .

In 1987, Wong was admitted to study biology at Xiamen University through the national college entrance exam, but she chose to move to Hong Kong to join her father, who had been working there for a few years. The plan was for her to stay there for a year to fulfill the permanent residency requirement, and go to study in Australia.

Music career

1985–1988: Beginnings

As a student, Wong already was involved in singing and attracted interest from several publishers. who as a professional saw singing as a dead-end career. Despite her mother's opposition, Wong released 6 low-cost cover albums from 1985 to 1987 while still in high school, all in the form of cassettes, mostly consisting of songs by her personal idol, iconic Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng. For the last of these early recordings, the producer Wei Yuanqiang chose the title Wong Fei Treasury (), intending to show that he recognised a distinctive talent in the teenager.

After moving to Hong Kong, the 19-year-old Wong signed with Cinepoly Records in 1988 on the recommendation of her singing tutor, Tai See-chung, after placing third in an Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union singing contest.

1989–1991: the Shirley Wong period

At the request of Cinepoly, Wong picked one of the "sophisticated" stage names, Wong Jing Man, with an English name "Shirley," offered by the company through a fortune-teller, to replace her "Mainland-sounding" name. In 1989, her debut album Shirley Wong sold 25,000 copies and won her bronze at the "Chik Chak New Artist Award." Two more albums (Everything and You're the Only One) followed, similarly featuring many cover songs by artists from the US and Japan. They sold 10,000 copies each, despite relentless promotions by the company. Many in Hong Kong perceived her to be "backwards," lacking personality.

At the time, both Wong and her then-agent Leslie Chan (陳健添) were in conflicts with Cinepoly under Chan Siu-Bo's successor Lal Dayaram (林振業). Leslie Chan then sold Wong's contract for 2 million HKD to Taiwanese singer Lo Ta-yu. Under the arrangement of Lo, who founded Music Factory in 1990 (later becoming the Hong Kong subsidiary of Rock Records), Wong went to the United States for professional training at the end of 1991. She initially went to Los Angeles with plans to learn keyboards, but missed the class registration deadline. She then moved to New York, living with Wawa, another new artist signed by Lo, at the house of Lo's sister, Jennifer, in Flushing. Wong attended classes at the Barbizon School, the Martha Graham School and with personal singing tutors for about two months. In 1996, she explained New York's influence on her:

Wong's relationship with Nicholas Tse, spanning over two decades, has become the stuff of popular romance and cemented her image as a woman dedicated to love. The two dated in the early 2000s, split in 2003, married and had children with other celebrities, divorced, and reunited in 2014 after an 11-year breakup. Their reunion, revealed by paparazzi photos of them kissing at Wong's Beijing apartment, caused a sensation but received mixed reactions. At a time when traditional media was declining and social media was on the rise, her reunion with Tse was welcomed by the media and other celebrities, but she faced considerable criticism on Weibo from conservative quarters for prioritizing love over family at her age and from Cecilia Cheung's fans. Not long after, she quit Weibo after having been one of the platform's most active celebrities for years.

Influence

thumb|upright|Wong in 2011

In 2004 and 2005, Faye Wong was ranked in the top five on the Forbes China Celebrity 100, as well as in 2011 and 2012 after her comeback. In a 2011 "most popular celebrity in China" marketing study, she was also ranked in the top 5. In 2008, Wong was voted Asia's sexiest vegetarian woman in a poll run by animal rights group PETA. In 2009, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, a government web portal conducted an online poll on The Most Influential Chinese Cultural Celebrity in the Past 60 Years; out of 192 candidates, Wong received over 7 million votes, second only to the deceased Teresa Teng from Taiwan, Wong's own personal idol. In 2014, she was named one of the 10 most admired female singers in Asia by RHA media. Chen Tao, a China Radio International DJ, compares Wong's influence in the Sinophone world to Madonna's in America: "She represents a certain era of pop music, a certain trend, and a vision of being unique." including "(I Want to See) Faye Wong" by J Church, "Faye Wong" by Green Club Riviera, "Wong Fei, Gwanyu Nei Dik Mei" (王菲，關於你的眉) by my little airport, "Wang Fei de Hui Mou" (王菲的回眸) by YuFeiMen, I Love Faye Wong (我愛王菲), debut album of Maggie Chiang, and "We are Not Romantic in This Age" (在這個年代我們不浪漫) by Easy Weeds. Wong's songs have been covered in other languages, including "Meteor" (流星) in Japanese by Hanayo, "Chanel" (香奈兒) in Korean by Lim Hyung-joo, and "Red Bean" (紅豆) in Vietnamese by various artists. Lene Marlin's "Still Here" is an English cover of "I'm Willing" (我願意). China's 2007 spacecraft Chang'e 1 played Faye Wong's version of "Wishing We Last Forever" (但願人長久).

Japanese director Shunji Iwai had explained that the titular pop-star character of his 2001 film All About Lily Chou-Chou was conceived after attending a Faye Wong concert. Wong's name was also mentioned in the 2003 Japanese film The Blue Light as one of the protagonist's favourites. The female protagonist in the 2013 Chinese film Beijing Flickers was prototyped after Wong, according to director Zhang Yuan, who remembered when he shot his 1993 hit Beijing Bastards with Dou Wei, Wong as Dou's girlfriend would visit the set every day. Japanese singer-actress Hikari Mitsushima said that Wong was her idol and muse; she performed Wong's Cantopop song "Dream Lover," a cover of The Cranberries's "Dreams," at the 2024 Megaport Music Festival, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 2024, the Amazon series Expats features Wong's "Summer of Love." In 2025, the season four finale of the HBO show Hacks features Wong's "Dream Lover."

Personal life

Vegetarianism

Wong used to be a vegetarian. In 2008 and 2011, she was named Asia's sexiest vegetarian woman by animal rights group PETA.

Social media

Wong used to be an active Weibo user under the name "veggieg", with a talkative, funny presence online. The Weibo account has not been active since 2015. Wong also has a private Instagram account under the name "feibeing".

Religion

Wong has been a Buddhist since the early 1990s and has released numerous Buddhist songs. In 2001, she released a Buddhist album, Loving Kindness & Wisdom (悲智雙運), to raise funds for the Nepalese lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche and to support the construction of the world's largest Maitreya Buddha statue. She also donated an additional 900 million HKD to the project. Wong has been friends with religious figures such as Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Tsultrim Pelgyi Rinpoche, who wrote the lyrics for her song "Prayer" (願).

Wong's religious belief has occasionally sparked controversy. In a 2011 Weibo post, Wong associated the power of religion with the survival of a wooden Buddhist object in a fire in Shenyang earlier that year, inciting an online spat with Fang Zhouzi, a popular science writer who ridiculed her belief. Wang Sicong, son of China's then richest man, Wang Jianlin, called her "ridiculous, ignorant, superstitious, and feudal", and "an embarrassment, unworthy of being a diva, only promoting superstitious beliefs and leading Chinese people further away from scientific thinking and lifestyles". In 2013, Wong was involved in a high-profile Beijing News exposé of the self-proclaimed qigong master Wang Lin, who had maintained extensive connections among Chinese officials and celebrities. In 2016, the Chinese government warned Wong and other celebrities against fraternising with the Dalai Lama after she attended a Buddhist assembly in India with members of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Relationships

In the early 1990s, Wong had a relationship with Luan Shu, the bassist of the Beijing rock band Black Panther. The relationship prompted Dou Wei, the vocalist, to leave Black Panther in 1991. Wong then started dating Dou and, in June 1996, married him. Their daughter, Leah, was born on 3 January 1997, with the Chinese name Dou Jingtong, meaning "child of Dou and Jing" (from Wong's stage name Jingwen). The baby's voice appears in the song "Tong" on the 1998 album Sing and Play and on the title track of the 1999 album Lovers & Strangers. Wong and Dou divorced in 1999 after Dou had announced his relationship with photographer Gao Yuan, with Wong claiming custody of Leah and waiving child support. According to Liang Long, the frontman of Second Hand Rose, he and Wong had a brief relationship during one of her breakups with Tse in early 2003. Later that year, Wong began a relationship with Chinese actor Li Yapeng but did not go public until 2004. They married in 2005, after which she took an extended break from the entertainment industry. In 2006, Wong gave birth to their daughter, Li Yan (Lyla), who was born with a cleft lip. The couple subsequently founded the Smile Angel Foundation to support children with the condition. In 2007, Li Yapeng confirmed that he and Wong were planning for another child. In August 2008, Wong’s agent, Katie Chan, confirmed that Wong was pregnant. However, the following month, after reports emerged that Wong had suffered a miscarriage, Chan clarified that it was “a beautiful misunderstanding” and that she had "misheard" the information about the pregnancy. In 2013, Wong and Li announced that they had divorced, with Li claiming custody of their daughter. In 2014, Wong and Tse rekindled their relationship.

Discography

Cantonese-language studio albums

  • Shirley Wong (1989)
  • Everything (1990)
  • You're the Only One (1990)
  • Coming Home (1992)
  • No Regrets (1993)
  • 100,000 Whys (1993)
  • Random Thoughts (1994)
  • Please Myself (1994)
  • Di-Dar (1995)
  • Be Perfunctory (2015)

Mandarin-language studio albums

  • Mystery (1994)
  • Sky (1994)
  • Decadent Sounds of Faye (1995)
  • Fuzao (1996)
  • Faye Wong (1997)
  • Sing and Play (1998)
  • Lovers & Strangers (1999)
  • Fable (2000)
  • Faye Wong (2001)
  • To Love (2003)

Concert tours

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+

! Title

! style="width:20em" | Date(s)

! Associated album(s)

! style="width:8em" | Continent(s)

! style="width:4.5em" | Shows

! style="width:7em" | Attendance

|-

! scope="row" | Faye Wong Live in Concert

|13 November 1994 – 10 November 1995

|Sky

|North America<br/>Asia

|30

|—

|-

! scope="row" | Faye Wong Scenic Tour

|10 October 1998 – 23 March 2001

|Sing and Play

|Asia<br/>Australia

|46

|—

|-

! scope="row" | Faye Wong Tour 2001

|7 September 2001 – 2 November 2001

|Faye Wong

|Asia

|6

|—

|-

! scope="row" | No Faye! No Live! Tour

|20 December 2003 – 8 January 2005

|To Love

|Asia

|16

|480,000

|-

! scope="row" | Faye Wong's Comeback Tour

|29 October 2010 – 9 June 2012

|—

|Asia

|46

|—

|}

Setlists

The following setlists only include songs published in the concert albums, not all songs performed throughout the tours.

  1. 夢遊
  2. 夢中人
  3. 多得他
  4. 無奈那天
  5. 靜夜的單簧管
  6. Medley:
  7. Miss You Night & Day
  8. Summer of Love
  9. 又繼續等
  10. Everything
  11. 不再兒嬉
  12. 從明日開始
  13. 明天我要嫁給你
  14. Medley:
  15. 天與地
  16. 用心良苦
  17. Medley:
  18. 如風
  19. 季候風
  20. 有一天我會
  21. 浪漫風暴
  22. Kisses in the Wind
  23. 流非飛
  24. 愛與痛的邊緣
  25. 知己知彼
  26. 胡思亂想
  27. 誓言
  28. 誘惑我
  29. 棋子
  30. 執迷不悔
  31. 容易受傷的女人
  32. 冷戰
  33. 千言萬語
  34. 出路
  35. 我願意
  1. Overture
  2. 感情生活
  3. 浮躁
  4. 悶
  5. 暗湧
  6. 天空 (unplugged)
  7. 臉
  8. 迷路
  9. 夢中人
  10. 夢遊
  11. 原諒自己
  12. 末日
  13. 墮落
  14. 天使
  15. 懷念
  16. 夢醒了
  17. 但願人長久
  18. 情誡
  19. 一人分飾兩角
  20. 為非作歹
  21. Di-Dar
  22. 曖昧
  23. Bohemian Rhapsody
  24. 你快樂 (所以我快樂)
  25. Auld Lang Syne
  26. 約定
  27. 償還
  28. 我願意
  29. 執迷不悔
  1. Overture
  2. 我願意
  3. 再見螢火蟲
  4. 悶
  5. 矜持
  6. Medley:
  7. 半途而廄
  8. 只愛陌生人
  9. 開到茶靡
  10. 過眼雲煙
  11. 流浪的紅舞鞋
  12. 新房客
  13. 香奈兒
  14. 感情生活
  15. 掙脫
  16. 推翻 (unplugged)
  17. 你 (unplugged)
  18. 但願人長久
  19. 天空
  20. Separate Ways
  21. 天使
  22. Eyes on Me
  23. Thank You For Hearing Me
  24. 人間
  1. Overture
  2. 天空
  3. 誓言
  4. Medley:
  5. 純情
  6. 背影
  7. 夢中人
  8. 流浪的紅舞鞋
  9. 我願意
  10. 假如我是真的
  11. 只願為你守著約
  12. 但願人長久
  13. 新房客
  14. 香奈兒
  15. 將愛
  16. 開到荼蘼
  17. 償還
  18. 紅豆
  19. 暗湧
  20. 光之翼
  21. 悶
  22. Heart of Glass
  23. 旋木
  24. 只愛陌生人
  25. The Look of Love
  26. 如風
  27. 愛與痛的邊緣
  28. 精彩
  29. Medley:
  30. 尾班車
  31. 靜夜的單簧管
  32. 守時
  33. 約定
  34. 給自己的情書
  35. 冷戰
  36. 人間

Filmography

Films

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Year

!English title

!Original title

!Role

!Notes

|-

| 1991 || Beyond's Diary || BEYOND日記之莫欺少年窮 || Mary ||

|-

| 1994 || Chungking Express || 重慶森林 || Faye || Nominated14th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress <br /> WonStockholm Film Festival for Best Actress <br /> Nominated31st Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress

|-

| 2000 || Okinawa Rendez-vous || 戀戰沖繩 || Jenny ||

|-

| 2002 || Chinese Odyssey 2002 || 天下無雙 || Princess Wushuang || Nominated22nd Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress <br /> WonHK Film Critics Society Awards for Best Actress

|-

|rowspan=2| 2004 || 2046 || || Wang Jingwen ||

|-

| Leaving Me, Loving You || 大城小事 || Xin Xiaoyue ||

|}

Television

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Year

!English title

!Original title

!Role

!Notes

|-

| 1991 || Traces of the Heart || 別姬 || Mei-fong || TVB movie

|-

| 1992 || File of Justice II || 壹號皇庭 II || Mandy Tong Yuk-man || TVB series

|-

|rowspan=2| 1993 || Legendary Ranger || 原振俠 || Hoi-tong || TVB series (20 episodes)

|-

| Eternity || 千歲情人 || Bou Ging-hung || TVB series (20 episodes)

|-

| 1994 || Modern Love Story: Three Equals One Love || 愛情戀曲：愛情3加1 || Wun-gwan || one part of TVB series

|-

| 2001 || Love from a Lie || ウソコイ || Lin Fei || Kansai TV series (11 episodes)

|-

| 2018 || Phantacity || 幻乐之城 || Herself|| Hunan Television series (10 episodes)

|}

Awards and achievements

|-

! colspan=3 style="background: #DAA520;" | Top Chinese Music Chart Awards

! colspan=3 style="background: #DAA520;" | Golden Melody Awards

Footnotes

References