Yang Mi: To Myself

Spring comes without any delay. Yang Mi enters the New Year with a light heart, she likes to take a move forward, but not too hurriedly, she just walks as she wishes, and can go as fast as she likes. Without disappointing all her loved ones and diligent self, she just wants to gently say, "Love you, my dear self."

After going through her year of fate, Yang Mi jokingly said, "I'm very satisfied with this 60th birthday," adding seriously, "It's an ordinary yet unusual year, I've been spending it steadily."

In the blink of an eye, it's spring again, which is the time of recovery and also the beginning of building up strength. Her wish is very small: "2023 please treat me better."

Yang Mi’s weibo update 🗓️ 2023.01.01

『 Happy New Year ❤️ 』

『 2023 please be nice to me ❤️ 』#YangMi #杨幂 pic.twitter.com/TH0bUvrLqX
— For Mì幂 [YangMi_杨幂] (@lie98988) December 31, 2022

Based on this small wish, we discussed with Yang Mi about how to "treat yourself well". Becoming yourself is a process, loving yourself is an ability, and only when you love yourself well enough, you will have the courage to face the world. From looking back at her childhood to being in the present, she continues to recognise her new self and move forward with determination.

01

Rewind to her childhood and become herself

A light illuminates all wonderful things

There are many memories from her childhood, all of which have gradually become little moments. Yang Mi is not someone who looks back often, she prefers to look forward, but the path that she once travelled is a precious one and finally becomes her own path. If there is a programme list in her hand, that young time is the beginning of a play, the grand drape opens, the narration slowly starts and the main characters appear...... In the deepest part of her memory, she remembers a light that gradually illuminated all the wonderful things.

Q: Before the age of 6, you had acted in some films and dramas. After that, you went back to school, studied and grew up normally. Was being an actress always a seed that was planted in your heart?

A: In the beginning, the kids would talk about one thing, some would say "I won a Math Olympiad", some would say "I won an essay award", and I would say I acted before. It was just like a "topic of conversation" and that was it. At that time, I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to do in the future.

Q: Did you make every decision in life by yourself?

A: I lost my battle with my parents when choosing which middle school to enter. At that time, I wanted to enrol in Beijing Xu Beihong Middle School, which was particularly close to my home and I liked it very much. At that time, there were exceptional art students, and I liked drawing back then, but my mother didn't agree. So, I eventually gave up, and went to a key district secondary school. It was probably a intersection in life, but who knows what will happen afterwards.

Q: What was the situation like when you did 'The Story of a Noble Family' at the age of 16 and really became an actress?

A: I received the first script in my life. At that time, I would read the script over and over again for many times. Regardless of my own scenes or someone else's, I would read it over and over again.

Q: No one in your family worked in this industry, so were your parents worried at the time?

A: Actually, until today, they still worry about me because parents will always worry about their children, just like how children worry about their parents getting scam calls and being scammed. I wasn't that carefree and relax when applying for the college, but my dad thought that since I had done a lot of filming during high school time and there was a path in front of me, I should just give it a try.

Q: When did you really realise that you are passionate about acting?

A: The time when I was filming "The Dream of Red Mansions" with director Li Shaohong. It was a process of destruction and reconstruction for me. When you're 16 or 17 years old, as long as you don't make any mistakes, people will praise you and say that the kid is really talented and so on. At that time, I was young and I wouldn't have dark circles even if I didn't sleep for days. When filming "The Dream of Red Mansions", it was a process for me to completely understand myself and acting again.

Q: When someone loves a career, it is often due to its 'challenging' and 'exciting' sides. What are the factors that allow you to maintain your feeling of freshness towards the career as an actress?

A: I am greedy, so I always want to have something different and I can't stand to remain the same all the time. I can spend my time or live my daily life in the same way, but not at work. I finally live till the age of 30s, and my understanding of life has become different from that of my 20s, so it is a waste of energy to play repetitive roles. I need the roles that are suitable to my age.

02

Getting Along with Herself

Love herself, and those within 2-3 metres of her

People often face pressure from the others, but for Yang Mi, she never puts the switch of happiness and sadness in the hands of others. To be able to love herself is a rare and precious ability and a stable system of values. Life is a lengthy drama, just as it needs an 'intermission' in the middle of the play, to allow herself to relax and breathe.

Q: There are many different ways to love yourself, but how do you understand 'loving yourself well'?

A: Try to reconcile with your negative emotions because there are many things that cannot be overcome or eliminated, but can only be lived with. The existence of negative emotions is not entirely decided by yourself. It can arise from life, the environment, the people around you, or some unfair things, and it is impossible to overcome them by just saying "I want to forgive the world". I think it is fine not to forgive, but at least learn to accept and co-exist with the negative emotions.

Q: Why did you think of this first rather than satisfying yourself in ways such as shopping, eating or relaxing?

A: Because it works like that for me. Some people may eat or do shopping to digest their emotions but it doesn't really work for me. You can eat or play if you want. Every adult has their own ways and they may not be suitable for the others except yourself.

Q: Not feeling aggrieved is the best way to protect yourself. Did you ever encounter the pressure from the others?

A: Usually it comes more from the trusted people around me. For the people whom you care about, something they say will definitely make you reflect. It doesn't matter whether what they say is right or wrong, the reflection and pressure are all passed to you. As for those whom you don't care about, they can say whatever they want, it has nothing to do with me at all.

Q: What if you manage to let the thoughts of others stop influencing your decisions?

A: If the opinions of others no longer influence you, how confident or arbitrary and lack of friends do you have to be as a person? The important thing is actually not letting other people's ideas constrain you. I have also been constrained, but I felt uncomfortable, so I just let them go.

Q: Is there anyone that greatly influenced your sense of values and way of thinking?

A: My dad. He always told me that you just have to be happy and nothing else matters. He is willing to let his child tries things out, and even if he thinks you did this thing wrong and the person you believe in now is not worth believing in, he won't say anything about it because he thinks that there is no point of saying it. Only after I figured it out by myself one day, my dad told me that he had actually always thought so before, but he just wouldn't use his opinion to influence me.

Q: There is a small self and a big self in every human body. The small self is formed by thinking and it makes life unattractive, while the big self is the real self which is strong, enriched and full of love. Have you ever faced a time when the small self and the big self were fighting against each other?

A: The "small self" sometimes means inertia, and in order to get closer to your true self, you must learn to work hard on breaking the inertia. It ain't easy to do this thing, it requires self-awareness and staying motivated. It's really important to break your inertia.

03

Building Her Inner World

A determined mind can fight any challenges

The principle that Yang Mi always holds on is that it is enough for her to do what she can and should do within her capacity. Even if there are different voices around her, she will only say: "Why should I bother?"

She has built a strong inner world that is stable, peaceful, calm and determined, and she has gained enough support from it. When a person's heart has a shelter (have enough security), even if the world is in turmoil, it can withstand the storm.

Q: The individual is always smaller than the world, so how do you gain the courage to face the world and talk equally to it?

A: I prefer to face myself first, the world is too big. Even if I need to start a conversation, I will talk to myself first. Learn to reconcile with myself and give myself a clear talk before thinking about how to face the world.

Q: Between the choices of being fully tamed by the world or having the courage to be hated by the world, which one will you choose?

A: Neither is needed. Let's think about it, how much does the world have to look up to you to hate you every day for nothing? There's no point to add such troubles and worries to yourself.

Q: What is the happiest compliment to hear from someone – the kind that you can always remember?

A: None. I don't really remember the compliments or criticisms from others, and I won't be complacent or arrogant about them. How tired would you be if you remember every single one.

Q: Is it because your inner self is strong enough?

A: More to the reason that there are a lot of compliments around me, either fake or sincere. But I don't really have any interest to filter out the genuine compliments from all those I received. I'm too lazy to differentiate them. When people compliment you, just say thank you.

Q: What should we do when our true opinions are different from others?

A: I'm the kind of person who will directly tell my opinions, whether to a good friend or someone else. It's my business to express my thoughts. If you don't agree with me, you can block me. But I will use a positive and proactive attitude to try to communicate with them. Communication is a very important thing.

Q: The world is always speeding forward and people need to keep up with it. What are the new requirements that you give to yourself in the year 2023?

A: There are probably a lot of things to learn because I have reconstructed my own outlook on life and sense of values in the year 2022. I switched to a different way of seeing myself and the world. I do feel that my horizons and perspectives of view have changed. So, I have quite a lot of requirements for myself in the year 2023. I wish to learn them slowly.