Zhang Yimou is always going to need young, pretty girls for his films. But I don't really concern myself with what Zhang Yimou's next starlet looks like.

There was one very special scene at the end of the film. My character, Zhao Di, has been sick. She wakes up and her mother tells her that the man she loves has come back from the city and had spent the day by her bedside.

Most people spend their whole lives looking for the right job. There are others who never get an opportunity to do work that fulfils them.

I've discovered that I value simplicity above all in dressing. I don't like anything I wear to be too complicated or fussy.

There's nothing in Chinese culture that is an equivalent of the geisha. It's so different, so special to Japan.

I was really interested in geishas' work, and wanted to meet real geishas.

My parents sent me to a dance class, so it was a road chosen by them, not me. But I enjoyed it so much I knew I would become a performer.