I want to agree with Mossimo here, in his first post. I'm uncomfortable about us building up a mythology about a 'horrible childhood' for Mui, based on what she said in a few interviews. It's said we should "cultivate non-attachment", and OUR idea of Mui's unhappy childhood is one good example of what not to become too attached to. (Another example of what not to become too attached to is the tearful 'last song' of the CML concert.) This is for our own sanity and benefit, more than hers.

First, 'inferiority complex' is not something real, like 'sprained ankle' or 'bird flu', it's just psychological jargon, somewhat obsolete, that people use out of convenience, to describe a condition of a particular person at a particular time, but each person and each time could be vastly different in nature and cause, Second, Mui is humble and doesn't like to brag, and she, like most celebrities, is always aware of the effect her words will have on her younger fans and wants to be responsible. The last thing she would say is "Well, I didn't go to school much, didn't get a degree, and I can still buy whatever I want, I have lots of friends and my phone is always ringing. Do what I do and you can succeed too."

I guess I want to look for all the positive things in her life, if only to ward off our 'karmic retribution' in the form of a really extreme melodramatic film of Anita Mui's life, based on the mythological 'bad childhood' blown up to ridiculous, tabloid extreme proportions, just to make a more sensational movie. You know it could happen! (I'll censor his name---W*** J***)haha! I remember seeing, in 1973, I think, a film of the life story of one of our legendary singers, Billie Holiday, played by Diana Ross. (called "Lady Sings the Blues"); the scene I remember most, of her first job singing in a night club, the patrons would fold dollar bills lengthwise on the edge of the table, she would have to lift her skirt and pick up these tips in her crotch! Now this is an unhappy childhood!

Did Anita's mom beat her for not earning enough tips? I don't think so... On the other hand the fact of earning money to support one's family is so therapeutic, such good karma, just the opposite of most spoiled brats. Being a spoiled brat is an unhappy childhood that is REALLY hard to recover from. So a few people called her a drug addict; but how much better is that than being called a drug addict when you ACTUALLY ARE a drug addict? Many of our pop stars are, going to jail, rehab, etc. She had a troublesome stepfather, but she provided herself with a weapon, thereby protecting herself and her sister from a much worse fate, by her own heroic action. How lucky is that outcome? She had her sister, by all accounts a real treasure, working with her, and her dogs for friends.

And she was fortunate in that her mom apparently was talented herself, and was competent enough to conduct the 'school for the arts (?)' I would be interested in hearing more about this school. Exactly what was Anita's mom's role in this? How common was it for a woman in that time to run such a school, what was taught, how many students, what was the atmosphere, was Mui's mom beautiful? Many questions. If you were a bird, or butterfly, watching Mui's family in 1962-63, before Anita was born, what would you see?

It's late and I wrote this fast, so I hope I haven't annoyed anyone. By the way, nothing has impressed me as much as the photos of the Big Buddha, especially the third, back view, which shows the scale of this creation. Wow!

Hi all!

Amazing!!!

Well, there might be a point, in that inferiority complex is a psychology jargon..but then jargon do exists in health sciences esp medicine, psychology, nursing, veterinary science etc., if anyone is in any of these fields should know.

Being humble n having low/no self-confidence is totally different. We, as the public do not know her that well. As a Superstar, she had to take care of her image n be careful of what she says. Anita is not only a Superstar, shes one of the older generation. If she slips by one step, shell fall harder than her younger compatriots. What Im saying is she should be proud of her roots not telling everyone that she became successful by not studying, success came because she worked hard n she put her mind to it.


Young minds are very impressionable esp when you do not have much security n at a vulnerable age. Everyone perceive their childhood differently, it may seem alright on the outlook, having a mom n sister to fall back on, not being forced to do illegal work but the pressure, stress may build up on her...did BillieH n Anita have the same similarity in personality, character, strength? We wouldnt know..therapeutic to earn money to help the money? At such a young age? N w/such a demanding job? If she came out to work when she was a teen/kid, she sure wasnt thinking of good Karma n that she would be blessed in her next life.

Yea..she provided herself w/a weapon, but the fear is actually still there.[lets say you get mugged by someone n eventhough you defended yourself,you still feel shaky n scared after the experience] Imagine she has to go through that every night/until she trusted her step-father. Heroic? Should be street-smart.

Anita loved dogs, yea, they are good companionship n they love you unconditionally but they are not the people she wants acceptance from.

I'm totally agree with you, Dana. How can a little child think about 'Karma' ? And the pressure and the stress are more hard for a little child, sure her mother gave her a lot of pressure for making her a perfect singer. And at the time that Mui was a little singer, being singer is not a popular job, people looked down to singers, you can imagine how scary it was for Mui.

Being a 'spoiled brat' is an unhappy childhood but at least, the child can go out, can spend money, don't have to work, can play like other children.

The words 'drug addict' is very painful to hear when you are not, in Mui's case, like she said, she may not say anything back, she needs to keep everything inside. And don't forget, Mui is not a man, girls like beauty and being loved.
You can think about it, when we didn't do anything wrong but someone blame on you, you would be also very unhappy.

This discussion will never have an end as we will never have an answer from Mui herself. But some true facts just can't be brushed aside as they never have happened, only because we do not want to believe.

What I feel is that a child, deprived of education and companionship and parental care and love when she had to support the whole family in such a young age as Mui, and when the general economic condition of the society (HK in 1960s) was not in such a disastrous situation as in the time of David Copperfield, is most unfortunate, and deserves our compassion. Whether such a person will have inferior complex and forever lives in the shadow of such a unpleasant childhood all depends on the person herself, the social environment she later lives in, and the family support she gets from.

I agreed to what Mossimo mentioned "From past articles & interviews,can be read that her inferior complex was that she felt that she did not have a proper education,she knew about nothing else except singing. She probably felt out of place as everyone had some form of education."

Most of us concluded that Mui has inferior complex is because she herself said she only found herself and her confidence on the stage. She is almost a perfect person at least in my opinion, why should she lack confidence in her real life? It is because she felt she was inferior or inadequate, compared to others, in real life.

In her circle, many people took advantage of her generosity, had free meals, borrowed money from her without returning. Due to childhood without friends, she desperately wanted to have friends. Since she made plenty of money, she didn't mind to spend money in order to have big group of people keeping her companion. But were these real friends? She herself mentioned the entertainment circle was most practical and cruel, if she was not so generous to them, would she still have such a big group around her? Only she herself knew better.

I feel one thing hurt her most is the lacking of family support, instead of helping her when she had to fight all by herself in the entertainment circle where even man might have difficulty to survive all by himself, the most heartbroken thing was that one of her family members even cheated on her, and she had the impression that her parent only cared about her money instead of her as a daughter. The hurt and disappointment one suffers most is the hurt caused by those one loves most. Also her family made her feel inferior too. I think people generally upgrade themselves with improvement in their financial condition, but her family might bring her embarrassment and disgrace often all the time.

Mui was grateful to her parent, and she knew her success should partly be attributed to her mother too, otherwise she would not take up the heavy responsibility to support her mother all by herself. But it doesn't mean she would like to trade her success in singing with her schooling if she had a choice. Don't forget she always just wanted to have a simple, humble life, being a little woman with her own family of a husband and kids.

True being an idol , the last thing she would say is "Well, I didn't go to school much, didn't get a degree, and I can still buy whatever I want, I have lots of friends and my phone is always ringing. Do what I do and you can succeed too." (quoted from FB). But from the expression, the reluctance in her tone, or the way she spoke in numerous interviews, you can feel that she really felt regret and ashamed that she didn't have a proper schooling. And she sincerely wished all her fans to study more if they had a chance, because she believed that after they had proper schooling they might have more choice for their jobs, (though we all know the true fact might not be as ideal as she thought, with a paper one can always be more competitive, and will have more self confidence.)

Anyhow, I think we should always remember one of the positive messages Mui tried to bring us: if we have a chance we should try to enhance ourselves, so that we will have more survival skill and more confidence in ourselves. As for Mui herself, I think Fate didn't treat her too well, and just as Grandma said "Fate decided otherwise."

....................................

P.P. By your message, I can see that your English is very good, even better than mine. Also I know you are a new fan, if you are seriously interested in Mui, and want to know more things about her, I advice you to use the dictionary to find all those words you don't know. Please don't count on me, because if you are waiting for my translation for the above messages, it will be more difficult than for you to win Mark Six. Also I never translate messages left my fans. Sorry about that!

Dana, Angel and Woodstock, very well said and analysed. I can't agree more.

Woodstock brings out an important point about the general economic condition in the 60's. Actually during late 60's and the whole of 70's, Hong Kong was at the peak of the industry boom (it was not Dicken's time), it was easy for an 'adult' to find a job to support a family. It was not a necessity for a 'child' to support her family the other way round. The society and the family have an obligation to protect the children, to provide education etc. To ensure children have proper education, at that time the government provided 9-year 'free' education to all children in HK (under the age of 15). 9-year means 6 years primary schooling and 3 years secondary's. Mui quitted school after first year in secondary school, meaning that she had been deprived of her right to receive formal free education. If I were her, I would also ask the same question 'Why me?'

Grandma, don't you know how many years of her elder
brother older than she? When she was a child, he was
already an adult.

P.P.: Yes, I know that. You summarised my message in one sentence. Thank you.

Hi all!

Thank you, Woodstock n grandma for your define explanations esp the section abt the economic situation in the 60s.

Everyone of us always ask why me? There's never one
person in this world who have never thought that the
grass is greener on the other side..looking at the brighter side, fate was not entirely cruel to her, though. Anita had success w/her singing n acting, she build up a respectable image n she managed to be level-headed even though she was a Superstar. These are all admirable qualities.

Life is not controlled by only one aspect of the world, I supposed, everything comes together.

This discussion has been interesting n knowlegeable, no doubt, we have our differences but anything related to Anita should be worthwhile. Thanks to Woodstock, grandma, Mossimo, June, Angel, FB n all silent readers.
My apologies for any offensive remarks on my part.

Hi! P.P., You could try out this 'popular toy':
http://world.altavista.com
while reading along. Goodluck!

Basically I agree with Mossimo.
I am not academic or intellectual. I do not know in details about the economic and social situation in Hong Kong in the 60s and 70s. However, I do know that at least some Hong Kong stars who did not have normal childhood and proper schooling. For example, Chan Po Chu and Siao Fong Fong were famous child stars and dominated cinema industry in HK in the 60’s. They made about 500 films from the middle of 50s to the end of 60s. I do not think they went to a school to study. They must have studied by themselves and/or with a tutor because they went to study abroad in the 70s. They did not have normal childhood, either. Probably their families depended on their income more or less. I do not know if they talked about their childhood. I imagined that they had at least a support from their families. And the time is different from Anita’s.

Jackie Chan did not have normal childhood and proper schooling. He joined a Chinese opera institute at seven for 10 years. It was not his will to do but his parents’. He did not study as much as it should be but trained Chinese opera all day long. It is said that he cannot read very well. I do not know if it is true. The action director, Ching Siu Tung (HERO, THE HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGER) had a similar childhood as Jackie and he cannot read at all. Of course they are boys and had ‘brothers.’

When I think about Anita’s life, especially her childhood, I try to understand it from many angles. As a celebrity, she was reminded her childhood constantly by interviews and had a strong responsibility to stress the importance of study. That is I give her a credit. She did not have proper education but she studied herself very hard and accomplished a lot. All her hardship, inferiority complex, and insecure feelings made her excel her profession, at the same time, improve and approachable as a person.

But I think society and people in past were cruel to her because she was a singer at night clubs and restaurants. Like Angel wrote that people tend to look down those artistes such as singers and dancers. They and media said that Anita had a tattoo and abortions, and that was a drug addict with no reasons. They just amused that she would have been bad like a street girl because she used be a singer to earn money. Like Grandma wrote, those rumors, gossips and misunderstandings gave her damage and this kind of scar never goes away. Also she did not have family support, decent friendship and affection except from her elder sister. Those maybe make her insecure to love and to be loved.

She said that she had a crash to her tutor. Dose that mean after she left school, she had a tutor? Or was he her teacher at a school?

hmm..for the other celebrities as above, do they have inferior complex, too, w/the lack of proper education? I wonder. Is lack of education the primary source for Anita's inferior complex? Is it?

When Anita stepped down in 1991, from then on, was that considered a 2nd chance from fate for her to start a new beginning, yea? She was only 28, doesnt need family support, financially stable. Should she have taken up that much needed education to overcome her inferior complex? She was not illiterate, had read more n knew what was her major weakness. Instead she returned to the entertainment industry. And she did say she has no regrets for making that decision.

Can anyone give me an explanation? Woodstock? grandma? Mossimo? Angel? June? FB? AT? any dear readers?

Dana, Chan Po Chu and Siao Fong Fong were famous child stars, it's very different than Mui, because Mui was not famous as little singer. I don't know they have inferior complex, but I don't think so because they have a lot of fans when they were a child and they were 'movie' child stars, from the big screen, not like Mui, singing in Lai Yuen, an amusement park. Mui mentioned when she was little singer and wearing the singing dress for going to perform, people looked at her with strange eyes ? And we don't know how many times, Mui had to face these 'strange eyes' in her childhood...
I don't think lack of education is the primary source
for Anita's inferior complex, I think it's family support and love. And I think no matter how old you are, without love and concern, nobody can survive.

Woodstock, I can not open 'http://archives.mui-mui.org/nostalgia.htm', can you check please ? Thank you !