Qin Yi Photo: Sina Weibo

Chinese veteran actor Qin Yi died at the age of 100 in Shanghai, the city of her birth, on Monday morning.

The hashtag about her death quickly topped the trending list on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Monday. Many Chinese netizens posted messages of condolences on social media, calling her "a legendary actor in terms of her acting skills and moral integrity."

A witness to the development of the Chinese film industry over the last century, Qin was the only actor in China to earn both the honorary national titles of "People's Artist" and "Most Beautiful Fighter."  

During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931- 45), the 16-year-old Shanghai girl joined anti-Japanese forces in 1938 as a nurse on the war front despite her family's objections.

She was later selected to intern as an actor due to her good looks, thus kicking off an acting career that spanned several decades. During the war, Qin became one of the four most famous drama actors in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, using her skills and talents to cheer for the Chinese people. 

She played a lot of classic characters in many films made during the war and the later revolution including Railway Guerrilla and The Song of Youth. Making a deep impression on Chinese audiences, most of her roles were of heroines fighting against the Japanese army.

After WWII, she continued her film career. She said that her lifelong ideal as an actor was to take the touching spiritual power she obtained from literature and art and gave it to audiences through her performances.

Even at her advanced age, she still devoted herself to film. She once said, "Movies are the pursuit of my life；the older I live, the more I will pursue… My acting career is like a song that never ends."

In 2014, the 92-year-old Qin went to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, an altitude of more than 3,000 meters above sea level, to direct and star in the film the Qinghai Lakeside. At the age of 95, she participated in the fantasy film Legend of The Demon Cat directed by Chen Kaige. 

In 2019, Qin was awarded the national honorary title of "People's Artist."

Besides acting, Qin was also a very active philanthropist. In 2008, when the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan Province left 69,181 people dead and more than 18,000 people missing, Qin donated most of her savings, more than 200,000 yuan ($29,766), to help victims of the disaster.

"She created many excellent characters during her life, but the most successful role was herself - an artist who is both virtuous and artistic," said Ren Zhonglun, chairman of the Shanghai Film Association.