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"  Ziyi Zhang (or Zhang Ziyi, as she&amp;#039;s known in China) has just checked herself into a Beijing hospital. She is suffering from a mysterious respiratory ailment that she developed on the set of the Chinese film The Banquet. We feel for her. But for the doctors on duty, the shift just got a lot more interesting. The five-foot-five, twenty-six-year-old Zhang is among the most delicately beautiful women in the world, and roles in Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon have made her a superstar in her country.   Zhang grew up in Beijing, the daughter of an economist and a teacher, and was discovered by director Zhang Yimou at an audition for a shampoo commercial. This month, she stars in Memoirs of a Geisha, her first role in English \u2014 a language she only began learning a few years ago at the suggestion of director Ang Lee.   ESQ: What are you doing in the hospital? And you better not say bird flu. ZZ: I feel sick for a couple of weeks. They think something wrong with \u2014 what&amp;#039;s that called? \u2014 windpipe. The conditions are very bad in China. There is much pollution inside the studio. We build a whole palace inside the studio and they use very bad...gas? [In the background, her translator says, &amp;quot;Fumes.&amp;quot;] Fumes! ESQ: You live in Beijing in an apartment with your parents, right?  ZZ: Yes. When I was eleven, I went to boarding school. I left home to study on my own, so I didn&amp;#039;t spend that much time with my parents. So now I have chance to spend time with them. ESQ: Do they have lots of rules? ZZ: I have freedom. I&amp;#039;m big girl. They&amp;#039;re pretty \u2014 how you say? \u2014 relaxed. But they&amp;#039;re proud of me. My daddy always asks my autograph for his friends, his leaders.  ESQ: What was it like coming to America for the first time? ZZ: That was 1999, I think. I was nineteen. I only had one idea: I wanted to go to the real McDonald&amp;#039;s. ESQ: You and Yao Ming are supposedly the two most famous people in China. You should date. ZZ: Nooo. He&amp;#039;s such a big boy.  ESQ: How is being famous in China different from in America? ZZ: I think it&amp;#039;s much relaxed here. The paparazzi is not so crazy. I&amp;#039;m happy to be here and have no \u2014 how you say? \u2014 stalker. ESQ: Do you find it strange that Chinese actors were cast to play Japanese women in Memoirs of a Geisha? ZZ: I don&amp;#039;t feel strange, because that&amp;#039;s my job, to play different kind of people. It&amp;#039;s really hard for us to learn how to be a \u2014 what&amp;#039;s that word? I learn last night? Ah, yes. Convincing. Convincing geisha. ESQ: You were recently invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ZZ: A big honor. I have chance to watch great movies. ESQ: And some not so great. ZZ: Yes. But I think I can raise my \u2014 how you say? [long burst of Mandarin to translator] \u2014 level.  ESQ: What&amp;#039;s the best Hollywood movie you&amp;#039;ve seen recently? ZZ: I like Cinderella Man.  ESQ: Did you watch it in English or dubbed? ZZ: I got it in Mandarin. We don&amp;#039;t have so many American movies showing in Beijing, in China. I think every year we only have ten American movies. Not that much. We have [rapid-fire Mandarin to translator, then slowly] censorship bureau. They have to give, uh, permission. ESQ: The Chinese people and press didn&amp;#039;t really embrace you earlier in your career. Is that changing? ZZ: Yeah, I think it&amp;#039;s much better now, because people understand I don&amp;#039;t just rely on my looks. Because when I get very famous very fast, at that time I was only like nineteen, and they just thought, She&amp;#039;s nothing, she&amp;#039;s just luck. Now I really don&amp;#039;t care, because I know that I just do my movies, and if I do great job, you will see it. It&amp;#039;s not easy to act. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a1908/esq0106wwlzhang-120/>