UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO International and Wartime Origins of the Propaganda State: The Motion Picture in China, 1897-1955 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in History by Matthew David Johnson Committee in charge: Professor Joseph W. Esherick, Co-Chair Professor Paul G. Pickowicz, Co-Chair Professor Takashi Fujitani Professor Daniel Widener Professor Yingjin Zhang 2008 Copyright Matthew David Johnson, 2008 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Matthew David Johnson is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Co-Chair Co-Chair University of California, San Diego 2008 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………………… iii Table of Contents...………………………………………………………………… iv List of Figures………………………………………………………………………. viii List of Tables………………………………………………………………………… ix Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………… xi Vita…………………………………………………………………………………... xiii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… xiv INTRODUCTION: Cinema and State Formation…………………………………. 1 Historiography of the Propaganda State…………………………………… 7 Mass Culture and State Formation…………………………………………. 16 CHAPTER 1. Colonialism, War, and Cinema from the Late Qing to the Republic, 1897- 1927……………………………………………………………………….... 25 Colonialism and Early Cinema……………………………………………... 31 War Films…………………………………………………………………… 41 Co-productions……………………………………………………………… 52 Theorizing Cinema and Social Power……………………………………… 59 Envisioning National Culture………………………………………………. 65 Exhibition and the State…………………………………………………….. 75 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………. 78 CHAPTER 2. Cinematic Partyfication and Internationalism: The Nationalist Revolution, 1924-1937………………………………………………………………….. 83 Li Minwei and Sun Yat-sen…………………………………………………. 89 Newsreels, Publicity, and Propaganda during the 1920s………………….. 95 iv The Nationalist Party’s Propaganda Plan…………………………………. 108 The National Educational Cinematographic Society………………………. 117 Building a State Film Industry……………………………………………… 135 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………. 152 CHAPTER 3. Wartime Propaganda States, 1937-1945…………………………….. 157 Free China: State Studios during the War of Resistance……………….. 161 Wuhan: The China Motion Picture Corporation…………………………… 163 The Nationalist Party in Shanghai and Hong Kong………………………... 167 The Studio System…………………………………………………………... 172 Distribution…………………………………………………………………. 184 Intelligence, Propaganda, and Public Relations…………………………… 188 De-commercializing Culture………………………………………………... 194 Red Capital: Film Production and the “Yan’an Way”…………………. 201 Communist Party Cultural Policy: An Overview…………………………… 202 Early Images of Yan’an…………………………………………………….. 207 Yuan Muzhi, Chen Bo’er, and the Yan’an Film Corps……………………... 213 Documentary Filmmaking and Wartime Mobilization……………………... 218 The Yan’an Film Corps after 1940…………………………………………. 224 The Yan’an Film Studio…………………………………………………….. 230 Japan’s China: Manzhouguo and “State Policy” Cinema……………… 235 Japanese Filmmaking in Manchuria……………………………………….. 236 The Manchuria Motion Pictures Corporation……………………………… 238 Exhibition and Censorship………………………………………………….. 248 North and Central China…………………………………………………… 251 v Conclusions………………………………………………………………… 255 CHAPTER 4. Propaganda, Disinformation, and Spectacle from the Civil War to National Inauguration, 1945-1949…………………………………………................. 262 Guerilla Cinema: Film and the Military…………………………………. 270 The Northwest Trainee Film Team…………………………………………. 272 The North China Film Team………………………………………………... 276 The Northeast Nexus: State Cinema and Communist Rule…………….. 282 The Northeast Film Company……………………………………………… 284 The Northeast Film Studio………………………………………………….. 288 The Democratic Northeast………………………………………………….. 290 Distribution and Exhibition………………………………………………… 295 Northeast Filmmakers and the Central Committee………………………… 298 Sovereign Rites and National Spectacle………………………………….. 300 Filming Liberation………………………………………………………….. 301 National Inauguration……………………………………………………… 307 Securing Recognition……………………………………………………….. 320 Conclusions………………………………………………………………… 326 CHAPTER 5. State Cinema in New China, 1949-1955……………………………. 331 Film and Culture on the Eve of Liberation…………………………………. 337 Takeover…………………………………………………………………….. 341 Campaigns………………………………………………………………….. 358 Centralization: Confronting Shanghai……………………………………... 365 Centralization: Planning and Uniformity…………………………………… 372 The Studio System…………………………………………………………... 383 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………. 391 vi CHAPTER 6. Cold War Culture Industry: National and International Contexts, 1949- 1955……………………………………………………………………….... 395 Nationalizing Culture………………………………………………………. 403 The International Studio……………………………………………………. 408 Technology Transfer………………………………………………………... 418 Sino-Soviet Culture during the Early 1950s………………………………... 422 Exhibiting China in the World……………………………………………… 437 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………. 444 CONCLUSION: Mass Media and War…………………………………………….. 447 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………… 455 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: City entrance ceremony, Beiping, February 3, 1949…………………… 302 Figure 4.2: City entrance ceremony, Beiping, February 3, 1949 (2)……………….. 302 Figure 4.3: Poster depicting Fifteenth Night festivities, February 12, 1949. The caption reads: “Red flags wave and songs ring out, oceans of people celebrate liberation. The masses of people become masters, the ancient palace has been changed into a new red square”……………………………………………………………… 304 Figure 4.4: Mao and assembled “democratic personages”………………………….. 305 Figure 4.5: The movie camera as ritual observer……………………………………. 308 Figure 4.6: Viewing Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen guangchang) from the rostrum atop Tiananmen Gate (Tiananmen), October 1, 1949…………………………….. 311 Figure 4.7: Pronouncing the Central People’s Government established……………. 313 Figure 4.8: Crowds bearing ceremonial banners, flags, and state symbols………… 317 Figure 4.9: Rostrum on Tiananmen Gate with cameras and other recording equipment visible, October 1, 1949…………………………………………………….. 319 Figure 4.10: Sichuan advertisement for China Liberated, 1950……………………. 322 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Individual Commercial Press titles by year, 1917-1927………………... 69 Table 1.2: Individual documentary, newsreel, and actualité titles by year, 1921- 1927………………………………………………………………………… 73 Table 2.1: Individual documentary, newsreel, and actualité titles by year, 1921- 1929………………………………………………………………………… 97 Table 2.2: Members of the Chinese film industry with overseas educational background, 1927…………………………………………………………… 106 Table 2.3: Film theaters by province and municipality, c.a. 1936………………….. 149 Table 3.1: Chinese-language films produced between June 1937 and June 1940 by spoken dialect……………………………………………………………….. 167 Table 3.2: Individual film titles released by Nationalist Party-affiliated studios, 1938- 1945…………………………………………………………………………. 174 Table 3.3: Films produced by Hong Kong studios containing patriotic (aiguo) themes, 1934-1941…………………………………………………………………… 176 Table 3.4: Documentaries and newsreels produced by Yan’an-directed film organizations, 1939-1945…………………………………………………… 234 Table 3.5: “Cultural” and “enlightenment” films produced by the Manchuria Motion Picture Corporation, 1938-1945…………………………………………….. 244 Table 3.6: Manchuria Motion Picture Corporation Personnel by place of origin, November 1944…………………………………………………………….. 245 Table 3.7: Film titles inspected by the Manzhouguo Office of Public Information, 1934………………………………………………………………………… 246 Table 3.8: Films inspected for exhibition in Manzhouguo by country of origin, 1936- 1942………………………………………………………………………… 248 Table 3.9: Northeast theaters by province and territory, 1935 and 1940…………... 249 Table 3.10: Ownership of theaters in Manzhouguo and the Guandong Leased Territories, 1937-1942………………………………………………………. 251 ix Table 3.11: Theaters owned by Japanese corporations before and after the establishment of the Manchuria Motion Picture Corporation………………. 252 Table 3.12: China Motion Picture Corporation personnel by place of origin, 1939- 1940………………………………………………………………………… 253 Table 3.13: Japanese studio-produced films shown in area of Shanghai concessions, 1937-1938…………………………………………………………………… 254 Table 3.14: Feature films (Shanghai) and documentaries (Hong Kong) produced by Chinese studios in cooperation with occupation authorities, 1942-1945…… 255 Table 4.1: State-owned studios by institutional affiliation, location, and type of production, 1945-1949……………………………………………………… 266 Table 4.2: Individual titles released by the Northeast Film Studio, 1946-1949 (excluding subtitled or overdubbed films)………………………………….. 293 Table 5.1: Beijing-produced films (as numbers of reels), 1949-1955……………... 379 Table 5.2: Feature and theatrical performance films (titles and total reels) produced by the Northeast Film Studio, 1949-1955 (years refer to production start date, not year of release)………………………………………………………...... 384 Table 5.3: Comparison of planned Northeast Film Studio full-length feature production with national targets overall. 1949-1955……………………….. 385 Table 5.4: Features (full-length and “shorts”), theatrical and chorale performance films produced by the Beijing Film Studio (by year of release), 1949-1955.. 386 Table 5.5: State and private studio releases (including full-length and “short” features, theatrical and chorale performance films) compared with total domestic output, 1949-1955…………………………………………………………………… 389 Table 6.1: Total Beijing film