Mao Amin (Chinese: 毛阿敏; pinyin: Máo Āmǐn born 1962)[1] is a Chinese singer known by the "honorific title" of Dajieda ("Big Sister"), "was one of China's most famous and senior female pop stars" by "the mid-1990s."[2] In 2001, she was one of 36 Chinese athletes and entertainers who were depicted on a series of postage stamps issued "in support of Beijing's bid for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games."[3]
Mao along with fellow singer Liu Huan, "both household names among Chinese around the world," were "disciples" of "renowned vocal educator" Deng Zaijun.[4]
While Nimrod Baranovitch writes that Mao became famous because of her "powerful and uninhibited" voice,[5] All China Women's Federation contends that she "became famous after winning third place in the Yugoslavian International Musical Eisteddfod with Green Leaf and the Root. It was the highest honor a Chinese pop singer had ever been given in an international competition. But Mao became even more well known by singing in the Spring Festival Gala."[6] Moreover, her performance in 1988 for the Chinese New Year TV Celebration "made both song and singer extremely popular in Mainland China."[1] By the late 1980s, Mao "earned two thousand yuan for a single performance as China's biggest pop star..."[7] The New Straits Times described her as "China's most popular singer," who "retains a nationalistic flavour in her songs," and "China's top pop singer for the past four years" before 1990.[8]
In 1989, "Mao, China's biggest pop star, was caught lying to the Beijing Evening News about under-the-table payments for performances in Harbin. In the ensuing scandal, she was fined 34,000 yuan and forced to pay 15,000 yuan in back taxes."[9]
Following her legal troubles, Mao underwent a transformation towards seemingly feminist music, such as her 1994 single "Real Woman" off of her self-titled album. These mid-1990s efforts received criticism as lacking the spirit and power of her 1980s work.[2]
