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Originally, Qin Yi had a big family. When the Japanese occupation occurred, they all split up and they moved into the international section for safety — the former government was powerless. It was like every country in the world had a concession in Shanghai. The first time she met Jin Yan was in Chongqing. They married in 1947. During the Cultural Revolution, she had difficulties like everyone. In 1947, there was a split between the Nationalists and the Communists — everyone knew that there was going to be a civil war sooner or later. After the liberation, Jin Yan did not express his artistic talents. His weak point was that he liked to drink. Sometimes, when he would get drunk, he would forget what he had done. The interview also tackles Qin's political activism, relationship with friends, Chinese cinema and feelings for her family.

In the 1930s, Lianhua studios had the money to make films and had the finest talent in world cinema. Sun Yu, although ill, decided to begin filming Yecao Xianhua (Wild Flower), which he had written, with Jin Yan and Ruan Ling-yu in mind for the leads. The two emerging actors started both a successful professional relationship and a warm close friendship on the set. Wild Flower was extremely important in establishing Jin as a leading man, and he together with Ruan, began a series of box-office hits. Lianhua took advantage of his success. 1931 and 1932 were stellar years for Lianhua and its founders were proven to be correct in continuing to make silent cinema. His popularity was enhanced when the newspaper The Sound of Cinema launched a poll so readers could elect a “Movie Emperor”. Jin Yan was elected in a runaway race.

One month after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Jin Yan and his wife Wang Renmei and the cream of Shanghai's actors appeared in a stage production called “Defending the Lu Gou Bridge”. The play was a sensation in Shanghai and was part of a concerted effort by the inhabitants of the city to demonstrate their hatred of the Japanese invasion. After that, shooting films in Chongqing was a challenge. From 1940 to 1945, only twenty features were produced and these were of poor quality. Production was hindered by the huge bureaucracy, poorly educated censors, and little financial help from the government. After the war, Jin Yan wondered whether he could resume his career as the “Emperor” of film or if he would be forgotten in the turmoil of post-war developments.

Political activism against the government seemed no longer necessary. The first year of the People's Republic of China was very successful. But Jin was no longer valued as a movie icon. Qin Yi, on the other hand, kept getting chosen for many film roles and soon became one of China's most popular stars. The couple often was so busy and many times in two different places that they did not see one another for weeks at a time. When Qin finally learned about Jin's infidelity, she was pregnant with their second child. The couple decided to sleep in separate rooms. Jin, by the close of 1958, was just too tired to work in any more films. In 1962, he had his stomach removed. He never recovered his health. For a decade, the old Rudolph Valentino of Shanghai had been sick and alone. He died on December 27, 1983 at the age of 73.

Jin and his lover Wang Renmei married at Lianhua's 1934 New Year's party. The battle with the censors continued. Director Sun Yu was determined to make an anti-Japanese film and still get it by the KMT censors. The Big Road is considered one of the top hundred Chinese films of all time. Jin's performance and Sun's direction gave both added stature to their reputation. ther pressures added to their already harried life. While the newly married couple was in Nanjing, they learned about the suicide of their acting colleague, Ruan Ling-yu. Political changes would soon make the lives of Jin and his colleagues even more perilous. The United States and European countries were impressed with the new wave of national unity. The Japanese however, read into the move as an obstruction to their “peaceful advance” into China. Militarists in Tokyo began to press for direct action.

On March 8, 1927, the seventeen-year-old Jin Yan arrived at Shanghai, the “Hollywood of Asia”. He made his way to the offices of the Minxin Film Company (China Sun Film Company). Jin introduced himself to Hou Yao, the writer and director of one of Shanghai's biggest hits of 1927. Jin's destiny would be linked forever with the film company. Meanwhile, the leader of the Society was playwright and left-wing activist Tian Han. It was he who became Jin's second mentor and the most important political influence of his life. Tian Han was directing one of his plays in early 1928 when the lead actor failed to show up. Then, Jin's big break came. He asked Jin to step in at the last minute and play the male protagonist. That was the beginning of his acting career both on the stage and on film.

Jin Yan returned to a city throttled by the KMT. He discovered that the party had taken over all of the film studios in Shanghai right after the war. Most left-wing movie people left for Hong Kong when it was obvious that they could not produce progressive films. The KMT also appropriated more than 200 companies from broadcasting stations to shipping companies with no compensation given to the original owners. Government monopolies ran almost every major area of enterprise. Jin had hope of returning to the activism of the past. Jin sought out his friends who had returned. He shared a flat with Liu Qiong. Later, Liu introduced Jin to actress Qin Yi. Despite the repressive political atmosphere, their romance bloomed. Jin and Qin were married in 1947. On October 1, 1949 Mao officially proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China.

After being erased from memory during the Cultural Revolution, the so-called “Emperor of Film”, Jin Yan, reemerged in the main gallery of the National Film Museum to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chinese film in 2005. Jin Yan's life spanned the most turbulent period in modern Chinese history. Born in Korea during the Japanese occupation, he was taken as a child to China for safety. His story through the years enabled him to survive under the corrupt Republican government of the Guomindang (KMT), the Japanese aggression against Shanghai, World War II, the Chinese Civil War, the victory of the Communists (CCP), the Cultural Revolution and the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms. Back then, the memory of his childhood and the struggles of the Korean people against their Japanese overlords were to influence him and his career for the rest of his life.