The Chinese Mirror

Li Minghui: first singer turned movie star

[left, Li Minghui; click on any image to enlarge]

As in other countries, Chinese music stars over the years have often had the opportunity for a second career in motion pictures, sometimes in non-music, straight dramatic roles if they can act a bit.  Such modern Hong Kong stars as Andy Lau, Karen Mok, the late Leslie Cheung, to name but a few, started out as pop stars and then capitalized on their popularity by moving to the screen.  Perhaps the leading example of this from China's classic film era was Zhou Xuan.  While Li Minghui was by no means the only Chinese pop singer to become a movie star, or the most successful, she was the first singer to make the transition, entering movies from the musical stage.  But unlike the people mentioned above, she actually reversed the process, using her movie popularity to boost her singing career. 

  

Li Minghui 黎明晖 was born to a scholarly family in Hunan province in 1909. (Some sources say 1911, but the earlier date is more likely given that she made her first screen appearance in 1925, and 16 was a very common age for actress debuts.) Her father was one of eight brothers known as the "eight great talents of the Li family," because of their individual accomplishments in arts or letters.  For example, the future movie star's eldest uncle Li Jinxi 黎锦熙 (1890-1978) was a renowned scholar of Chinese language and literature; the youngest, Uncle Li Jinguang 黎锦光 (1907-1993) was a distinguished Shanghai composer of film music, with nearly 200 movie songs to his credit; and her father Li Jinhui 黎锦晖 (1891-1967), the second eldest brother, began as a composer, then organized and directed the Bright Moon Society, a touring song and dance troupe which was the breeding ground for many of China's future star performers, notably Wang Renmei and Li Lili (who he later adopted).   Coming from such a background, it was only natural for Li Minghui herself to receive a musical education from childhood, and join the Bright Moon Society as a performer.  And although it was acknowledged she was not the best of the singers, she became the first to make the transition to movies, initially in a minor supporting role in the Shenzhou Film Company's 1925 film "Conjugal Bliss," then moving to the Da Zhonghua Baihe studio, where her first lead was in that same year's "The Young Factory Owner."  This was the first of several lead roles in major films for Li, but by the end of the 1920s she was still not that popular with the filmgoing public.  This began to change in 1929, when she made a record titled "Mist," one of the first big hits in Chinese recorded popular music, and gave Li Minghui the favorable "Little Sister" image she had not achieved in cinema.  She left movies, forming with her father Li Jinhui a musical act which for the next few years was a very popular attraction in entertainment venues in south China and Hong Kong.  Her newfound popularity resulted in the Tianyi studio bringing her back to the screen in 1933, as the lead in "Pursuit."  By this time, popular actresses and fellow Bright Moon alumnae Li Lili and Wang Renmei had both become established stars with a very admired image (especially among young people), a robust image of healthy female athleticism, and Li Minghui's image fit right in with this. 

[right, father and daughter have a boffo musical act]

[left, the athletic image was a pub bonanza]

    But despite her popularity, critics were not so favorable where her recordings were concerned:  in live performances she did fine, but because (despite her musical heritage) she had never had much formal voice training, on record she often came across as somewhat flat, causing her female backup singers to sound shrill in comparison.  The result was a sound the great writer (and pop culture fan) Lu Xun described as sounding like "cats in their death throes."   

  In 1934, Li Minghui married one of China's most famous athletes, football star Lu Zhongen 陆钟恩.  She continued in films for a few years after that, then retired from the screen in 1937.  The marriage was apparently a happy one, but fairly brief:  Lu died suddenly in 1951, leaving her a widow without income.  She found employment in Beijing as secretary to Zhang Shizhao 章士钊 (1881-1973), a distinguished scholar and writer.  After his death, she returned to Shanghai to live out her days, passing away there on December 9, 2003, aged 94.

************************

Filmography:

1925:

Conjugal Bliss ... nurse

Battle Exploits ... Wang Yihua

The Young Factory Owner ... Li Aifang

1926:

The Newlyweds' Family ...

Transparent Shanghai ... Fufen

Reclaimed Wasteland ... Ah Zhen

A Visit Home ... Putao

1927:

Qiuxiang's Miserable Life ... Qiuxiang

1928:

A Complicated Plot (I,II) ... Huihua

The Person in Her Heart ...

1933:

Pursuit ...

1934:

Women ... Liang Yufen

1935:

The Eve of the Wedding ... Gao Zhuqing

Sad Song of Life ...

1936:

Memorial Day ...

1937:

New Year's Money ... Yang Lijuan

A Loving Couple ... Fang Mali

Xu Qinfang and the 1925 Demonstrations

A recent article in this space profiling the actress Xu Qinfang mentioned that Chinese sources refer to her being a real-life heroine for actions she took during the May, 1925 student demonstrations in Shanghai.  As I wrote at that time, I would update that article when I found more information.  It turns out that Xu did save the day for a film crew and for her studio's first filming effort, although her action was not so much heroic as quick-witted.

For background, I refer readers to the Wikipedia article on the incident.  One hour after the massacre, director and Youlian studio founder Chen Kengran and a cameraman rushed to British police headquarters to film what they could.  Arriving on the scene, they found policemen washing blood from the ground in front of the building.  The police were taken by surprise, and when they noticed the filming approached the crew intending to confiscate their film.  Thinking fast, Xu grabbed the camera and hid it on her person, correct in believing they would not search a woman.  The camera was undiscovered, and in the coming days the Youlian crew added to it footage of the wounded in hospitals, operating room scenes, destruction in the surrounding area, campuses shut down by Chinese authorities to appease the British and British troops debarking at the Shanghai dock to reinforce the concession police.  The film was edited into a three-reel documentary entitled "Wu Sa Hu Chao" 五卅沪潮 (The May 30th Movement in Shanghai).  The film could not be shown in the foreign concessions, but was screened in a number of small Shanghai theaters outside and in Suzhou.  

The protests continued, and spread to Canton (today's Guangzhou) and Hong Kong, where it ignited a general strike having far-reaching implications for the film industry there, shutting it down for several years until it was almost single-handedly resurrected by Li Beihai. 

For further reading:

Fang, Fang (方方).  Zhongguo Jilupian fazhan shi 中囯纪录片发屒史 (History of the Documentary in China).  Beijing:  China Theatrical Press, 2003, pp.40-43. 

Gong Jianong (1902-1993): leading man

    Beginning in the mid-1920s and running into the 1940s, a frequent leading man in Chinese motion pictures was Gong Jianong (龚稼农), who followed that earlier success with two more decades as a character actor in Taiwan.  Ruggedly handsome, with an athletic build, Gong was the Mingxing studio's  answer to rival Lianhua studio's Jin Yan, another former star athlete turned actor. 

 

[left, Gong Jianong at the height of his career]

Gong Jianong was born in Nanjing on February 23, 1902.  From his early teens his twin passions were sports and movies.  He initially set out to pursue a career in athletics, and after graduation from high school entered Southeast University where he majored in physical education and starred in track and football.  He also continued his interest in dramatics, and appeared in several student theatricals.  After graduating in 1922, he was appointed to the faculty of the Jiangsu provincial physical education academy in Nanjing, with a concurrent appointment as dormitory administrator. 

    But as an undergraduate the young man had been inspired by the enthusiasm of the May 4th Movement, and wanted to participate in the modernization and strengthening of China.  As he later wrote, he realized that promoting the movement’s ideals required getting the attention of the masses, and while sports events drew the public’s attention, dramatics was much more effective in communicating ideas.  So in 1925 he went to Shanghai, and through an introduction from former classmate Tang Jie (汤杰) [the future creator and star of the popular "Mr. Wang" comedy movie series of the 1930s and 40s], Gong was hired by the Da Zhonghua Baihe studio in Shanghai as a logkeeper.  By the following year his looks and acting experience provided his entrée into acting, and in 1926 he made his first on-screen appearance as an extra in a crowd scene in "Toumingde Shanghai" 透明的上海 (Transparent Shanghai).  Gong’s first credited role came later that year in the Minxin studio’s “Yujiebingqing” 玉洁冰清 (Why Not Her? aka Pure and Noble), opposite China’s first “Movie Empress” Zhang Zhiyun.  This was one of the most famous films of China’s silent era, and audience reception of the movie and its young new face established Gong Jianong’s status as a coming star.  He was quickly signed by Mingxing, the leading Shanghai studio, and immediately cast in “Weihun Qi” 未婚妻 (Fiancée).  During his 12 years with Mingxing, Gong Jianong became the studio’s number one male marquee attraction, appearing as the lead or a major supporting role in over 60 films that included such classics as “A Couple in Name Only,” “Tears and Flowers,” “Cosmetics Market,” “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple,” “Marriages Through Tears and Laughter,” “The Flower of Freedom,” “Spring Silkworms,” “New Year’s Money,” etc.  His leading ladies over the years were some of the brightest female stars of the silent and early sound eras, such luminaries as Ruan Lingyu, Zhang Zhiyun, Hu Die, Wang Hanlun, Ding Ziming, Xuan Jinglin, Yang Naimei, Li Minghui, Xu Lai, Bai Yang, Zhou Xuan, Zhou Manhua ...  His best performances were considered to be in “Kick" (1928), opposite Ding Ziming,  and opposite Hu Die in “Songstress Red Peony,” “Such a Paradise” (both 1931), and “Raging Torrent” (1933).  

    

[left, Gong and Hu Die often co-starred in the early '30s]

    Gong Jianong was highly respected for his professionalism:  it was reported that he never haggled over credit billing or salary, always showed up on time, knowing his lines, and never complained if a scene had to be shot repeatedly until the director was satisfied.  

 

[below, Gong and Hu Die had a reunion in Taiwan in 1965]

    From 1939 through 1941, he acted for some of the “Orphan Island” studios that continued making movies in Shanghai’s unoccupied foreign concessions.  After the concessions were also occupied at the end of 1941, he left Shanghai and joined a Chinese Nationalist Army troupe, giving productions to entertain troops.

    

[left, Gong Jianong and Bai Yang were frequent on-screen lovers in the late '30s]

    Gong had been a strong supporter of the Nationalist government, so when the Chinese mainland fell to the Communists in 1949, he joined the exodus of many pro-Nationalist figures who fled to Taiwan. Unfortunately most of his family was unable to leave with him.  In Taiwan he became involved at first in making agricultural educational films, and served as head of the studio producing these.  He resumed acting in 1954, in character roles for the Taiwan Film Company.  He retired in 1971, having accumulated more than 120 film credits during his several decades of acting.  In 1989, after travel restrictions between Taiwan and the mainland were lifted, Gong returned to China accompanied by his eldest son, who had gone with the actor to Taiwan in 1949.  The trip was a bittersweet experience.  After first visiting his old home in Nanjing and having a happy family reunion with the wife he had not seen in 40 years and his 5 younger sons, Gong had planned to visit some of his old movie colleagues who were still living, such once close friends as Bai Yang, Xuan Jinglin and Zheng Xiaoqiu; but this part of the trip was ill-timed, as his arrival in Beijing coincided with the Tiananmen demonstrations that spring, so he abruptly ended his visit and flew back to Taipei. 

    At the 30^th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan in 1993, Gong Jianong was honored with a lifetime achievement award.  He died on October 27, 1993, aged 91.

*******

Sources and Further Reading:

Chen, Ping 陈平,"Gong Jianong" 《龚稼农》Silver Palace《银銮殿》, No.1, April, 1941.

Gong, Jianong.  Gong Jianong Cong Ying Huiyilu 《龚稼农从影回忆录》(Gong Jianong's Movie Memoirs).  Taipei, 1967.

Zhu Xi Ling 朱锡龄,"Ji Gong Jianong" 记龚家农 (Notes on Gong Jianong). Shidai Dianying《时代电影》(Films of the Times), v.1, no.4, September 5, 1934.

Hong Jingling (1894-1963): humanitarian villain

In the history of Chinese movies, perhaps no character actor had a richer and  longer career than Hong Jingling.   Like other familiar character actors Wang Xianzhai and Sun Min, he portrayed a wide variety of villains; but unlike the other two, whose careers were cut short by health problems, Hong’s career spanned six decades.  

Hong Jingling (洪警铃) was born Hong Zhitong (洪志通) in Shanghai, March 12, 1893.  He was very fond of dramatics as a child, and he and his playmates often played at acting in his home.  When in 1908 he actually joined an acting troupe, he ran into intense opposition from his family.  But he was adamant in his decision, and they gradually came around.  At that time, in the waning years of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, the imperial government was vigorously harassing and persecuting those elements in Chinese society, such as actors, which it regarded as revolutionary agitators.  The teenaged actor experienced this directly when he was performing with a Hangzhou company called the “Societal Education” troupe, and the theater was suddenly surrounded by Qing troops.  Hong escaped out a back door, and made his way to the city docks where he boarded a small steamship bound for Shanghai.  The harassment radicalized him, and the formerly apolitical young actor became an active participant in anti-Qing activities.

 In 1913, Hong joined the New Drama Society, and appeared in its stage hit, “Victims of Opium.”   When the Huanxian Film Company adapted the society’s production of “Victims” in 1916 (released in 1917), he made his screen debut in the supporting role of a maidservant (New Drama was an all-male company).  He said some years later that he would have liked to concentrate his energies on movies after that initial effort, but the war in Europe effectively shut down China’s emerging film industry by cutting off the supply of film from France and Germany.

But with the resumption of filmmaking in 1919, Hong Jingling joined the Commercial Press’s Motion Picture Section, and appeared  in seven short features for them over the next several years, while continuing to perform on stage.  But his major role came in the detective/martial arts full-length feature made by the New Asia studio in 1922, “Women Skeletons.”  Hong portrayed the chief henchman of the insurance gang, charged with the dual function of guarding the women’s dormitory while also supplying the drugs used to control their male victims.

In 1926, after the Commercial Press spun off its Motion Picture Section as an independent studio, renamed the Guoguang (National Light) Shadow Play Company, he continued working there until the company disbanded in 1927.  He was always in demand, however, and when director Sun Yu returned from studying in America and joined the Great Wall studio he immediately hired Hong for Sun’s first production, “The Spider Gang”  (Zhizhu Dang 蜘蛛党), in which Hong co-starred as the gang boss.

In 1929, Hong joined with some friends in setting up their own film company, the Changming (Flourishing) studio, for which he would serve as both a major actor and studio executive.  The company’s first two films were not very successful at the box office, but the overwhelming success of the Mingxing studio’s series “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple” prompted Changming to join in the new mania for these martial arts fantasies.  Their first attempt at this, “Burning of Pingyang City,” a six-part saga with Hong himself in a lead role, was very well-received by the public, and put the company in a good fiscal status by the end of 1931.

We have mentioned in several previous posts how the two-month Sino-Japanese war which broke out in January, 1932 resulted in the destruction of several of Shanghai’s smaller film studios.  The Changming studio was one of these, just when it seemed to have a bright outlook.  The company did find another location, and completed the sixth part of the series, but the Chinese government’s suppression of the martial arts fantasy genre led to the studio’s partners arguing among themselves about the future course Changming should take.  The end result was dissolution of the company. 

In 1933, Hong Jingling joined the Lianhua (United Photoplay)) film studio, and over the next several years appeared in many of its films, including some of its most important productions, such as “A Match Made in Heaven,” “The Big Road,” “Lost Lambs,” “Song of a Loving Mother,” “The Lost Pearl,” “Gold-plated City” and “Bloodshed on Wolf Mountain.”  

When the Japanese invaded Shanghai in 1937, Hong Jingling’s home was destroyed in the bombing.  He was one of those in the film community who remained in the city, where he eked out a living acting for two of China’s low-budget wartime studios:  Xinhua (New China), making “Unexpected Luck” and “Thunderstorm,” then later for Huaying (China Film), for which he made several films.  Actors were treated very poorly during this period, and for most it was a struggle just to eat every day.

[below, center, as the deceitful elder brother in "Song of a Loving Mother]

[Hong Jingling made a great many movies during his career.  His villains were often cunning, small people, and from reading contemporary reviews it seems his face was his greatest acting asset – audiences could discern instantly from his expressions what were his characters’ thinking and motives.  During the Lianhua years his villains became more subtle in their deviousness, which made them even more distasteful to audiences.  For example, in “Song of a Loving Mother,” he was the title character’s eldest son, in public a neatly-dressed gentleman, with charity to all, but in private a beast who abuses and bullies his mother, a woman with no way of escaping her situation.  As the eldest son he is in charge of her affairs, and her care, but just exploits his situation by draining her financially.  The character’s behavior was so ugly that, as one filmgoer expressed it, “He was so hateful my teeth hurt from gnashing them.”  In contrast, the mother and the helpless younger brother were all the more sympathetic.  In “The Big Road,” he was the stooge of a tyrannical landlord, the pair secretly collaborating with Japanese agents to stop a strategic defense construction project.

 But like so many fine actors who specialize in stage and screen villainy, Hong Jingling’s real nature was the polar opposite:  after the war, instead of returning immediately to motion pictures he devoted himself to charity work, performing in stage productions which raised funds for refugee relief and postwar reconstruction.  He also organized and managed a relief organization which arranged for adoption of war orphans by members of the entertainment community.

[right, the real Hong Jingling off-screen]

After the founding of the People’s Republic, Hong returned to filmmaking under the new regime, and appeared in several more films, the last in 1961.  Hong Jingling died on June 6, 1963 in Shanghai, age 70.

Xia Peizhen: “the Nanjing heroine”

    In researching the history of Chinese motion pictures, and the lives of their makers in  particular, one often comes across sad tales of actresses whose careers and lives were destroyed by the men in their lives.  To conlude our series on “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple,” we have to mention one such sad story, that of its first female lead, the only actress to appear in all 19 parts.  But this sad tale is particularly tragic in her case, as the destructive force in the life of this beautiful and talented young woman was not a false lover, but the one person who should have been watching out for her – her legal guardian.

    Xia Peizhen (夏佩珍) was born in 1908 to a desperately poor family in Nanjing.  Both of her parents were uneducated day laborers barely able to support themselves.  By the time she was 13, her parents were no longer able to keep their daughter fed and clothed, so they sent her to Shanghai to be adopted and raised by an uncle, Xia Tianren (夏天人), a prominent Shanghai stage actor.  He got her into acting, and in 1927 she joined the the Mingxing studio on a temporary contract.  She then worked for several other Shanghai studios, getting roles of increasing importance, which led to Mingxing rehiring her for grooming as a leading lady. 

    She became a star after making “Burning,” and continued in her role through all 18 sequels to the original, becoming one of the most popular martial arts heroines of the time, and with an overall popularity and salary that were on the same level of Mingxing’s other top female stars Hu Die and Xuan Jinglin.  Her salary, 800 silver dollars a month, had become the principal source of income for her adoptive father, and when Mingxing turned down still another raise he  threatened to move her to another studio.

 

[left, frequent co-stars Xia, left, with Hu Die; right, Xia on a movie magazine cover]

    When censorship and changing audience tastes spelled the end for “gods and spirits” movies, Mingxing changed policy and turned to making literary and art films.  Xia Peizhen returned to the studio, and appeared with Hu Die in such early sound films as “Genü Hongmudan” 《歌女红牡丹》 (Songstress Red Peony) and “Tixiao Yiyuan” 《啼笑姻缘》(A Marriage Through Tears and Laughter).  Her performances were well-received by audiences, leading Mingxing to cast her as the principal lead in several more popular films in the mid-1930s, and her popularity stood on the same level as Hu Die’s.

    Unfortunately, her adoptive father Xia Tianren feared that her growing popularity might lead to a marriage which would remove her from his control, so he forced her to begin using opium.  But his scheme succeeded too well:  she became deeply addicted, to the point where she would spend whole days in bed under its influence.  Her strength and faculties diminished as her addiction grew, and finally, while under the influence, she was severely injured in a fall from a building while shooting a scene.  These injuries left her in constant pain, and only worsened her drug habit.  Although she had a few more roles after that, her career was over.  She disappeared from public view until the early 1950s, shortly after the establishment of the People’s Republic, when she was found in Wuhan.  The new government placed her with a movie studio in a non-performing capacity (although she had one small role in a 1960 production) and exploited her by trotting her out from time to time as an example of how actresses were treated in the old society.  Xia Peizhen died April 5, 1975, and one hopes she found some happiness in her later life. 

"Burning of the Red Lotus Temple": an expert's view

[left, Professor Jia Leilei]

[The following is a translation of an interview with Jia Leilei (贾磊磊)，  Associate Director and Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Television Arts, as well as professor and doctoral advisor at the Nanjing Normal University’s College of Liberal Arts and Literature.  He is one of China’s leading film historians, with research specialties that include the history of martial arts movies.  Among his more than 200 published books and articles is The History of Chinese Martial Arts Films (Zhongguo Wuxia Dianying Shi 中国武侠电影史 Beijing:  Culture and Arts Press, 2005).  This interview originally appeared in the Beijing newspaper New Capital Times (Xin Jing Bao 新京报), May 9, 2004.  As of August, 2009, the original was still online.  The interview was conducted for the New Capital Times by journalistic intern Zhang Yue (张悦).] 

   After the “ancient costume fervor” of the mid-1920s had cooled, the Mingxing studio moved down a different path, and ignited the first spark in the next conflagration – the martial arts/swordsman/gods-and-spirits fantasies:  “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple.”  This initial spark produced a new fervor that dominated the Chinese movie scene for the next four years.  We discussed the film and its impact with Jia Leilei.

Q:  Before the emergence of martial arts “gods and spirits” films as a genre, there had already been Chinese films which had swordsmen as their simple theme; was “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple” a commercial innovation built on that foundation?

Jia:  Swordsman films were not something that just burst suddenly from someone’s imagination, or from some studio’s.  It was the result of a gradual process.  There were two principal factors in the emergence of swordman films:  the first was the influence of American Western movies and the enjoyment Chinese audiences took in watching them, and that inspired Chinese filmmakers; the second was China’s deep store of chivalrous fiction, a mature source of material appropriate for the camera lens, and fully prepared for the screen.  Before “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple” there were martial arts movies like “Railway Robbers” and “Four Heroes Named Wang,” but these didn’t have much impact.  But “Burning” touched off a surge of enthusiasm for the genre.

Q:  After “Burning,” swordsman films had several waves of popularity in China’s first century of cinema.

Jia:  That’s right, “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple” touched off the first surge of popularity for the swordsman genre, with each major Shanghai company picking up on its commercial possibilities.  The second surge came in the 1960s from Hong Kong and Taiwan, although filmmakers at that time were fully aware that [bringing back the genre] was a high risk venture, a speculative commercial product.  But this era gave us a succession of classic movies, violent ones like Chang Che’s, which emphasized male bonding and then gradually transitioned from “swords” to “kicks.”  The third surge came at the start of the 1980s, in movies from the Chinese mainland, beginning with “Mysterious Buddha” 《神秘的大佛》, then such films as “Wudang” 《武当》，and “The Magic Braid”《神鞭》reaching its peak in 1982 with “Shaolin Temple” 《少林寺》.  The fourth surge came at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, with swordsman films that were cooperative China-Hong Kong-Taiwan ventures, for example “New Dragon Gate Inn” 《新龙门客栈》

But while it was very successful, I don’t think “Hero” 《英雄》 should be included in that last surge:  it’s a unique phenomenon, a category in itself.

Pingjiang Buxiaosheng and Martial Arts Fiction

[right, Pingjiang Buxiaosheng, photo undated]

In the 2008 hit animated movie “Kung Fu Panda,” the slacker title character is redeemed through martial arts.  The same could be said of the author of the literary source of “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple,” the  silent movie series we have been discussing this week.  An earlier post related how Mingxing’s chief director Zhang Shichuan discovered the book that he and his frequent collaborator Zheng Zhengqiu turned into Part I of the classic series of wuxia films, “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple.”  In this article we look at the life and career of Pingjiang Buxiaosheng 平江不肖生 , the pen name of Xiang Kairan 向恺然, prolific 1920s author of wuxia fiction.  Among his works was a novel (originally a newspaper serial) titled Strange Swordsman Story (Jianghu Qi Xia Zhuan 江湖奇侠传), which was the plot basis for Part I of the film series. “Jianghu,” literally “rivers and lakes,” is a Chinese idiom meaning “everywhere in the country.”  “Zhuan” the last word in the title, can be translated as “story,” as I have done here, or alternatively, “legend.”

One of 1928's Best: "Burning of the Red Lotus Temple"

  As Chinese filmmaking continued to mature, the products of Shanghai studios increased in quality as well as number.   One of the most successful products of that era is the series we are discussing this week, the multi-part wuxia classic, "Burning of the Red Lotus Temple."  While all of its 19 parts are lost, the written records regarding cast, major technical credits and plot synopses are available to us.  The plot of Part I is given here, to provide some flavor of what these early films were like.  For an overview of the wuxia genre, check out the Wikipedia article.

Huo Shao Hong Lian Si I-XIX (1928-31) 火烧红莲寺 

(Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, pts.1-19)

Mingxing.  B&W.  Silent.   Part 1 premiered May 13, 1928 at the Palace Theater in Shanghai.   

Part 1  (1928):  10 reels 

Part 2  (1928):    9 reels

Part 3  (1928):  10 reels  

Part 4  (1929):  10 reels

Part 5  (1929):  10 reels

Part 6  (1929):  10 reels

Part 7  (1929):  10 reels

Part 8  (1929):    9 reels

Part 9  (1930):    9 reels

Part 10 (1930):   9 reels

Part 11 (1930):   9 reels

Part 12 (1930):   9 reels

Part 13 (1930):   9 reels

Part 14 (1930):   9 reels

Part 15 (1930):  10 reels

Part 16 (1930):   9 reels

Part 17 (1931):   9 reels

Part 18 (1931):   9 reels

Part 19 (1931):   9 reels

Direction:  Zhang Shichuan.  Screenplay:  Zheng Zhengqiu (Part 1), Zhang Shichuan (Parts 2-19), based on a novel "Strange Swordsman Story," by Pingjiang Buxiaosheng (pen name of Xiang Kairan, 1889-1957).  Cinematography:  Dong Keyi.  Art:  Zhang Yuguang.  Sets:  Dong Tianya.  Program notes:  Zheng Zhengqiu (Parts 1,16), Zhang Shichuan (Part 2).  Illusions:  Wan Dihuan, Qiu Yiwei.  Assistant director:  Wang Jiting.

 

Cast: 

Zheng Xiaoqiu (Gui Wu, Yang Jixin), parts 1-19 (19)

Xia Peizhen (Gan Lianzhu, Yang Jixin's wife), parts 1-6,8-19 (18) 

Wang Xianzhai (Wang Qinghe), parts 1-4,6-19 (18)

Wang Jiting (Gan Liuzi), parts 1-6,8-19 (18)

Gong Jianong (Yang Zanting), parts 1-6,8-19 (18)

Tang Jie (Chang Deqing), parts 1-2,4-10,12-19 (17)

Wang Mengshi (Yang Zanhua, Yang Zumi), parts 1,3,5-19 (17)

Hu Die (Red Girl), parts 3-6,8,10,12-19 (14)

Dong Xiangping (Red Cloud founder), parts 1-4,6,9-16,18,19 (10)

Wang Zhengxin (Plum Blossom Daoist), parts 1,3-4,6,11-16 (10)

Gu Youmin (prefect), parts 1-4,6,15-17,19 (9)

Tan Zhiyuan (governor), parts 1,4-6,15-19 (9)

Xie Yunqing (teacher), parts 1,3,4,11,15-17 (7)

Zhu Xiuying (prefect's wife), parts 1,4,6,16-19 (7)

Liang Saizhen (prefect's daughter), parts 1,6,16,17,19 (5)

Wu Wanxiang (Dayuan – "ape"), parts 1,13,14,16,17 (5)

Zhao Jingxia (Yang Zumi's wife), parts 1,4,5,16 (4)

Wang Weixin (Plum Blossom Daoist), parts 17-19 (3)

Also, characters unknown:

Xiao Ying, parts 2-6,13,15 (7)

Huang Junpu, parts 2-3,5,6,15 (5)

Zhu Fei, parts 7-10 (4)

Gao Lihen, parts 2,3

Ye Liangde, parts 2,3

Zha Ruilong, parts 2,3

Zheng Chaofan, parts 5,6

Han Yunzhen, parts 9,10

Zhou Wenzhu, parts 12,14

Zhang Aizhen, part 2

Feng Zhicheng, part 5

Zhang Minyu, part 5

(plot synopsis after the bump)