There is a Chinese saying that life begins when you are 70 years of age.
For actress Ah Pi Po (阿匹婆), this saying is a vivid illustration of her career. Beginning acting at the age of 18, she had not taken a role as a lead actress until she was 71. Now, at the age of 88, she has finally been given a Golden Horse Award (金馬獎).
The Golden Horse Executive Committee (金馬執委會) announced last week that this year's awards, which will take place in November, would give a Lifetime Achievement Award to Ah Pi Po, for her 70 years involvement in the life and times of Taiwanese filmmaking history.
The lady -- who is well known for her comic image, big glasses and expressive discussions in Taiwanese -- has finally been recognized.
When visiting Ah Pi Po in her Taoyuan eatery store, she was in a boyish, street-like outfit -- a baseball shirt and a pair of baggy sports pants, wearing big gold rings in the fingers and a big black stone on the neck. Her fingernails were long and polished in a dark red color. She gives an impression of being a black female gangster.
"I like this kind of style. It's very comfortable. As for the nails, I have to polish them otherwise they can snap very easily," Ah Pi Po said.
In director Hou Hsiao-hsien's (侯孝賢) A City of Sadness (悲情城市), she played n well-respected gangster woman who prevented two groups of badboys from killing each other. Jack Kao (高捷), lead actor of the movie, remembers well her practiced acting and fluent speeches.
"She totally improvised her lines and did a take in one go. Her gangster manner looked so natural and I was very impressed," Kao said.
Ah Pi Po's career stretched through the silent film era under the Japanese occupation; the Taiwanese-language film period in the 1960s; and the martial arts movies era in the 1970s. After that she acted mostly in TV dramas. Most of her roles throughout the years were supporting roles or comic characters. But this never diminished her attitude towards work.
"I was always the earliest one going to the studio. I often scolded the director for being late. I was the only actor who could scold him," she said.
Ah Pi Po is illiterate. Before shooting she always has someone read the script to her. And she can remember the lines in just one reading, she said.
"I have to remember it [the script] at once. I cannot read and it's embarrassing to waste other people's time," she said.
Her comic sense and acting skills were honed in the Black Cat Variety Show Troupe (黑貓歌舞團), a Taiwan version of a soul sisters group, that was set up in the 1930s. In the troupe she toured the island doing stand-up comedies, singing and dancing, and stage dramas.
She was then introduced to work in black-and-white films, where she met her late husband Lin Yi-ching (林一清), who worked as an action choreographer for films. The two worked together in a few martial arts films.
It wasn't until 1987, on Chinese Television Company (中視, CTV), that she became the leading lady in a TV series. The series created the household name Ah Pi Po (meaning "old lady Ah Pi" in the Taiwanese language), as well as the comic character of an old lady. The first series, Ah Pi Po Marrying Her Daughter, was so popular that there were series such as Ah Pi Po Going to School and Ah Pi Po Visiting Her Relatives in China.
It was around this time that Ah Pi Po began developing her gangster look on screen, wearing men's suits, sunglasses and straw hats. "I don't mind being a clown in a film or TV. I like roles with grassroots feelings and outfits. Wearing a skirt just makes me uneasy," she said.
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