Zhang Ziyi – Hot Asian Actress

Zhang Ziyi is a name that many in the West may not be familiar with at first glance, but when you list some of the movies this stunning Chinese actress has been in, recognition becomes immediate. Beautiful and talented, she is a woman well worth admiration… and there can be no doubt that the word “hot” not only fits her, but actually falls short of just how sexy and attractive she truly is.

Most Americans first became aware of her through her role as Jen in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the headstrong young girl who is the central figure in the film. While this movie does mark one of the many high points in her career, it isn’t where her story begins or ends.

Zhang Ziyi was born in 1979 in Beijing, China, where she lived with her family and attended school. Her life as an artist and performer started at the age of 11 when she joined the Beijing Dance Academy, but really began to develop at 15 when she enrolled in the Central Academy of Drama, the premiere acting school of China. At 19 she worked on her first film, Zhang Yimou’s “The Road Home” and she has since been in constant demand, working almost constantly.

Her next big film was “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and with the resulting international acclaim that movie received, her fame soared. It was here that many in the West became aware of her (including myself), and she became an overnight sensation as a result, not just as an Asian actress but as an international sex symbol. She has since starred in many successful films including “Rush Hour 2” (with Jackie Chan, her first American produced movie), “Hero” (internationally acclaimed, directed again by Zhang Yimou), “House of Flying Daggers” (which won her a nomination for Best Actress from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts), “2046” (for which she won the Best Actress awards for both the Hong Kong Film Academy and Hong Kong Film Critics), and “Memoirs of a Geisha” (receiving award nominations from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA).

Besides being a leading actress, Zhang Ziyi has also worked as a model and spokeswoman for Maybelline and Garnier, her beautiful face gracing many magazines and television spots for these companies.

Zhang Ziyi has been routinely named to numerous “Most Beautiful Women in the World” and “Most Influential Stars” lists over the last decade, including People Magazine, Time Magazine, Stuff, FHM, Teen People, and Entertainment Weekly… and she is the Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics. 

Zhang Zilin – Miss World 2007

For the first of many hot asian girls I intend to showcase here, I picked one of the most fitting – Zhang Zilin, Miss World 2007. Hailing from the city of Shi Jia Zhuang in the province of Hei Bei, China, she was the first East Asian winner of this prestigious beauty contest, and one look at her makes it very clear why.

Born on March 22nd, 1984, Zhang Zilin isn’t just beautiful. She’s an award winning athlete who has trained professionally in many track and field events, excelling in hurdles. She also attended the University of Science and Technology Beijing, graduating in 2006 with a degree in business administration.

She is currently working as a fashion model, and since winning Miss World in 2007, Zhang Zilin’s celebrity has only continued to grow. While very well known in her native land and throughout Asia, her name is sadly little known in the west, outside of the fashion industry where she is now in high demand.

Besides having beauty enough to grace any fashion magazine’s pages, Zhang Zilin is also tall enough to walk the runway at events for major designers, and has done so in many cities throughout the world, including Paris, Berlin, and Beijing. Reports claim her height to be anywhere from 5′ 9″ to 5′ 11″ tall, making her not only perfect material for a supermodel, but also very tall for an asian girl… and not one inch of it is wasted.

Here is a YouTube clip of the beautiful Miss China, Zhang Zilin, being crowned at – Miss World 2007

Why I Think Asian Girls Are Supreme

While I’m not asian myself, I happen to be one of those transplanted european guys who thinks that asian girls are the absolute most beautiful women on the planet. That’s not to say that women of other races and cultures are not beautiful too, it’s just that asian girls are supreme in my eyes. Everybody has their “thing”… and this is mine 🙂

It’s not just the way they look, though I could go on for hours about that. It’s really a mix of their particular kind of physicaly beauty and the culture they are from. When taken as a whole, the end result is a girl who is beautiful not just in physical form, but in every aspect of her behavior. Asian girls are taught to be very feminine and graceful – it’s something they pride themselves on. And while western women now seem encouraged to reject their femininity, their eastern sisters still embrace it, not out of any weakness or out-dated fashion, but because they understand that there is nothing wrong or inferior about being feminine.

I’ve traveled to Japan and China on more than one occassion, and find myself enchanted not just by the beauty of their women, but that of their respective cultures. Asian peoples seem to recognize the worth of simple things that many overlook in the busy rush of modern life. They recognize and cherish it, finding time to slow down and quietly appretiate all that is around them. I think this reflects part of why asian girls are so beautiful – they haven’t forgotten the “little things”. In fact, they take “little things” and make them into so very much more. Their simplist actions display a subtle beauty that if you stop to recognize, you cannot help but be affected by.