‘First-class’ veteran Chinese actor Pu Cunxin puts his 40-year career to paper in new autobiography, aims to help young actors navigate the industry

For his new autobiography, veteran Chinese stage and screen actor Pu Cunxin literally penned the book. “I’m quite dumb. I don’t even know how to work a computer, let alone smartphones,” says the 70-year-old, referring to the fact he wrote Me and My Roles by hand. Some of the manuscripts are featured in the book as inserts. Even so, it took only nine months from starting work on it in October 2022 for Pu’s autobiography to hit the shelves in mainland China. Published a month before his 70th birthday, it charts his illustrious career of over 40 years in theatre, film and television. In December, a version of the book in traditional Chinese was released by the Hong Kong-based Joint Publishing company. Although humble about his inability to write using modern technology, Pu says he was not short of inspiration when it came to putting to pen to paper. He says his seniority in the performing arts field was one of the main reasons he decided to write the book. How Gillian Chung has risen above the Edison Chen photo scandal to thrive “Life experiences are very important at my age. In the time that I have left in this life, what can I leave for the youth of future generations?” Pu found the answer in documenting his life and experiences for future actors. “I’ve always let the role take me over. I’m the kind of actor who hides behind a character. It’s not me, but it’s also me.” One of mainland China’s state-approved “first-class actors”, Beijing-born Pu has dedicated most of his life to acting and the dramatic arts. He has chaired the China Theatre Association since 2015 and has been a vice-chairman of the China Film Association and of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. His roles over the years have included various characters in the mainland Chinese adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet; Liang Shanbo in The Butterfly Lovers; late Qing dynasty writer Lu Xun; and Tianjin-born monk and artist Hong Yi (born Li Shutong), for both the big screen and theatre. As long as someone is a big actor, even small roles can become interesting Pu Cunxin Among the many characters he has played, there is one that he says is the most meaningful to him. In 1991, Pu, aged 38, played the title role in Li Bai, directed by his actor-director father Su Min (original name Pu Sixun). Li Bai (701-762) was one of the Tang dynasty’s greatest poets and is one of the most well-known literary figures in Chinese history. The popular production ran for the next 30 years – a total of 237 shows – at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, where Pu is vice-chairman, a title once held by his father. “Every Chinese person has a ‘Li Bai’ in their heart,” he explains. “It’s a kind of cool yet free-spirited way of expression.” Although he has played many title roles in his life, Pu believes that “there are no small roles, only small actors”. “As long as someone is a big actor, even small roles can become interesting,” he says. Pu was in Hong Kong this month for a seminar organised by Sino United Publishing, a locally based mainland-Chinese-owned enterprise, at the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District. The event was part of its MyBookOne Club lecture series to promote “Hong Kong Reading for All Day”, an annual event to be launched this year on April 23 by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s Hong Kong Public Libraries service to encourage reading. Me and My Roles, Pu’s third book, revolves around his explorations of past characters he has played as he reflects on the relationship between an actor and his characters, as well as his journey in the discipline of performing arts. The book also contains a successful actor’s perspective on how mainland China’s entertainment industry has developed in recent decades. “A lot of people have written books and I’ve read a lot of them,” Pu says. “Now I’m writing one too, but it’s only a drop of water in a vast ocean.” He thinks books hold a different value compared with his acting work. “Words can enrich our understanding of the world … When we read, it brings out something from deep inside of us,” he says. “I’m an actor working in the art of language and the language of art. Depicting this is vital to me.”