Chinese actress Gong Li says the biggest challenge she faces in Hollywood isn't the language barrier, but rather tackling non-Chinese characters. Yet she likes the challenges. 　　

Gong has shot a series of English-language movies lately. She portrayed a Japanese escort in Memoirs of a Geisha, an ethnic Chinese money launderer for a South American drug kingpin in Miami Vice, and a Japanese woman married to the uncle of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the upcoming Young Hannibal, a prequel to the thriller The Silence of the Lambs. 　　

"I very rarely portray a real Chinese character, like a native Beijing resident, in Hollywood," Gong said on the sidelines of the Hong Kong premiere for her new movie Curse of the Golden Flower Saturday. 　　

Referring to her character in Miami Vice, Gong said: "Even though she looks Asian, her character, her thoughts, her thinking aren't Asian at all. That's hard to master." 　　

Gong is due to shoot another Hollywood movie next year but she declined to give details.

(China Daily December 19, 2006)