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Mingxing Film Company

Production logo, 1937
Native name
Chinese	明星影片公司
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Míngxīng Yǐngpiàn Gōngsī Wade–Giles Minghsing Yingp`ien Kungssu
Industry	Film
Founded	February 1922
Founder	Ren Jinping Zhang Shichuan Zheng Zhegu Zheng Zhengqiu Zhou Jianyun
Defunct	1937
Headquarters	Shanghai, China

The Mingxing Film Company (Chinese: 明星影片公司; pinyin: Míngxīng Yǐngpiàn Gōngsī), also credited as the Star Motion Picture Production Company,

History

Background

Film had been introduced to China in 1896, beginning with one-reelers but later expanding feature-length productions. In 1905, Fengtai Photographic Studio produced Dingjun Mountain, a short film depicting a performance by the Peking opera singer Tan Xinpei; this is considered the first Chinese-produced film. Zhang Shichuan worked with the American Benjamin Brodsky to establish the Asia Film Company, producing several documentaries as well as The Difficult Couple (1913) – the first Chinese-made short fiction film. The production of shorts increased toward the late 1910s, and audience interest in this new medium – known under such terms as "electric shadowplay" (電光影戯; 电光影戏) – grew. Following the release and success of Yan Ruisheng (1921), a full-length crime drama, several companies were established in Shanghai to capitalize on the new medium.

Establishment and fundraising

In late 1921, amidst a booming stock market, Zhang Shichuan established the Mutual Stock and Produce Exchange Company together with several of his earlier compatriots. When the bubble burst the following year, the men decided to invest their money in a less risky venture: a motion picture company. Consequently, in February 1922 the former stock exchange's offices on Guizhou Road in Shanghai were converted into the headquarters of a film production company. Zhang Shichuan took the role of deputy manager, with Ding Boxiong the office head; other roles were taken by Ren Jinping, Zheng Zhegu, Zheng Zhengqiu, and Zhou Jianyun.

Early advertising material announced that Mingxing required 100,000 yuan in venture capital, with each of five founding members contributing 10,000 yuan and the remainder achieved through the sale of 20,000 shares at 5 yuan apiece. Further fundraising was attempted through overtures to local journalists, including a gala dinner, as well as the commission of a special issue of the Motion Picture Review. Interest in the company was also created through a film school, headed by Zheng Zhengqiu, that promised insight into various elements of the filmmaking process.

These overtures, however, were unsuccessful. Investors were not enticed by Mingxing's promises, and generally were disdainful of the entertainment industry. The film school, meanwhile, admitted 87 students, with only 34 graduating. Further exacerbating the situation, Ding Boxiong and several members of the preparatory team left the company after several months. Ultimately, the company was left with five founders and 10,000 yuan in venture capital, though it claimed to have earned more.

Early years

Mingxing shot its first work – a newsreel documenting the arrival French General Joseph Joffre in Shanghai – on 8 March 1923, with screening handled by a local YMCA branch in April. At the same time, it sought to produce fiction films. In these early works, Zhang Shichuan took the role of director and Zheng Zhengqiu as screenwriter. Studios were rented from an Italian merchant named Enrico Lauro, was filming and development equipment loaned from a British man. Acting was handled by Zheng Zhegu and Zheng Zhengqiu, as well as graduates of Mingxing's acting school.

The first two fiction films produced by Mingxing, The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai and Labourer's Love, were produced in mid-to-late 1922. These slapstick comedies, one following a visit by Charlie Chaplin and the other telling of a hapless carpenter in love with a doctor's daughter, were released as a double feature at the Olympic Theatre on 5 October 1922. Neither these nor a subsequent comedy, Havoc in a Bizarre Theatre, were well received by audiences.

With the company losing money, Mingxing changed tacks for its fourth – and, at thirteen reels, first feature-length – film, Zhang Xinsheng. Although most of the cast and crew were the same as in earlier productions, it was not a comedy. Rather, the film dramatized a real-life murder in which a deeply indebted man had killed his father to access his inheritance. Advertising material emphasized verisimilitude, and viewer Cheng Bugao later recalled that the film had disgusted audiences with its close-up shots of the autopsy and the removal of organs. This new approach was somewhat successful, with initially sluggish ticket sales giving was to large crowds and 6,000 yuan in revenues.

This influx of capital, however, was insufficient to ensure the long-term sustainability of Mingxing. Zhang Shichuan turned to a family drama, one that emphasized the importance of education, and began production of Orphan Rescues Grandfather (1923). In addition to Zheng Zhegu and Zheng Zhengqiu's son Xiaoqiu, the film featured Wang Hanlun in her debut role. Production took eight months, and when funding ran short, Zhou Jianyun pawned his wife's jewellery to complete the production. Making its debut on 21 December 1923, Orphan Rescues Grandfather was an enormous success, running for a hundred days in Shanghai and with Southeast Asian distribution rights purchased for 8,000 yuan.

Initial expansion

After Orphan Rescues Grandfather, Mingxing began expanding. Its headquarters moved to the Shanghai French Concession. New crew were hired, including a professional cinematographer and make-up artist, while a surge in interest resulted in the film school accepting numerous students free of charge. Meanwhile, Mingxing acquired new equipment, including foreign-made cameras and printers as well as mercury-vapor and carbon-arc lamps. Seeking to accelerate production, it submitted calls for new actresses, promising wages of between 50 and 300 yuan.

Over time, Mingxing also acquired several new properties. It purchased a four-mu (2,668-square-metre ) plot of land on Hart Road in the Shanghai International Settlement. On this plot, it constructed a glass-walled studio – operational as of early 1925 – that allowed for filming regardless of light and weather conditions. To facilitate distribtuion, Mingxing also purchased the former Shenjiang Stage, transforming it into a cinema and opening it to the public on 24 April 1925. This cinema, named the Palace Theatre, was used for first-run showings through 1933; through the late 1920s, another six further cinemas were acquired. Effective May 1925, after the studio made its initial public offering, Mingxing became a private limited company.

As these expansion efforts were ongoing, Mingxing continued its film production, completing ten films between 1924 and 1925. Several, including Jade Pear Spirit and The Poor Children (both 1924), starred Wang Hanlun, who had risen to stardom with Orphan Rescues Grandfather; she left the company soon after, following a salary dispute. With her departure, Star relied on several actresses, including Xuan Jinglin, Yang Naimei, and Zhang Zhiyun, to draw audiences. Generally, Mingxing's films during this period were "social films" addressing contemporary issues.

Trials and tribulations

In 1926 backlash against crime films such as Yan Ruisheng and Zhang Xinsheng resulted in the passage of censorship policies by the Ministry of Education; these guidelines, coupled with local censorship bureaus, required more measured approaches to filmmaking. Around this time, Minxing also lost two of its founders; Zheng Zhegu died in 1925, during the filming of The Last Conscience, while Ren Jinping left the company in 1926 to establish the Xinren Film Company.

At the same time, it also began to experience greater competition. Numerous new film companies were established in Shanghai between 1925 and 1926, and although most closed without making any films, several had found success. The Tianyi Film Company, founded in 1925 by the brothers Run Run, Runje, Runde, and Runme Shaw, enjoyed commercial success through its costume dramas and wuxia (martial arts) films. Although these new companies offered staunch competition, there were also opportunities for partnership; in conjunction with several other studios, in June 1926 Mingxing established the Liuhe Distribution Company to bring Shanghai films to other parts of the Republic of China.

Mingxing initially sought to continue its reliance on family dramas, contracting the celebrated Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies writer Bao Tianxiao at a rate of 100 yuan per month, with an expectation that he would produce one screenplay every month. In August 1925, he granted the company rights to his novels Lonely Orchid and Plum Blossoms Fall; the film adaptation of the former, released on 13 February 1926, was one of the most successful Chinese films of the silent era. By the end of 1926, Mingxing had four production units – respectively headed by Zhang Shichuan, Zheng Zhengqiu, Hong Shen, and Bu Wancang – and although efforts to interest further investors failed the company was generally profitable. It operated two studios, and in 1927 occupied new premises on Route Doumer.

Despite such successes, Mingxing also recognized the potential marketability of wuxia films. In 1927, after reading a copy of Xiang Kairan's novel Chronicle of the Strange Roving Knights he found in his son's room, Zhang Shichuan decided to adapt the novel to film. A martial arts drama about four travellers who uncover a conspiracy of evil monks, The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple featured Hu Die – a Tianyi artist recently signed by Mingxing – in her breakthrough role. This film was a major success upon release, and through 1931 Mingxing released another seventeen feature-length continuations. Through the remainder of the decade the company's output continued to increase, from eleven films in 1926 to sixteen in 1929. It also enjoyed a roster of 26 bankable stars, half of whom were women.

Politics and sound

Outside of Shanghai, the political situation in the Republic of China was changing. After more than a decade of warlordism, the Kuomintang (KMT) government and its National Revolutionary Army overthrew the warlords through the Northern Expedition of 1927/1928. These developments were welcomed by Mingxing, and Zhang Shichuan produced newsreels highlighting the festivities and speeches by KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek. Over time, the KMT government in Nanjing developed a series of policies for regulating the film industry; these including mandating the use of Mandarin, banning depictions of supernatural or pornographic material, and curtailing the spread of wuxia materials. At the same time, lacking a national film company, the nationalist government relied on companies such as Mingxing to broadcast its efforts; through the late 1920s, the company produced several recordings of government speeches, as well as short documentaries on infrastructure projects.

As these conditions were changing, so too was the landscape of the Chinese film industry. Sound films, imported from the United States, had found popularity with audiences even as many cinemas lacked the technology to properly screen them. Hoping to capitalize on this new technology, Mingxing began production of Sing-Song Girl Red Peony in mid-1931. The technological challenges required larger crews, including language coaches to help actors with their spoken Mandarin, as well as the rental of Pathé's recording studios in Shanghai. The budget soon ballooned to 120,000 yuan, six times the cost of an ordinary production, and director Zhang Shichuan took to using opium to alleviate the stress.

Sing Song Girl Red Peony was successful, but its sound-on-disc technology was soon eclipsed by the sound-on-film used by Tianyi and another competitor, Huaguang. New technology was purchased at substantial cost – some 200,000 yuan – but proved inadequate. As Mingxing continued to produce films, it also prepared to adapt Zhang Henshui's novel Fate in Tears and Laughter to the silver screen. After announcing its intent, Mingxing prepared a budget of 1.2 million yuan and conducted location shooting in Beijing over the course of two months. The 1932 premiere was cut short, however, when Mingxing was accused of copyright violation; a rival, the Dahua Film Company, had pre-emptively registered the copyright for a film adaptation of the novel. Negotiations, which included court arguments as well as protection from the gangsters Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng, resulted in Mingxing being allowed to screen its adaptation.

Financial floundering and communist cinema

Gaining permission to screen Fate in Tears and Laughter cost Mingxing another 100,000 yuan to cover protection money and the potential losses incurred by Dahua. The film, however, had mediocre returns. Meanwhile, the Japanese incursion into Shanghai had destroyed numerous movie theatres, the occupation of Manchuria had reduced available markets, and the ongoing war had created a recession. By the end of 1932, Mingxing was unable to pay staff salaries and had posted massive debts. Creditors were calling, with the American Commercial and Exchange Bank suing the company in late 1933.

To ameliorate its financial situation, Mingxing boosted production and called for new talent. Taking advantage of a KMT government commission to produce a travel documentary that highlighted the areas along the country's three major railways, which allowed for free accommodation and transportation provisions, in 1933 Mingxing quickly developed three screenplays that would require location shooting in such scenic locations. A group of forty actors and crew travelled China, ultimately producing the silent films A Feather on Mount Tai, Go Northwest, and Romance on Mount Hua (all 1934).

The success of Twin Sisters in 1934, which earned 200,000 yuan through domestic and international distribution, improved Mingxing's stability.

Partial filmography

During its fifteen years of operation, Mingxing produced 174 narrative films, including 128 silent films and 46 sound films. The majority of these were directed by Zhang Shichuan (69 films) and Zheng Zhengqiu (55), with other major directors including Cheng Bugao (37), Xu Xinfu (11), and Hong Shen (10). Most of the company's output is lost, with only twenty-four feature films known to have survived in whole or in part. Films produced by Mingxing include:

Notes

1. This is equivalent to ¥10,480,000 in venture capital, with five initial contributors each providing ¥1,048,000 and 20,000 shares at ¥524 apiece, in 2019.
2. This is equivalent to ¥1,048,000 in starting capital in 2019. Huang (2014, p. 33) notes that Mingxing publications various claimed to have had 40,000 and 50,000 yuan in startup capital; the 10,000 yuan figure, meanwhile, was remembered after the fact by Zhang Shichuan's wife.
3. This is equivalent to ¥629,000 in 2019.
4. Wang Hanlun had been discovered while observing the production of Labourer's Love the previous year. Zhang Shichuan deemed her to embody a modern fashion sense and sensibility (Wei 2017).
5. This is equivalent to ¥838,000 in 2019.
6. This is equivalent to ¥5,000 to ¥29,000 in 2019.
7. Such pressures had affected Mingxing's handling of Zhang Xinsheng, with a mid-1923 cut emphasizing the titular criminal's remorse and highlighting the deleterious influence of gambling and narcotics (Huang 2014, p. 156).
8. Huang (2014, p. 43) notes that the exact composition of Liuhe appears to have varied over time. At points, it variously seems to have included the Greater China, Huaju, Minxin, Mingxing, Shanghai, Shenzhou, and Youlian film companies.
9. This is equivalent to ¥9,580 per month in 2019.
10. Equivalent to ¥9,680,000 in 2019.
11. Equivalent to ¥16,140,000 in 2019.
12. Equivalent to ¥97,000,000 in 2019.
13. Equivalent to ¥9,000,000 in 2019.
14. Equivalent to ¥210,123,000 in 2019.

References

1. ^ Xiao 1998a, pp. 4–5.
2. Zhong, Zhang & Zhang 1997, p. 53.
3. Xiao 1998a, p. 8.
4. Huang 2014, p. 30.
5. Huang 2014, p. 31.
6. Huang 2014, p. 23.
7. Huang 2014, pp. 31–32.
8. ^ Huang 2014, p. 32.
9. ^ Huang 2014, p. 33.
10. Huang 2014, p. 34.
11. Huang 2014, pp. 34–35.
12. ^ Huang 2014, p. 35.
13. Huang 2014, pp. 35, 314.
14. Huang 2014, pp. 148–149.
15. Huang 2014, pp. 150–151.
16. Xiao 1998c, p. 259.
17. Zhang 2004, p. 127.
18. ^ Wei 2017.
19. Jiang 2009, p. 140.
20. Huang 2014, pp. 35–36.
21. Huang 2014, pp. 38–39.
22. Huang 2014, p. 39.
23. Huang 2014, p. 42.
24. Huang 2014, p. 40.
25. ^ Huang 2014, pp. 284–315.
26. Wei 2018.
27. ^ Huang 2014, p. 41.
28. Zhang 1998, p. 108.
29. Huang 2014, p. 29.
30. Jia 2022, p. 266.
31. Huang 2014, p. 75.
32. Huang 2014, pp. 40–41.
33. Fu 2008, p. 2.
34. Huang 2014, p. 43.
35. ^ Huang 2014, p. 88.
36. Huang 2014, p. 44.
37. Xiao 1998b, p. 103.
38. Lee 2015, p. 237.
39. Huang 2014, p. 45.
40. Huang 2014, p. 46.
41. Huang 2014, p. 48.
42. Luo, Ye & Zhu 2024, p. 192; Xiao 1998a, p. 17
43. Yeh 2002, p. 84; Zhang 2014, p. 4
44. Zhang 2014, p. 5.
45. Zhang 2014, p. 4.
46. Yeh 2002, p. 84.
47. Huang 2014, pp. 50–51.
48. ^ Huang 2014, p. 51.
49. Huang 2014, p. 51; Lee 2015, p. 238
50. ^ Huang 2014, p. 52.
51. Huang 2014, pp. 49–50.
52. Huang 2014, p. 54.

Works cited

• Fu, Poshek (2008). "Introduction". In Fu, Poshek (ed.). China Forever: The Shaw Brothers and Diasporic Cinema. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. pp. 1–26. ISBN 978-0-252-07500-1.
• Huang, Xuelei (2014). Shanghai Filmmaking: Crossing Borders, Connecting to the Globe, 1922–1938. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-27933-9.
• Jia, Binwu (2022). "Zheng Zhegu and Performances in Early Chinese Film". Journal of Chinese Film Studies. 2 (2): 261–276. doi:10.1515/jcfs-2022-0002.
• Jiang Zhen (姜贞) (2009). 周剑云:中国电影业的儒商 [Zhou Jianyun: A Confucian Businessman in China's Film Industry]. Film and Art (in Chinese): 139–145. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
• Lee, Lily Xiao Hong (2015). "Hu Die". In Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Stefanowska, A.D. (eds.). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century, 1912–2000. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 236–242. ISBN 978-0-7656-0043-1.
• Luo, Dan; Ye, Tan; Zhu, Yun (2024). Historical Dictionary of Chinese Cinema. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-5730-5.
• Wei, S. Louisa (2017). Gaines, Jane; Vatsal, Radha; Dall’Asta, Monica (eds.). "Helen Wang". Women Film Pioneers Project. Columbia University Libraries. doi:10.7916/d8-zc8b-7c47. Archived from the original on 3 December 2024. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
• Wei, S. Louisa (2018). Gaines, Jane; Vatsal, Radha; Dall’Asta, Monica (eds.). "Yang Naimei". Women Film Pioneers Project. Columbia University Libraries. doi:10.7916/d8-care-1e44. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
• Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "Chinese Cinema". In Zhang, Yingjin; Xiao, Zhiwei (eds.). Encyclopedia of Chinese Film. New York, London: Routledge. pp. 3–30. ISBN 978-0-415-15168-9.
• Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "Burning of Red Lotus Temple, The". In Zhang, Yingjin; Xiao, Zhiwei (eds.). Encyclopedia of Chinese Film. New York, London: Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-415-15168-9.
• Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "Orphan Rescues Grandfather". In Zhang, Yingjin; Xiao, Zhiwei (eds.). Encyclopedia of Chinese Film. New York, London: Routledge. pp. 258–259. ISBN 978-0-415-15168-9.
• Yeh, Yueh-Yu (2002). "Historiography and Sinification: Music in Chinese Cinema of the 1930s". Cinema Journal. 41 (3): 78–97. doi:10.1353/cj.2002.0012. JSTOR 1225700.
• Zhang, Yingjin (1998). "Censorship and Film". In Zhang, Yingjin; Xiao, Zhiwei (eds.). Encyclopedia of Chinese Film. New York, London: Routledge. pp. 109–110. ISBN 978-0-415-15168-9.
• Zhang, Yingjin (2004). Chinese National Cinema. London: Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-17289-9.
• Zhang Yue (张岳) (2014). 于无声处听惊雷 ——浅析中国早期有声电影的试制 [Hearing Thunder in Silence: A Brief Analysis of the Trial Production of Early Chinese Sound Films] (PDF). Media Research (in Chinese). 12 (1): 1–13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2024. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
• Zhong, Dafeng; Zhang, Zhen; Zhang, Yingjin (1997). "From Wenmingxi (Civilized Play) to Yingxi (Shadowplay): The Foundation of Shanghai Film Industry in the 1920s". Asian Cinema. 9 (1): 46–64. doi:10.1386/ac.9.1.46_1.

v t e Mingxing Film Company
Founders	Ren Jinping Zhang Shichuan Zheng Zhegu Zheng Zhengqiu Zhou Jianyun
Directors	Bu Wancang Cheng Bugao Hong Shen Li Pingqian Ouyang Yuqian Shen Xiling Xu Xinfu Ying Yunwei Yuan Muzhi Zhang Shichuan Zheng Zhengqiu
Writers	Bao Tianxiao Hong Shen Xia Yan Qian Xingcun Zheng Zhengqiu
Actors	Ai Xia Hu Die Ruan Lingyu Wang Hanlun Xuan Jinglin Yan Yuexian Yang Naimei Zhao Dan Zheng Zhegu Zhou Xuan
Films	The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai (1922) Labourer's Love (1922) Zhang Xinsheng (1923) Orphan Rescues Grandfather (1923) Lonely Orchid (1926) The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (1928) An Amorous History of the Silver Screen (1931) Sing-Song Girl Red Peony (1931) Fate in Tears and Laughter (1932) Spring Silkworms (1933) The Classic for Girls (1934) Twin Sisters (1934) Crossroads (1937) Street Angel (1937) (all films)