From Hollywood to Shanghai: American Silent Films in China
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From Hollywood to Shanghai: American Silent Films in China by Qian Zhang BA, Shanghai International Studies University, 1993 MA, Shanghai Theatre Academy, 2000 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2009 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Qian Zhang It was defended on April 3, 2009 and approved by Professor Ronald J. Zboray, Advisor, Communication Professor Lucy Fischer, English/Film Studies Professor Lester Olson, Communication Assistant Professor Xinmin Liu, East Asian Languages and Literatures/Film Studies ii Copyright © by Qian Zhang 2009 iii Advisor: Ronald J. Zboray From Hollywood to Shanghai: American Silent Films in China Qian Zhang, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2009 My dissertation re-constructs the history of Hollywood movies in 1920s Shanghai through archival work in both China and the United States. Before that decade, film exhibition in China was little more than a novelty with limited social influence. The 1920s saw a boom in American film production and attempts to develop foreign markets for it. Consequently, Hollywood films flooded into China, just ahead of the development of the local national film industry in the late 1920s, and hence shaped the environment for that development. As heralds of a new medium with unprecedented capacity for shaping people’s perceptions, beliefs, and viewpoints, American films were received and interpreted by Chinese audiences in a transnational context. My research is mostly based on rarely or never used primary sources both in the United States and China, mainly in archives including the U.S. official documents of the Department of State located at the National Archives, the special collection of the United Artists at the Wisconsin State Historical Society Library, indexed New York Times, and D.W. Griffith’s unpublished documents such as D.W. Griffith Papers 1897-1954, 1927 Yearbook of Chinese Cinema, 1920s fan magazines such as The Movie Guide, The China Film Pictorial, The Stage and Screen, The Photoplay World, Photoplay Pictorial, The Movie Magazine, and Cineograph, a collection of film plot sheets, and local popular magazines such as The Good Companion. iv Through my dissertation, I have found that the promotion and consumption of American films in 1920s Shanghai did not result in a homogeneous American culture as the Chinese re- deployed, re-invented, and appropriated American films for local political, cultural, and social discourses. During that turbulent decade, Hollywood films played into the Chinese political discourse of nationalism and modernity. The modernity discourse was prominent in the Chinese filmic texts and extra-textual filmic spheres. Hollywood’s impact on China can be examined by the reaction of the Chinese film industry toward American films, the changing lifestyle of Chinese locals, and their perception of American people and values. v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................... 7 1.2 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 13 1.3 CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER DESIGN .............................................................. 16 2.0 CHAPTER ONE: IS CHINESE FILM MARKET ONLY A HALF LOAF OF BREAD? ………………………………………………………………………………………...22 2.1 UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION IN SHANGHAI IN 1922 .................. 29 3.0 CHAPTER TWO: A NEW DOOR FACING THE INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENT ........................................................................................................................... 48 3.1 HOLLYWOOD AGENTS AND OFFICES IN 1920S SHANGHAI ............. 55 3.2 HOLLYWOOD MAJORS’ DISTRIBUTING PRACTICE IN 1920S SHANGHAI ........................................................................................................................ 61 3.3 A CASE STUDY: THE UNITED ARTISTS IN 1920S SHANGHAI ........... 68 4.0 CHAPTER THREE: PARIS OF THE ORIENT—SHANGHAI IN THE 1920S 76 4.1 THE CITY OF SHANGHAI IN THE LATE 1910S ....................................... 81 4.2 PERFORMANCES OF CHINESE OPERAS IN 1920S SHANGHAI ......... 88 4.3 LOCATIONS OF MOVIE THEATRES IN 1920S’ SHANGHAI ................ 93 vi 5.0 CHAPTER FOUR: ADVERTISING THE GOLD RUSH ON BOTH SIDES OF THE PACIFIC .......................................................................................................................... 102 5.1 ADVERTISING OF CIGARETTES IN THE POPULAR MEDIA IN 1920S SHANGHAI ...................................................................................................................... 111 5.2 A CASE STUDY: THE GOLD RUSH —ADVERTISING AMERICAN FILMS IN 1920S SHANGHAI AND THE UNITED STATES .................................... 120 6.0 CHAPTER FIVE: CHAPLIN AND HAROLD: HUAJI MASTERS IN SHANGHAI ............................................................................................................................... 131 6.1 ADVERTISEMENTS OF SAFETY LAST IN BOTH SHEN BAO AND NORTH CHINA DAILY NEWS ...................................................................................... 138 6.2 CRITICISM OF COMEDY FILM IN MEDIA COVERAGE IN 1920S SHANGHAI ...................................................................................................................... 148 7.0 CHAPTER SIX: AMERICAN MELODRAMA: CHINESE LOVE STORIES 156 7.1 ROLE OF THE MANDARIN DUCK AND BUTTERFLY SCHOOL IN PROMOTING AMERICAN MELODRAMA ............................................................... 162 7.2 EDUCATIONAL ROLE IN AMERICAN MELODRAMA FILM ............ 168 7.3 A CASE STUDY: BROKEN BLOSSOMS.................................................... 172 8.0 CHAPTER SEVEN: FROM ANTONIO RAMOS TO THE CENTRALCOMPANY-A TALE OF EXHIBITORS ........................................................... 180 8.1 A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF MOVIE THEATERS IN 1920S SHANGHAI ...................................................................................................................... 185 8.2 INFLUENCE OF HOLLYWOOD FILMS ON CHINESE AUDIENCE ... 194 vii 8.3 VERTICAL INTEGRATION IN FILM INDUSTRY IN LATE 1920S CHINA………….. ............................................................................................................. 202 9.0 CHAPTER EIGHT: STAR—A UNIVERSAL PERSONALITY ........................ 206 9.1 GENERAL PICTURE OF FANDOM IN 1920S SHANGHAI .................... 215 9.2 HAROLD LLOYD—A GLASS BOY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD ....... 219 9.3 CHARLIE CHAPLIN—A TRAMP WITH A BOWLER HAT .................. 225 9.4 MARY PICKFORD—A ROLE MODEL ..................................................... 232 10.0 CHAPTER NINE: THE CULTURAL CONCEPT OF FILM .......................... 241 10.1 POPULAR FILM MAGAZINES AND PERIODICALS IN 1920S SHANGHAI ...................................................................................................................... 247 10.2 THE FILM CRITICS IN 1920S SHANGHAI .............................................. 252 10.3 THE DISCOURSE OF FILM REVIEWS: CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S A WOMAN FROM PARIS ................................................................................................... 261 11.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 273 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 285 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................ 302 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Exhibitor's list of available films .................................................................................... 65 Table 2. Census numbers in 1920s Shanghai ................................................................................ 82 Table 3. Number of movie theatres in 1920s Shanghai ................................................................ 96 Table 4. Number of cigarette packs for a reward ........................................................................ 118 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Logo of Peacock Motion Pictures ............................................................................... 303 Figure 2. Logo of Universal Pictures .......................................................................................... 304 Figure 3. Logo of Pathe .............................................................................................................. 305 Figure 4. Fuzhou Road in 1920s Shanghai ................................................................................. 306 Figure 5. Automobile as the first prize ....................................................................................... 307 Figure 6. A cigarette advertisement in the Movie Magazine in 1925 ......................................... 308 Figure 7. A cigarette advertisement in Shen Bao ....................................................................... 309 Figure 8. A cigarette advertisement in Shen Bao ....................................................................... 310 Figure 9. A cigarette advertisement in Shen Bao ....................................................................... 311 Figure 10. A cigarette advertisement in Shen Bao ....................................................................