CALIFORNIA STATE UN:VERSITY, NORTHRIDGE

CINEMA IN THE REPUBLIC PF CHINA

A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Mass Communication by Barbara Baa Tang

May, 1975 The thesis of Barbara Bao Tang is approved:

California State University, Northridge May, 1975

ii TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ABSTRACT v ~··"······~················ Chapter

I. EARLY HISTORY OF CHINESE CINEMA (1896-1931) 1 The Pioneer Age •...... 1 The Founding of Chinese Cinema . 6 The Silent Film 6 The Sound Film . 13 Footnotes for Chapter I 16 II. FILM PRODUCTION DURING THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR (1931-1945)...... 18 On the Eve of the War 18 During the War ...... 24 Film Production Behind the Line of Fire 24 Film Production in the Japanese Occupied Areas 28 Film Production in Hongkong 32 At the End of the War . . . . . 34 Film Production in Japanese Occupied Areas . 34 Film Production Behind the Line of Fire •• . . . 35

Footnotes for Chapter II ••.••..•.• • • 37

iii Chapter Page Ill. TRANSITION PERIOD OF CHINESE CINEMA (1946-1948) . . 38

Film Production in Mainland China •• • • 38 The Governmental Studios .• . . . . . 38 Private Film Productions • 40 \ Film Production in Hongkong . . . 45

Footnotes for Chapter III .. . . 49 IV. THE FORMATION OF CHINESE CINEMA IN TAIWAN AND HONG KONG ( 1949-1961} . . . . . • . . . 50 Mandarin Pictures in Taiwan .. 50

Governmental Films in Taiwan . 50 Subsequent Development of Mandarin Pictures 53

The Taiwanese Dialect Pictures 56 Chinese Pictures in _Hongkong •. 58

Footnotes for Chapter IV . . • . 65 V, TODAY'S CHINESE CINEMA (1962-1974) 67 Involvement of the Chinese Government 67 Film Productions of the Government-Managed Studios ...... •...•.••.. 67 Governmental Policies to Assist Civilian Chinese Film Production 71 The Golden Horse Award .. 73 Rapid Growth of Chinese Cinema in Taiwan . . 74 Hongkong 1 s Age of Prosperity . . 78 Footnotes for Chapter V . . 84 VI. CONCLUSION . . ' . . . . " ...... 85

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . • • . • • ...... • • • t • 88

iv ABSTRACT

CINEMA IN THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA by Barbara Bao Tang Master of Arts in Mass Communication May, 1975 Because of China's distinctive historical background, the art of the cinema in China is quite different from that of Western coun­ tries, This study presents a general view of the character of Chinese cinema. Chinese cinema has a very close relationship with Chinese modern history. In the 19th century, foreign countries opened the door of ancient China, and since then China has been influenced by the West. Chinese cinema in particular, adapted a great deal from abroad, espe­ cially from the United States of America. So this study includes a comparative analysis of Eastern and Western cinema. Cinema art in some ways reflects aspects of social phenomena and cultural characteristics. In order to understand Chinese cinema, one should not ignore the background and changing phases of Chinese society. By including some mention of these, this study can contribute to the understanding of Chinese culture and society by other peoples.

v World War II was a great shock to China, and alsoto Chinese cinema. Many famous Chinese cinematic professionals went to Hongkong, and created a Chinese Movie Center. Hongkong has subsequently played an important role in Chinese cinema history. After 1949, the Chinese government started to build studios and develop film companies in Taiwan. This was the beginning of another phase of Chinese cinema history. This study of the origins and the evolution of motion pictures in Taiwan, the Republic of China, is designed to contribute to the body of knowledge concerning the development of international mass communications.

vi Chapter I

EARLY HISTORY OF CHINESE CINEMA (1896-1931)

The.Pioneer Age Who invented motion pictures? And when?

In 140 B.C.~ more than two thousand years ago~ there was an

Emperor of the Han Dynasty in China who had a beloved concupine~ Madame

Lee. After Madame Lee died~ the king missed her very much and wished to see her ghost. A monk was called to the court to show his special talent before the king. That night the monk set up a camp and lighted candles. The king sat outside and could see only the shadow of a beautiful lady. The king sighed and said~ 11 Is it you or not? My dear, why are you walking so slowly? 11 Afterwards~ Chinese people called this kind of magic 11 Shadow Play. 11 Some people believe that this was the very beginning of the motion picture.1 That is also the reason why the word 11 movies 11 was translated into Chinese as 11 Electric Shadow 11 (Dianying). Real modern motion pictures in China were imported from the western world. Who brought motion pictures to China? When was the first time that the Chinese people had a chance to see movies? There isn't any certain answer for these questions. It may have been one of the several Lumiere cameramen-showmen who first brought films to China. 2

On August 11, 1896~ Shanghai (the future center of the Chinese film industry) had its first movie show at the Hsu Garden as part of a

1 2

variety show of magicians~ acrobats~ and a juggler with fireworks. 3 Thereafter, the Hsu Garden exhibited French movies for many years. The following year, James Ricalton came to China from America

and brought some Edison films to Sh~nghai. At the Tien Hua Tea G~rden~ he showed his first film, then opened for business at the Chi Garden and

Tun Chung Tea Garden. These were scenic documentary films~ as well as some newsreels. 4

Two years later, in 1899~ a Spanish showman, Gary Baker (or

Glen Bocca?) showed films in Shanghai in a teahouse~ but they were old and simple and not well received by the Chinese audience. Baker gave up and turned over his films and apparatus to a friend, Antonio Ramos. 5

Antonio Ramos did such good business in the Ching Lien House~ that he brought in new fifteen-minute films from abroad continuously. This was the first time in China that there was a place to show movies regularly. 6 After this success, Antonio Ramos built the first movie theater in Shanghai, the Hua Kuo Theater. In January 1902, audiences in Peking saw their first foreign film in Fu Sho Hal1. 7 The next year, 1903~ a Chinese businessman named Lin Chu-shan brought back a projector and films from America. He showed those films at the Tien Lo Teahouse. He was the first Chinese who did film business in his own country.

During this period~ some attempts were made to produce films in China, but these efforts failed because of two miserable accidents. In 1904, for the seventieth birthday of the Empress Dowager, the British Minister, Sir Ernest Mason Satow, presented her with an English film projector and several films. After three reels were shown, 3 the projector exploded. The Empress Dowager decided that showing films was bad luck, and she didn't allow any more films to be shown in the court.

Just after this unpleasant experience, five Manchu offic~rs were sent in 1905 on a mission to Europe and America. One of them, named Tuan Fang, took home a film projector and films. While showing the films, an explosion of the projector killed the translator Ho Tza-hua. Understandably, these incidents left an unfortunate impres­ sion on Peking's upper classes.8 Despite these events, however, films became a very profitable business in Peking. They continued to be shown in the other big cities, and were extremely popular in Shanghai. During the period of World War I, many foreign film distribu­ tors came to China and started a lively competition. A Portuguese, S. G. Hertzberg and an Italian, A. E. Louros, built two movie theaters in Shanghai and the Japanese opened a Tokyo Motion Picture Theater. At the same time, English and Spanish businessmen also entered the film field, In the beginning, French films were the most popular in the Chinese film market. But after the first World War, American films began to flow into China. Comedy films starring Chaplin were welcomed by all audiences. In the meanwhile, some detective films that were shown were thought to have a bad influence on Chinese society. Several criminals admitted that they copied their crimes from those movies. The first dramatic Chinese film was produced by the Chinese in 1905. Jen Ching-feng, the owner of the Feng Tai Photography shop in 4

Peking, also invested in show business and got the idea to make his own films. With a French camera and German raw stock, Jen filmed his first production. It was also the first Chinese dramatic film, Tin Chun Mountain. 9 The film was adapte1 from the Peking opera and starred the famous opera performer, T'an Hsin-pei. Thereafter, the Feng Tai photography shop made several films, all based on the Peking opera, which were welcomed by Chinese audiences. In 1908, an Italian filmmaker went to China and shot .newsreel subjects, such as The Funeral of the Empress Dowager, The First Trolley Car in Shanghai, etc. The next year, the Asia Film Company was established by an American, Benjamin Polaski. Those were short films produced by the company in Shanghai and in Hongkong. Some of the titles were Widowed Empress, The Unfilial Son, Revealed by the Pot, and Stealing the Cooked Ducks. 10 On the night of October 10, 1911, the new revolutionary army pulled down the Manchurian Government and established a democratic China. A documentary film called War in Wuhan was made by a Chinese acrobat, Chu Lian-kui, with a foreign film company, the Mei Li Company. It was registered for a U.S.A. copyright in 1912, as The Chinese Revolution. 11 At that time, Benjamin Polaski's productions failed to attract Chinese audiences, so in 1912 he transferred his company and equipment to the South Sea Insurance Company. The American managers of the insurance company, Essler and Lehrmann, went into production in 1914. They employed two Chinese, Chang Shih-chuan and Cheng Chen-chiu to make the films. 5

The first film of this new Asia Film Company was The Difficult Couple. Cheng Chen-chiu wrote the script about the feudal marriage customs of his native province~-Canton. The film really reflected only one rart of the old Chinese societ~·. The actors were all men, even in the female roles. The cinematic techniques were very poor at that time. The actors' played continuously in front of the camera, until the two hundred-foot reel was finished. Unfortunately, nobody knew how to edit the film. The Asia Film Company produced over ten inferior comedies, then ceased production when World War I cut off the supply of German raw film. As soon as raw film became available from the United States, few new Chinese film companies were set up. The Hua Mei Film Company was established by a patriotic actor, Li Ming-wei, in 1913. He cooperated with Benjamin Polaski in Hongkong and produced the film Chuang-tze Tests His Wife. 12 The two-reel film was so successful that Polaski took it back to the States, where it was the first Chinese dramatic film even to be shown. This good start encouraged Li Ming-wei to establish his own film organization--the Min Hsin Film Company. Thereafter, Chang Shih-chuan and Cheng Chen-chiu co-managed the New People Film Company in Shanghai, and filmed Sad Ghosts in an Opium Den~ based on a popular stage play. 13 This film contained a social message and since that time the people came to know that cinema is not only for entertainment but is also an educational and social tool. 6

The Founding of Chinese Cinema The Silent Film Before 1918, most of the filming in China was done by or co-pr

b. Films which celebrate Chinese tradition and social virtues:

In the beginning, they did their exterior shooting in a glass roofed studio. This shooting could only be done on sunshiny days. At the end of 1919, Universal Films sent a team to China to shoot Golden Lotus. This picture used the Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven as backgrounds. Universal asked the Commercia·l Press to assist in the production and the developing of the film. When the film was done, Universal left and sold some equipment to the Commercial Press. There­ after, the studio crew of the Commercial Press knew how to use lights to film at night, and learned that in ord~r to shoot a good film, they must have a script and a director.17 The next year, the Commercial Press bought some more photographic facilities from the United States, and soon built another big studio. Although the main job of the film department of the Press was to produce educational films of good quality, in order to get more profit to make such films, the Press started to shoot commercial and dramatic works. One of the best, which was produced in 1924, was Murder in a Good Cause. This film reflected the common anger of Chinese people. at President Yuan Shih-kai, because of his selfish attempt to become an emperor, and by signing the unreasonable twenty­ one demands treaty with Japan that made the whole country ashamed. In the meantime, more film companies were set up in China. There was heavy competition between the Press and these other companies. 8

The Press changed its production totally to commercial films, but this was not approved by the Chairman of the Board. In 1926, the film department of the Press separated from the Press, with the new name of Kuo rung Film Company, but it existed only for a short time. The China Film Company was begun in 1919, and led by Chang Ch'ien (alias Chang Chi-shih). He owned an opera school, so the teachers and students of the school played in the first film, Four­ gallon Village, a Peking opera. The company collapsed after it made one short comedy, The Glutton, and some newsreels. The China Film Research Society made a film, Yen Rei-hsun, which was based on a recent crime of a prostitute murdered by a young man named Yen Rei-hsun. When the film was shown in Shanghai in 1921, it made a full house record. But the company was unable to continue to shoot other films. A calendar artist named Tan Du-yu formed the Shanghai Film Company. A six-reel romantic film, Sea Oath, was produced, directed and photographed by Tan. His second film, Story of an Old Well, was starred in by a society beauty. At the same time, Kuan Hai-feng organized the Hsin Ya Film Company and made only one film, Beauties and Skeletons. which was modeled on a foreign crime film, Ten Sisters. 18 Chang Shih-chuan and Cheng Chen-chiu worked for the Asia Film Company for many years. They joined together to establish the Star Film Company in 1922, one of the milestones in Chinese cinema history. The founders had two different attitudes toward film. Chang Shih-chuan wanted to make comedy films to entertain his audiences, but 9

Cheng Chen~chiu insisted that their films also have an influence on social education. Finally, Chang's opinion won. They produced several comedies imitating the comedy king, Charles Chaplin. Those films were The King of Comedy Visits China, Di:-turbance at a Peculiar Theate"', and Romance of·a Fruit-peddler. 19 Discouraged by poor box-office receipts, Chang accepted Cheng's suggestion to make high quality socially oriented film such as Orphan Rescues Grandfather. This was a great success. Helen Wang played a widow in the film, and became the first film actress in China. Cheng Chen-chiu's son was the first child actor in Chinese cinema history. 20 Audiences were intrigued by the film, and since then ethical films have been welcomed by the Chinese. Cheng also showed his ideas about Women's Liberation through the film, The Soul of Yu Li. In his films, The Last Kind Gesture and The False Couple, audiences found realistic criticism of the old Chinese marriage traditions. A Woman of Shanghai was a film which discussed the problem of the prostitute; it pointed out that some poor unfortu­ nate girls have very nice souls too. The Sixteen Year Old Beauty described the ugly social system of selling young girls as maids. From 1923 to 1926 was the period of Cheng's social films. He filmed the dark side of Chinese feudal society, and discussed the bad traditions of that time. He tried his best to arouse the people's consciousness to the worth of the individual human being. A scenarist, Hung Shen, did his research work at Harvard Uni­ versity in the United States, and came to work for the Star Film Company. His scenarios for Young Master Feng (1925) and Give Early 10

Birth to a Good Son (1925) were adapted from the real lives of metro­ politanites. After 1926, the Star Film Company changed its method of produc­ tion, and its significant descriptions of society were lost, In 1928, the company started to film swordsman movies. The first one was The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple. This film was so popular that in the next year the company made a similar film in eighteen parts. Each part

was a complete segment of an hour and a half. This opened the 11 swords­ mants film age" in Chinese cinema. 21 Li Ming-wei, one pioneer of Chinesi cinema, after producing Chuang-tze Tests His Wife, set up his Min Hsin Film Company. Li was ·devoted to the new revolutionary government led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, so he shot many newsreels about the new government. The Min Hsin Company moved to Shanghai in 1926, and started to film Pure as Jade, Clear as Ice. The playwright was a talented Peking opera actor, Ouyang Yu-chien. He wrote another script After Three Years, and film audiences reacted to his passionate feelings against the big feudal family system. 22 Another scenarist was Hou Yao, who wrote and directed many films for the company, such as Resurrection of the Rose, God of Peace, Poet of the Far Sea, and The Tale of the Western Chamber. During this period, many people became involved in cinema circles in order to make big fortunes. Suddenly, there were many new film companies in Shanghai. The Great China Company's first film was Heart of the People. At the same time, the Bai Ho Film Company shot its first film, The Girl 11

Tea~Leaf Picker. In 1925, the two companies joined and took the name Great China Bai Ho Film Company. Their main style in filming was European, and many pictures were made in this way including The Little Foreme.n, Naked Shanghai, Father-in-1aw, and Circle of Debts. Moving in the opposite direction was the Tien Yi Film Company, which was formed in 1925 by a wealthy tawyer, Shaw Tsai-weng. He insisted that films should be made in accordance with Chinese tradition and should avoid the European style. Its first film, Instantaneous TransfigOration, showed the influence of Buddhist principles. Thereafter, Tien Yi produced many films which were adapted from China's ancient history such as The Tragic History of Lian Shan-po and Chu Ying-tai, The Pearl Pagoda, Tale of a White Snake, Lady Meng Chiang, Monkey Fights Golden Leopard. From 1926 to 1927 was the "dark age" of Chinese cinema. Foreign films occupied the major markets, and theaters showing Chinese films were decreasing. Unfortunately, many Chinese film producers paid no attention to the quality of their productions and tried their best to cheat their audiences. Therefore, the Chinese cinema was in a precarious situation because of the pressure of foreign films. Another important reason is that some big banks refused to give loans to film companies. This was the final blow to Chinese cinema. 23 In 1928, the number of film companies was declining, from fifty and more to twenty or less. In 1928, the Star Company asked five other film companies to cooperate to save Chinese cinema. So a large film releasing organiza­ tion called "Six United Company" was established by these six film 12 companies: the Star Company, the Great China Bai Ho Company, the Min Hsin Company, the United Friends Company, the Shanghai Company, and the Hua Chu Company. 24

Although the goal of the Six United Company was commenda~le, cooperation was difficult between the six companies in such a competi­ tive business. The Six United Company existed only for a short time, then collapsed. Beginning in 1928, a four year trend of swordplay-mystery films came into existence. There were more than two hundred fifty films of this type. Some other adventure films were also in the same pattern: playboy swordsman, harebrained, absurd general, woman champion. In 1929, the Northern China Film Company and the Min Hsin Film Company co-produced the film Spring Dream in the Old Capital. The following year, the Northern China Company, the Min Hsin Company, and the Great China Bai Ho Company merged into one big film company with the new title, Lien Hua Film Company. The founding of the Lien Hua Company was like a torch being lighted at this dark time in Chinese cinema. One of the outstanding films of the Lien Hua Company was written and directed by Sun Yu, with the title Wild Grass and Flowers. Sun Yu studied at the University of Wisconsin, and also took courses at Columbia University in the United States. Inevitably, Sun Yu's film ideas came under western influence, and Wild Grass and Flowers was a combination of the French film Camelias, and the American film, Seventh Heaven. 25 He also wrote a story about the revolution in China called Free Soul. 13

Pu Wan-chang, another director in the Lien Hua Company, directed Love and Obligation adapted from the famous novel written by the Polish authoress S. Horose.

A traditional Chinese film, Hung Niang, directed by Shih Tung~ shan was adapted from P'u Sung-ling's seventeenth-century classical Chinese novel, Strange Tales of Liao-chai.

The Sound Film The sound film caused a great upheaval and painful changeover in world cinema history. So it did also in China. Early in 1914, the Victoria Theater in Shanghai showed the first sound film for experimental purposes. The poor effect of that first waxen disk made a bad impression on the Chinese audiences. Only four months later, Warner Brothers showed their first sound film in the United States. The Pai Hsing Theater in Shanghai arranged the first showing of a short American sound film by De Forest. In 1929, ninety percent of the films shown in China were American-made. According to the report of the Department of Commerce of America in 1930, 52.2% of U.S. sound films were exported to China, and 49.8% of the silent films. 26 At that time, there were forty Chinese theaters that had sound film equipment. The other one hundred ninety-three theaters still only had the apparatus for silent films.

Singsong Girl Red Peony was the first Chinese sound film pro~ duced by the Star Company, which opE: rated in conjunction with the Pathe Gramophone Records Company. 27 Because the video and audio crews of the Red Peony knew nothing about sound film, they tried again and again. They finally succeeded 14 the fifth time, and the film was released accompanied by eighteen wax records. Unfortunately, the audio crew had given their full attention to looping the dialogue so that the background sound was very bad.

In the same year, 1931, Uni :.ed Friends Film Company fini~hed its first sound film, The Beauty Yu, adapted from a Peking opera The Emperor's Farewell to His Favorite One. It was also photographed first, and then the dialogue recorded using the wax records. Under the threat of foreign competition, the other Chinese companies started to send teams abroad, to either learn about or buy sound films and equipment. The Star Company bought the Startone system, and the Lien Hua Company produced the Vistaphone. 28 The Hua Kuang Sound Film Company, with the cooperation of the Tai Chung Kuo Company and Chi Nan Company, filmed After Rain, Clear Sky. This film was made with the Japanese Minatoki sound equipment and an American cameraman, K. Henry. The Tien Yi Company used the Movietone system to shoot the first sound-on-film picture, Spring in the Show Hall. Three American sound film men were hired to assist in filming this production. They were: Bert Cann, Leo Brilton, and Bryan C. Gnerin. 29 Hung Shen, the director of the Star Company came back from the United States accompanied by an American film team: Harry Carson {producer), Jack Smith (cameraman), and James Williamson (assistant cameraman). As soon as they arrived, the sound-on-film picture Prosperous Peking began filming. After that, all the film companies tried to make sound films. At that time, Chinese-produced sound films were divided into three categories: 15

a. Using wax records to record sound after photography. The results were very poor. b. Only recording the dialogue and song· of the film, without backgr0und music or sound effects. c. Sound-on-film production. This was the best way, but few film companies could do it, and then only with the assistance of foreign technicians. Some Chinese engineers also tried to invent different systems for sound film. Most of them failed because they were using wax records. Gradually, they learned the right· way to handle sound-on-film apparatus and Chine?e cinema passed from the silent film age to enter the sound film age. Unfortunately, just when Chinese cinema professionals were ready to bring their work to even higher levels, the Japanese took the first step to invade China. All China was in a nightmare under the Japanese aggressive policy and the prosperous progress of Chinese cinema as well was frustrated by the Sino-Japanese war. 16

Footnotes for Chapter I

1shuan-wei Hwong, 11 Sixty Years of Chinese Movies, 11 Bulletin of National Taiwan Academ of Arts, No. 10 (National Taiwan Academy of Arts, Taipe1, Taiwan, 1971 , pp-. 112-113. 2Jay Leyda, Dianying (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1965), p. 1. 3Translated from the Shen Bao (Chinese newspaper) in 1896, and quoted by the Dianying. 4vun-chih Tu, The Histor of Chinese Motion Pictures, Vol. 1 (Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1972 , p. 2. 5Leyda, op. cit., p. 3. 6chia-nung Kung, The Memoirs of Kung Chia-nung, Vol. 2 (Taipei, Taiwan: Biographical Literature Publication Company, 1969), p. 3. 7vun-chih Tu, lac. cit. 8Ibid., p. 3. 9Lei Chung, Fifty Years of Chinese Cinema (Taipei, Taiwan: Cheng Chung Book Company, 1965), p. 3. 10vun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 8. 11 Leyda, op. cit., p. 11. 12shuan-wei Hwang, op. cit., p. 124. 13There were two different reports about the film Sad Ghosts in an Opium Den. One said that it was produced by the Huan Hsian Film Company, but the other said that it was the production of the New People Film Company. 14Chia-nung Kung, op. cit., p. 6. 15Leyda, op. cit., p. 18. 16vun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 20.

17Lu Kung-sun, Chung Kuo Tien Ying Shih Hua, Vol 1 (Hongkong: Oriental Arts Company, 1962}, p. 21. 18Leyda, op. cit., p. 22. 19shuan-wei Hwang, op. cit., p. 128. 17

2°Chia-nung Kung, op. cit., pp. 12-15. 21 shuan .. wei Hwong, op; cit., p. 129. 22Leyda, op. cit., p. 51. 23Lu Kung-sun, op. cit., p. 137. 24Lei Chung, op. cit., p. 15. 25vun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 88. 26 Ibid., p. 95. 27shuan-wei Hwong, op. cit., p. 129. 28Lei Chung, op. cit., p. 27. 29vun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 100. Chapter II

FILM PRODUCTION DURING THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR (1931-1945)

On the Eve of the War

A national crisis developed in China in the early 1930~s. On September 18, 1931, the Japanese Army occupied the northern part of

China-~Manchuria. This was the beginning of disaster for the Chinese nation. There were several newsreels made in China about the invasion by the Japanese: ·r~anchurian Volunteers Fight Against the Japanese, The Blood and Tears of Jehol, The Blood War on the Great Wall, and The Blood War on Yu Kwan. 1 A deep hatred of the Japanese was rising in the hearts of all Chinese people. This caused the Chinese film producers to change from making romantic and swordsman•s movies to movies with patriotic themes. The Star Film Company shot their first anti-Japanese film, The Flower of Freedom, in 1931. The script of the film was adapted from the actual history of that time. The director, Cheng Chen-chiu, led a team that went to Peking, which was where the story had happened. At the same time, the Star Company also planned to shoot two other films in Peking, Falling Sunset and Lonesome Bird and Lover•s Destiny. 2 Unfor:unately, another company, thP Great China Company was also plan­ ning to shoot a film called Lo_ver•s Destiny. This was the first case in Chinese cinema history of filming duplicate titles. The case was

18 19

resolved after the Star Company paid off the Great China Company for the rights to the title. On the 28th of January, 1932, the Japanese bombed Shanghai,

This .~aused serious damage to the 1ocal film industry as about trirty small companies were destroyed. Sixteen Chinese film theaters were also burned out by fire bombs and the markets for Chinese films shrank to a great degree. Because of the unstable economic and social circumstances, this was a good time for founding the so-called "left-wing cinema." Pro­ Communist scenarists, directors and actors all penetrated film circles, There were three main features of the left-wing cinema: 1. They emphasized anti-imperialism. They tried their best to excite the anger of the Chinese people against the Japanese through their fi 1ms. 2. They played up the dark side of society and tried to influ- ence audiences to reject it and change their minds to become pro­ Communist. 3, They were determinedly anti-capitalistic and started so­ called ''Class differences" which caused fighting. Their plan was that this kind of disorder would result in the downfall of the government. 3 There were cinematic professionals who belonged to the Left­ wing Writers League and the Left-wing Dramatists' League. Some of these were: Hsia Yen, Ah Ying, Cheng Bo-shi, T'ien Han, Hung Shen, Nieh Erh, Yang Han-sheng, Tsai Chu-sheng, Shen Hsi-ling, and Ssuto Hwi-ming. These left-wing dramatists infiltrated the Star Company, the Lien Hua Company, the Yi Hua Company, and the Dien Tung Company. Films 20 made by them for the Star Company were: Wild Torrent, a story with an anti"Japanese background and emphasizing anti~capitalism; Spring

Silkworms, adapted from left-wing writer Mao Tun's novel, which shm~Jed the dt:.molishing of a Chinese villagL. Another film, Salt Tide, Lad a similar background. Outcry of the Women preached that women were deprived of their rights under the old society. Twenty-four Hours of

Shanghai played up the depraved side of the big city~-Shanghai. The lien Hua Company produced some left-wing films: Three Modern Girls, Dawn Over the Metropolis, and Light of Motherhood. Song of the Fishermen was one of its most famous films. It was based on a tragedy which happened to a seaside village. One film, The New Women, was adapted from the current news about an authoress who killed herself because of the demoniacal people in society. The newly established Yi Hua Film Company made many left-wing films: Existence of the Nation, Angry Tide of China•s Sea, A Hero of Our Time, Refugees, and Victory Song. When its two major scenarists, Yan Han-sheng and T'ien Han, were put in jail by the government, the company made a decision to become right-wing or anti-Communist. The Dien Tung Equipment Company was also managed and directed by left-wing dramatists and managed to produce four pictures: Plunder of Peach and the Plum, Children of Troubled Times, Statue of Liberty, and Scenes of City Life. Besides these political left-wing films, many good movies in other categories were made on the eve of the Sino-Japanese war. Since 1932, anti-Japanese films had been welcomed by Chinese audiences. The Tien Yi Film Company produced Two Manchurian Girls, and 21 the Star Company made Adventure on the Firing Line and Soul of the Nation.. Share the Burden ·of the National Crisis was filmed by the Lien Hua Company, Those films all had sell-out box-office records, Some films did not show ant:-Japanese ideas directly, but gave very broad hints to the audiences about their intentions. Such films were: Blood on Wolf Mountain, Courage that Reaches Above the Clouds, and Interrupted Dream In Spring. Tne film Bad Neighbor, especially, meant that Japan was a bad neighbor to China, and the film was banned by the Japanese on the third day after it began to be shown in theaters.' In the meantime, realistic films concerned with social phenom­ ena became popular. These pictures were directly based on disturbing social problems. Such films were: A Good Night which criticized the unfair way widows were treated; Good-Bye Shanghai pointed out the unprofessional behavior of doctors and the immoral activities of the big city; Night in the City was based on depraved girls; The Goddess portrayed the miserable lives of prostitutes; Queen of Sports exposed commercialization in the field of sports. The Storm described the serious social problem of jobless people; Time of Ching Ming was a tragedy of an old family's fight for the properties of the deceased. One of the famous social films during that time was Twin Sisters, which starred Hu Tieh (Miss Butterfly) in 1933. Hu Tieh was later called 11 Queen of the Stars 11 by Chinese audiences. She played both the poor carpenter's wife and the rich warlord's concubine. The success of this film saved the Star Company from financial difficulties. 22

Some dramatists also made films which tried t6 discover the meaning of life. What is real life? These productions analyzed the cha~acters of human beings.

Fei Mu, one of the famous ~irectors, explained his pessimistic attitude towards life in a film about a poor orphan, Life. In another film, cooperating with Chung Shih-ken, and called The Song of China, he showed that all human beings should love each other. This film won the government's first prize as the year's best silent film. Then, Pu Won-chang directed Humanity, a tragedy about the transition period between the old and new social systems. The Star Company was troubled by conflicting left-wing and right-wing elements. During this time, the company made some films showing the ethical side of family life: A Bible for Daughter, Morals of Women, and Second Marriage. It also produced a few films that con­ cerned other fields, The Common Enemy, Romance on Hua Mountain, Go to the Northwest, and New Year's Coin. Chang Shan-k'un, another distributor of Chinese cinema, started the Hsin Hua Film Company in 1934. His first production was Story of a Red Goat Swordsman, based on the history of the Boxer rebellion. Then the new company shot an anti-Japanese film The New Peach-blossom Fan. This film was adapted from classical literature, but was trans­ ferred to a modern revolutionary setting. Thereafter several films of different categories were made by the Hsin Hua Company: Song of Long Hate, Mad Night, Song at Midnight, and Youth on the March. Chang Shan­ k'un was famous for using advertisements to attract audiences. 23 I '

During the time that anti-Japanese films were popular, the Tien Yi Film Company stopped making swordsman films and started to film some musical pictures which copied foreign films, as well as films which C:escribed the real life of mod~rn society. Mr. Wang, based on a popular comic strip, became the most popu­ lar comedy film at that time. Dong Chieh and Ts'ao Hsueh Sung played a Chinese Laurel and Hardy team in the film. The film catered to the common people's humor, and was extremely well received by audiences. The.Tien Yi Company produced a series of these films: Mr. Wang's Adventure, and Mr. Wang Makes a Fortune. T"he actors Dong Chieh and Ts'ao Hsueh Sung opened their own company to shoot more films of the Mr. Wang series: Mr. Wang's Secret, Mr. Wang's New Year, and Mr. Wang Visits His Native Village. After left-wing dramatists vanished from the Yi Hua Film Company, the company began to shoot some films especially to meet the personal interests of audiences. There were three types of Yi Hua's productions: 1. Comedy films: Miss Change-body, In Good Luck, and Lady Mammon. 2. Romantic films: The Wedding Night, The First Love, Little Sisters, Women, and Far Away Lovers. 3. Detective films: Murder on the Honeymoon, Mysterious Flower, Map of Treasure, and The Big Robbery No. 303. 4 During the time that 11 left-wing cinema" flourished in China, the government decided it was necessary to build a government-controlled film studio. In 1934, the Kuomintang (the ruling party of the Chinese 24

. government) established the Central Motion Picture Studio in Nanking. 5 The first film they made was Brave Soldiers. The film was

about the "northern expedition 11 and the 11 first revolutionary civil war"

in modJrn Chinese history around 19~6. The Chinese Army joined ~n to play in the scenes of war in the film. It was a typical educational

film, and cried out the slogan, 11 Cinema, one of the ways to save our country!" Later the first spy movie came out, The Cypher Code, with the same background as Brave Soldiers. 6 In the northwestern part of China, there was a Northwest Film Company established by the governor of Taiyuan. In 1936 he bought com­ plete sound film equipment from the United States. His first film, The Endless Life, was the story of the mineral industry in the northwest. The other film, Eternal Life, was based on revolutionary history. As he began On the Suiyan-Mongol Front, the Sino-Japanese war broke out and the film was not finished until three years later.

According to data in 11 Chinese Cinema, 1934, 11 the period from

1931 to 1933 was the ~'golden age 11 of Chinese cinema. There were six hundred twenty Chinese films made during those few years. In 1934, Chinese film productions decreased to one hundred and one, but the quality of films improved. Then the Sino-Japanese war exploded and lasted for eight years. The war, just like a storm, blasted and crippled the growing Chinese film industry.

During the War Film Productions Behind the Line of F1re On the 7th of July, 1937, the Japanese Army launched an attack on the Chinese troops at Lukouchiao, Peking. That lighted the war fire 25

of the eight-year-long. . Sino-Japanese war. Chinese dramatists immediately organized to produce anti­ Japanese films. On the 7th of August, 1937, the Shanghai Dramatists Association opened its first anti-J0panese stage show Defend the Lukouchiao. Later, on August 13, 1937, Shanghai was attacked by Japanese, and finally fell in November. The movie industry in Shanghai was practically obliterated by the war. Thereafter, the center of Chinese film activities moved back to the interior behind the line of fire. During that special period, Chinese cinema was affected in three ways: l. Film production behind the line of fire was almost totally government-controlled. Anti-Japanese feeling was the main subject of these films. 2. In forming a united anti-Japanese front, the Kuomintang and Communist parties co-operated in many ways. From this time on, left­ wing dramatists entered government-controlled film production. 3. Because of the difficult circumstances, there was not too much raw film available in quantities. Even the quality of the films was affected. Those made under Communist influence lost their effec­ tiveness as political propaganda. 7 The Central Motion Picture Studio moved to Chungking (the Capital of the Chinese government during the Sino-Japanese war), and produced three musical films: March!, I Can•t Stop Missing You, and Songs of a Patriot. This studio did their best work in filming news­ reels at this time. In April, 1939, the Central Motion Picture Studio made the first dramatic war film Blood Runs Through the Orphan City. It was 26 adapted from the actual history of the Shanghai war, In September,

1939, Childt~h of China was combined with four short stories to show that people from all different classes bravely joined the anti~Japanese war. It took three years to produce the film Ten Thousand Li of Empty Sky, which was the first movie concerning the Chinese Air Force. After the release of this film, the soldiers of the Air Force became the brave idols of the Chinese people. After the Japanese occupied Shanghai, many actors ran away from the big city to Hankow and worked for the government-controlled China Movie Studio. In the beginning, the studio only shot newsreels and cartoon films to encourage the Armed Forces as well as the Chinese people. In January, 1938, the China Movie Studio showed their first dramatic film Protect Our Land. It criticized the violence of the Japanese. In April, the studio finished another film Hot Blood and Faithful Soul, directed by Yuan Tsun-mei. It also showed the brave behavior of the Armed Forces. Eight Hundred Brave Soldiers was based on true facts. There were eight hundred soldiers protecting Shanghai in December, 1937. They fought to the last minute, and a Girl Scout gave a Chinese flag to these brave soldiers. This film shocked other countries when it was shown at meetings of International Anti-aggression Societies in France and Switzerland.8 The China Movie Studio moved to Chungking in October, 1938. From 1938 to 1939, the Japanese bombed Chungking so often that the studio could only make two films Defend Family and Country and Good 27

Husband, Both were anti~Japanese films, and showed that any soldier could be a hero. In 1940, a new studio was built, and the China Movie Studio startec to shoot dramatic films and newsreels. Thirty Japanese p;"is~ oners participated in the film Light of Asia, and the theme pointed out that the Japanese Army not only ruined the peaceful life of the Chinese people, but also put subjected Japanese people to misfortune, too. The film was shot in an actual prisoner's camp. Victory March was based on a famous incident of the Sino­

Japanese war, the great triumph in Changsha~ Another film, Baptism of Fire, was a story about a lady spy. Young China was a film that empha­ sized the good co-operation between the Chinese Army and people. A team from this studio went to a faraway part of northern China to film Storm on the Border. It was adapted from a famous Mongolian stage drama depicting the idea that despite the fact that the Chinese people were made up of different races they should all unite to fight against one common enemy--the Japanese. Italian Amleto Vespa's memoirs, Spiritual Son of China, was translated into a Chinese film Secret Agent of Japan by the China Movie Studio. 9 Amleto Vespa had been a professional agent in the war, and wrote the biography after he had escaped from the Japanese. The Northwest Film Company was the only private organization behind the line of fire. The company moved from Taiyuan to Chengtu in 1939, and made a documentary film North China Is Ours. Then they began to produce the anti-Japanese film Wind and Snow on Taihan Mountain. The film described the poor mineral laborers under the cruel treatment of the Japanese. 28

Just as they were shooting Long Life to the People, the

Japanese launched its atta~k in the Pacific and the film was never finished.

Film Production in the Japanese Occupied Areas Manchuria and Peking areas.--Manchuria, in the northeastern part of China, was occupied by the Japanese in 1937. The Japanese­ controlled Manchurain Motion Picture Association then established under Masahiko Amakasu. This association owned fourteen studios and produced more than three hundred films during the eight years of the Sino­ Japanese war. Some of these were: Country Line in the North, Expanded Land, Sing-song Girl of Harbin, and The Horizon.· They also shot more than three hundred propaganda newsreels. The next year, the Japanese formed a New People's Motion Picture Association to control the releasing of films in the northern parts of China. In 1939, another Hsing Ya Film Production Organization made the films To Establish a New Order in East Asia and March on East Asia. The Japanese film policy in mainland China was to avoid an obvious Japanese or Manchurian label on films. They meant to make films in a totally Chinese style that would be accepted more easily by the Chinese people. According to this policy, the Japanese used Chinese traitors to manage the film business. The North China Company and Yian Ching Film

~ Company were founded in Peking in this way. They made some dramatic films as tools for Japanese political indoctrination. 10 29

Shanghai.--In November, 1937, Shanghai fell to the Japanese and became an occupied area, In the center of Shanghai there was one international settlement and one concession. The former was ruled by the E11glish, Americans and the Japc:.nese. The latter was owned by the French, These international settlements became Neutral Zones in the Sino-Japanese war, and the Japanese Army could only surround them but could not penetrate the Zones themselves.

All the Chinese film companies in Shanghai closed their busi~ ness in 1937, but within one year they had discovered this paradise for Chinese film production--the Neutral Zone. A nickname was given to the Neutral Zone--Orphan Island. 11 The Hsin Hua Film Company, owned by Chang Shan-k'un, was the first one to go there to shoot a classical Chinese film, Daughter of the Beggar. During that time, Chinese audiences had no other Chinese films to see and this film had a very good box-office record. Its success encouraged Chang Shan-k'un to establish two more companies, Hua Hsin and Hua Chung. These companies produced films in Orphan Island and in Hongkong. This was the begin- ning of what people called later 11 Hsin Hua's Age 11 in Chinese cinema history. The other film companies in Shanghai returned to work gradually. During this come-back period, there were three characteristics of Chinese films: 1. Whatever films contained anti-Japanese material, whether of direct or indirect, were no longer available. 2. Horror, romantic and sexy films started to be made again. These films had titles such as: Night of Horror, Pink News, Merry Ghost, and La Melias. 30

3. Classical patriotic films formed the new trend of film production. It was imposs~ble to make anti-Japanese films in the Neutral Zones. Therefore, these Chinese companies produced classical patriotic films instead. In that w~y, they could give Chinese audi­ ences anti-aggressive ideas in the abstract. Mu-lan Joined the Army was the first classical patriotic film made by the Hua Chung Company. It was a story of ancient China in which a girl pretended to be a boy and joined the army to fight the foreign enemy. Thereafter, many similar films were produced but this production trend did not last very long. In June, 1939, the Japanese established the China Movie Inc., Ltd., and controlled all film productions in the Occupied Area. The military censorship banned any kind of patriotic films. Chinese filming now changed its trend to famous romantic stories of old times. Suddenly, all film companies made a 11 gold-rush 11 turning out classical films. A few masterpieces of classical litera­ ture became the targets of several companies and there were too many films repeating the same story. Kuo Hua Company•s films Jade Hair-pin, Three Smiles and Meng Li Chun were duplicated by three other companies, the Hua Chung Company, Yi Hua Company and Ch•un Ming Company. Chinese film making was thrown into chaotic confusion. There was only one exception. The Min Hua Film Company pro­ duced an educational classical film, The Confucius. Fei Mu took one year to direct this valuable film and its high quality of production and noble theme ended the age of confused classical Chinese films. Even during the heyday of classical films, some films were made which were adapted from the contemporary scene. However, these were 31 generally poor level comedies, such as the Mr. Wang film series; produced by Hua Hsin Company. The Kuo Hua Company shot a series called Lee Ah Mao and Vi Hua re-produced the Miss Change-body series. Besides comedies, some productions copied American films, such as Chinese Princess White Snow, Chinese Three Musketeers, and Change­ body Ape. Then more films were adapted from American detective films: Charlie Chan, Beat Down the Invisible, Chinese Robin Hood, and The Soul of Blue Bridge. Generally speaking, the quality of Chinese film productions at this time was at a mediocre level. There were a few good films, however, such as: Soul and Body, Arise, Family, and Children of the World. In 1941, the Wan brothers produced the first feature-length Chinese cartoon Princess Iron-fan. It was adapted from the famous classical novel, Western Pilgrimage. 12 On December 8, 1941, the Japanese declared war upon England,

France~ and America. The Neutral Zones, and also the paradise of Chinese films, fell into the hands of the Japanese army. All American films were banned, and Japanese films flooded the markets. All Chinese film companies were ordered closed. In April, 1942, the Chung Hua United Film Company was founded by the Japanese in Shanghai, and over twelve big Chinese film companies were forced to merge into the Japanese-controlled company. 13 In order to pacify the angry Chinese people, this company started to film some romantic films without political themes as well as a few musical comedies .. Love for Everyone was the most ambitious production of the Chung Hua United Film Company. It combined eleven stories to describe 32 eleven different kinds of love. The Japanese wanted the film to reflect their main policy:· Sino~Japanese co-operation,

Film Production in Hongkong When Shanghai fell under Japanese control, a few Chinese film companies fled from the mainland China to Hongkong. The Lien Hua Company and Tien Yi Company established their studios in Hongkong and made many anti-Japanese films. Other film companies which had produced Cantonese dialect films also changed their productions to stand on the same line with the Chinese government. At that time, most films were shot on the same theme: Song of March, Back to Our Country, Lady Soldier, Heros and Heroines, and Shanghai in Fire. The famous film Blood Splashes on Paoshan, was co-produced by Cantonese dialect and mandarin dramatists. It was a true description of the Sino-Japanese war in Shanghai. A Cantonese film, March of the Partisans showed the violence of the Japanese Army and the anti-Japanese spirit of the Chinese. It was produced in 1938, but was banned by the Hongkong government. Three years later, the producers changed the title and cut out some scenes and it was then permitted to be shown to the public. 14 The Hsin Hua Film Company came from Shanghai to rent a Hongkong studio to shoot Diao Chan from an episode in Three Kingdoms (famous in classical Chinese literature). It was shown in Shanghai in 1938. Then the ~ompany produced Adventure of Chinese Tarzan, and two films based on Peking opera. 33

Chang Shan~k~un, head of the Hsin Hua Company, determined that Hongkong was a good place ·for Chinese dramatists to be during the war, so Chang opened three film companies there: Hua Hsing, Hua Cheng, and

China Union. Those companies made films without political color ~nd then showed them in Japanese occupied Shanghai. 15 Because of the inadequacy of equipment, film production was difficult behind the line of fire in mainland China.· Therefore, the China Movie Studio chose Hongkong in which to make pictures for propa- ganda purposes. Film production was under another name--Ta Ti Company. The first anti-Japanese film was shot by the Ta Ti Company in 1939 and was called Orphan Island Paradise. 16 The script was based on the story of real Chinese agents who did anti-Japanese work underground. When it - .- was shown in Hongkong and Chungking, audiences were deeply affected by the dialogue, such as: "China will never perish!" White Cloud Village was the second and also the last film made by this company. Although it started filming in Hongkong, it was finished in Chungking. The Hsin Sheng Film Company continued the production of anti­ Japanese films after the Ta Ti Company was closed. This company only made one film, Ten Thousand Li Ahead. Although over sixty percent of Cantonese films were of poor quality, a few magnificent anti-Japanese films were produced. The Ta Kuan Film Company became the center of Cantonese dialect films. They made Little Tiger as an anti-Japanese film, then continued with another Roar of Our Nationalities. Ta Kuan's production, Song of the Refugee, showed the bitter lives of refugees in an ironical comedy style, 34

The Hsin Chung Film Company made a film criticizing Chinese

traitors in the occupied a~ea, and another film of the same type, Make Fortune in the War, was shot by the South Sea Film Company. Anti-Japanese films came out continuously, and spirits were high. In 1941, the head of the Japanese International Film Industry, Ichikawa, was sent to Hongkong to negotiate with the Chinese film producers but all of them refused to co-operate with the Japanese. However, after 1941, audiences in Hongkong lost interest in making anti-Japanese films. The Hongkong government made too many limitations on the making of such films. Cantonese dialect film com­ panies tried to get their production stimulated in other ways. There- after, horror and swordsman•s adventure films were crowded into Hongkong: She Devil Takes Another•s Soul, Madame Eat-man, and Seven Swords & Thirteen Adventurers. There were also some quasi-pornographic movies: Song of Rapture, Playing Three Times with White Chrysanthemum, and The Secret of the Girl Guide. The Pacific war broke out on December 8, 1941. After the Japanese occupied Hongkong, no further films were made for a long time.

At the End of the War Film Production in Japanese Occupied Areas In May, 1943, in order to de-emphasize their control of Chinese films, the Japanese merged the Chung Hua United Film Company, the China Movie Company, and the Shanghai Theater Company into one big company with the title Chinese Film Company, Ltd. This Company managed the production and release of Chinese cinema and from 1943 to 1945 produced 35 eighty films, Most of them were romantic or family films, such as:

Fit~ of Love, Modern Women, Big Hotel, and The Richest Family, Finally, the Japanese began to show their real political policy through their films. Sorrows Left at Spring River was one of the Sino­ Japanese films. It obviously was advocating Japanese policy to the Chinese people, that all Asian people should live together harmoniously and happily under Japanese rule. 17 Another film Eternal Fame also portrayed the very strong slavish attitude towards th~ Japanese. In Manchuria and Peking, and also the Japanese occupied areas, some classical films were adapted from the Western Pilgrimage and Water Margin. Other films were based on current stories: Bright Future Hard to Make Dream, and Blood Beautiful Shadow.

Film Production Behind the Li iie of Fire Now came the hardest time for the Chinese government. The Japanese cut off the lines of supply from other countries to China. The film productions decreased, and the China Movie Studio stopped shooting such films as: Women•s Army, Young Peony, Long Live China!, Three Brave Men, and Wang Ching-wei. Most dramatists turned to writing stage shows, At the end of 1943, the Central Motion Picture Studio started to film again, but only one film was finished, The Road to Establish Country .. The China Movie Studio came back into production in 1943, and shot the feature film Courage Can Make Mountains and Rivers Brave. It 36 covered the brave one hundred thousand students who joined the army to fight in Burma. That was ·a true story which had been the theme of a famous play One Hundred Thousand Youths Are One Hundred Thousand Brave Soldiers; One Inch of Land Is Covered by One Inch of Blood. 18 Splash of Blood on Cherry-blossom was based on the story of one young Chinese and one young Japanese couple, who were both caught up in the Sino-Japanese war. This was a typical anti-Japanese film. Another film Give Me Back My Country was made by the China Movie Studio in October, 1945. In the same year the studio produced The Song of Warning Soul, adapted from a script called Road to Together­ ness. When it was shown in Chungking, the title was changed to The Police Model. On the eve of the termination of the Sino-Japanese war, the China Movie Studio co-produced a film with the American director, Frank Capra, which was called Chinese Anti-Japanese War. The film was made in two versions, one in Chinese, another in English. It was a complete documentary film of the eight-year war. 19 37

Footnotes for Chapter II

1 11 Yun-chih Tu, The History of Chinese News Films, 11 Journalism Gazette (Editing and Reporting Association of the Horld College_Of_ · Journalism, Taipei, Taiwan), No. 3, {June, 1974), p. 58. 2Chia-nung Kung, The Memoirs of Kung Chia-nung, Vol. 2 (Taipei, Taiwa1:: Biographical Literature Pu~lication Company, 1969), pp. 219- 237. 3 Yun-chih Tu, The History of Chinese Motion Pictures, Vol. 1 (Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1972), pp. 107-108. 4Ibid., pp. 143-144. 5chia-nung Kung, op. cit., Vol. 3, p. 379. 6Lei Chung, Fifty Years of Chinese Cinema (Taipei, Taiwan: Cheng Chung Book Company, 1965), p. 47. 7Ibid., pp. 46-47. 8Yun-chih Tu, The History of Chinese Motion Pictures, op. cit., Vol. 2, pp. 8-9. 9Jay Leyda, Dianying (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1965), p. 122. 10 Ibid., pp. 137-139. 11 Yun-chih Tu, The History of Chinese Motion Pictures, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 42. 12chung, op. cit., p. 61. 13Lu Kung-sun, Chung Kuo Tien Ying Shih Hua (Hongkong: Orien­ tal Arts Company, 1962), Vol. 1, p. 99. 14Yun-chih Tu, The History of Chinese Motion Pictures, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 36.

15Shuan-wei Hwang, 11 Sixty Years of Chinese Movies, 11 Bulletin of National Taiwan Academy of Arts, No. 10 (National Taiwan Academy of Arts, Taipei, Taiwan, 1971), p. 141. 16chung, op. cit., p. 49. 17 Leyda, op. c1't • , p. 141 . 18Yun-chih Tu, The History of Chinese Motion Pictures, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 29. 19 rbid., Vol. 2, p. 31. Chapter III

TRANSITION PERIOD OF CHINESE CINEMA (1946-1948)

Film Production in Mainland China The Governmental Studios On the 15th of August, 1945, the Japanese surrendered. China and its allies had won the eight-year war. Victory came so suddenly that the whole country was in a state of confusion. The government moved back from Chungking to Nanking and the Chinese film industry was divided into four governmental take-over areas: Shanghai, Nanking, Peking and Canton. The government-controlled studios had developed rapidly. The China Motion Picture Studio played the most important role in the take-over. It moved into the operations of three major Japanese­ occupied film organizations, the Chinese Film Company Ltd. (in Shanghai), the North China Film Company (in Peking) and the Manchurian Motion Picture Association (in Changchun)~ Suddenly, the China Motion Picture Studio became the largest film company in China. In April, 1947, the studio re-organized, and changed its title to Central Motion Picture Corporation. Because of this merging, the corporation owned four major studios, and made many 2 different kinds of films: 1. Shanghai Studio No. 1, to film newsreels, documentary films and cartoons.

38 39

2, Peking Studio No. 2 and Changchun Studio, to make dramatic films. 3, Peking Studio No. 3, to shoot feature films as well as newsreels and documentary films. The Peking Studio No. 2 and Peking Studio No. 3 had been making films since 1947. They did many films which ran back through the anti­ Japanese war period, especially those commemorating the brave agents who died for their country. Code No. 1 was a famous film which showed how a lady agent did her best to fight against Japanese officers, and in the end gave her life for her beloved China. From Night to Dawn and Red Blood Splashes the White Mountain & Black River were films about Chinese guerrillas• activities during the war. Changchun Studio made three feature films from 1947 to 1948: Along the Sungari River, Little White Dragon and The Night in Harbin. They were all anti-Japanese films and described the miserable lives of Manchurians during the Japanese-occupied period, and those people who fought the enemy despite the danger to their own lives. Bright Blood Lasts Ten Thousand Autumns was the only film which commemorated the establishing of the Republic of China. In the meantime, the Communist army tried to take over Manchuria and that area was soon involved in another war. Because of the unstable political situation, the Changchun Studio moved to Peking after it finished its first film, and The Night of Harbin was made in Peking. Peking Studio No. 2 and No. 3 made some realistic films, which were·based on actual stories of the 11 take-over" areas. Such films showed the real life of 11 take-over 11 officers, business prospectors and Chinese traitors. Heaven Spring Dream, The Dress Returns in Glory and --- _..;,._. __ -

40

Beloved Son~in-law were some of these. Shanghai Studio No. 1 also shot

one feature film~ Diary of Returning Home, concerning Chinese people behind the line of fire returning to their home towns. Some entertainment films were made describing life in a metropolis along with some romantic stories such as Far Away Love5 Greenfinch Flies Over the World, Love Suicide, and Crazy Fantastic Melody of Luck. Fantastic detective films, Canopy of the God, Net of the Earth, and complex psychological films, _Angel and Devil and One Sold His Shadow, were some other releases. One Sold His Shadow was adapted from the German novel, Faust. China Movie Studio was in Nanking to shoot educational films for the Chinese Armed Forces as well as some anti-Communist films for propaganda purposes. This studio had a branch in Shanghai, and three feature films were produced there: All Nature Looks Gay, Crowded, and Black List. 3

Private Film Productions In 1946, China had recovered somewhat from the miserable war, and was enthralled by the joy of victory. However, there was still confusion and the Chinese cinema was involved in political strife between the right-wing (Kuomintang government) and the left-wing (Communist). The left-wing dramatists Yang Han-sheng, Tsai Chu-sheng, Shih

Tung-:~han and Cheng Chun-li had worked for the Lien Hua Film Company before the war. They reorganized the Lien Hua Studio in 1946 and began to shoot two films, Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon and Spring River Flows East. These two films were based on popular stories -,;,.,...------

41

of that time, tragedies that had happened in the take-over areas in China, Eight'Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon was a story that showed some people who came back to the take-over area and took advantaqe of the unstable situation. They were opposed by the people who did their best to save the country during the war, but were still poor, a few even dying of sickness. The film was used as an emotional boost to the government. Spring River Flows East was made into two series, War Time Separation and Darkness and Dawn. These series dealt with the contrast of the miserable poor people to the luxurious rich people, before and after the war. The themes indicated that many people•s dreams had been broken, and they were bitterly disappointed by unfair treatment after the victory. These were typical propaganda techniques often used by the Communists. When the two films were finished, the Lien Hua Studio faced serious financial problems. The Kun Lun Film Company, owned by Hsia Yin-hua, had enough capital, but was in need of dramatists. After discussions, the Lien Hua Studio merged with the Kun Lun Company and the new company became the center of left-wing cinema. Light of Ten Thousand Homes, produced by the KunLun Company, was another propaganda film that described a middle class family in financial trouble after the victory. It indirectly showed the hate of the left-wing for society. Left-wing dramatists also made the film Impossible to Imprison the Light of Spring, a story of a separated couple. This film gave an imaginative portrayal of the communistic idea. 42

In the film The Beauties, director Chen Li-ting told three different stories about three modern girls, and thus created the image of the "new woman"--a brave lady Communist. Chen also put his anti­ traditional thinking into the film, in order to inspire audiences to fight against the old society. 4 Depicting the pitiful state of orphans to denigrate the self­ ishness of the rich was the theme of the film The Winter of the Three Hairs. The Kun Lun Company shot some other films, Sorrow After Honey­ moon~ Hope Among Mankind, and Crows and Sparrow. These were all Communist propaganda films, which made deep impressions on all those who were dissatisfied with the government as well as with their own life situations. The goal of these left-wing films was to provoke the people to rebellion. While the left-wing cinema was riding the top of the tide, there were also some film companies shooting films on both the left~ wing and the right-wing sides. The famous ones were: Wen Hua Film Company, Kuo Tai Film Company, and Ta Tung Film Company. The Wen Hua Company was owned by Wu Hsing-tse, head of the Great China Bao Ho Film Company before the war. He established two other companies, the Ching Hua Company in Peking and the Hua Yi Company in Shanghai between 1947 and 1948. The first film made by Wen Hua was Love of Endless. The script was written by the famous Chinese authoress, Chang Ai-ling, and it was directed by Sang Hu. The sad, romantic mood of the film affected audiences deeply. The second film Counterfeit Chinese Phoenix told the 43 story of a barber who pretended to be a millionaire and found himself falling in love with a false heiress. When the film was shown3 the Barber Union made a protest against the film company and the affair becaw~ explosive news at that time. Another comedy, Long Live the MiSSes was successful in analysing the hope and happiness as well as the sorrow of a housewife. The Russian Ostrovsky's drama, Guilty Though Guiltless, was turned into Wen Hua's film, Mother and Son. The film showed high admiration for motherhood. In 1947, Wu Hsing-tse established his second studio, the Hua Yi Film Company, and started to film Wedding in a Dream. This was the only feature length film made by the Hua Yi Company. The film starred the best Peking opera performer, Mei Lan-fang. Because of the insta­ bility of the color temperature in the lighting, the first color film in China didn't come out too well. The Hua Yi Company made a short film, Little Cow Boy, which was also adapted from Peking opera. A year later, Wu Hsing-tse founded a third company, the Ching Hua Film Company, in Peking. 5 This company shot only two films, The Family Reunion and Those Devils. The background of The Family Reunion was set in Peking from the time of the war to the victory. Those Devils portrayed the ugly characters of Chinese traitors in the Japanese-occupied area. In the meantime, the Wen Hua Company made a severely tragic film~ Night Lodging, adapted from the Russian novelist Gorky's drama, Lower Depths. Next, the famous dramatist, Tsao Yu, wrote and directed the film Bright Day. He encouraged audiences by showing that kind peo­ ple could conquer villains and that Justice would conquer Evil in the End. 44

Fei Mu, the director who was famous for showing different sides of life through his films; directed Wen Hua•s film Springinthe Small Town. Audiences were impressed by the dull, despairing mood of this sad, romantic film. The Kuo Tai Film Company was established by the Liu brothers in Shanghai. They owned two studios and two film theaters. The Liu brothers were businessmen. They cared only about the box-office records of their films, and seldom paid attention to politics. In the beginning, the Kuo Tai Company invited some right-wing directors to make films, but they also employed left-wing scenarists to write scripts. Under these circumstances, more than ten films were made as propaganda for the left-wing. The Man Without a Name was the first cinema produced by the Kuo Tai Company with a left-wing political flavor. The description of people who were dissatisfied with the great contrast between the poor and rich in society was the main theme of this film. Another film Remember of the South Land depicted the weak and selfish character of one highly educated man and his sin of keeping two wives. Liu Chung-liang, one of the Liu brothers, opened theTa Tung Film Company in 1948. This company also made some left-wing films, Frailty, Thy Name is Woman! and Martyr of the Pear Orchard. Actually, theTa Tung Company shared the studio and facilities of the Kuo Tai Company. Therefore, their filming goals were the same. The two companies made many spy films in the same format, that of beautiful or handso-me spies pretending to fall in love with their 45

enemies in order to get secret information. Such films were: The Pink

Bomb~ Blood of Beauty, Tide of Desire,. and Hot Blood. Some were horror or detective pictures: Black Moon·High Wind, Shadow in the Haunted House. and Beautiful Tracks in Deserted Garden. Not too many realistic movies were produced in which the scripts were adapted from actual social phenomena. The Murder was a story about an illegal organization. A young clerk in Up to the ·Highest made a great fortune by engaging in speculation. Bon Voyage! portrayed the cruel secrets of business. A Dumb Wife was translated from Anatole France's comedy, The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife. Both the Kuo Tai Company and Ta Tung Company produced a few satiric comedies about the dismal aspects of society. Besides the big film companies, there were over twenty-one small studios in production from 1947 to 1949. The categories of these films were: anti-Japanese films, detective films and romantic films. However, the anti-Japanese films changed -from their original purposes to the spy or detective genre.

Film Production in Hongkong When Hongkong was occupied by the Japanese during the war, all motion picture companies ceased film production. When World War II was ended some companies again started to shoot Mandarin and Cantonese dialect films. Like those films which were produced in mainland China, films made in Hongkong, aimed for real stories of the war and after the victory. 46

In 1946, the Great China Company filmed Gone Are the Swallows When the Reeds Turn White; a story about the Sino-Japanese war and the social confusion after the war. Three Women described three different women during the war. The Great China Company made The Man Is Back in the Wind and Snow, a tragedy about an opera performer and a married woman. Thereafter, the company made more than twenty films, but their poor quality resulted in low attendance. Two years later, the Great China Company was closed. 6 There were about twenty other film companies in Hongkong at this time, but they shot their films very fast and roughly and the level of quality was uneven. Unfortunately, only a·few pictures were better than these low-budget productions. The Chung Ch'i Studio made a romantic film, The End of Spring Dream, which received the Chung Cheng Prize, and was one of the ten most popular films of 1946. 7 Spy dramas were welcomed in Hongkong, usually about Japanese­ occupied Hongkong. The Ta Hua Company produced some of this type of film, such as: 005Agent, and Spy Net No. 626. One was copied from an American film with the title The New 1001 Nights. The establishment of the Yung Hua Studio gave a definitive turn to the mixed-up and disordered Hongkong cinema. This company was opened by Lee Tsu-yun in 1947. Lee invested one million dollars in the studio and said that the studio would never be used by the Commu~ nists.8 Another key person in the Chinese cinema, Chang Shan-k'un, assisted Lee on his productions. Lee chose a patriotic theme for his first film, Soul of the Nation. This film was adapted from a classical story of the Sung Dynasty, about a hero who died for his crumbling court. Because of adequate capital, the film produced was of high 47 quality and more than one hundred actors and actresses played in it, The Chinese government made thirty copies of the film to show to . Chinese soldiers. After the great impact of Soul of the Nation, the Yung Hua Studio prepared to make another luxury classical film, The Secret History of the Ching Court. It was written by Yao Ke, and directed by Chu Shih-ling. The film covered the transition period at the end of the Ching Dynasty. It pointed out that the unreasonable old dynasty should be abandoned, and the new nation of the people would exist for- ever. This film was representative of the glorious successes of the Yung Hua Studio. As soon as the above two masterpieces were finished, the co~operation between Lee Tsu-yun and Chang Shan~k'un ended. Chang left the studio in 1948, and founded the Great Wall Film Company. Lee Tsu-yun was on the right-wing side, but some of the films of the Yun Hua Studio still had a left-wing flavor. Little Husband was based on the tradition of a northern Chinese village, where a young lady was married with a mere child. The film criticized this bad marriage as part of the old social system. Flowers Falling in Spring City, and Oath of Sea were films showing the dark side of society. Left-wing dramatists used these films to ignite hatred in the audiences' hearts •. After the films Love and Hate on Ta Ling Mountain and Thunder in Spring were done, Lee Tsu-yun detided to get rid of all the left­ wing workers in his studio. He began to personally check every script. This action caused the left-wing workers to stage a strike, and the output of the studio was reduced to nothing for nearly a year. 9 48

During this period, Chinese cinema in Hongkong was under great economic and political pressure, Since 1948, the Communist Army in mainland China had been dominant over the Kuomintang Army and therefore left-wing dramatists became more artive. The Communists founded the Ta Guan Min Film Company in 1948. The first film they shot, Wild Fire and Spring Wind, illustrated the political slogan, 11 When the old one died, the new one came up. 11 This was really a propaganda film. The other films of theTa Kuan Min Company also carried the message that all people should fight against the old society and government. These were: Family Live by Water and Hsiao Erh Hei Was Married. Two other film companies that were established bv;the left­ wingers were the Nan Chun Film Company and the Nan Kuo Film Company. The Nan Chun Film Company was small. It filmed only The Way of Love and AllY· The Nan Kuo Company produced some Cantonese dialect films and a few Mandarin movies. Chang Shan-k'un's Great Wall Film Company made three films: The Wanton Lady, Blood Hai T'ang Flower, and The Houri. These were romantic films, all starring the actress Pai Kuang. Next the company shot a swordsman picture, Four Knights of Wang. 10 The Great Wall Company tried to make some 16mm color pictures, Catch Fish and Kill Family and Yu T'ang Ch'un. At that time, however, all the theaters were showing 35mm films and the 16mm pictures were not welcomed by audiences. The failure of these productions forced Chang

Shan~k'un into debt and finally the Great Wall Company changed its idealogy to that of the left-wing. 49

Footnotes for Chapter III

1shuan-wei Hwang, 11 Sixty Years of Chinese Movies, 11 Bulletin of National Taiwan Academy of Arts, No. 10 (National Taiwan Academy of Arts, Taipei, Taiwan, 1971), p. 145. 2Yun=chih Tu, The Histor a~ Chinese Motion Pictures, Vol 2 (Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1972 , p. 68. 3Lei Chung, Fifty Years of Chinese Cinema (Taipei, Taiwan: Cheng Chung Book Company, 1965), pp. 67-68. 4vun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 100. 5Shuan-wei Hwang, op. cit., p. 146. 6 Ibid. , p. 148. 7Lei Chung, op. cit., p. 71. 8Jay Leyda, Dianying (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1965), p. 172. 9Yun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 116. 10Lei Chung, op. cit., pp. 76-77. Chapter IV

THE FORMATION OF Cl-liNESE CINEMA IN TAIWAN AND HONGKONG (1949-1961)

Mandarin Pictures in Taiwan

Gov~rnmental Films in Taiwan Chinese cinema in Taiwan has had a very close relationship with the Chinese government, and with cinema producers in Hongkong.

Many governments in the world wish to use cinema as tool~ of education and propaganda and so does China.

Taiwan Film Studio.--During World War II, the Japanese had occupied Taiwan and set up the Taiwan Motion Picture Association and Taiwan News Picture Association. In 1945, Taiwan was recovered by the Chinese government, and those cinematic associations were merged into one large Taiwan Film Studio. 1 Taiwan of Today was the first film produced by the Taiwan Film Studio. In 1949, the Chinese government moved from mainland China to Taiwan, and began to establish various Chinese cinematic organizations. Within five years, the Taiwan Film Studio produced a feature film Poppy Flower, 2 an anti-Communist film. The next film was produced the following year with the title A Place Without Woman and was a tradi­ tional comedy, At the same time, it came to the attention of the Chinese government that some of the older generation of Taiwanese couldn't understand Mandarin. 3 Therefore, the Taiwan Film Studio

50 51 produced a film, We Are Chinese, with both Mandarin and Taiwanese dialect sound tracks. 4 Two years later, the Taiwan Film Studio co-operated with the Forestry Bureau to produce Evergreen Mountain, featuring the beautiful scenery of Taiwan. Thereafter, the studio put all its effort into producing newsreels.

China Movie Studio.--Another government-maria~ed film production organization was the China Movie Studio. 5 It was established in main­ land China, and moved to Taiwan in May, 1949. The next year, the China Movie Studio and the Agricultural Educational Film Corporation co­ produced an anti-Communist film Wake Up from Nightmare. 6 After that, a lot of documentary films about the Chinese Armed Forces were made by the China Movie Studio. In 1955, it filmed a documentary Chinese Peking opera Lo Goodness. The anti-Communist film Run! Run! and an ancient Taiwanese tragedy Lake of Adopted Daughter v1ere produced in 1956. Atomic Age, an educational film, came out in 1961. The major effort of the China Movie Studio went into shooting short newsreels about the Armed Forces and in filming educational sub­ jects. It brought many rare documentary films about Chinese history from mainland China. Unfortunately, these films were destroyed by fire in 1958 and left great gaps in the history of Chinese documentaries. 7

China Educational Film Studio.--The Department of Education of China owned the China Educational Film Studio in Nanking, mainland China, which moved to Taiwan in 1956. For Lack of capital and tech­ nique, the studio could only do some short documentary films about elementary and high school activities. 52

In January, 1958, the Department of Education decided to give the studio to the National, Taiwan Arts University, as an experimental place for the students of the Department of Cinema. 8

Central Motion Picture Corporation.--The biggest film corpora­ tion managed by the Kuomintang was Central Motion Picture Corporation. 9 It was created by merging two governmental film studios, the Agricul­ tural Educational Film Company and the Taiwan Motion Pictu~e Company. With the use of the facilities of the Agricultural Educational Film Company, the Central Motion Picture Corporation could produce films and then show them in the theaters of the Taiwan Motion Picture Company. This turned out to be a good arrangement. The Central Motion Picture Corporation established two major departments: the Production Department and the Business Department. It published a professional movie magazine called Central Motion Picture for many years. The producing goal of the Central Motion Picture Corporation at that time was to make anti-Communist films as well as films reflecting the prosperous society of Taiwan such as: Spring Comes Back, The Wrong Way, From Night to Day, Coming Home and Far Ahead With the Wind. The latest one was the first widescope film in Taiwan. 10 In the meantime, the Corporation also produced some documentary films, which can be divided into three categories: social education films, educational films for theA~med Forces, and educational films for the Kuomintang party. From 1958 to 1959, five feature films came out. Where Are My Parents?, re-written from the famous French novel En Famille, got the 53 best child performance award at the sixth Asia Film Festival. They

Woke Up and Love ·Forever viere modern Chinese fi 1ms. The ~Ja.nton Woman and the·Angel was a film about the Japanese-occupied Taiwan of fifty years ago. Cliff was co-produced b_v Taiwan and Hongkong. It won the best supporting actress award at the sixth Asia Film Festival. In 1960, the Central Motion Picture Corporation re-organized again, and co-produced only three films with Hongkong in that year: Lovely Family, The Tragedy, and Poor Hearts of All Parents in the World. In the same year, the Corporation started to build the biggest studio in Taiwan. 11

Subsequent Development of -Mandarin Pictures In the beginning, there were only four government-controlled movie production studios in Taiwan. Then their number increased gradually. Most of these companies did not pay too much attention to the production of Chinese films, but did business in releasing imported foreign movies. In Taiwan, there are two popular languages--Mandarin and Tai­ wanese. Therefore, the Chinese movies were also divided into Mandarin films and Taiwanese films. Wind and Cloud on Ali Mountain was the first Mandarin film produced in Taiwan by a private film company. 12 In 1954, the famous Chinese movie actress Li Li-hua played in two movies in Hongkong, Hsiao Feng Hsian and Hsiao Pai Tsai. Those films attracted the high interest of movie fans in Taiwan and the next year, a country musical film which was also made in Hongkong, called Peach Blossom River, made box-office records. 13 54

In the meantime, the Chinese government was trying to establish a new system in Taiwan, and accordingly many Mandarin films had the same theme of supporting the gover·nment and developing the new society. Films made under this policy includPd: Spring Comes to the Eartr, Up to the Ho Huan Mountain, Golden Age, I Love Rose, Miss Bus, Conscience and Sin, and Spring in Hai Pu. There was also one special film, The Brave Tank Soldiers, which described the happy lives of the Chinese Armed Forces.

Anti~Communist films which represented another trend were: Beauty in War, Blood War, Stool Pigeon, Dream of Love, and Revenge in Iron Curtain. Other films reflected the Taiwanese society, like The Biography of Ma~tsu, Ai Mei Na, The Broken Dream and The Contract of Gentlemen. There were also a few detective movies: Shock on the Honeymoon and Who Is the Killer? The rest of the pictures were comedies: The Great Romance and Mr. Wong and Chen. There was only one film with two sound tracks in both Mandarin and Taiwanese--Shen's Circus. 14 During this time, film production in Taiwan had just taken its first step, and producers in Hongkong also had a lot of problems. Japanese movies took advantage of this situation to enter the Taiwanese market. In 1955, the Taipei Theater showed a Japanese film called What's Your Name?, which had a very popular theme song. This film was a great success in Taiwan. One reason was that the Japanese had occupied Taiwan for fifty years, and most Taiwanese could understand Japanese. The Chinese government worried that Japan was going to be involved in cultural aggression in Taiwan, so they set up a regulation 55

that only twenty~four Japanese films could be imported into Taiwan each year. 15 The Sino-Jap~nese Cultural Cooperation Association objected to this limitation and the regulation was changed to increase

the number to thirty, but only on t~e condition that whenever one Japanese film was imported into Taiwan, there should be one Chinese film exported to Japan. The problem of importing Japanese films existed for a long time, until Taiwanese movie fans lost their interest in Japanese films. In order to help Mandarin films reach a higher level, the Chinese government encouraged Taiwanese producers to co-operate with Hongkong. From 1958 to 1960, some of these co-produced Mandarin films from Taiwan and Hongkong were: Iron Heart, Merry Couple, Love in Shui Pai Vi, Shark of the Pacific, and Fourteen Thousand Witnesses. Chinese movie producers had gone to Hongkong for exterior scenes but Hongkong producers found out that Taiwan was also a beauti­ ful place to do location films. So many production companies came, and many films were produced in Taiwan: Mountain Girls, Love With the Coachee, Cane Girl, General Tiger, Intelligence Couple, Love Song on Tea Mountain, Blood in Horse Farm, Deep Love, Fight on Green Mountain, Lady Knight, Nineteen Knights in Blue Town, Black Butterfly, Tiger Girl, Stewardess, Star, Moon and Sun, and Greenfinch of Ali Mountain. There were two films that were co-produced by Chinese and foreign companies. The first one was The Wife Disappeared in Tokyo, which was filmed in Japan. In 1957, Italian producer, Renzo Merusi came to Taipei to film La Grande Muraglia. The background of the film was mainland China, and the theme was anti-Communist. It was the first film shot with an anamorphic lens in Taiwan. 56

The World Theater Company of the United States was planning to shoot a. film called Long Way from Homes but it did not materialize.16

The Taiwanese Dialect Pictures The first Taiwanese dialect film, Six Talents in West Chamber, was shot in June, 1955. It was a l6mm black and white film with partial color. The failure of the film was due mainly to the fact

that l6mm film was too small to be seen· on a 35mm screen. The follow~ ing year, one of the Taiwanese opera groups produced Hsueh P1 ing Kui and Wong Pao Ch'uan, which was surprisingly well received by the Taiwanese people. That was the beginning of six golden years of Taiwanese film history. 17

There were twenty~one films produced in 1956. The quantity was equal to the total amount of Mandarin films produced in seven years. At that time, the population of Taiwan was ten million, of which seventy. percent were native Taiwanese. Over half of the Taiwanese were middle-aged and it was hard for them to enjoy seeing Mandarin or foreign films. The other reason for creating Taiwanese dialect films was that the stories and songs in these films were familiar to them. Although technique and art levels were very poor, Taiwanese films showed to full houses. During the high point of Taiwanese films, many producers, directors and actors of Mandarin films participated in the Taiwanese

film field. The studios of the Central Motion Picture Corporatio~, the

Chin~ Movie Studio and the Taiwan Film Studio were all rented by Taiwanese film companies. In 1957, there were one hundred and ten Taiwanese.films produced. A big circulation newspaper even co-operated 57 with Taiwanese film organizations to give the first Taiwanese Film Awards, 18 The classification of Taiwanese films were: traditional Taiwanese local stories, biographies of famous Taiwanese, stories adapted from popular Taiwanese songs, and contemporary stories based on fact. Even though Taiwanese movies expanded their original categories to include detective films, ethical family films, comedies, and romantic films, the poor quality of production adversely affected the interests of movie-goers. These golden years of Taiwanese dialect films ended very soon. The reasons were: 1. Because of the lack of high quality scripts, Taiwanese films adapted stories from Mandarin, Japanese, French, American and even German films. Those stories were quite strange to the Taiwanese people, who couldn't relate them to their own native personality. 2. Because of the great quantity of Taiwanese films, the producers did not pay too much attention to quality. Gradually, Taiwanese movie fans lost interest and some of them became the fans of Mandarin or foreign films. It was really a pity, for Taiwanese films lost their large market. 3. Japanese movies had caught the interest of the Taiwanese beginning in 1959. Some Taiwanese film producers gave up shootinq Taiwanese films, but did the releasfnq of Japanese films. This was another serious blow to the Taiwanese dialect pictures. 4. In 1961, the first television station--Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd.--went on the air. Taiwanese dialect soap drama, music, 58 and opera programs took the place of Taiwanese films. This was the last hard blow to the Taiwanese dialect films.

Chinese Pictures in Hongkong During World War II, the Japanese occupied the heart of the Chinese cinema--Shanghai. Many Chinese film producers, directors, and actors escaped from mainland China to Hongkong. They tried very hard to build a film paradise there. After a few years, Chinese film companies in Hongkong began to grow rapidly. In early 1949, because the political situation was in a transition period between the Commu- nists and the Republic of China, Chinese films were also divided into two opposite parts: the rightist (pro-the Republic of China) and the leftist (pro-Communist). That caused confusion, or worse, in Chinese film circles. From 1952 on, the Chinese cinema companies in Hongkong elimi­ nated the political confusion and started to produce more and more Chinese pictures. Since then, the Chinese cinema in Hongkong has developed its power in both producing and distributing. Nowadays, the Chinese cinema companies in Hongkong control Chinese film markets in 19 S1ngapore, . Ma 1aya, Ta1wan, . an d some sou th ern As1an . countr1es.· There were several famous film companies in Hongkong during this formation period: the Yung Hua Company, the Hsin Hua Company, the Asia Company, and the Ching Hua Company. Besides these, there were other,outstanding companies in Hongkong--the Shaw Brothers Ltd., and the Cathay Motion Picture Company. 59

Yung Hua Film Company The Yung Hua Company continued to film during this unstable political period. Because Lee Tsu-yung, the head of the comapny, was a rightist, he lost his largest markets in Communist-controlled China

in 194~. The company faced serious financial situation at that time. The company still shot some Mandarin films, but these productions could not compare with the masterpieces which had been produced in the earlier years. Most of the films were stories about a family, such as: The Worshipper of Money, The Moment of Spring Night, The Relationship Between Wife and Husband, and The Prisoner of Love. There was one detective film, The Dog Is the Murderer. Another film was adapted from the American film Wuthering Heights. In 1953, the Yung Hua Company produced its most famous film, Ts'ui Ts'ui. The· background of the film was a typical Chinese village. The film also created a queen of Chinese movie stars, Lin Tai, the leading actress. After Ts'ui Ts'ui, the company made several films about con­ temporary society. Then an accidental fire burned many films in their vaults, and a half-done new film, The Red Girl, was one of them. This was very damaging to the Yung Hua Company, and it was about to go bankrupt. Lee went to Taiwan to ask the help of the Chinese govern­ ment and the government lent him five hundred thousand Hongkong dollars. Because of monetary troubles however, the Yung Hua Company decreased its film production until the death of Lee Tsu-yung in 1959. 60

That was the last page. of the history of the glorious Yung- Hua Film Company.

Hsin·Hua Film Company Chang Shan-k'un owned the Hsin Hua Company, which became the most powerful film company in Hongkong during the period between 1951 and 1958. There were a few patriotic films produced: Hsiao Feng Hsian, Ch'iu Chin, and Blue Blood on the Yellow Flower. These stories were about the modern history of China. Beside the patriotic films, the company's productions may be divided into four types: l. Musical films--Peach Blossom River, The Fairy of Grape, The Princess of Flowers, The Wiid Pussycat, A Song in the Silver Sea, and Love in the First Sight. 2. Romantic films--Romance in Cherry Blossom City, Lady . Butterfly (an imitation of Italian opera), Love with a Blind Girl, and The Fire of Love. 3. Classical films--Hsiao Pai Tsai, The Corpse in Western

·~siang, and Blood in T'sui Mountain. 4. Comedy films--The Hot Girl, Freedom of Love, and The Beautiful Mermaid. In 1955, Chang shan-k'un went to Japan. He filmed Blood Hai T'ang, in Eastman color. It stimulnted the other Chinese cinema com­ panies in Hongkong to produce color films and thereafter the Chinese

cinema entered the 11 Color film age." 61

Chang shan-k'un died in 1958. Since then his wife has managed the company, but business has gradually slowed down.

Film Companies With an Anti­ Comrunist Line Hongkong has a uncertain political atmosphere. Although the government prohibits film productions with political overtones, either right-wing or left-wing, films have been produced there. In 1953, the anti-Communist Asia Film Company was established and made its first film, The Tradition. The theme of this film dealt with the very strong traditional Chinese spirit. Next it made the color film Yang 0, adapted from the classical story of a heroine who tried to kill a traitor at the end of the Ching Dynasty. The contemporary comedy The Mellow Family emphasized the good relationships within a Chinese family and criticized the tyrannical control of the Communists. The Middle Lower Classes was a realistic film which told true stories of the poor refugees. It was a high quality anti-Communist film effort. The Golden Silk Dress and Love and Sin were films which explored the characteristics of vanity and guilt in the hearts of human beings. A film about the relationship between parents and son, The Long Lane, won the best script prize in the third Asian Film Festival. Another anti-Communist film organization was the Ching Hua Company. It made the New Song of Fishermen, which depicted fishermen 62

who had fouqht against the Communists and escaped from mai"nland China to free places.

The Swallo\~ Is Back, a production of the Pai Tou Film Company, was arapted from a real story about a performer in a circus who ran away from the Communists. There was one other anti-Communist film, Angel of the Street, an effective story about anti-Communist forces in Hongkong.

Shaw Brothers (H. K.) Ltd. The Shaw Brothers Ltd., was first established in Shanghai by the Shaw brothers. Then two of the Shaw brothers, Runme Shaw and · Run Run Shaw, changed their business location to the south Pacific area with offices in Singapore, Malaya, Indonesia, etc. In 1951, the Shaw brothers decided to set up their main office in Hongkong and six

·years later, the company built its big studios in Kowlon and Hongkong~

and called their location 11 Far East Hollywood. 11 So far, the Shaw Brothers Ltd. has been producing Chinese pictures in tremendous quantities, and establishing a broad releasing system. The Shaw Brothers Ltd. is really the top producer of Chinese films in Hongkong. From 1951 to 1961, the Shaw Brothers Ltd. produced hundreds of Chinese films. One of their folk movies, Kingdom and the Beauty, had a strong influence on Chinese films in Taiwan, and inaugurated a

uchincse folk film age 11 which lasted for many years. The Shaw Brothers Ltd. worked very hard to open its film markets in two major ways; one is to put different sound tracks on Mandarin films, such as Cantonese, Malayan and Indonesian languages 63 of other Asian countries. The other way is to participate in inter- national film festivals for awards. The Shaw Brothers Ltd. was successful in winning many film awards at the Asian Film Festival every year.

Cathay Motion Picture Company The Cathay Film Company and the International Film Company merged into one company--Cathay Motion Picture Company. 20 It owned two large studios in Hongkong and aimed to produce high quality Chinese films. Tha Cathay Company considered that films are art and not only a business. From this point of view, it is quite different from the Shaw Brothers Ltd. Its first film was produced late in 1956, and it moved Chinese cinema into a new world. The president of the Cathay Company was Loke Wan-tho, who was interested in co-operating with Taiwan. Unfortunately, while on his way to invest a lot of his capital in Taiwan, he died in an airplane crash. 21 The Taiwanese film industry thereby lost its best chance to develop its productions. From 1956 to 1961, the Cathay Company produced a lot of Chinese films by itself, and also co-produced many films with Taiwan, such as Four Sisters, which won the best film prize at the fifth Asian Film Festival, and The Flying Dragon and Dancing Poenix. The Hongkong Night was co-produced with Japan. The Cathay Company also won many awards from the Asian Film Festivals, and competed strongly with the Shaw Brothers Ltd. They 22 were the two major filmmakers in Hongkong for the next ten years. 64

The weak point of the Cathay Company was that the Cathay

Organization was a big bu~iness organization, and film production was only a small part of its business. Therefore, it was impossible for the company to become larger. The establishing of the Cathay Motion Picture Company was dependent on Loke Wan-tho's personal interest and after his death, business slowed down perceptibly. 65

Footnotes for Chapter IV

1shuan-wei Hwong, 11 Sixty Years of Chinese Movies, .. Bulletin of National Taiwan Academy of Arts, No. 10 (National Taiwan Academy of Arts, Taipei, Taiwan, 1971}, p. 159. 2Ibid., pp. 160-161. 3Mandarin is the national language of China, but Taiwanese native people still speak Taiwanese. Therefore, there are two kinds of Chinese films in Taiwan: Mandarin films and Taiwanese dialect films. 4shuan-wei Hwong, op. cit., p. 161. 5Ibi d. 6Ibid. 7Lei Chung, Fifty Years of Chinese Cinema (Taipei, Taiwan: Cheng Chung Book Company, 1965), p. 96. 8 Ibid. , p. 100. 9 ~huan-wei Hwong, op. cit., p. 162. 10 . Lei Chung, op. cit., p. 84. ll Ibid., p. 86. 12 Ibid. , p. 101 . 13shuan-wei Hwong, op. cit., p. 167. 14Lei Chung, op. cit., pp. 105-106. 15shuan-wei Hwong, op. cit., p. 168. 16Yi Liu, Working Experience in a Studio (Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Cinematic Literature Publication Company, 1968), p. 16. 17vun-chih Tu, The Histor of Chinese Motion Pictures, Vol. 3 (Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1972 , p. 72. 18Lei Chung, op. cit., p. 113. 1g I bi d . , pp . 12 0- 121. 20 Ibid., p. 128. 66

21 Jay Leyda, Dianying (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1965), p. 275. 22vun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 124. Chapter V

TODAY'S CHINESE CINEMA {1962-1974)

Involvement of the Chinese Government For the purpose of improving Chinese films, the Chinese government became involved in the cinema field. To quote from the ex-director of the Bureau of Cultural Affairs: 11 The government made the policy decision that films should be cultural and educational in a positive way, in addition to being entertaining. 111 This is still the attitude of the Chinese government toward cinema today.

Film Productions of the Government­ Managed Studios Central Motion Picture Corporation.--The Central Motion Picture Corporation has played a very important role in today's Chinese cinema. Its influence began in 1962. In. order to explore markets abroad for Mandarin films, the Central Motion Picture Corporation signed a contract with the Japanese Daiei Film Company to produce the film Emperor Chin Shih. There were over ten thousand extra actors in this super technicroma 70mm film. Most of the exterior scenes were shot in Taiwan; the interiors were shot in Japan. Massive as it was, however, this masterpiece failed to achfeve success at the box-officP. In August, 1962, the corporation signed another contract with the Japanese Nikkatsu Company to shoot the film Rainbow Over the Kin­ men Ba,l. The Chinese actress Wong Mo Chou and a Japanese actor

67 68

Yujiro Ishihara played in it together. The division of the distribu~ tion markets was in favor ·of Japan, The Central Motion Picture Corpo~ ration obtained release rights in Taiwan, Hongkong, Malava and Singapore only. This unfair proportion of re 1 ~ases led to another failure of Sino-Japanese co-production. 2 Because of the failure of these productions, the chairman of the committee and the general manager resigned from the Central Motion Picture Corporation. In 1963, the corporation re-organized, and changed the goal of its productions. The new projects were to be realistic films. The first one in this field was Oyster-Girl. This described the actual lives of the oyster-picking girls who live along the Taiwanese sea. The film was highly praised by film critics and audiences. It received the best film prize at the tenth Asian Film Festival. The prize encouraged the corporation to start a second film, Eamily Who Raises Ducklings. This film depicted the happy life of people in the countryside. The beautiful landscapes of Taiwanese villages and the lovely, honest personalities of the farmers made a very deep impression upon audiences. Finally, after so many years of struggle, Chinese cinema now broke out of the small confining circle of commonplace romantic and swordsman's films . . In the meantime, the corporation established their own Color Movie Laboratory Center to develop as well as print color films. A famous Chinese Movie Town was also built by the corporation, which was located in the suburbs of Taipei. The talents and ficilities of the Chinese Movie Town may be rented by civilian film companies. 69

Robert Wise, the famous American director, took a team of film

workers from 20th Century Fox 1 Inc. to Taiwan to shoot The Sand·

Pebbles in 1965. He rented the studios and facilities of the corpo~ ration and trained several teams there. While he was directing the film in Taiwan, Chinese film staffs took the opportunity to learn from the Oscar winning director. Chinese cinema workers also developed some new ideas for film sequences and techniques from working with Robert Wise. 3 After some realistic films had been completed, the corpora­ tion's policy was expanded to include the making of films of a more complex nature. It has continued to emphasize social education through the entertainment media. A few ancient costume films were made, such as The Petite Wife, The Unknown Man, Dolly Lee, He Heals and Kills, The Jude Goodness of Mercy (the best film of the fifth Asian Film Festival), and a few were made about earlier times in the Republic of China, such as Cousin Yuan

Chun, and Dumb Wife}. The corporation also made many other contempo~ rary costume films, among which were: My Daughter Jo Lan and Home, Sweet Home (which won the best actress prize at the sixteenth Asian Film Festival. Others were: Stardust, Tracing to EXPO '70, A Test of Love, and The Ripening. There were also two historical films ranked as masterpieces: Recover My Country and The Everlasting Glory. The latest trend of the Chinese motion picture industry is toward international co-production. The Central Motion Picture Corpo­ ration co-operated with Korea to produce Pure Love and Falling Snow-. flakes (adapted from the American film, Doctor Zhivago). The Tear of Peony was co-produced by Taiwan, Hongkong and Thailand. 4 70

·Ten Thousand Threads of Long Love was adapted from a contempo~ rary story about Chinese·in the United States. The corporation shot parts of the film in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Spokane, From

viewi~g this film, the Chinese people could see and enjoy the scenery of the western United States. There was one ancient film, The Life God. This story came from the Chinese legend about the God who took charge of everybody's life.

China Movie Studio.--The China Movie Studio's main job is producing newsreels and documentary films to increase military educa­ tion in a more effective way. It also produces military song­ performance films every month, which are brought to audiences by television. In 1966, the China Movie Studio started to shoot some feature fi 1ms. Some of them were of high qua 1 i ty. One i nte 11 i gent film, The Spy, was a popular anti-Japanese story. A Girl Ti Ying received the best leading actress prize at the seventeenth Asian Film Festival. The theme of this film was the close relationship between a father and his daughter. It also emphasized the deep emotional spirit of humanity. The studio made many contemporary costume films, such as A Man With Ambition, My Shattered Home Town, He Is Singing a Song of Lament, A Mother's Love and A Last Fight on Rainbow Bridge. The Cold Current will he the longest film in Chinese cinema. It is scheduled to be divided into sixty sections, each of which will take half an hour. The film illustrates the revolt of the Chinese Communists. 5 71

Awar film~ Mountain Mo Tieh, was made recently, More than a hundred thousand Chinese troops participated in the production, The

Hero of Black.River Area and A Pond-Reflects Spring 1 s Coming will be shooting in the near future.

·Taiwan Film Studio.--The Taiwan Film Studio and the civilian Grand Company co-produced a masterpiece Hsi Shih in two sections, each of which ran for one and one-half hours. This ancient costume film cost a great deal of money and took much time to produce. 8owever, it did not make a good record at the box-office. Thereafter, the Taiwan Film Studio stopped producing big-budget films. A few feature films were made, such as Spring Morning on Pear Mountain, Spring Returns to the Little Town, and Song and the Shadow. Some famous documentary films were shot by this studio: ·confucius, Master of Masters, The Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Taiwan, and Taichi, Ultimatein Chinese Boxing. The studio is now making newsreels and documentary films to publicize government policies, social education, and economic recon- struction. The newsreels contain rural editions for showing through­ out the provinces. The overseas editions are narrated in the following languages: Chinese, English, French, Japanese, German, Thai, Arabian and Spanish. In addition, the studio prints twelve international editions a year with one hundred and eight release copies in color.

Govetnmental Policies to Assist Civilian Chinese Film Production In order to stimulate Chinese film companies to produce more and better Chinese films, the Government Information Office formulated 72 some regulations to assist them. There were three major phases to this endeavor, 6

Chinese film producers may share the distribution of imported foreign films.--Since 1951, the government had placed a restriction on the import of foreign films to protect Chinese films. Because some Chinese audiences, especially the younger generation, like to see foreign films, most Chinese film companies fought over the release rights to foreign films. The government limited the quantities of imported foreign films, and distributed them to those companies on the condition that the more Chinese films that they made, the more chance they would have to obtain imported films.

Loans to ciVilian film producers from the government.--In

March, 1961~ the Government Information Office declared the 11 Regulation of Assistance Loans. 11 According to this policy, any Chinese civilian company, either in Taiwan or in Hongkong, may request a certain amount of money as a loan from the Chinese Cinema Assistance Association. Any qualified applicant may borrow $200,000 (Taiwanese dollars) for each black-and-white film, and $400,000 for each color film. In 1974, the Government Information Office co-operated with the Ministry of Finance to make more short-term loans to Chinese film com­ panies.

Chinese motion pictures annual meeting.~-Since 1968, the Government Information Office has invited professors, experts and 73

professionals in the Chinese cinema field to attend a special annual meeting to discuss Chinese motion pictures in all aspects. During these meetings, people exchange different opinions and ideas and also try to resolve problems which exist in their cinema circles. Then, they review the results of the ideas that had been brought up at the last year's meeting, and check to see whether the problems were resolved or not. After each meeting the Government Information Office published a book which covered the important parts of the discussions~ This was a practical way to improve Chinese motion pictures. For example, from the meetings, the government developed the idea that the entertainment tax on movie theaters should be decreased. The suggestion was put into execution later by the government.

The Golden Horse Award The statue of the golden horse is the symbol of high quality film production. This has been given by the Government Information Office since 1965. The Golden Horse Award ceremony is held every year in October. Producers, directors and actors who work in the Chinese cinema field come from everywhere to Taipei to attend the honors ceremony. The winner gets both the Golden Horse statue and a premium of money. The awards are for: the best film, the best documentary film, the best director, the best scenarist, the best actor and actress, the best supporting actor and actress, the best photographer, the best musical composer, the best editor, the best sound recorder, and other categories. 74

Fredrick F, Chien, director general of the Government Informa­ tion Office said~ ''Becaus~ the government appreciates the artistic, cultural and business values of the motion picture industry, it has workerl hard to help its development and calls for continuing effrrts on the part of movie workers." 7 This is the explanation of the rela­ tionship between the Chinese government and the Chinese movie workers.

Rapid Growth of Chinese Cinema in Taiwan The years from 1962 up to the present were important years in Chinese cinema history. In the years before 1962, the best annual box-office record was around one million Taiwanese dollars and never managed to make over two million dollars. During this time, Chinese cinema workers did not have confidence in their films, and Chinese audiences were not very much interested in Chinese films. That is one of the reasons that foreign films dominated the Chinese market for such a long time. However, a miracle took place in 1963. A Hongkong-produced Chinese ancient costume musical film, Liang Shan-po and Chu Ying-tai, broke the box-office record in Taiwan by making $8,4-03,679 Taiwanese dollars. 8 This surprising record shocked the whole Chinese cinema world and this success led to Chinese films being shown in first class theaters. It also encouraged Chinese films to enter the international markets,

In the same year, there was a great change in Chinese fil~ productions in Taiwan. Lee Han-hsiang, the famous director of the Shaw Brothers in Hongkong, severed connections with the Shaw Brothers and came to Taiwan to establish his own Grand Movie Company. 9 Lee 75

1ed a. group of workers from Hong kong, who contributed new techniques to Taiwanese film productions. Supported by the Taiwan Film Studio and the Union Film Company, the Grand Movie Company started their first ancient costume musical, Seven Fairies. In the meantime, the Shaw Brothers in Hongkong made a film with the same title and story. The competition of the twin movies caused another hit in Chinese cinema circles by inducing Chinese audiences to go to the theaters to make comparisons. Thereafter, a trend of Chinese ancient costume musical films began. In 1964, there were eight ancient costume films among the ten best--selling films. The next year, the ten best-selling were totally ancient costume pictures. The Grand Movie Company made several Chinese ancient costume films: Takes the First in the Palace, The Fourteenth Lady of Shi, The Beloved Daughter of Heaven, and Flower Drum. They also produced some contemporary films: Many Times of Sunset, When Comes the Full Moon?, The Woman in the Tower, Mountain Is Smiling, Love Is Stronger Than Wine, Black Ox and White Snake, and At Dawn .. Because the masterpiece Hsi Shih (co-produced with the Taiwan Film Studio) took too much money and time to produce, and the company lost its main investors at the same time, financial troubles dogged the heels of the Grand Company from 1965 on. Finally in 1967, the Grand Movie Company went bankrupt after only three years of existence. Bu~ in that short time, it had stimu­ lated the Chinese film market in Taiwan. Another director who worked for the Shaw Brothers in Hongkong,

Hu Chin~chuan, left the Shaw Brothers and came to Taiwan. He worked 76 for the Union Company, and directed the best-selling swordsman film, Dragon Inn. 10 Its extraordinary box~.office record stimulated the "age of swordsman films" from 1967 to the present time. , The Union Company and its tw0 associated companies, the

International Film Company and the China Arts Motion Picture Company~ co-operated to build the largest civilian studio in Taipei, the International Motion Picture Studio. Since then, these three film . companies have produced many ancient costume swordsman films, such as The Swordsman of All Swordsmen, A Touch of Zen, The Grand Passion (the second part of A Touch of Zen), The Flying Dragon Mountain, Rider of Revenge, A City Called Dragon, The Decisive Battle, The Prosperous Family, and Chinese Kung Fu and Acupuncture. They only made a few contemporary films: The Melody of Love, Gone with the Cloud, and The Heart with a Million Knots (a co-production with Ta Chung Motion Picture Corporation). From the statistics of these three years, one can readily note the progress that was made. In 1967, the production figures for films numbered one hundred ninety, thirty-eight of which were color and one hundred fifty-two black-and-white. For 1968, the figures rose to one hundred ninety-eight, including fifty-five color and one hundred forty-three black-and-white. In 1969, color movies increased to . eighty-four, and those in black-and-white to one hundred forty-six, tota 1 ing two hundred thirty. 11 Progress was not confined to quantity, but also was evident in the improvement of production techniques. Although there were too many swordsman films, several high level films were shot during these three years as well. Some 77

contemporary films still can be considered in the list of the ten best .. selling films because of their quality: The Lonely Seventeen, Love in the War, The Sixth Dream, Accidental Trio, and Shan-hu. Chinese film production has decreased since 1970. It seams that Mandarin pictures have gradually acquired an inferior image, causing audiences to lose interest in them. Most of the action or Kung Fu films copied each other, and updated familiar stories. Now there was a chance to produce romantic or comedy films, such as: The Petite Wife, Millionairess Bride, Happiness, Angry, Sad and Joy, and True and False Daughter. • At the end of 1970, Ta Chung Motion Picture Corporation pre­ sented an ancient costume film Reborn (or Execution in Autumn). The film depicted the feelings of a criminal waiting for his death sentence to be carried out. It portrayed the true meaning of the value of life and the awesome difference between life and death. This special theme

affected audiences deeply. It captured many prizes in 1972 1 S Golden Horse Awards ceremony: the best film, the best director, the best actor, the best supporting actress, and the best photography in color. During the next three years (from 1972 to 1974), six hundred and nine color films were turned out, which represents a monthly

average of seventeen one-half. In content, three hundred twenty~seven (or more than half of the total productions in Taiwan) dealt with fist­ fighting and sword-fighting. The remaining films dealt with singing, ·dancing, historical legends and matters of educational value. 12 The films failed to continue to maintain their attraction for domestic and 78 foreign audiences, because they were for the most part low in artistic standards, cruel in theme, and monotonous in entertainment value. There were still a tremendous number of swordsman films and Kung Fu films, but some producers tried to make pictures with literary depth. A few romantic and ethical films were made: September Song (which was awarded the best supporting actor prize at the nineteenth Asian Film Festival), How.Is the Weather Today?, In the Cabin; Life with Mother, Story of Mother, Father, Husband and Son, A Story of Daisy, and Floating Clouds. The audiences became tired of swordsman and Kung Fu films and \ there were not enough other types of cont~Drqry productions. How- ever, the failure was not only inherent in the subject matter, but also due to slipshod work. It is obvious that producers in Taiwan should think about how to improve artistic standards and film tech- niques.

Hongkong's Age of Prosperity The two major film makers in Hongkong, the Shaw Brothers and the Cathay Company, were in hot competition from 1961 to 1965. While the Cathay Company was planning to shoot Empress Wu and Princess Yang Kuei-fei, the Shaw Brothers filmed both of them at once and the Cathay Company had to give up its plans. After that, the two companies scrambled to get into production with Liang Shan-po and Chu Ying-tai, The Magic Lotus Lantern and Kismet (the Shaw Brothers' production had the title Dream in Old Peking). Because the Shaw Brothers had a more effective system of production, it triumphed in the competition. 79

In 1963, the famous director of the Shaw Brothers, Lee Han­ hsiang, went to Taiwan. His leave caused some damage to the Shaw Brothers' production in the Chinese ancient costume film field. But after a re-organization, the Shaw Brothers bought some new mode~n facilities, and hired more film workers. After six months, the Shaw Brothers' business grew rapidly. In the meantime, the head of the Cathay Company, Lake Win-tho, died in an airplane crash. The Cathay Company lost its key-person as well as its financial support and since then has produced no master­ pieces. Consequently, it also lost its attraction for audiences. Chinese ancient costume musical films were also flown into Hongkong during this period: Hua Mu-lan (The Lady General), Blood Hand-print, Chao Wu Niang, Chiu Hsiang Lian, A Hundred Thousand Years Lasting Perfume, Butterfly Goblet, Mermaid, and Midnight Ghost. These films were adapted from ancient legends or novels of the past. Later, the new trend of swordsman films took the place of ancient costume musical films. One-Armed Swordsman, produced by the Shaw Brothers, was the top-grossing film in Hongkong. The following year, seventy percent of the total Chinese production was swordsman films. The Shaw Brothers controlled the markets of Hongkong and Taiwan, and began to explore international markets as well. Many swordsman and Kung Fu films were shot by the Shaw Brothers. The famous ones were: The Great Assassinator, The New One-Armed Swordsman, As Brave as Tiger, The Killer, Duel of Fists, and Twelve Golden Commands. The Shaw Brothers entered the American market in the summer of 1967, with their new film Beyond the Great Wall. 80

The Cathay Comapny produced twenty films each year, but their productions could not compete with those of the Shaw Brothers. During this period, the left-wing film companies, the Great Wall Company and the P~oenix Company, were in political trouble. Because of the cultural revolution that took place on mainland China, left-wing producers in Hongkong stopped filming for nearly six months. The Shaw Brothers became the biggest film company_making Chinese motion pictures. In 1970, Raymond Chow, the vice president of the Shaw Brothers, resigned and in 1971 established the Golden Harvest Studio. The studio was using the facilities of the Cathay Company, and also releasing the productions of the Cathay Company. Gradually, the Golden Harvest Studio took over the Cathay Company, and became another powerful film center in Hongkong. 13 The Golden Harvest signed a contract with the famous Chinese actor, Bruce Lee. Luckily, Bruce Lee became the idol of Chinese fans, and all his movies resulted in marvelous box-office records. Bruce Lee played Fists of Fury, one of the most outstanding films he ever made. This film nearly made a million dollars in Hongkong. It opened the

11 hot tide of Bruce Lee 11 in modern Chinese cinema history. The Chinese Connection was another top money-making film, in which Bruce Lee starred in 1971. It was distributed in the United States, and made $3.3 million. This film portrayed the bitter tradi­ tional rivalry between the Chinese and Japanese. The Way of the Dragon was Bruce Lee•s third film. This was adapted from the story of overseas Chinese who struggled to succeed in foreign countries. Then, Bruce Lee started to act in The Game of Death, but it was never 81

completed or released. Filming was interrupted by work on Enter the Dtagon, a 1973 release by Warner Brothers, and on the 20th of July, 1973, Bruce Lee died in Hongkong. The death of Bruce Lee brourht about a decrease in film produc­ tion by the Golden Harvest. The studio shifted their emphasis to film distribution, with film-making becoming of second importance. At that time, a network of theaters on the American continent (Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Seattle) was planned to show the Golden Harvestls Mandarin films regularly. 14 The Shaw Brothers• film, Five Fingers of Death, broke box­ office records in Europe and the States. The American magazine, Time, carried an article about this picture on June 11, 1973. It said, 11 The film made for a mere $300,000, grossed $3,800,000 in only eleven weeks in the U.S., not to mention $4,100,000 in other foreign countries ... This outstanding success induced the Shaw Brothers to make more Kung Fu films, such as Gambling Syndicate, The Flying Guillotine, Drug Gang, The Savage Five, and The Master of Kung Fu. From 1973 to 1974, the Shaw Brothers produced many sex movies. They were: Illicit Desire, The Big Cheats, A Tale of Two Beauties, The Kiss of Death, Sex Playgirls, and Wine, Women and Song. Some comedy films were shot as well: Old Master Q, and Cheeky Little Angels. The Crazy Bumpkins and Ah Niw Leaves Jail were part of a movie series of satirical comedies. They told of the adventures of a country bumpkin who went to the metropolis to seek a better life. Several romantic films were made by the Shaw Brothers, such as Dancing Gown, The Lover's Dream, and The Teahouse. It's All in the 82

FamilX dealt with the generation gap, which upsets the equilibrium of the family in Chinese modern society. To get into foreign markets, the Shaw Brothers started to shoot international co-produced films. These films made quite a handsome profit. Virgins of the Seven Slaves was an action packed spectacular, starred in by five pretty Western actresses. Cleopatra Jones Meets the Dragon Lady described the adventures of smashing a drug gang. Blood Money, a Carlo Ponti production, jointly presented by the Shaw Brothers and Harbor Productions of New York, and starring Lo Lieh and Lee Van Cleef, is a real fighting picture, Director Anthony Dawson blended Kung Fu and gunfighting ingredients in this action epic. 15 - The Chinese director, Lee Han-hsiang, returned to the Shaw Brothers and after he had made several sex comedies, Lee directed two masterpieces about the royal court in the Ching Dynasty: The Last Days of the Empress Dowager and The Lost Tempest. They were multi­ million dollar pictures, and could boast of a high standard of authen­ ticity in props, costumes, and backgrounds. There were many Chinese film companies in Hongkong other than the Shaw Brothers. Ma's Film Company produced the romantic film Where the Seagull Flies. This company is famous for making romantic love films, and their productions have been very popular in Southern Asia. It has just finished a picture, A Look of Hongkong. The Crystal Art Ltd. shot a love film, Rhlthm of the Wave. The Great China Film Company made The Last Kiss. The First Scope Company filmed A Story of My Dream and First Come, First Love. 83

Young·Passion was a story about a sixteen~year-old boy falling in love with a lonely newly-wed lady, and seemed to be an imitation of the American film The Graduate. Another film, The Blind Girl, was a copy cf another American film, Wait Until Dark.

The popularity of The ExorciSt~ has· caused a flood of horror films in Hongkong. Ghosts, both Chinese and foreign, crowd the screen. Many of the Chinese ghost films are about a beautiful fema.l e ghost who falls in love with a handsome human being. A tremendous number of horror films have been made or are going to be made. Some of them are: Ghost Eyes, The Thirteenth Haunted House, All in Dim Cold Night, Horror in the Midnight, The Invisible Reverence, Blood Reincarnation and The Twin Devils. 84

Footnotes for Chapter V 1china Cinema, Vol. 2 (Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Motion Picture and Drama Association, 1970), p. 3. 2Shuan-wei Hwang, 11 Sixty Years of Chinese Movies, 11 Bulletin of Nation.:tl Taiwan Academy of Alnts, No. 10 (1971), pp. 164-165. 3Yi Liu, Working Experience in a Studio (Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Cinematic Literature Publication Company, 1968), pp. 78-79. 4 sung~lan Chou, 11 New Age of the Central Motion Picture Corpo­ ration,11 True Beauty Movie Magazine (Taipei, Taiwan), Vol. 11 (Novem­ ber, 1974), pp. 2-3. 5 c~ina Cinema, Vol. 3 (Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Motion Picture and Drama Association, 1974), pp. 53-55. 6Yun-chih Tu, The History of Chinese Motion Pictures, Vol. 3 (Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1972), pp. 66-68. 7china Cinema, Vol. 3, op. cit., p. 4. 8vu-t'ien Chang, The Cinema Industry in China (Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Cinematic Literature Publication Company, 1968), p. 93. 9Yun-chih Tu, op. cit., p. 141. 10shuan-wei Hwang, op. cit., pp. 170-171. 11 china Cinema, Vol. 2, op. cit., p. 5. 12China Cinema, Vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 5-6. 13vun-chih Tu, op. cit., pp. 139-140. 14The Golden Harvest Movie (Hongkong: The Golden Harvest Movie Publication, September, 1974), p. 30.

1511 Blood Money, 11 Hongkong Movie News, Vol. 8 (August, 1974), pp. 36 ... 37. Chapter VI

CONCLUSION

Movies play an important role in all societies, and they also form one of the most significant and influential parts of mass commu­ nication media. In China, it is said that the movie is an all­ inclusive art, which embodies the essence of literature, ethics, photography and music. Chinese movies were born more than ten years later than in America and Europe. Therefore foreign films have had a great influence on Chinese movies. Under this flow of foreign films, it has been hard to create a pure Chinese style cinema. Another reason is because of the long-continuing civil wars in China. Then came the Sino-Japanese war, that additionally frustrated the growth of Chinese cinema. After nearly fifty years of strenuous efforts, motion pictures in the Republic of China have developed from a simple form into a com­ prehensive industry. It has expanded from a limited domestic market into the international field. There are several main characteristics in the history of Chinese cinema. First, since the beginning of Chinese cinema history, the flow of foreign films, especially American films, have contributed too much to the Chinese movies. Some Chinese movies even copied famous foreign films. In recent years, the trend in audiences' taste has shifted from

85 86

American films to the traditional swordsman movies. However, Chinese pictures have not yet found their own way. Second, the Chinese government has played an indispensible role in the history of Chinese cinema. ';!hen the government moved to Taiwan

in 1949~ the first studio was set up by the government. From this point of view, the early Chinese movies and even those of today have the partial function of social education and propaganda. Third, generally speaking, most producers in China do not want to find new styles in filming, but merely want to follow the audience's taste. Whenever a certain type of movie has broken the box-office record, then everybody seems to produce the same type, until the fans become sick of those films. Fourth, the market of Chinese movies is still not broad enough. Taiwan, Hongkong, Singapore, Mal~ya, and some parts of Asia are the major markets and it is very hard to get into the international markets of the world. Some swordsman and Kung Fu pictures have found their way to Europe and America during the last three years. Most of those films were poor in artistic standards, cruel in theme, and monot­ onous in entertainment value. The question is, how long can they maintain their attraction for foreign audiences? ln view of both the economical and political situations of the Republic of China, Chinese movies need governmental help, but the function of production should change to a more artistic way rather than using movies solely as a tool of social education or political propaganda. 87

Opening the door of international cooperation in filming would be helpful in improving the standards of Chinese movies. To decrease the influence of foreign films and make an effort to set up Chinese style~ through motion pictures, is cnother task ahead. What is the best way for Chinese movies of the future to go? The fist-fighting and sword-fighting movies are going to come to an end. What is the next trend? Singing and dancing films? Historical legends? Pictures with literary depth? Or, the ethical and romantic films again? Chinese film producers have already found out that their failure was not in their scripts, but in their slipshod artistic standards. If Chinese pictures can improve their techniques, raise the artistic standards of production, absorb the latest know-how from abroad and achieve scientific planning, the Chinese cinema can maintain its progress to prosperity and keep its feet in foreign markets. These must be the objectives of the film makers of the Republic of China. BIBLIOGRAPHY

11 Blood Money. 11 Hongkong Movie News, Vol. 8 (August, 1974). Chang, Yu-t•ien. The Cinema Industry in China. Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Cinematic Literature Publication Company, 1968. China Cinema, Vol. 2. Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Motion Picture and Drama Association, 1970. China Cinema, Vol. 3. Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Motion Picture and Drama Association, 1974.

Chou, Sung-lan. 11 New Age of the Central Motion Picture Corporation ... True Beauty Movie Magazine (Taipei, Taiwan), Vol. 11 (November, 1974). Chung, Lei. Fifty Years of Chinese Cinema. Taipei, Taiwan: Cheng Chung Book Company, 1965.

Th~ Golden Harvest Movie. Hongkong: The Golden Harvest Movie Publi­ cation, September, 1974.

Hwang, Sh'uan-wei. "Sixty Years of Chinese Movies. 11 Bulletin of National Taiwan Academy of Arts (Taipei, Taiwan), No. 10 (1971).

Kung, Chia~nung. The Memoirs of Kung Chia-~, Vols. l, 2, 3. Taipei, Taiwan: Biographical Literature Publication Company, 1969. Kung-sun, lu .. Chung Kuo Tien Ying Shih Hua. Hongkong: Oriental Arts Company, 1962. Leyda, Jay. Dianying. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The MIT Press, 1965. Liu, Yi. -Working Experience in a Studio. Taipei, Taiwan: Chinese Cinematic Literature Publication Company, 1968. Tu, Yun-cnih. The History of Chinese Motion Pictures, Vols. 1, 2, 3. Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1972.

Tu, Yun-chih. 11 The History of Chinese News Films." Journalism GJzette (Editing and Reporting Association of the World College of Journalism, Taipei, Taiwan), No. 3 (June, 1974).

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