Bai Yang (1920-1997) made a name for herself when she played the leading role in Crossroads in 1936. In the film, she performed with Zhao Dan and portrayed Yang Zhiying, a young woman instructor in a cotton mill who is from a bourgeois family and cherished illusions.  

In the 1940s, she was the principal performer in Clouds and Moon over 8,000 Li of Roads and The Spring River Flows East. In The Spring River Flows East, she plays the heroine, Li Sufen, a woman with dignified behavior, sincere and rich inner feelings, and the traditional Chinese womanhood of a good wife and a caring mother. Her performance won praise from the audiences. Bai Yang continued performing till the 1960s, playing roles in For the Sake of Peace, New Year's Sacrifice, Jin Yuji, Dongmei, and other films.

She reached the highest level of her performing art when she played the role of Mrs. Xianglin in New Year's Sacrifice in 1956. In her late years, Bai Yang developed a graceful, natural, implicit but distinct style. Her movements and facial expressions were in conformity with temperaments of the characters she performed and the requirements of the films, making the audience realize her innate refinement and gentleness -- charm unique to women in the orient.