Those from poor backgrounds would work the fields or help out in small family shops. Those born to wealthy families would live lives of leisure - and dependence.

"Decent" women were taught to hide themselves, to veil themselves in modesty. It was unthinkable that they should advertise their talents and push themselves into the limelight in search of a career.

But with the age of the cinema in 1920s Shanghai, came a generation of new women who broke the mould.

Women like film stars Hu Die and Ruan Lingyu who rose to unprecedented fame in the movies. Before them, the only "profession" open to women was prostitution. Now, for the first time, pretty, intelligent young women established themselves in good jobs that had no relation to either the bedroom or the kitchen.

The story goes that one day in the 1920s, a young girl visited the Forbidden City in Beijing with her father. When they approached the throne in the ancient palace, the girl suddenly pulled her hand free from her father's grip and scrambled up onto the throne declaring: "If I can't become an emperor in the future, I will become the queen."

The girl was Hu Die and her prophetic words were fulfilled in 1933 when she was crowned China's first "Film Queen." She was 25 that year.

But film stars in old Shanghai were targets both for admiration and attack. On the silver screen, they acted out stories of life and death, tears and laughter, unification and separation. And their personal lives were full of similar trials.

Just two years after Hu Die was crowned, her close friend, actress Ruan Lingyu, committed suicide. She died on March 8, 1933, International Women's Day, after vicious gossip-mongering in local tabloids drove her to take her own life. Ruan was just 25 years old when she died.

Hu was not able to escape suffering either. She had a loving husband but Kuomintang secret intelligence boss Dai Li forced her to become his mistress in 1944. He threatened harm to her family unless she succumbed to his will and she was unable to escape his clutches for two years. But in 1946, Dai died in an air crash.

On screen, these stars portrayed new women who worked and were independent in mind and finances.

Before 1920, around 20 short movies were made in Shanghai and Hong Kong. All the performers were male with even the female roles taken by men in drag.

In 1921, China's first actresses made it into film. During the 1920s, Shanghai's 90 film companies produced some 600 films. And about 100 actresses shot to fame in the booming industry, China's first generation of women film stars.

It took great courage for these early actresses to go out to work, "exposing" themselves to the public.

They had to bear constant criticism and were labelled "prostitutes."

Many of these actresses were actually very well educated. Both Hu and Ruan went to prestigious schools. In fact only two of the famous actresses formerly worked in brothels.

One was Wang Caiyun. By the time she became famous, she had already stopped working as a prostitute and married the son of a rich businessman. Wang's husband was a friend of a film maker who was looking for a talented actress. Wang was chosen for her ability to give gritty, real-life performances.

The other was Fan Jingxuan, one of the first four actresses to succeed in film. She wrote an article in 1956 in which she revealed she had been forced into the "pit of fire" due to poverty when she was young. Fan had studied Peking Opera since she was nine years old and was a natural at acting. A director named Zhang Shichuan discovered Fan and helped her out of prostitution.

This first generation of actresses were positive new role models for young women. It was they who paved the way for the much improved status that Shanghai women enjoy today.

(By Joshua Shi)