The history of motion pictures is littered with the (often) sad stories of child stars who faded after reaching maturity, and in too many cases were psychologically destroyed by the loss of that early stardom. But some, like Shirley Temple, adjusted to adulthood and went on to a fulfilling life outside of movies; a few, like Jackie Cooper, Dean Stockwell and Natalie Wood, went on to successful adult acting careers; and of course Ron Howard is today one of America's top directors, with two Oscars to his credit. In China, Zheng Zhengqiu went even further, covering the gamut of filmmaking in his nearly 80 year lifetime, from juvenile star of silents to marquee leading man in the early sound era, and then becoming one of the country's top directors, of both narrative films and scientific documentaries.
Zheng Xiaoqiu 郑小秋 was born Zheng Hongbin 郑鸿彬 in Shanghai, May 22, 1910, the son of China's legendary first generation filmmaker Zheng Zhengqiu. He began acting in early childhood, appearing on stage with his dramatist-director father. He made his initial screen appearance in 1922's "A Laborer's Love," as one of an uncredited group of street urchins who attempt to steal from the title character's fruit stand. But his career path and life course were determined the following year, as the Mingxing studio began preparations for making the full-length movie which saved the previously struggling studio, "An Orphan Saves his Grandfather." China's film studios were still largely reliant on Shanghai's theatrical companies for acting talent, as the studios' new film acting schools were only just starting to turn out graduates. As it was, the three most important roles in "Orphan" would be filled by newcomers: Wang Hanlun would be doing her first acting of any sort in the role of the falsely accused young mother; chief villain Wang Xianzhai was a very recent graduate of Mingxing's school, and was originally cast in a small supporting role. But the "orphan" of the title presented a particularly thorny problem: the role was critical, calling for a juvenile who could be endearing to Chinese audiences while also believably resourceful and heroic at a critical plot juncture. There was only one child actor in Shanghai who had a film credit in 1923: Dan Erchun, of the family-owned and operated Shanghai Film Company. So Zheng Zhengqiu suggested his own son Hongbin: although the little boy's acting experience was minimal, he showed promise, and the elder Zheng believed that living at home with his son, he could train him for the role as filming went along. Director Zhang Shichuan readily agreed, and the younger Zheng (his name changed to Zheng Xiaoqiu for the screen) was a major factor in the movie's success.
After "Orphan," he joined Mingxing as one of its basic actors, and over the next few years had lead juvenile roles in a succession of films such as 1924's "The Poor Children," "The Good Brothers" and "A Child Laborer" in 1925, and "Little Friend" in 1926. It didn't matter whether filming was indoors under mercury lamps or outdoors in natural light, his boyish charm still held. He didn't enjoy a normal childhood, however, as he still had to continue his education, and when not in school was busy working at the studio instead of playing. It was not until 1928, when he entered college at the age of 18, that he was able to get away from movies for two years. (The college was Shanghai Arts University, where playwright and poet Tian Han 田汉was principal at the time.)
[left, in 1925's 'Young Friend,' with Xuan Jinglin]
At the end of the 1920s and early 30s, he had lead roles in a succession of successful films, including the "Burning of Red Lotus Temple" series, "Orchid in an Empty Valley," "Broken Zither Tower," "Shadow of Red Tears" and "Peach Blossom Lake." When Chinese cinema made the transition from silent to sound, he made the transition smoothly. His slightly Shanghai-accented Mandarin was recorded for the first time in the 1932 six-part "Marriages Through Tears and Laughter."
[right, in 1926's 'Orchid in an Empty Valley. Zheng is at center, in knee pants, comforting Zhang Zhiyun]
In 1932 the Mingxing Company invited Xia Yan 夏衍, one of China's most distinguished men of letters, to join it as a screenwriting consultant. Two years earlier, Xia Yan had been one of the organizers of the left-wing film movement, dedicated to reforming China through film art, and his taking on this new role with Mingxing heralded a new aspect to the studio's productions, with grittier, socially-conscious movies largely replacing swordsman epics and domestic romantic melodramas. Zheng Zhengqiu's first film under this new policy was "Spring Silkworms," Xia Yan's adaptation of the novel of the same title by Mao Dun 茅盾, and his standout performance among a very strong cast was critically well-received.
[left, two couples returning from a night on the town: from left, Hu Die, Zheng Xiaoqiu, Xia Peizhen and Gong Jianong in 1932's 'Marriages Through Tears and Laughter']
In several movies he was paired with the famous Hu Die, perhaps the most successful being the 1933 classic "Twin Sisters," and its lost sequel "Sisters Reborn," in which he played the honest and overworked carpenter husband of elder sister Dabao. The movie was a major box office success wherever it played, and in Shanghai enjoyed a string of sellouts at the New Light theater and ran for over two months, a record at the time. "Twin Sisters" was exhibited at the Soviet International Film Festival and in several other European countries, and was well-received in each. It is regarded today as one of the China's true classics, and still turns up on the program at retrospective exhibitions.
In 1935, his father Zheng Zhengqiu died unexpectedly after a brief illness. At the age of 25, Zheng Xiaoqiu as eldest son faced the heavy burden of supporting the family. With this in mind, he decided the financial future would be more promising if he made a career change, and walked away from acting just as he was entering what could have been his most mature period. He turned to directing, and beginning in 1936 he was co-director on two films, "New Year's Money" and "Women's Rights," both under the tutelage of Zhang Shichuan, his father's longtime friend and colleague.
As with the rest of the film community, the war years were not easy ones for Zheng Xiaoqiu. With the destruction of the Mingxing studio, he muddled through by directing for three wartime studios Datong (Great Mean), Guo Hua (National China) and Jinxing (Venus), mostly turning out escapist entertainments in historical settings. But during the "Orphan Island" period, when Shanghai was dominated but not occupied by the Japanese, he found it steadily more difficult to make movies, and at last just gave up and stayed home.
After the war, Zheng resumed his directing career with the Zhonghua (China) Film Enterprise Company, making several more features. In 1952, the new People's government established the Shanghai Scientific and Educational Film Company, and assigned Zheng Xiaoqiu to that studio as a director. He directed over 40 science films from 1952 until 1966, several of which received national film awards one was honored at Venice. He continued working right up until 1965, when the Cultural Revolution shut down the film industry for a decade. He died on September 13, 1989.
From child star to adult leading man, from actor to director, from silent to sound, from black and white to color, from narrative feature to science documentary, Zheng Xiaoqiu played a key role in more than 200 motion pictures during his lifetime in the cinema, and while his achievements were probably not the greatest in Chinese film history, he was certainly an outstanding contributor among China's first generation of filmmakers.
