Tang Wei is a Chinese actress. She rose to international fame for her role in Golden Lion-winning Lust, Caution (2007) by Ang Lee, and gained further acclaim for her performances in Late Autumn (2010), Finding Mr. Right (2013), The Golden Era (2014), Long Day's Journey into Night (2018), and Decision to Leave (2022). Tang is the first and only non-Korean honored as the Best Actress at the Baeksang Art Awards (twice), Blue Dragon Film Awards, Chunsa Film Art Awards and Buil Film Awards. She is also the first Asian actor won Trophée Chopard Award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Tang at the 61st British Academy Film Awards in 2008
Lust, Caution is a 2007 erotic period espionage romantic mystery film directed by Ang Lee, based on the 1979 novella of the same name by Eileen Chang. Lust, Caution is set in Hong Kong in 1938 and in Shanghai in 1942, when the city was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army and ruled by the puppet government led by Wang Jingwei. The film depicts a group of Chinese university students from The University of Hong Kong who plot to assassinate a high-ranking special agent and recruiter working for the puppet government by luring him into a honey trap. The film is generally accepted to be based on the historical event of Chinese spy Zheng Pingru's failed attempt to assassinate the Japanese collaborator Ding Mocun.
Theatrical release poster
Chinese spy Zheng Pingru is generally believed to have been the inspiration for the story
Ang Lee, director and producer
Eileen Chang, author of the original novel