Li Xianglan 李香蘭 (real name: 大鷹 淑子, Ōtaka Yoshiko) is a Chinese-born Japanese actress and singer who is famous, some might say notorious, for appearing in Japanese wartime propaganda films aimed at wooing the Chinese and promoting the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere ideology. She was regarded as one of the seven great singing stars.

One film, 'Chinese Nights' (支那の夜) a.k.a 'Shanghai Nights' (上海の夜), is especially controversial because of a scene in which Li Xianglan (who is playing a young Chinese woman) reacts with gratitude when slapped by a Japanese man.

After the war she re-established her career in the United States where she was known as Shirley Yamaguchi.

Later she returned to Japan and worked as a televison anchorwoman before being elected to the upper house of the Japanese parliament, where she served for 18 years. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.