Four Dan actresses
Four Dan actresses (四旦 or 四大名旦 or 四小名旦 or 四大花旦 or 四小花旦) were regarded as the four most bankable young actresses from Mainland China. "Guangzhou Daily" editorial first used the term to reference modern Chinese actresses Zhang Ziyi, Zhao Wei, Zhou Xun, and Xu Jinglei in July 2000, when they were all in their 20s. It gained widespread use in China thereafter following a series of interviews on "Southern Metropolis Daily" from December 2001 to January 2002. As expected, the four actresses dominated Chinese cinema in the following decade with varying degrees of success. Originally, a "Dan  was a male actor who portrayed a leading female character in Peking opera. The term Four Dan" was first coined in the 1920s to refer to four extremely popular "Dan" actors: Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun, and Xun Huisheng. The Big Four Dan actresses. Sometimes Li Bingbing and Fan Bingbing, two mainland actresses who had similar levels of success in the first decade of 2000s, were mentioned along with the group as "Four Dan and Two Bing" (四旦双冰). Shu Qi, a Taiwanese-Hong Kong actress who had also similar levels of success in the first decade of 2000s and  Tang Wei, a Chinese actress who gained fame through "Lust, Caution" (2007). All of them were mentioned along with the group as "Four Dan Two Bing Qi Wei" (四旦双冰淇唯) or "Eight Big Dan actress" (八大旦). New Four Dan actresses. From 2005, the media and articles by publication companies have reported efforts to pick four new young actresses as the "New Four Dan actresses" (四小花旦). 2009 version by Tencent QQ 2013 version by "Southern Metropolis Daily" Tiffany Tang and Zanilia Zhao, two mainland actresses who had similar levels of success post 2013, are usually associated with the new Four Dan Actresses  of the 2013 list. New Four Dan actresses of the "post-'90s" generation. In August 2016, "Southern Metropolis Daily" conducted a survey among 173 million netizens and 110 professional media and industry insiders. After a series of voting, four actresses who were born after the '90s (90后四小花旦) were picked. New Four Dan actresses of the "post-'95s" generation. In January 2019, four young actresses who were born after the '95s (95后四小花旦) were picked by CCTV. Ouyang Nana (born 2000), had similar levels of success post 2018-2019, is usually associated with the new Four Dan Actresses of the 2019 list. Similar titles . In the early 1990s, Hong Kong's most popular male stars were collectively referred to as "Four Heavenly Kings" (Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai). Later Taiwan also introduced four male idols labelled "Four Younger Heavenly Kings" (Alec Su, Nicky Wu, Jimmy Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro).