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Mingxing Film Company

Production logo, 1937
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.

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.

References

1. ^ Xiao 1998, pp. 4–5.
2. Zhong, Zhang & Zhang 1997, p. 53.
3. Xiao 1998, 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. Huang 2014, pp. 284–315.

Works cited

• Huang, Xuelei (2014). Shanghai Filmmaking: Crossing Borders, Connecting to the Globe, 1922–1938. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-27933-9.
• 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.
• 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)