Lucélia Santos shakes her head and laughs as if, even in the present day, she’s nonetheless making an attempt to understand the sheer numbers. However when the Brazilian actress landed in Beijing again in 1985, it was as a result of greater than 300 million folks had voted for her within the annual China TV Golden Eagle Awards.
What’s extra, the collection Santos had starred in — Escrava Isaura (Isaura: Slave Woman) — had develop into a cultural sensation within the nation at a time when watching TV was nonetheless very a lot a communal expertise, with greater than 450 million viewers tuning in every week.
“I was, to be honest, shocked by such a response,” Santos says. “It’s something that I knew I would cherish for the rest of my life but in terms of all the emotion, I just couldn’t really digest it at the time. It wasn’t until I was making a transit out of Hong Kong that I could stop and think about it, and let my emotions settle down.”
Santos has been again in China this previous week as a part of a wholesome Brazilian contingent attending each the Shanghai International Movie Pageant and the Shanghai Worldwide Movie & TV Market. There have been screenings of Brazilian classics — Oscar-nominated Central Station (1998) and Hour of the Star (1985) amongst them — in a Focus Brazil part, a celebration of the 2 nations designating 2026 the “China-Brazil Year of Culture,” commemorating over 75 years of diplomatic relations.
There’s been an enormous push for Brazilian content material because the South American nation tries to open pathways into international markets.
Slave Woman featured Santos within the titular function and adopted her on a regular basis struggles within the Brazilian Empire of the 1800s. It ran to greater than 100 episodes and, by its finish, had screened in an estimated 80 nations.
At a time when China was nonetheless lower than a decade into its reform, the present first aired on Beijing Tv in 1984, however because of its speedy recognition it quickly reached a nationwide viewers on China Central Tv.
“I think people can recognize the contrast between the people who are oppressed and those who oppress,” says Santos. “Generally speaking, people of different backgrounds, of cultures and nationality, they certainly share this. From this leading character [in Slave Girl] and from her experiences, people recognized the sufferings between those who have power and those who don’t, and I think that resonated well with audiences from across the world.”
When Santos first arrived in China, the Golden Eagle Awards had solely been held thrice — and by no means earlier than had an award been handed to a overseas actress. However such was Santos’ recognition that organizers created one particularly for her.
“Before I came to China, I had almost zero knowledge of this country,” she says. “The two countries were different then in so many ways. Back then, I remember it was a quite a horizontal or flat country without so many skyscrapers and all these high-rises. In terms of the clothes that people are wearing, it was all quite unified. The color was pretty much blue everywhere and that speaks to all the differences we had back then visually and also aesthetically and culturally.”
Santos later used her recognition in China to assist develop cultural and commerce hyperlinks between the 2 nations, and in 2004 was handed the Jewel of China medal for her work. She says that, even in the present day, fellow Brazilians discover it arduous to understand how standard she was — and is — on the opposite aspect of the world. Nonetheless, Santos finds it simple to return to her regular life.
“I’m a simple soul and that means my lifestyle is straightforward,” says Santos. “It is really hard for me to be swept away by fantasies of being a superstar. My father was a worker and I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon. I remember the importance of work, and it’s really hard for me to be mesmerized by this notion of being a superstar. I’m always down to earth so it’s actually quite easy for me to return to my normal lifestyle. I still do the household chores in my family so, you know, life is kept simple.”
