Gong Li vs Zhang Ziyi

Both women have, at one point or another, been Chinese Fifth-Generation auteur Zhang Yimou's muse.
Gong Li (top left), 40, is arguably the Mainland's most bankable and exportable star. Having anchored most of Zhang's early films from JU DOU to RAISE THE RED LANTERN, Gong was all-but instrumental in the former's success.
Zhang Ziyi (top right), 27, came into the scene when a post-Gong Li Zhang was facing his impending downfall. He cast her in THE ROAD HOME, but it was Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee who launched the ingenue into the international circuit with the Academy Award winning CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.
The two Zhangs would later collaborate again in HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, while the two women would 'co-exist' for only the second time after Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's 2046 - not surprisingly playing rivals - in Rob (CHICAGO) Marshall's MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. What a storied history!