Template:Did you know nominations/Xu Lai (actress)


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Montanabw (talk) 22:49, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

Xu Lai (actress)

 * ... that film star Xu Lai (pictured) worked as a secret agent during WWII, and was persecuted to death by Madame Mao?
 * Reviewed: Dongcheng District, Beijing

Created by Zanhe (talk). Self nominated at 11:39, 29 May 2014 (UTC).


 * Symbol question.svg This is an excellent article about a fascinating character with a great image. Love to see this lead off DYK! Some of the sites appear to be blog-ish though, and I can't read written Chinese, and the English cites don't cover the hook (in most part). What to do? Pass it to someone else? Maury Markowitz (talk) 18:05, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
 * It's a shame that few English sources talk about her in any detail. And for the one book that does (Ho2004), Google hides the relevant pages. Therefore I had to rely heavily on Chinese sources, but I can assure you none of them is a blog. The main source (Xinhua), is China's official news agency, and the same article has appeared in several mainstream Chinese newspapers, such as here on the Guangming Daily. Other sources cited are published books. -Zanhe (talk) 18:57, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Created on May 29, 2014 and has 6060 characters of readable prose. The image looks properly sourced. Tools for DABs and External Links found no issues. All paragraphs are sourced, and 4 of the 7 sources are in Chinese. I'd like to make a suggestion, if I understand what you are saying with the hook. "persecuted to death" sounds a little off. How about:
 * ALT 1 ... that film star Xu Lai (pictured), who worked as a secret agent during WWII, died in prison as the result of political persecution by Madame Mao?
 * Just a thought. If the ALT1 hook works, someone besides me needs to approve it. And I'm not sure about the check for copyvio/paraphrasing, so someone needs to weigh in on that. I agree that this is a nice article about a fascinating woman.— Maile  (talk) 22:40, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks for suggesting ALT1. I agree it's better than my original, which I've crossed out. -Zanhe (talk) 00:48, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
 * On second thought, "retribution" is probably not the right word. I've changed it to "persecution". -Zanhe (talk) 04:23, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Symbol voting keep.svg - See the comments above. Well reffed article of good length and very interesting subject who I agree would look good as a lead. Experienced editor. Hook has been finessed to reflect what the sources will support. My understanding of the chinese wiki supports this article and ref 2 says she was tortured to death. Image is free. I have boldly cropped the image - change back if you disagree Thanks for a great contribution. Victuallers (talk) 10:30, 31 May 2014 (UTC)