This is the 44th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades. Faye Wong reigned supreme as Hong Kong’s diva of the 1990s. Her distinctive voice, artistic integrity, aversion to celebrity and unique style cemented her status.. While many will recognise her from her cover of The Cranberries’ track “Dreams” or her vocals on “Eyes on Me” (the theme song for the video game Final Fantasy VIII), her breakthrough came with her fourth studio album, Coming Home (1992). Before this, the Beijing-born Wong had modelled and placed third in a singing competition, which led to a contract with record label Cinepoly. There, she studied under Tai See-chung, who mentored Cantopop superstars such as Anita Mui Yim-fong, Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, Andy Lau Tak-wah and Leon Lai Ming. Initially, her birth name, Wang Fei, was deemed too mainland Chinese for Hong Kong audiences, so her label rebranded her Shirley Wong, or Wong Ching-man. But after her first three albums achieved only modest success, she was sent to New York for vocal training and cultural immersion. It was there that Wong truly discovered herself. “I wandered around, visited museums and sat at cafes,” she later explained. “There were so many strange, confident-looking people. They didn’t care what other people thought of them. “I felt I was originally like that too, independent and a little rebellious. But in Hong Kong I lost myself. “I was shaped by others and became like a machine, a dress hanger. I had no personality and no sense of direction.” It was this realisation that led to her becoming the idol she is today, a performer who transitioned from Cantopop love ballads to composing alternative tunes for her own albums. The TV series Greed of Man was Hong Kong broadcaster TVB’s big-budget show of 1992 and is still lauded as one of its best dramas. Wong’s Vulnerable Woman was the song played when the heroine tragically died and it immortalised the scene in the hearts of many. The 1993 album 100,000 Whys saw Wong come into her own. Shedding her stage name Shirley, Wong went back to using her given name, Wang Fei, in Chinese and changed her English name to Faye. The album brought grunge music to the Hong Kong public’s consciousness as well as adopting other bold style experiments of the time. “Summer of Love” was a small step away from the ballads she was known for, and appealed to her younger fans. To some, Wong’s decision to make the cover of her 1994 album Random Thoughts white with the title embossed in cream came to feel as pivotal as The Beatles’ White Album. It marked Wong’s first move into alternative rock, and included her covers of two songs by the Scottish rock group Cocteau Twins. Among the songs on the album is “Pledge”, the first one she wrote with her then partner and eventual husband Dou Wei, and the first original Mandarin song to feature on her track list. Wong’s cover of The Cranberries’ “Dream” was a landmark moment in Cantopop because of the fact that she adopted lead singer Dolores O’Riordan’s vocal style of keening and yodelling thereafter. The song featured on the soundtrack to Wong Kar-wai’s acclaimed 1994 film Chungking Express, in which Wong appeared. It catapulted her into the international spotlight. Wong’s 1995 album Di-Dar was described by music journalist Fung Lai-chee as “the best psychedelic and bestselling avant-garde work in Cantopop, with songs that are self-centred, ignoring [the] market and others’ work”. Lovers & Strangers became one of her bestselling albums, and after its release in 1999 Guinness World Records declared Wong the bestselling female Cantopop artist of all time. The album marked the start of moves by Wong to release more songs in Mandarin, her mother tongue, and make the Hong Kong market less of a priority. While she was busy with her music career, Wong was also making a name as an actress. Early in her career, Wong had appeared in well-known Hong Kong-made television dramas such as The Legendary Ranger and File of Justice II. However, after establishing herself as a pop diva she stepped away from television. It was not until 2001 that she was invited to Japan to star in the Japanese drama Uso Koi, becoming the first Chinese actress to play the lead role in a Japanese TV series. In film, Wong is best known for her roles in Wong Kar-wai productions including Chungking Express and 2046, both of which he directed, and the comedy Chinese Odyssey 2002, produced by the filmmaker, for which she received a best actress nomination in the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards and was named best actress in the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards. Wong Kar-wai has repeatedly praised her acting skills, calling her a “natural-born actress”. “With just a few movements in front of the camera, the entire scene comes to life,” the director said in a 2010 interview. “No one can replace Faye. It’s truly a pity that she doesn’t act any more.” As for her personal life, Wong first hinted to the media in 1993 that she enjoyed an intimate relationship with the musician Dou Wei, saying: “I can say that we are indeed very close now.” A love triangle developed between Dou, Wong and Jiang Xin, Dou’s first love. In September 1994, Jiang announced she had split up with Dou. Asked if Wong was the other woman whose presence had triggered this, Jiang said: “If it weren’t Faye Wong, it would have been someone else.” In July 1996, with Wong pregnant, she and Dou married. On January 3, 1997, Wong gave birth to their daughter, Dou Jingtong, who would grow up to become alternative rock artist Leah Dou. In early March 1999, Dou was spotted dining with Gao Yuan, a photographer he met on an album cover shoot in 1994, at a restaurant in Tokyo. When Hong Kong paparazzi questioned him about her identity, Dou replied: “Her name is Gao Yuan, and she is my lover.” On March 25 of that year, Wong went to a lawyer’s office and unilaterally signed a separation agreement. Five months later she and Dou divorced, with custody of Leah granted to Wong. In March 2000, Wong was photographed getting intimate with actor-singer Nicholas Tse Ting-fung, 11 years her junior, at a bar. The pictures sparked talk of a “sister-brother romance” – derogatory Cantonese slang for a relationship in which the woman is older than the man – although both denied it at first. In June 2000, Wong and Tse publicly confirmed their relationship when they were pictured holding hands as they left actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s In the Mood for Love celebration party. Things had become messy for the couple by 2003, with Tse involved in a car accident and beginning an association with actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, who went on to marry him in 2006. They divorced in 2011. Around the same time, and while recording an album in Beijing, Wong began associating with actor Li Yapeng, who she would marry in 2005. I wanted a family, but you were destined to be a legend. Actor Li Yapeng after he and Faye Wong divorced in 2013 After her marriage, she stepped away from the limelight. In 2006, Wong gave birth to her second daughter, Li Yan, at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. On September 13, 2013, Wong announced her divorce from Li on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, now X, in a post that read: “This lifetime, our marital fate ends here. I am fine, and I hope you take care.” Li then released a statement saying: “I wanted a family, but you were destined to be a legend.” It was reported that Wong and Tse crossed paths again in 2014 and rekindled their romance. The two made public appearances together in 2017 but did not comment on their relationship. In an interview in 2019, Tse confessed that he had been in love with Wong for over 20 years. The couple have been extremely private about their relationship but by all accounts are still going strong. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook