Former screen and singing star Gloria Yip makes her mark as an artist and mother
By Angel Liu
In a quiet corner of a trendy shopping mall in crowded, bustling Tsim Sha Tsui, Gloria Yip Wan-yee walks gracefully into her arts and crafts workshop, Art Around. Still fresh-faced and youthful, the 41-year-old actress, artist and mother talks calmly and wisely about her past, her ups and downs in life and her future plans.
Twenty years after she quit show business, Yip made a comeback with a brand new image by playing the role of a ditzy but kind-hearted woman known as Chubby Akina in the TVB drama Never Dance Alone. The series is about the travails of a group of girlhood friends who reunite after many years, husbands, children, divorces and career struggles. The programme and the show have put Yip back in the limelight.
What has also captured attention is Yip’s unfussy and unswerving public support for the Umbrella Movement. She posts strong messages of support for the students and other occupiers on her Facebook page and pays frequent visits to Admiralty. She spent one night walking from Admiralty to Causeway Bay, tying yellow ribbons on street railings and signposts.
She has come a long way from the cutesy teenager who captured hearts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea in the 1980s and 1990s.
Yip never set out to be a star. When she was 13, she was discovered by a talent scout while out shopping with her mum in Causeway Bay. This chance encounter set her on an unexpected and extraordinary path.
She started her journey in the entertainment industry by shooting commercials, and became the face of Vitasoy. At that time, posters featuring Yip drinking soy milk were plastered everywhere.
Still, she tried to live the normal life of a schoolgirl away from work. “I tried my best not to let it affect learning.” Yip says. “I told myself that at least I have to finish my studies till form five.” She continued to attend school, and only worked during weekends and long semester breaks. If she had to be on shoots, she brought her homework with her so she could revise when she was not needed.
But her acting career took off quicker than she could have imagined. In 1988, Yip received a phone call from a producer asking her to take a role in the Hong Kong-Japan collaboration movie, Peacock King, an action fantasy based on a Japanese manga. She was just 14 when she made her big screen debut as Ashura the Hell Virgin.
The movie turned out to be a great success both in Hong Kong and Japan after its release in 1989. Yip was named the most popular foreign female actress in Japan that year. One year later, she received the same title in Korea. Her sweet and innocent image gained her a lot of fans overseas. This opened the door to a singing career.
In 1990, Yip released her first album in Japan, becoming the third Chinese female artist to break into show business in Japan after Teresa Teng Li-chun and Agnes Chan Mei-ling. Soon, Yip’s career spanned Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
So it came as shock when she suddenly announced her retirement from show business to marry toy manufacturer and businessman Chen Pak Ho in 1995. She was just 22 and her star was ascending.
Although people were stunned, Yip says she herself had long planned to quit. “When I started my work in the entertainment business, I made myself a promise that after five years, I would stop everything and go back to school,” Yip says. “I hope I can be trying out different things in different stages of life,” she adds.
In the end, it was eight years, and Yip did not go back to school. Instead, she became a mother with the birth of her son in 1996. In the same year, she established the Hong Kong Clay Craft Academy which provides professional clay art courses, an interest which she picked up while touring in Japan. The academy eventually evolved into her workshop, Art Around, today.
“At first, I just wanted to make something cute for my kid,” she says. “But then I realised that there are not many places like this in Hong Kong to cultivate one’s mind, so my business partner and I decided to create this place.”
To the world, Yip was a successful actress and singer who had gone on to forge her own career in art. She was a young mother married to a successful and wealthy man. It seemed to be a life many might envy but it all came crashing down when Yip announced her divorce soon after the birth of her daughter in 1999.
This time Yip was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Details of her husband’s infidelity were fodder for the gossip pages. Today, all this is behind her and Yip draws a line when questioned about this period of her life. “I don’t think there is a need to mention this,” she says firmly.
After the divorce, Yip raised her two children with the help of their grandparents from both sides. “Actually, it was not so difficult, unlike what you heard from the rumours outside. To make a living and support the family is not really a problem,” Yip says. “Everything we do is for the good of the children. I don’t think the separation of the parents should affect the children.”
Although Yip does not want to be drawn on what she went through during that time, she does say she does not regret giving up her career and getting married.
“There must be a reason behind the decisions you make at the time. We can’t say the decision is good or bad, but regret is not going to change anything,” Yip says. “So I never regret anything, I move forward.”
All that life has thrown at her has shaped Yip into the independent woman she is today. She describes herself as being, “55 per cent mother and 45 per cent artist”, and those are the roles she cherishes most.
Yip never ceases to give the best to her children and teach them correct values by example. And what she values most and wants to pass to her children is perseverance. “Insist on what you do. If you want to accomplish a goal, try your best. Do not give up halfway,” she says.
Being a mother, Yip does not only care about her own children, but also the students and other young people participating in the Occupy Movement. As a result, she has become one of the most outspoken actresses on the issue. Some have even dubbed her the “Goddess of Democracy” because of her frank comments on social media.
“I do not dare to put myself up that high. But as a mother, I really worry about and care for the students,” Yip responds gently.
“I am proud of them for having their own views about society and I support them. But I would also say they may also have to bear the consequences since this is illegal,” she says earnestly.
Yip thinks students’ participation in the movement may change the general public’s view of the new generation. She says many people may think today’s young people only know how to surf the net and rarely communicate with the world. There is an established attitude towards the youth of today but she hopes that after this movement, the young people will grow and take responsibility for society.
Apart from appreciating the students’ hard work in striving for their goal, Yip also appreciates the movement as an art piece. “Art is the reflection of life,” she says. “Like the Lennon Wall, there are many heartfelt words written by students and citizens. This whole art piece is not made deliberately, but expressed naturally.”
She is constantly drawn to Admiralty to see the art there. She wants to see if there are new masterpieces and seizes the opportunity to take photos of them. “Public art will disappear once the event ends. These artworks are historical records,” she adds.
Yip‘s enthusiasm for art is not limited to the simple appreciation of others’ work. She also went back to school to study for a Master of Fine Arts and graduated in 2013. Yip relaxes visibly when talking about going back to school. She says it was a really happy experience. Having worked from such a young age, and lived a complicated life, she feels she missed some of the most simple elements of growing up, and now it is time for her to experience that.
Yip chose ceramics as her major – a discipline that requires a lot of time and patience. She says the medium is exacting and unforgiving. “The mud that is used to make ceramics has a really strong memory. So if you make some little mistakes, the ceramics will break during high-temperature heating in a kiln, and you wouldn’t notice it beforehand.”
This means control is very important when dealing with ceramics. A small change in temperature or humidity can lead to big changes in the work, so every step must be monitored carefully. But sometimes, there are things that you just cannot control.
“I admit that I’m a perfectionist.” Yip says, “I want to do everything well and I believe I can. However, for some unexpected defects, you just have to learn how to let go. Sometimes, being imperfect is also a kind of art.”
“My motto in life is persistence. Life is a learning process, every step you take is a part of learning, so don’t be afraid of failure.”
She has soared to dizzying heights and fallen hard. She has learned to build walls against gossip and innuendo. Gloria Yip has survived and found her own way of living. She is optimistic about everything, and not afraid of how people look at her. “In the end, life will find it’s own way,” she says.
Edited by Hilda Lee
