The Chinese Mirror

1918: A Big Step Toward a National Film Industry

The 1918 establishment of a department within the Commercial Press with the specific mission of producing movies marked a new stage for the Chinese movie industry. Unlike the earlier Asia Film Company, which was largely foreign invested and had the trappings of a speculative venture, the new motion picture department was funded with the Press's own capital, had a firmer technical foundation, a set management system, and more concrete ideas of what it wanted to produce. Its establishment was the actual beginning of Chinese motion pictures on an industrial model.

China’s First Feature Film: Nanfu, Nanqi (1913)

    While the first film made in China was “Dingjun Mountain,” the Fengtai Photographic Studio’s simple recording of a short performance excerpt from a Beijing opera, the country’s first feature film was “Nanfu, Nanqi” 《难夫难妻》(A Couple in Difficulty), with funding and distribution by the Asia Film Company, and actual filming done by the Xinmin (New People) Company. The script was written by Zheng Zhengqiu, and co-directed by him and Zhang Shichuan.  The actors were all from the theater, and in keeping with the prevailing theatrical custom of the day that men and women not appear together on stage, all the actors were men.This film is now lost, but much is known of it from surviving written records.  While “A Couple in Difficulty” was simple, it was certainly a meaningful start for the Chinese film industry, as well as the first step in the motion picture careers of Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu, the vanguard of China's first generation of filmmakers.

Rebel With a Cause: Zheng Zhengqiu

    Zheng Zhengqiu, first generation writer and director, was born Zheng Fangze on January 25, 1889 in Shanghai, the son of a Cantonese opium merchant.  His father initially envisioned an official career for his son, and devoted some funds to securing a position for him.  But the younger Zheng had already developed a social conscience, concluded the Qing (Manchu) dynasty government was hopelessly corrupt, and since his own preferences were for the arts, rejected an official career.  So, after receiving a public school education, in 1910 he began publishing a journal which in addition to reviewing Chinese drama from a progressive viewpoint, also strongly advocated reform of traditional dramatic forms and experimentation with new ones, in the belief that drama could serve as an instrument for China's national salvation.  After this, he joined a newspaper, "The People Speak," as its theater critic, while also writing for two magazines, "People's Pictorial" and "Civil Rights Illustrated."