ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINESE FILM ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINESE FILM Yingjin Zhang and Zhiwei Xiao With additional contributions from Ru-shou Robert Chen, Shuqin Cui, Paul Fonoroff, Ken Hall, Julian Stringer, Jean J.Su, Paola Voci, Tony Williams, Yueh-yu Yeh Edited by Yingjin Zhang London & New York First published 1998 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. © Routledge 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zhang, Yingjin. Encyclopedia of Chinese Film/Yingjin Zhang and Zhiwei Xiao; with additional contributions from Ru-shou Robert Chen… [et al.]; edited by Yingjin Zhang. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. (alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures—China—Encyclopedias. 2. Motion pictures— Taiwan—Encyclopedias. I. Xiao, Zhiwei. II. Title. PN1993.5.C4Z53 1998 791.43´0951´03—dc21 98–18267 CIP ISBN 0-415-15168-6 (Print Edition) ISBN 0-203-19555-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-19558-2 (Glassbook Format) For Mimi, Alex and David Contents List of plates ix Notes on contributors xi Note to the reader xiii Acknowledgements xv List of abbreviations xvi Classified contents xvii Part I: Historical essays Chinese cinema Zhiwei Xiao 3 Hong Kong cinema Paul Fonoroff 31 Taiwan cinema Ru-shou Robert Chen 47 Transnational cinema Yingjin Zhang 63 Chinese film in the West Yingjin Zhang 66 Foreign films in China Zhiwei Xiao 70 viii Contents Part II: Main entries 73 Bibliography Yingjin Zhang and Jean J.Su 397 Select Internet web sites Jean J.Su 412 Glossary of Chinese characters Zhiwei Xiao 413 Index of titles Yingjin Zhang 450 Index of names Yingjin Zhang 465 Index of studios Yingjin Zhang 473 Plates 1 Memories of the Old Capital (1930) 12 2 Zhuangzi Tests His Wife (1913) 32 3 Taipei Story (1985) 57 4 Rumble in the Bronx (1994) 67 5 Hollywood films in Shanghai 71 6 Project A (1984) 76 7 The Lin Family Shop (1959) 78 8 Little Carps Jump Over the Dragon Gate (1958) 80 9 Back to Back, Face to Face (1994) 89 10 Ballad of the Yellow River (1989) 91 11 Cheng the Fruit Seller (1922) 117 12 The Kite (1958) 120 13 Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (1954) 129 14 Crossroads (1937) 132 15 Crows and Sparrows (1949) 133 16 Dream in Paradise (1947) 147 17 Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon (1947) 152 18 Chunxiang Disturbs the School (1920) 167 19 Ah Ying (1983) 169 20 Hu Die, the movie queen 192 21 The Killer (1989) 206 22 The Big Boss (1971) 213 23 Shaolin Temple (1982) 217 24 Li Lihua, a Hong Kong star 219 25 No One Cheers (1993) 232 26 Drunken Master (1978) 238 27 Third Sister Liu (1960) 245 28 New Year’s Sacrifice (1957) 252 29 One and Eight (1984) 257 30 Poster for An Orphan on the Streets (1949) 258 31 Poster for Oyster Girl (1964) 261 32 Princess Iron Fan (1941) 267 33 A Flower in the Rainy Might (1983) 269 34 Front cover of Photoplay Pictorial (Dec. 1927) 270 35 The Puppet Master (1993) 273 36 Rouge (1987) 291 37 Ruan Lingyu, a tragic star 292 x Plates 38 A Girl From Hunan (1986) 300 39 Li Shuangshuang (1962) 309 40 Song of Youth (1959) 311 41 Stage Sisters (1964) 317 42 Storm on the Border (1940) 319 43 Street Angel (1937) 322 44 This Life of Mine (1950) 334 45 Uproar in Heaven (1961, 1964) 347 46 The Battle of Taierzhuang (1987) 355 47 The Wedding Banquet (1992) 356 48 Woman Demon Human (1987) 363 49 Women Flowers (1994) 365 50 Zhang Yimou 390 Notes on contributors Ru-shou Robert Chen (RC) received his (1989, Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta Ph.D. in Critical Studies from the School of Hispanic Monographs) and John Woo: Painting Cinema-TV, the University of Southern the True Colors of the Hero (1999, Jefferson, California in the USA and is Associate N.C.: McFarland & Co., forthcoming). He Professor of Cinema Studies at National has translated two of Infante’s works: A Taiwan College of Arts. He is the author of Twentieth Century Job (1991, London and New two Chinese books, Historical and Cultural York: Faber & Faber) and Mea Cuba (1994, Experience in New Taiwan Cinema (1993b) and London: Faber & Faber; New York: Farrar, Screen Empire (1995), and a contributor to Film Straus & Giroux). He is a contributor to Appreciation and other magazines in Taiwan. Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Literature/Film Quarterly, University of Dayton Shuqin Cui (SC) received her Ph.D. in Review, Hispanofila, and Classical and Modern Cultural Studies from the University of Literature. Michigan and is Assistant Professor of Chinese at Southern Methodist University in the USA. Julian Stringer (JS) studied film at the Her essay is included in Transnational Chinese University of North London, UK and Cinemas, ed. by S.Lu (1997a). currently researches Hong Kong and Japanese cinema as a doctoral student of Comparative Paul Fonoroff (PF) received his MFA from Literature at Indiana University in the USA. the School of Cinema-TV, the University of He has contributed articles to Asian Cinema, Southern California in the USA and is the Cineaction, Film Quarterly, Millennium Film Journal, film critic for South China Morning Post in Monthly Film Bulletin, Screen and two critical Hong Kong and host of ‘Movie World’, a anthologies. weekly Mandarin-language cinema programme broadcast in China. He is the Jean J.Su (JJS) is a graduate student of Library author of Silver Light: A Pictorial History of and Information Science at Indiana University Hong Kong Cinema, 1920–1970 (1997) and has in the USA. During the 1980s she was an contributed to Renditions and other editor of Western literature with Haixia publications in Hong Kong. Literature and Art Press in China and contributed to Chinese and Foreign Film and other Ken Hall (KH) received his Ph.D. in magazines. Spanish-American Literature from the University of Arizona and is Associate Paola Voci (PV) studied Chinese cinema at Professor of Spanish at the University of Beijing Film Academy and currently North Dakota in the USA. He is the author researches Chinese and Japanese cinema as a of Guillermo Cabrera Infante and the Cinema doctoral student of East Asian Languages and xii Notes on contributors Cultures at Indiana University in the USA. and China Review International as well as to She has contributed to Journal of Modern Transnational Chinese Cinema (1997) and Romance, Literature in Chinese. Sexuality, Identity (1999). Tony Williams (TW) received his Ph.D. in Yueh-yu Yeh (YY) received her Ph.D. in Theology from Manchester University, UK Critical Studies from the School of Cinema- and is Associate Professor of English and Area TV, the University of Southern California in Head of Film Studies at Southern Illinois the USA and is teaching film at Hong Kong University in the USA. He is the author of Baptist University. She is the co-author of Jack London: The Movies (1992, Los Angeles: ‘Narrating National Sadness: Cinematic David Rejl), Hearths of Darkness: The Family in Mapping and Hypertextual Dispersion’ (a the American Horror Film (1996, New Jersey: multimedia monograph) and a contributor to Fairleigh Dickinson University Press) and Film Appreciation in Taiwan. Larry Cohen: Radical Allegories of an American Filmmaker (1997, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland Yingjin Zhang (YZ) received his Ph.D. in & Co). He is also co-editor (with Jean-Jacques Comparative Literature from Stanford Malo) of Vietnam War Films (1994, also from University and is Associate Professor of McFarland) and (with Rocco Fumento) of Jack Chinese, Comparative Literature, and Film London’s The Sea Wolf (1998, Carbondale: Studies at Indiana University in the USA. He Southern Illinois University Press). He has is the author of The City in Modern Chinese contributed articles to Cinema Journal, Cineaction, Literature and Film: Configurations of Space, Time, Movie, Viet Nam Generation and Wide Angle. and Gender (1996) and the editor of China in a Polycentric World: Essays in Chinese Comparative Zhiwei Xiao (ZX) received his Ph.D. in Literature (1998) and Romance, Sexuality, Identity Modern East Asia from the University of (1999), all from Stanford University Press. He California at San Diego and is Assistant has contributed articles to three critical Professor of History at California State anthologies in English and over a dozen University at San Marcos in the USA. He has journals in the USA, China, Hong Kong and contributed articles to American Historical Review Taiwan. Note to the reader This reference work is designed to provide, first of all, a comprehensive coverage of Chinese film in its historical, cultural, geopolitical, generic, thematic and textual aspects; and, secondly, a critical guide to assist the reader to navigate through these multiple aspects and to locate the exact information needed. In addition to the main body of entries on film people, film synopses, genres and subjects presented in alphabetical order, this encyclopedia contains the following special features: 1 Six historical essays on Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwan cinemas as well as their interactions with and their relations to the West. Conveniently placed before the main entries, these essays offer surveys of the developments of Chinese film in different geopolitical locations and the Western presence in China throughout the twentieth century.