Films You Can be Dying for: From China
The first “baby” of Chinese cinema was born in 1905, under the name of Ding Jun Shan, from the name of a masterpiece of the Beijing opera. This film was designed and shot by Ren Qingtai, master photographer and owner of the Beijing Fengtai photography studio. This man had turned a store into a movie theater, after perfecting himself at his expense in Japan. During the day, Ren Qingtai used the premises as a photography studio, and in the evening, his business ran smoothly in the studio that served as Beijing’s first cinema. In 1905, tired of watching only foreign films, Mr. Ren decided to direct the first Chinese documentary. So he turned his attention to opera, the most fashionable art at that time in China, and also invited Tan Xinpei, the most famous actor in this medium, to star. A visit to https://real-123movies.com and you will have the best HD quality films.
Chinese documentary
The first Chinese documentary, which included a few arias from a Beijing opera, gained public favor and marked the beginning of the history of Chinese cinema. From the beginning, Chinese cinema has been closely linked with the typical art of the country. In fact, unlike one of the first films to be released from the Lumière factories of Louis Lumière, Ren’s film combines a concept of imported public entertainment with Chinese art for the general public, which gave a local color to this product.
Foreign Influence
Nevertheless, in all aspects, the Chinese films of the first period were imitations of the silent Western films. Another film from the same era directly reproduced Charlie Chaplin’s gestures in funny scenes. The Chinese film had not found its own way.
How to make the film correspond to the particular taste of the People
Chinese viewer was then a big problem for the filmmakers. In 1923, the film Gu’er Jiu Zu Ji (An orphan saves his grandfather), shot by Zheng Zhengqiuand Zhang Shichuan, was the second milestone in the history of Chinese cinema. Countless spectators flocked to the cinema and watched the film with great emotion. He described family feelings, a very “Chinese” subject and still popular today. You could say that he established the first great tradition of Chinese film: its role in social education. The Chinese film followed the traditional Chinese theater model of seeking action and dramatic effects; family-centered, the storylines described ethical contradictions and social realities, which was in keeping with the tradition and heritage of Chinese culture.
The second generation of Chinese directors
Before 1949, three Chinese films made a “splash” in terms of recipes: Zi Mei Hua (Twin Sisters) by Zheng Zhengqiu, The song of the fishermen and The tears of the Yangtse by Cai Chusheng. Among other things, this latest film achieved a public screening record of 80 days in a row. Indeed, as a representative of the “second generation” of Chinese directors, Cai Chusheng was successful because he paid more attention to social reality than other filmmakers and praised values traditional Chinese. His film The Tears of the Yangtse, filmed in 1947, tells the story of a man who abandons his wife after having succeeded; it was a story that appealed to ordinary people. In addition to the fact that the story takes place during the War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945), Cai depicts a family tragedy in a large social context. Indeed, the national events which took place during this period touched each family and each person.
