Tianyi Film Company
China |
Tianyi Film Company (
Founding
In 1922,
History
1920s
Tianyi's first film, A Change of Heart (立地成佛), directed by Shao Zuiweng himself and released in 1925, was highly profitable. A shrewd businessman who understood the audiences' preferences, Shao was one of the first Chinese filmmakers to make extensive use of traditional literature, legends, and myths.
In 1926, Tianyi released two highly successful costume dramas: The Lovers (Liang Zhu Tongshi, based on the legend of
1930s
By the 1930s, Tianyi had become one of the top Chinese film studios, along with Mingxing and
Tianyi was one of the first filmmakers to take the leap from
World War II
With the success of White Gold Dragon within the Cantonese-speaking Chinese communities, Shao moved Tianyi to Hong Kong in late 1933, following the Kuomintang censorship decrees against the Cantonese language in the arts and literature. Joined there by his brother RunRun, the company became a major in establishing Cantonese talking cinema in Hong Kong. After the Shao brothers recovered from the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and Singapore during World War II, they expanded their film distribution business to include foreign films from the United States, England, France and India.[7]
International expansion
Besides Shanghai, Tianyi also expanded its business to Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. In the mid-1920s, Shao Zuiweng sent Runme and Run Run to Singapore, then part of British Malaya, where they established a company called the Shaw Organisation to distribute films made by Tianyi. Around 1930, the Shaw brothers set up Nanyang (South Seas) Film Studio to produce films.[3]
In 1933, Tianyi released White Gold Dragon, the first
Demise in Shanghai
Just before the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in August 1937, Tianyi shipped its equipment to Hong Kong,[1]: 76 and amalgamated the main operation with its Hong Kong branch, Nanyang Studio.[10] Its studio in Shanghai was destroyed when the Japanese occupied the city, and Shao Zuiweng closed Shanghai-based Tianyi.[6] The other major studios of Shanghai, Mingxing and Lianhua, also suffered fatal damage.[11] The Shaws' operations in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia later also suffered setbacks during World War II, when the Japanese confiscated their theatres and imprisoned Run Run Shaw.[12]
Legacy
After World War II and the Communist victory in mainland China, Shao Zuiweng retired from the film industry and stayed in Shanghai.[3] His younger brothers, meanwhile, rebuilt their businesses in Singapore and Hong Kong. When Hong Kong emerged as the new centre for Chinese-language filmmaking, Run Run Shaw moved there from Singapore in 1957, and reorganized the Tianyi operations into Shaw Brothers Studio. Under Sir Run Run's leadership, Shaw Brothers became Hong Kong's largest and most influential film production company from the early 1960s until the mid-1980s.[2] Shaw later concentrated on TVB, which became the dominant television company in Hong Kong.[12]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-17290-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-203-19555-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-7913-3.
- ^ Raymond Zhou (8 January 2014). "Movie mogul Run Run Shaw, 107, dies in HK". China Daily. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ "Heroine Li Feifei (1925) and "Shuomingshu"". The Chinese Mirror: A Journal of Chinese Film History. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4443-5597-0.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-8063-2. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-932643-01-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8108-6458-0.
- ISBN 978-0-415-54633-1.
- ISBN 978-962-209-610-3.
- ^ a b Richard Corliss (7 January 2014). "Run Run Shaw: The Last Emperor of Chinese Movies". Time. Retrieved 12 January 2014.