The Chinese Mirror

Announcement: a broader scope

     The Chinese Mirror (CM) began in October, 2006 as an outlet for the editor to share his research findings with others who might share his film interest but lack the language skills which would allow them to access Chinese primary sources.  The number of readers accessing the site has been growing daily, and although Chinese movies are admittedly a niche interest, it has been very gratifying to discover how many others share that interest, and to find CM has a global readership, with readers on every continent.  The focus of CM has been (and will continue to be) on the history of Chinese cinema, but we are making a few changes; specifically, we are broadening the scope a bit.
     In February, 2007, we added a sister site, The Chinese Mirror Newsblog (CMN), to publish items reporting current movie news, translated from the Chinese entertainment press.  Some of these were straight translations, while others were summaries of news reports.  Unfortunately, this venture has been less successful:  for one thing, laboriously translated news items often show up (in abridged form) in other Western language news sources, a few of which are listed in the sidebar to the left.  So a complete translation effort would appear to be in vain.  In addition, many of the articles were ephemera:  something may be today's hot news but would anyone care tomorrow?
     However, one category of CMN post seems to have more permanence:  interviews with contemporary filmmakers. As an experiment, one of these articles was posted at both sites, and the number of users accessing that article was far greater at CM than at CMN, although the interview was not as strictly "historical" as the other articles at CM.  So we have made a decision to post future interviews at The Chinese Mirror, in the belief that interviews with today's filmmakers are a contribution to the overall body of cinematic literature, especially their recollections and experiences making a particular motion picture, working with specific other filmmakers, etc.  Previously published interviews have been moved from The CM Newsblog and are now archived at The Chinese Mirror in the category "Interviews--Modern Era."
     So while The Chinese Mirror will continue to be a historical journal, we have widened our conception of history to include the modern era as a part of China's rich cinematic history, but restricted to those items which in the editor's opinion constitute a less transient, and more permanent, part of that history.

Film History Sources Updated

Several new publications from the Chinese scholarly press have been added to the 2008 historical resources page.  New additions are indicated with a tilde ~.

Zhao Wei: "My Interests are my Motivation"

[This is a translation from an interview published September 18, 2008 by the Chinese news service NorthNet.com (link to original article)]

     Zhao Wei [Vicki Zhao] is still very informal, so it should not have been surprising when she showed up unexpectedly at a press screening of "Painted Skin" (Hua Pi 画皮), then sat among the journalists and watched the movie with them.  It was not until the last of the press had applauded and left the theater that she also left, happily, but before leaving she took time to talk with NorthNet.com's entertainment and art editor Liu Xiaojing 刘晓菁.  Although she is doing graduate work in directing at the Beijing Film Academy, she does not intend to be a full-time director; and although her star status draws crowds wherever she appears, she has no objection to appearing in a supporting role.  As she expresses it, "I already have everything I should have, and what I do now are the things I'm interested in.  If the day comes that I say goodbye to the screen, it will be because my interests have changed."

Likes Variety in Roles:  "Red Cliff 2" Even More Comical

    Her recent roles have been marked by unique styles.  In "Painted Skin," her character Mrs. Wang is someone subjected to constant abuse; in [upcoming TV series] "Epic of a Woman" (Yige Nüren de Shishi一个女人的史诗), she plays the lead character across a wide age range; and in the still unreleased second half of "Red Cliff" (Chi Bi,  xia 赤壁, 下),  her comical character Sun Shangxiang is a supporting role, with Zhou Xun in the lead.

The Beginnings of Film Literature: Hong Shen and the Screenplay

    The earliest Chinese movies were filmed without a script, just a story  outline, with the actors largely ad-libbing the progress of the plot.  This began to change at the beginning of the 1920s with the appearance of "Yan Ruisheng."  In addition to being China's first full-length motion picture, it marked several other "firsts."  Although filmed without a complete script, it was one of the first two Chinese films to have a published "synopsis."  This kind of synopsis consisted of two parts:  the first included a basic plot and the main characters and their actions; the second had "intertitles," which consisted of dialogues and explanations.  This was the model Chinese filmmakers followed until 1925.
    In that year, the Shanghai periodical "Eastern Magazine" (东方杂志) published the first screenplay in Chinese, "Mrs. Shentu" (Shentu Shi 申屠氏 ), relating the story of a woman seeking revenge on her husband.  It was never actually filmed, as the scenarist, a Harvard-educated young Chinese named Hong Shen 洪深 , was unable to obtain the necessary financial backing.  That is not surprising, considering the screenplay had 592 scenes in all, divided into 7 large sections.  But  it is still a landmark in Chinese movie history, as the first script to actually be a screenplay, including instructions for scene changes, camera angles, etc., and employing such new film terminology as "fade in," "pan," etc.  So although it never went before the camera, it took Chinese film history to a new stage by providing a new type of film literature, one intended for publication and reading as well as providing filming guidelines.

Wang Mengshi (1893 - ?)

    Wang Mengshi 王梦石 (1893 - ?) born in Yinxian, Zhejiang.   Veteran stage actor who joined Mingxing in 1926 and became a reliable character actor, often cast in negative roles.  Had more than 50 screen acting credits during his career.

Fu Lühen (1907 - ?)

    Fu Lühen 傅绿痕 was born in Shanghai, birth name Fu Zhufeng 傅珠风.  After attending several of Shanghai's better girls' schools, she joined the Mingxing studio at age 18, and appeared in six of that studio's films between 1925-26.

Gao Lihen (1890-1982)

     Gao Lihen 高梨痕, actor, director and writer, was born September 25, 1890 in Zhuxi County, Hubei province.  As a young man, he was an active participant in the revolution which overthrew the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in 1911, then for two years edited a newspaper in Hankou.  During this time he became interested in theatricals, and in 1914 joined with Zheng Zhengqiu  and others in forming the Great China Dramatic Society, for which Gao acted from 1914-1923.  A supporting role in 1923's "Patriotic Umbrella" prompted him to enroll in 1924 in the China Film School established by Hong Shen, after which Gao joined the Tianyi Film Co. in 1925, then moved to the Mingxing studio in 1926, as both director and actor.  Not a leading man type, he nevertheless was a familiar on-screen figure in supporting roles during the rest of China's silent era, at the same time moving into writing and directing.  He had 23 acting credits and 46 credits as writer and/or director.  In 1937, Gao moved to the South Seas Film Company, the Tianyi studio's Hong Kong branch, and during World War II was involved with the resistance there.  After the war, he returned to Shanghai, and in 1954 joined the staff of the Museum of Literary History as a researcher, compiling and editing a great many materials on the history of theater and motion pictures in Shanghai.  Among his many publications were "Old Talks on the Shanghai Film Community" and "The Tianyi Studio as I Know it." He died in Shanghai, October 16, 1982, age 91.

[left, Gao Lihen as cinematic elder statesman/historian]

Goodbye 13th Aunt: Rosamund Kwan Confirms Her Retirement

   

    In the 70-plus movies she made during more than two decades of filmmaking, Rosamund Kwan 关之琳 (Mandarin:  Guan Zhilin; Cantonese:  Kwan Chi Lam) is probably best known for her continuing role in the "Once Upon a Time in China" series as Aunt Yee (aka "13th Aunt"), the girlfriend (later the wife) of fictionalized martial arts legend Wong Fei Hung (Jet Li).  And while her acting opportunities understandably decreased as she entered middle age, it was still a sad occasion when at the end of 2007 she announced her decision to retire from movies.

[Rosamund Kwan, as '13th Aunt']

   She reaffirmed that decision this summer.  In Shanghai for an earthquake disaster relief fundraising event, Kwan stated that after she fulfills a current advertising commitment, she will retire from the entertainment sector completely, and plans to establish and head a real estate development company.

Zhou Wenzhu (? - ?)

    Zhou Wenzhu 周文珠 was a native of Zhenhai, Zhejiang.  She entered films via the Mingxing studio's film school, and with other Mingxing students made her first, uncredited screen appearance in 1922's "The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai." Although her first credited role was with Wang Hanlun in "An Orphan Saves his Grandfather," and actually made her film debut a bit earlier than Yin Mingzhu, Zhou Wenzhu never equaled their fame.   This may have been because the majority of her early films were short features, but her personal life didn't help her career.  After ending a relationship with an overseas Chinese returnee, she married her boss, actor-director Wang Cilong (younger brother of actor-director Wang Yuanlong).  Husband and wife were both drug addicts, and their life together was on a steadily downward slope from the wedding day on, culminating in a divorce at the end of the 1930s (Wang Cilong had moved in with another woman).  While he continued supporting Zhou and their child after that, Wang's drug use worsened, leading to his death in 1941, age 34.  This terminated completely the financial support of his wife and child.  She was unable to obtain any assistance from her former studio, and her own past drug use had left her physically and mentally incapable of making any sort of comeback.  In the end, she was reduced to street begging, her child by the hand.  Her ultimate fate is unrecorded.
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Filmography (all acting):

1922:
The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai ... (uncredited)
1923:
An Orphan Saves his Grandfather ... Madame Huang
1925:
On a Stormy Night ... Yuqing
Tears on the Battlefield ... Huiru
1926:
Ma Jiefu ... Madame Yin
Mother's Happiness ... Mama   [still photo, above right]
Circle of Debt ...
A Visit Home ... Zhou Meiyun
Transparent Shanghai ... Zhou Yunyu
1927:
The Beauty Trap ... Wu Guotai
Disciples Contend in the Spring ...
Redressing a Grievance ... Liu's wife
1928:
Four Heroes of the Wang Family, pt.I  ...
A Demon's Shadow in the Imperial Palace ...
The King of Money ... Kang Lin's mother
A Complicated Plot ... Meifang
Ma Zhenhua ... Ma Zhenhua
Secret History of the Qing Court ... Huifang
A Shanghai Dance Hostess ... Rose
Silver Gun Robber ... Zhou Ahmei
1929:
Four Heroes of the Wang Family, pt.II ... Wang Kejun / the beautiful concubine
1930:
Road to Riches ... Chen Liyun
Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, pts.XII, XIV ...
Circus Girl ... the circus girl
A Red Egg ...
1931:
Struggle Between Love and Desire ... Zhou Wanzhen
Hengniang ... Hengniang
A Free Soul ... Luo Lüniang
Two Galaxy Stars ...
1932:
Confronting the National Crisis Together ... first daughter-in-law
Hell at Sea ...
1934:
Give Back My Home ... Meili
1937:
Song at Midnight ... old woman
Youth on the March ...
1940:
Pan Qiaoyun ... Grandmother Hu
1943:
Under the Roofs of Shanghai
(actually filmed sometime before WW2, released in 1943)

Xu Hu (? - ?)

  Xu Hu 徐琥 , then an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chinese government, was assigned to Paris in 1919, but he later resigned to attend school there at his own expense.  After graduating from a business college in 1921, he went to work for the Sino-French Industrial Bank of Paris as its Chinese language secretary.  After the bank failed, he went back to school, studying motion pictures and makeup at the Paris School of Motion Picture and Theater Arts.  In 1924, he acted in a Parisian stage play and had a role in a French motion picture set during the Russo-Japanese War.  Returning to China later that year, Xu and his fellow France returnee Wang Xiangchang established a correspondence filmmaking school in Shanghai, while at the same time Xu became head of the Mingxing studio's makeup department, and co-directed "The Soul of Yuli."  Xu then moved to the Baihe Film Company as head of its makeup department, but also directing its first film, "The Tea-Picking Girl."  When Baihe merged with the Da Zhonghua studio in 1925, he continued on as makeup head for the new studio.  When the French movie production he had acted in was imported to France, Xu translated the intertitles into Chinese.

______________________
Filmography (credited only):
1924
The Soul of Yuli  (co-directed)
The Tea-Picking Girl