Runde Shaw (1898–1973), also known as Shao Cunren and Shao Rendi, was the second-oldest of the Shaw brothers, originally from

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by ...

, China, who established Tianyi Film Company (also called Unique) in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

in the early 1920s, setting the stage for what would become the most prolific film production company in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

. His father was Shanghai textile merchant Shaw Yuh Hsuen (1867–1920). The eldest Shaw brother Runje sent two of his younger brothers, Runme and Run Run to

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

in 1925 to establish a South East Asian film distribution and cinema exhibition network for Unique's films. Under the direction of Runme, this Singapore-based operation would eventually grow to become known as the modern-day

Shaw Organisation Shaw Organisation is a film distribution company and cinema chain founded by brothers Runme Shaw and Run Run Shaw who went to Singapore in the 1920s to expand their family business founded by Runje Shaw. The company originally operated as a dis ...

. In 1937, Runde traveled to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

to establish operations there. Unique would be renamed Nanyang, later to become Shaw and Sons, with Runde replacing Runje as the Shaw Studios boss in Hong Kong. After many successful years of film production, Runde's younger brother Run Run took over as head of the studio, and by 1958 Runde began to focus his company, Shaw and Sons, more on property investment, cinema exhibition and film distribution. Run Run would go on to establish

Shaw Brothers Studio Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

and take control over Television Broadcasts Ltd., Hong Kong's dominant terrestrial television broadcaster, building an unrivaled position in the Chinese media industry. Runde was married to Pao Lien Fung (包蓮鳳). He died in 1973 in

and his company Shaw and Sons is now mainly engaged in property and investment management. Runde had one daughter and seven sons.

External links

*
Hong Kong Film Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Runde 1898 births 1973 deaths Hong Kong film producers Shaw Brothers Studio Asian film producers Chinese film producers Businesspeople from Shanghai Businesspeople from Ningbo

See also

External links