'Yanxi Palace' actress Qin Lan diagnosed with incurable vocal cord damage

Chinese actress Qin Lan, who is best known for her work in ‘The Story of Yanxi Palace', has been diagnosed with an incurable voice condition, which will undoubtedly affect her work.

Qin Lan is a Chinese actress who is not only best known for her role as Empress Fuca in ‘The Story of Yanxi Palace’, but also for her work as a model and singer.

Image: Weibo

Qin Lan was born on July 17, 1979, in China’s Liaoning Province. According to her Baidu biography, Qin Lan majored in accounting while studying at Shenyang University of Technology but chose to pursue acting as a career instead.

Image: Weibo

Qin Lan first entered the entertainment industry when she entered a talent competition, according to Shenzhen News.

The report from Shenzhen News continued that Qin Lan won the gold award in the modelling category of the competition and decided to take a chance and move to Beijing in the hopes of making it big.

The move to Beijing paid off for Qin Lan as it allowed her to enter the entertainment industry formally with her first role in a drama series. In her acting debut in 2001, Qin Lan starred in Hunan TV’s ‘Love Legend of the Tang Dynasty’ in a minor role as Wu Meiniang.

Image: Hunan TV

Qin Lan's role in 'Love Legend of the Tang Dynasty' may have been fateful for her because she co-starred with Nie Yuan, who played the lead character at the time. She had no idea that 17 years later she would co-star with him again in 'The Story of Yanxi Palace'!

Image: Zhejiang TV

Since making it as an actress, Qin Lan only found mainstream fame when she landed the villain role of Chen Zihua in ‘My Fair Princess III’.

Image: Hunan TV

According to Sina, Qin Lan's performance as the villainess earned her fame due to the series' popularity and the impact of her acting.

Image: Hunan TV

Since hitting mainstream fame, Qin Lan has starred in several productions, such as ‘City of Life and Death’, ‘The Last Supper’, and ‘Dreams Link’.

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According to Sina, Qin Lan's performance in 'City of Life and Death' was so iconic that she was the first Asian actress invited to Spain's annual San Sebastián International Film Festival, where the film won the Golden Shell award that year.

Image: Media Asia

From working as the face of TV and film productions, Qin Lan began to show more interest in work behind the scenes and eventually rose up to form her own production company, ‘Wow Star Pictures’, alongside her agent, Zhang Sicong, Tencent reports.

The Tencent report continued that since starting up her own production company, Qin Lan has moved up the ranks to even direct several productions!

Qin Lan continues to work as an actress while managing her company. Her tenacity paid off big time when she landed the role of Empress Fuca in 'The Story of Yanxi Palace' in 2018, earning her a second and even bigger wave of fame due to the series' worldwide positive reception.

Image: Zhejiang TV

Qin Lan is a singer in addition to her work in acting and running her own production company. She has released ten singles to date, some of which have been used as theme songs for productions in which she has appeared.

However, it will be difficult for Qin Lan to go on as normal now that it's been confirmed that she’s suffering from a serious vocal chord affliction, 8days reports.

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Yahoo reported that Qin Lan’s vocal chord injury was first discovered in 2022 while filming ‘Legacy’. The injury had affected her so badly that after filming ended, the actress had to take a four-month break to recuperate from the injury.

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Qin Lan's vocal cord injury relapsed despite a four-month break. According to 8days, the relapse was serious because doctors told the star that the damage to her vocal cords had become incurable because doctors couldn't figure out what caused it.

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Yahoo reports that the change in Qin Lan's speaking voice even prompted netizens to coin a new nickname for the star, referring to her as 'Electric Dora' due to her now-changed voice and current hairstyle, which is reminiscent of the character from the Nickelodeon series.

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Despite the injury, 8days reports that Qin Lan maintains her optimism by not allowing the problem to overpower her joy in living and love for her work.

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Many Weibo users have expressed their admiration for Qin Lan's perseverance and optimism, noting that the actress is still able to remain comedic despite her debilitating condition.

Image: Weibo