The Chinese Mirror

The Chinese Filmography, 1917-1919: Wartime Dormancy

    After 1913's brief creative burst from the American-financed Asia Film and Theater Company, moviemaking in China virtually ceased to exist for the rest of that decade, due to circumstances totally beyond Chinese control:  the outbreak of war in Europe in the late summer of 1914.  Because France, and to a lesser extent Germany, were the primary manufacturers and exporters of film stock, the Asia and Xinmin Companies (Asia Film's newly-established movie arm) were forced to cease movie operations.  Chinese filmmakers (and those aspiring to be) had nowhere to go for the supplies they needed to continue.  The parent Asia Company shut down completely, while Xinmin absorbed Asia's acting personnel and reverted to presenting stage dramas.  Zheng Zhengqiu and Zhang Shichuan also joined Xinmin and under their creative leadership, the expanded theater troupe got along until the end of the war.
    Chinese theater operators were more fortunate:  although the main European combatant nations continued making movies during the war, exports of their product to Asia ceased.  Taking advantage of the situation, American studios expanded their exports, and as American films poured into China, they gradually supplanted the former European dominance and led to a long-standing preference for American movies among Chinese audiences. 
    So Chinese moviegoers got along during World War I on a steady diet of Chaplin, Lloyd, Pickford, et al.  And by the end of the war, American film stock had also begun coming into China, permitting the Chinese to resume shooting their own films again.  The first Chinese company to take full advantage of this was the Commercial Press, which established its Motion Picture Section in 1918 with the intention of making educational and informational films.  So while the Chinese produced but one film during the war, 1917's "Victims of Opium," the Commercial Press re-started the industry in 1919 with two experimental shorts:

Si Hao Du (1919) 死好赌 (The Gambler)
    Commercial Press Motion Picture Section.  600m.  Comedy short.  Direction:  Ren Pengnian.  Screenplay:  Chen Chunsheng.  Cinematography:  Liao Enshou.  Cast:  Bao Guirong, Zhang Shengwu, Ding Yuanyi, Hong Jingling.

Liang Nan (1919) 两难 (In a Dilemma)
    Commercial Press Motion Picture Section.  Social criticism.  600m.  Direction:  Ren Pengnian.  Screenplay:  Chen Chunsheng.  Cinematography:  Liao Enshou.  Cast:  Ding Yuanyi, Bao Guirong, Zhang Shengwu.

    A wealthy man takes a grieving widow as his wife, buying her from her father-in-law, although the widow wants to remain true to her late husband's memory.  Fortunately, the rich man's daughter admires and sympathizes with the filial widow, helps her hide in the countryside and then covertly gives her enough money to flee elsewhere and maintain her chastity.

The Chinese Filmography, 1913: Comedy Shorts Predominant

    China's film industry was still in its initial stage in 1913, and while there were two full-length features made in that year (each the first for China and Hong Kong), there were no such attempts immediately after that; instead, the predominant genre remained comedy shorts of the slapstick variety.  Actually, the 1913 filmography could be called the Asia Film and Theater Company filmography, as it was the only mainland studio filming that year, with the Li brothers' Sino-American studio in Hong Kong the only other Chinese company in operation. 
    Exaggerated movements and (often) a wild chase scene were common characteristics of Asia Film's shorts, probably in emulation of the Mack Sennett comedies, so popular among Shanghai audiences.  Like their American model, a few common threads running through these early Chinese comedies were:  a reflection of the everyday concerns of ordinary people, not the elite; good deeds rewarded and bad ones punished; and plot development heavily dependent on misunderstanding and coincidence.
[above right, the Asia Film and Theater Company staff in 1913]

Liang Shaopo and《Stealing a Roast Duck》(1909)

    In our article about Li Minwei, "The Father of Hong Kong Film," we noted that his "Zhuangzi Tests his Wife" is often referred to as the first Chinese film shown outside of Asia.  This is true depending on, to paraphrase a recent U.S. president, what your definition of "Chinese" is.  "Zhuangzi," made in 1913, was the first motion picture wholly invested and made by Chinese people.  But the first Chinese film exhibited outside of Asia was an earlier production, 1909's "Tou Shaoya" 偷烧鸭 (Stealing a Roast Duck). 
    This comedy short was the first movie actually filmed in Hong Kong, and when it was later taken to the U.S. by Benjamin Brodsky and exhibited there, became the first Chinese film to be shown outside of Asia.   However, because the Asia Film and Theater Co. was an enterprise wholly owned by the Russian-American Brodsky, this and the other films made by his Asia Film studio in Shanghai and Hong Kong are considered to have been American productions, and the Li brothers' 1913 "Zhuangzi Tests his Wife" as the first Hong Kong movie.

Lost Classic:《Victims of Opium》(1917)

Background:
    In 1916, Zhang Shichuan got together with writer (and later director) Guan Haifeng 管海峰to work on a screen adaptation of a very successful Shanghai stage production "Victims of Opium," (Heiji Yuanhun 黑籍冤魂).  The story had a decade-long history:  originally a short story by Wu Jianren 吴趼人, published in the literary magazine Yueyue Xiaoshuo (v.1, no.4, January 29, 1907) and adapted for the stage in 1910 by Xu Fumin.  The play enjoyed a long run, and provided an excellent opportunity for China's fledgling filmmakers to expand their horizons beyond the comedy shorts which were the early staples of Chinese filmmaking.  The original plan was to cast the movie with actors from the New Stage Theater who had been doing the stage version, but after negotiations broke down the filmmakers successfully negotiated with the Minming Society, a competing troupe, to perform the play on screen.  The lone still photo which survives from the film indicates the movie was a film of the stage production.  In any case, it was quite successful, touching some nerves among a Chinese population which was still suffering from the evils of imperialism, massive foreign dumping of addictive drugs, as well as Chinese traditional society's own feudal practices.

[right, still photo from 'Victims of Opium'; click on picture for larger image]

Plot synopsis:
    A miserly rich man named Zeng Hedu, worried about his adult son's Bojia's involvement with outside charity work, orders the son to begin using opium, in the absurd belief that addiction will make him stay at home all the time and concentrate on managing the family business.  Under the feudal ethics of the time, Bojia has no choice but to obey his father.  He gradually becomes a drug addict, but with the exact opposite result.  He becomes totally incapable of paying any attention to family matters, and this unexpected outcome sends the father into a fatal apoplectic fit.  Although Bojia's wife pleads with him to quit, the family scion is too far gone to listen.  Some time later, their little boy finds some of his father's drug, and thinking it candy, eats it and dies of opium poisoning.  Bojia's mother, already ailing and deeply remorseful for her late husband's stupidity, soon passes away.  Two of the Zengs' employees, pretending to be caring and helpful, secretly embezzle and squander business funds and property, and even sell Bojia's daughter Zhenzhen to a brothel.  Forced from the family home by creditors, Bojia wanders the streets for a while, then finds menial work pulling a rickshaw.  One day he picks up a passenger who turns out to be his daughter Zhenzhen.  But their bittersweet reunion is brief, as the brothel madam takes Zhenzhen away, leaving Bojia standing alone in the street.  Unable to stand the pain in his heart any longer, he falls dead at the city gate.

    In addition to pointing out the evils of opium through its depiction of the drug's destruction of a family, the film also castigated the ruin inflicted on China by imperialism, in particular the British imperialism that forced opium on China after the Opium War of 1840-1842.  Other targets of the movie's criticism were the patriarchal practices of the day, in this case an adult man with a family being obliged to follow unquestioningly the orders of a parent, no matter how foolish or destructive to his own family.  Also targeted were the hypocritical and exploitative actions of the two shop assistants, whose names, Bu Yaolian and Mei Zhishi, are homophones in Chinese for "shameless" and "ignorant," respectively.
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Heiji Yuanhun (1917)
黑籍冤魂
English title:  Victims of Opium

Directors: 
Zhang Shichuan, Guan Haifeng
Writers:
Guan Haifeng (screenplay)
Xu Fumin (play)
Wu Jianren (story)
Cinematography: 
A.E. Lauro (Italy)

Premiered:  16 February 1917 in Shanghai
Black and White.  Silent.  4 reels. 

Cast: 
Zhang Lisheng    ...  Zeng Bojia
Xu Hanmei         ...  Bojia's wife
Zha Tianying      ...  the cousin
Feng Ergou         ...  Old Bian
Hong Jingling     ...  the maidservant
Huang Xiaoya     ...  the daughter
Huang Youya      ...  the son

China’s First Feature Film:《A Couple in Difficulty》(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.

Li Minwei and《Zhuangzi Tests His Wife》

A Strange Initiator for  Hong Kong Movies

    In 1913, about the same time that the landmark motion picture “Nanfu Nanqi” (A Couple in Difficulty) was being filmed in Shanghai, a man from China’s Guangdong (Canton) province was in Hong Kong forming a company to be called the “Hua-Mei” (Sino-American) Film Company to work on an ad hoc basis with Benjamin Brodsky’s Asia Film Co. in filming another landmark film called “Zhuangzi Tests His Wife”. This latter motion picture was the first short film produced in Hong Kong.

    In 100 years of Chinese motion pictures, whether alone or in cooperative ventures with mainland and Taiwan filmmakers, Hong Kong has been of strategic importance in Chinese language cinema.   And from the simple beginning of “Zhuangzi Tests His Wife,” Hong Kong movies grew to overflowing, initiated by an unusual man – Li Minwei.

China's First Motion Picture

    Regardless of how future generations may have judged it, afficionados of Chinese motion pictures should feel some gratitude for the beginning that "Ding Jun Shan" 定军山 (Dingjun Mountain) gave to the entire body of Chinese film work that followed, whether these later productions were from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.  Motion pictures were introduced into China soon after the process was invented in 1895.  But how, and by whom, is far from clear. 

    One belief holds that some French photographers, assistants to the Lumiere brothers, introduced film to China, but others point out that while the brothers (who kept extensive and detailed records) had recorded sending these assistants to India, they make no mention of a China connection on that trip.  Also, while the photographers shot considerable film in India (again, the Lumiere brothers kept extensive records on this), there is nothing in their records of any film being shot in China.

The Chinese Filmography: 1905-1909

    The earliest Chinese films were all shorts, and until 1909, all were excerpts from classical operas, featuring performances by well-known Peking (Beijing) opera stars.  The very first of these Chinese films, Ding Jun Shan, is discussed more fully in another post.

Ding Jun Shan (1905) 定军山 (Dingjun Mountain)
    Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).   3 reels.  Direction:  Ren Qingtai.  Cinematography:  Liu Zhonglun.  Cast:  Tan Xinpei (Huang Zhong).

    Three episodes excerpted from a Beijing opera, performed by one of its stars.  Tan Xinpei (1846-1917) was the founder of the "Tan School", a form which combines speaking, singing, acting and stage combat in performance.  This was the first film made in China by Chinese.  

Chang Ban Po (1905) 长坂坡 (Chang Ban Po)
    Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).  Direction:  Ren Qingtai.  Cinematography:  Liu Zhonglun.  Cast:  Tan Xinpei (Liu Bei).
 
Qingshi Shan (1906) 青石山 (Green Rock Hill)
    Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).  Cast:  Yu Jusheng, Zhu Wenying. 

Jinqianbao (1906) 金钱豹 (The Leopard)
    Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).  Cast:  Yu Zhenting. 

    A general called "The Leopard" invades and occupies Mount Hongmei, in an effort to force a local squire to hand over his daughter.  A heroic leader battles the Leopard and eventually forces the latter's surrender.

Yan Yang Lou (1906) 艳阳楼 (The Sunny Mansion)
    Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).  Cast:  Yu Jusheng.

Bai Shui Tan (1907) 白水滩 (At the White Beach)
    Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).  Cast:  Yu Zhenting.

Shou Guan Sheng (1907) 收关胜 (Capturing Guan Sheng)
     Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).  Cast:  Xu Deyi.

Fang Mianhua (1908) 纺棉花 (Spinning Cotton)
    Fengtai Photo Studio (Beijing).  

    A silver merchant goes abroad on business, and stays away for three years.  His wife misses him terribly, and as she spins cotton she sings a little song that relieves her sadness.  When the husband returns he hears her song, and without showing himself, offers some silver to test her faithfulness.  She does not move from her spinning, and when she at last opens the door, the couple are reunited.

Buxing Er (1909) 不幸儿 (Unfortunate Child)
    Asia Film and Theater Co. (Shanghai).  Screenplay:  Benjamin Brodsky.  Nothing more is known of this film, other than it being the first Chinese film not adapted from a classical opera.

Xi Tai Hou (1909) 西太后 (The Empress Dowager)
    Asia Film and Theater Co. (Shanghai).  Direction and Screenplay:  Benjamin Brodsky.  Cinematography:  Isher* (USA).

Tou Shao Ya (1909) 偷烧鸭 (Stealing a Roast Duck)
    Asia Film and Theater Co. (Hong Kong).  Direction:  Liang Shaopo.  Production and Cinematography:  Benjamin Brodsky.  Cast:  Huang Zhongwen (fat man), Liang Shaopo (thief), Li Beihai (policeman).  This film and its director are discussed more fully in another post.

Wa Pen Shenyuan (1909) 瓦盆伸冤 (Redressing the Clay Pot)
    Asia Film and Theater Co. (Hong Kong).  Direction:  Liang Shaopo.  Screenplay:  Benjamin Brodsky.

*indicates a Chinese transliteration of a foreign name, exact name unknown.