Cheng Pei-pei, ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ Star, Dead at 78

Cheng Pei-pei, the trailblazing actor dubbed the Queen of Martial Arts, has died. She was 78. A Chinese movie star, who found international acclaim for her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Pei-pei passed away Thursday in the San Francisco Bay area, her representatives from Echelon Talent Management told People . “She was not only the ‘Queen of Martial Arts’ and the first Asian action heroine, but she was also a true hero for what she did to help others till her very last days,” the reps said in a statement. Pei-pei’s family separately wrote in a Facebook post that she “passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones.” The post also said Pei-pei was diagnosed in 2019 with “a neurodegenerative, atypical parkinsonism syndrome – unofficially, corticobasal degeneration (CBD),” describing the condition as a “rare disease with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s.” Pei-pei chose not to publicly reveal her condition, the post read, choosing instead to deal with the matter privately and “spend her remaining time with her children and grandchildren.”

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