Four Dan actresses


The Four Dan actresses are the four most bankable actresses in China. Guangzhou Daily first used the term to reference Zhang Ziyi, Zhao Wei, Zhou Xun, and Xu Jinglei in July 2000, when they were all in their 20s. It gained widespread use in China following a series of interviews with them by Southern Metropolis Daily from December 2001 to January 2002. The media have made repeated efforts to elect the "New Four Dan actresses" thereafter, but the acceptance and recognition of these new lists have not matched that of the original Four Dan actresses.
Originally, a dan was a male actor who portrayed a leading female character in Peking opera. The term "Four Dan" was first coined in the 1920s to refer to four popular dan actors: Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun, and Xun Huisheng.

The Four Dan actresses

Li Bingbing, graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Fan Bingbing, graduate of the Shanghai Xie Jin-Hengtong School of Arts, gained fame soon after the quartet in the early 2000s. They were sometimes mentioned together as "Four Dan and Two Bing". Shu Qi, a Taiwanese actress who gained fame in the late 1990s, and Tang Wei, a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama who gained fame through Lust, Caution, were sometimes mentioned together as "Four Dan Two Bing One Shu One Tang".

New Four Dan actresses and '85 flowers

From 2005, the media have made repeated efforts to elect "New Four Dan actresses".
2009 version by Tencent:
2013 version by Southern Metropolis Entertainment Weekly:
The four actresses from the 2013 version were all born after 1985. Along with three other actresses who were born around 1985– Tiffany Tang, a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama, Zhao Liying and Liu Yifei –they are now usually known together as the '85 flowers.

New Four Dan actresses of the "post-'90s" generation

In August 2016, Southern Metropolis Daily conducted a survey among 173 million netizens and 110 professional media and industry insiders. After a series of voting, four actresses who were born after 1990 were picked.

New Four Dan actresses of the "post-'95s" generation

Since 2018, the media have made efforts to elect "New Four Dan actresses" among those were born after 1995.
2018 version by Sohu Entertainment:
2019 version by CCTV-6:
2022 version by Sina Entertainment:

Similar titles

The Chinese media have made similar efforts to elect the "Four Sheng actors", but the acceptance and recognition of these lists have not matched that of the Four Dan actresses. The most popular version of the "Four Sheng actors" includes Chen Kun, Deng Chao, Liu Ye, and Huang Xiaoming, who are now known in Chinese as "Four Middle Sheng actors".
In addition, in the early 1990s, Hong Kong's most popular male stars were collectively referred to as the "Four Heavenly Kings". Later, Taiwan also introduced four male idols labelled "Four Younger Heavenly Kings".