Ho Mei Fan - China Night

This is a song whose story I've been trying to piece together for a while. I've found a fair amount of information about it, but whether this information is true or not is another issue. As far as I can tell, Ho Mei Fan is the vocalist and the 'Columbia Orchestra' provide the music (maybe obvious from the large COLUMBIA on the record's label). The song was seemingly written by a group of Japanese songwriters, although Ho Mei Fan is - at least I'd assume - a Chinese name. I read somewhere that it was recorded during Japanese occupation of China, although that would imply a date somewhere south of 1945. This contradicts another bit of information that I've seen that suggests it was released in 1957. Obviously the song could have been released a long time after it was recorded, although I don't see why it would have been and I'm not sure if it sounds like that old a recording. Chances are it is a Japanese piece in the style of a Chinese popular song. Regardless, it is fantastic and 'otherworldly' - not in a backwards Orientalist sense, but in as far as it is so ambiguous in its history and distant in its sound.

Label: Columbia
Year: ?
Genre: Easy-Listening