Shanghai Yi Furen (1925) 上海一妇人 (A Shanghai Woman)
Mingxing. Silent. 9 reels. Premiered July 28, 1925 at the Palace. Direction: Zhang Shichuan. Screenplay: Zheng Zhengqiu. Cinematography: Dong Keyi. Cast: Xuan Jinglin (Wu Aibao/Hua Tanru), Cheng Gongyuan (Wu Yunsheng), Maxu Weibang (Zhao Guichuan), Huang Yunzhen (A Jin, née Lin), Yan Zhongying (Lin Fugen), Wang Jiting (Li Shuxiang), Shao Zhuanglin (Liu Zhitian), Wen Ji (Tang Xiaoqing), Yan Shuzhen (Huang Eryuan), Wang Xianzhai (Xu Dalong), Zhao Chen (Wang Laojiu).
[left, a courtesan makes sure her old boy friend gets the best medical care]
Aibao, a naive young village girl bedazzled by what she perceives as a glamorous and wealthy lifestyle, is lured into becoming a high-class courtesan in Shanghai. She grows famous and marries a celebrity, but is later abandoned. When her former fiancee, in the city looking for a wife, is struck by an automobile, she pays his medical bills and then helps him marry another woman and set up a home. When the same procuress who had enticed her into the life arrives with a young girl much like herself at that age, Aibao buys out the girl's freedom and sends her to school. Although she cares for and helps so many others, Aibao is incapable of helping herself and escaping the trap of the life she has chosen.
