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Diantong
Diantong Film Company () was a short-lived but important film studio and production company during the 1930s in Shanghai, China. Though it produced only four films during its existence between 1934-1935, all four films became important examples of the left-leaning Chinese cinema of the 1930s. Of all the film studios of the period, Diantong had the closest connection to the Chinese Communist Party.Pang, p. 56. History Diantong's origins were originally in a sound-equipment company founded in 1933 by four American-educated engineers to take advantage of the gradual shift from silent films to "talkies." As a developer of sound-recorders, Diantong was pivotal in bringing to Chinese audiences some of the earliest sound-films, including the Lianhua Film Company-produced ''Song of the Fishermen'' (dir. Cai Chusheng). With these successes and with the help of one of the founder's cousins, Situ Huimin, a major leftist filmmaker and intellectual, the equipment company was reformed as its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Children Of Troubled Times
''Children of Troubled Times'', also known as ''Fēngyún Érnǚ'', ''Scenes of City Life'', ''Children of the Storm'', and several other translations, is a patriotic 1935 Chinese film most famous as the origin of " The March of the Volunteers", the national anthem of the People's Republic of China. The movie was directed by Xu Xingzhi and written by Tian Han and Xia Yan. Yuan Muzhi plays an intellectual who flees the trouble in Shanghai to pursue the glamorous Wang Renmei only to join the Chinese resistance after the death of his friend. Plot A young poet Xin Baihe flees Shanghai with his friend, Liang. Liang soon joins the resistance against the Japanese invaders, but Xin chooses to pursue a relationship with a glamorous and westernized widow in Qingdao. After hearing that Liang has been killed, however, Xin has a change of heart and rushes to join the war effort. Communist themes The film was a strong communist production, produced by the Diantong Film Company and based on a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plunder Of Peach And Plum
''Plunder of Peach and Plum'' () is an early Chinese sound film from 1934. Produced by the left-leaning Shanghai-based Diantong Film Company, ''Plunder'' was directed by Ying Yunwei and starred popular actor Yuan Muzhi (who also co-wrote the screenplay). It is alternatively known as ''The Fate of Graduates''. The film was featured in the 62nd Venice International Film Festival as part of their retrospective, The Secret History of Asian Cinema. The theme song for the film is called "" (毕业歌). Plot The film tells the tragic story of two recent college graduates, Tao Jianping ("Tao" is a homophone for peach), and Li Lilian ("Li" is a homophone for plum). Married, the two hope to change society for the better, but are continuously challenged by the corruption and injustice of Chinese society. Cast * Yuan Muzhi as Tao * Chen Bo'er as Li References External links * * * ''Plunder of Peach and Plum''at the Chinese Movie Database from the UCSD The University of C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ying Yunwei
Ying Yunwei (7 September 1904 – 17 January 1967) born in Shanghai, was a Chinese director and writer. Early life Ying Yunwei at the age of 16 was a poor student growing up. He would spend time with an apprenticeship in foreign trade. He was a pioneer of spoken drama and had a successful career in the shipping industry of Shanghai. A confidential police report stated that Ying's power was linked to his close personal relationship with Du Yuesheng and Huang Jinrong, two of Shanghai's powerful mafia bosses. His apprenticeship in foreign trade however would last up until 1934 where he would promptly resign. In 1921 Ying had participated in an organization known as the Shanghai Drama Association and In August 1930 the China Left-wing Drama Alliance. Ying, during his time in the alliance, participated in the left-wing drama film movement in Shanghai. Career Ying Yunwei's film career began in the mid 1930s. During this time he worked for Yuhua and Diantong. A tabloid journalist re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scenes Of City Life
''Scenes of City Life'' is a 1935 Chinese comedy-drama film directed by Yuan Muzhi.. Retrieved 21 November 2009. It is also translated as ''Cityscape''. It is noted for being the first film directed by Yuan, as well as the first film appearance of Lan Ping, the future Jiang Qing and Mao Zedong's fourth wife. Cast *Bai Lu *Lan Ping (Jiang Qing) * Tang Na * Wu Yin * Zhou Boxun *Wu Yinxian Wu may refer to: States and regions on modern China's territory * Wu (state) (; och, *, italic=yes, links=no), a kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period 771–476 BCE ** Suzhou or Wu (), its eponymous capital ** Wu County (), a former county ... References External links * * 1935 films 1930s Mandarin-language films Films directed by Yuan Muzhi Chinese black-and-white films 1935 directorial debut films {{China-film-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuan Muzhi
Yuan Muzhi (; March 3, 1909 – January 30, 1978) was an actor and director from the Republic of China and later of the People's Republic of China. Career As an actor, Yuan became extremely popular and took on the nickname "man with a thousand faces." He gained prominence in a series of films for the leftist Diantong Film Company. These included the film '' Plunder of Peach and Plum'' (1935) (which Yuan also wrote) and the movie ''Sons and Daughters in a Time of Storm'' (1935) where he was one of the two original singers (along with Gu Menghe) of the movie's theme song, ''The March of the Volunteers'', which later became the national anthem of China. His career eventually brought him to director's chair. Yuan's filmmaking debut, the innovative musical comedy '' Scenes of City Life'' (1935) (''Dushi fengguang''), was one of the earliest non-silent features made in China, as the Shanghai industry was finally transitioning to sound. The film's blend of screwball humor and romanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Situ Huimin
Situ Huimin (; 16 February 1910 – 4 April 1987), was a Chinese film director, screenwriter and actor, born in Kaiping, Guangdong. He joined the Communist Youth League in 1925 and the Communist Party of China in 1927. The next year, he went to Japan to study arts and there, he became interested in filmmaking. After returning to China in 1930, he actively participated in left-wing theater movement. Then, he worked as set designer and sound engineer in film industry. His debut as a film director was '' Spirit of Freedom'' (), produced by Diantong Film Company in 1935. Subsequently, he joined the Lianhua Film Company in Shanghai. After the outbreak of the war he went to Hong Kong, where he continued to work both in film and in theater. During this period he created couple of anti-Japanese films. In 1943 he worked on newsreels in Chongqing. After the war, he helped to organize the Kunlun Film Company. Then, he left to the United States to study film technology and managem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wang Renmei
Wang Renmei (; December 1914 – 2 April 1987) was a famous Chinese actress and singer nicknamed the "Wildcat of Shanghai". She was mainly active during the 1930s, and her most notable film was the 1934 ''Song of the Fishermen'' (available online with English subtitles) directed by Cai Chusheng, which was the first Chinese film to win an international prize. In 2005, she was chosen as one of the 100 best actors of the 100 years of Chinese cinema. Wang was married to Jin Yan, the Korean-born "Emperor of Chinese Cinema", and later to Ye Qianyu, a prominent artist. Early life and career beginnings Wang Renmei was born and grew up in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, where her father Wang Zhengquan (王正权) was a mathematics teacher at the Changsha No. 1 Normal School. Born Wang Shuxi (王庶熙), she was the youngest of seven children. One of her father's students was Mao Zedong, a fellow Hunan native who would become China's top leader. As a young man, Mao lived in Wan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xu Xingzhi
Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu (god), the creator god of the ǃKung * Xu, a minor character in the game ''Final Fantasy VIII'' Places * Xu (state) (), a state of ancient China * Xǔ (state) (), was a vassal state of the Zhou dynasty Universities * X University (Toronto Metropolitan University aka Ryerson Polytechnic Institute), Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Xavier University (other) ** Xavier University in Cincinnati, United States ** Xavier University of Louisiana, United States * Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China * Xinjiang University, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China Other uses * African Express Airways (IATA code XU), a Kenyan airline * X unit (symbol xu), a unit of length approximately equal to 0.1 pm (10−13 m), used for X-ray and gamma ray wavelengths ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Street Angel (1937 Film)
Street Angel (馬路天使), also known as ''Street Angels'',Christopher Rea. “Street Angels (Malu tianshi 馬路天使).” In ''Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949'', 158-175. New York: Columbia University Press, 2021 is a 1937 left-wing Chinese film directed by Yuan Muzhi (袁牧之) and released by Mingxing Film Company. Starring popular Chinese actor Zhao Dan (赵丹) and iconic Chinese singer Zhou Xuan (周璇), the story is set in the slums of Shanghai, chronicling the lives of a band of downtrodden underclass outcasts: a tea house singer, a trumpet player, a newspaper hawker, and a prostitute. By blending elements of romance, comedy and melodrama into the storyline, the characters find themselves in a variety of difficult situations as they try to navigate the hardships of the city during the 1930s. Released towards the end of the golden age of Shanghai cinema, the film is regarded as a masterpiece of the Chinese left-wing movement. Taking place during a time of national tens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xinhua Film Company
The Xinhua or New China Film Company (), was one of the film studios to capitalize on the popularity of the leftist film movement in 1930s Shanghai, that had begun with the Mingxing and Lianhua studios. It is not related to the modern-day Xinhua News Agency. The production company lasted from 1934 until 1942, when it was absorbed into a Japanese-controlled conglomerate, Zhonglian. Business history Xinhua was founded and controlled by Shankun Zhang(张善琨), who had previously worked in the Peking opera scene. By 1934, Zhang had made enough money to create his own movie studio named "Xinhua" or "New China."Fu, p. 5 Zhang proved to be an excellent promoter, and within three years, Xinhua had transformed from a minor newcomer to a major industry player. After the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, Xinhua remained the only major production company still active in what became known as the " Solitary Island (zh)" period of Chinese film (in that the foreign concessions of Shanghai were an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhang Shankun
Zhang may refer to: Chinese culture, etc. * Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname ** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname * Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu * Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan * ''Zhang'' (unit) (丈), a traditional Chinese unit of length equal to 10 ''chi'' (3–3.7 m) * Zhang Zetian, Chinese billionaire * 璋, a type of shaped stone or jade object in ancient Chinese culture thought to hold great value and protective properties; see also Bi (jade) and Cong (jade) A ''cong'' () is a form of ancient Chinese jade artifact. It was later also used in ceramics. History The earliest ''cong'' were produced by the Liangzhu culture ( 3400-2250 BC); later examples date mainly from the Shang and Zhou dynastie ... Other * Zhang, the proper name of the star Upsilon¹ Hydrae See also * Zang (other) {{disambiguation, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing (19 March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and major political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party and Paramount leader of China. She used the stage name Lan Ping () during her acting career (which ended in 1938), and was known by many other names. Qing married Mao in Yan'an in November 1938 and served as the inaugural " First Lady" of the People's Republic of China. Jiang was best known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution and for forming the radical political alliance known as the " Gang of Four". Jiang served as Mao's personal secretary in the 1940s and was head of the Film Section of the Communist Party's Propaganda Department in the 1950s. She served as an important emissary for Mao in the early stages of the Cultural Revolution. In 1966, she was appointed deputy director of the Central Cultura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
