Tianyi Film Company

Tianyi Film Company
Native name	Thiên một phim nhựa công ty
Industry	Film
Founded	1925
Founder	Runje Shaw; Runde Shaw; Runme Shaw; Run Run Shaw;
Defunct	1937
Successor	Shaw Organisation; Shaw Brothers Studio;
Headquarters	Shanghai, China

Tianyi Film Company(Chinese:Thiên một phim nhựa công ty;pinyin:Tiānyī Yǐngpiān Gōngsī), also calledUnique Film Productions,was one of the "big three"film production companiesin pre-Second World War Republic of China.Founded inShanghaiin 1925 by the Shaw (Shao) brothers led byRunje Shaw(Shao Zuiweng), the company also established operations inMalayaandHong Kong.Although the company's Shanghai studio was destroyed in 1937 during theJapanese invasion,its offshoot in Hong Kong, later calledShaw Brothers Studio,blossomed into a media empire under the leadership of the youngest brother, SirRun Run Shaw.

Founding

Runje Shaw(Shao Zuiweng), the oldest Shaw brother and founder of Tianyi

In 1922,Runje Shaw(Shao Zuiweng), the eldest Shaw brother who had been a lawyer and businessman, was the manager of the theatre Xiao Wutai (Happy Stage or Laughter Stage) in Shanghai. Among his colleagues wereZhang Shichuan,Zheng Zhengqiu,andZhou Jianyun,who co-foundedMing xing Film Company.^[1]^[2]In 1923 Ming xing released the filmOrphan Rescues Grandfatherto great commercial success. Inspired by his former colleagues, Shao established Tianyi Film Company in 1925. He served as general manager and director, while his younger brothersRunde Shaw(Shao Cunren) andRunme Shaw(Shao Renmei) managed accounting and distribution.^[2]^[3]The youngest brother,Run Run Shaw(Shao Yifu), did odd jobs for the company.^[4]

History

1926 Tianyi filmLady Meng Jiang,starringHu Die

1920s

Tianyi's first film,A Change of Heart( đạp đất thành Phật ), 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.^[2]Tianyi made highly successful genre films, includingcostume drama,swordplay, andgods and ghosts,inspiring numerous imitations from other studios.^[2]The studio's 1925 filmHeroine Li Feifeiis considered by some as the earliest Chinesemartial arts film.^[3]^[5]

In 1926, Tianyi released two highly successful costume dramas:The Lovers(Liang Zhu Tongshi,based on the legend ofLiang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai), andWhite Snake(based on theeponymous legend), both directed by Shao Zuiweng. In addition to success in the domestic market,White Snakealso became the most successful Chinese film inSoutheast Asia.^[1]

1930s

By the 1930s, Tianyi had become one of the top Chinese film studios, along with Ming xing andLianhua.^[6]Unlike other major studios, which produced politically charged, socially conscious leftist films, Tianyi mainly focussed on making apolitical "entertainment" films.^[2]

Tianyi was one of the first filmmakers to take the leap fromsilent filmsto sound. In 1931, Shaw producedA Singer's Story( ca tràng xuân sắc ), one of the earliest Chinesesound films,directed byLi Pingqian.^[2]The filmWhite Gold Dragon(1933) was the firstCantonese languagesound film, inspired by Shao's encounter with the popularCantonese operaof the same name; the film was very successful in Hong Kong, Macao and throughout Southeast Asia. Starting in 1934, Tianyi made a series ofMr. Wangcomedy films adapted from the popular comic strip ofYe Qianyu.^[3]

World War II

With the success ofWhite Gold Dragonwithin the Cantonese-speaking Chinese communities, Shao moved Tianyi to Hong Kong in late 1933, following theKuomintangcensorship 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 theJapanese occupation of Hong KongandSingaporeduring World War II, they expanded their film distribution business to include foreign films from the United States, England, France and India.^[7]

International expansion

SirRun Run Shaw(Shao Yifu), the youngest Shaw brother who expanded the business in Singapore and Hong Kong

Besides Shanghai, Tianyi also expanded its business toSoutheast Asiaand Hong Kong. In the mid-1920s, Shao Zuiweng sent Runme and Run Run toSingapore,then part ofBritish Malaya,where they established a company called theShaw Organisationto distribute films made by Tianyi. Around 1930, the Shaw brothers set up Nanyang (South Seas) Film Studio to produce films.^[3]

In 1933, Tianyi releasedWhite Gold Dragon,the firstCantonese talkieever produced, which was a commercial success in southern China. Tianyi subsequently established a studio in Hong Kong in 1933–34 to produce Cantonese films. The move to Hong Kong was accelerated by the banning ofmartial artsfilms by the Chinese government as these films were thought to be morally decadent and promote superstition, as well as a ban on Cantonese films.^[8]^[9]Both of these genres were important to Tianyi as they were very popular among the Chinese diaspora communities, and Tianyi exported its Mandarin films produced in Shanghai and Cantonese films produced in Hong Kong throughout Southeast Asia. Its Hong Kong studio was destroyed by a fire in 1936, but Runde Shaw, the second eldest brother, reestablished the business as Nanyang Studio, later renamed Shaw and Sons.^[9]

Demise in Shanghai

Just before theJapanese invasion of Shanghaiin August 1937, Tianyi shipped its equipment to Hong Kong,^[1]^: 76and 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, Ming xing 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 intoShaw 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 onTVB,which became the dominant television company in Hong Kong.^[12]

References

^^a ^b ^cZhang, Yingjin (2004).Chinese National Cinema.Routledge. p. 37.ISBN 978-0-415-17290-5.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gXiao, Zhiwei; Zhang, Yingjin (2002).Encyclopedia of Chinese Film.Taylor & Francis. p. 302.ISBN 978-0-203-19555-0.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eYe, Tan; Zhu, Yun (2012).Historical Dictionary of Chinese Cinema.Scarecrow Press. p. 133.ISBN 978-0-8108-7913-3.
^Raymond Zhou (8 January 2014)."Movie mogul Run Run Shaw, 107, dies in HK".China Daily.Retrieved10 January2014.
^"Heroine Li Feifei (1925) and" Shuomingshu "".The Chinese Mirror: A Journal of Chinese Film History.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-12-02.
^^a ^bZhang, Yingjin (2012).A Companion to Chinese Cinema.John Wiley & Sons. p. 308.ISBN 978-1-4443-5597-0.
^Kato, M.T. (2007).From King Fu to Hip Hop: Globalization, Revolution and Popular Culture.State University of New York Press. pp. 13–14.ISBN 978-0-7914-8063-2.Retrieved27 July2019.
^Meaghan Morris; Siu Leung Li; Stephen Ching-kiu Chan (2006).Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema.Duke University Press Books. pp. 193–194.ISBN 978-1-932643-01-5.
^^a ^bStokes, Lisa Odham (2007).Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema.Scarecrow Press. p. 427.ISBN 978-0-8108-6458-0.
^Chu, Yingchi (2009).Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self.Routledge. p. 30.ISBN 978-0-415-54633-1.
^Hu, Jubin (1 June 2003).Projecting A Nation: Chinese National Cinema Before 1949.Hong Kong University Press. p. 120.ISBN 978-962-209-610-3.
^^a ^bRichard Corliss (7 January 2014)."Run Run Shaw: The Last Emperor of Chinese Movies".Time.Retrieved12 January2014.

[zhang2004-1] Zhang, Yingjin (2004).Chinese National Cinema.Routledge. p. 37.ISBN 978-0-415-17290-5.

[xiao-2] ^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gXiao, Zhiwei; Zhang, Yingjin (2002).Encyclopedia of Chinese Film.Taylor & Francis. p. 302.ISBN 978-0-203-19555-0.

[ye-3] Ye, Tan; Zhu, Yun (2012).Historical Dictionary of Chinese Cinema.Scarecrow Press. p. 133.ISBN 978-0-8108-7913-3.

[zhou-4] Raymond Zhou (8 January 2014)."Movie mogul Run Run Shaw, 107, dies in HK".China Daily.Retrieved10 January2014.

[5] "Heroine Li Feifei (1925) and" Shuomingshu "".The Chinese Mirror: A Journal of Chinese Film History.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-12-02.

[zhang2012-6] Zhang, Yingjin (2012).A Companion to Chinese Cinema.John Wiley & Sons. p. 308.ISBN 978-1-4443-5597-0.

[7] Kato, M.T. (2007).From King Fu to Hip Hop: Globalization, Revolution and Popular Culture.State University of New York Press. pp. 13–14.ISBN 978-0-7914-8063-2.Retrieved27 July2019.

[8] Meaghan Morris; Siu Leung Li; Stephen Ching-kiu Chan (2006).Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema.Duke University Press Books. pp. 193–194.ISBN 978-1-932643-01-5.

[stokes-9] Stokes, Lisa Odham (2007).Historical Dictionary of Hong Kong Cinema.Scarecrow Press. p. 427.ISBN 978-0-8108-6458-0.

[10] Chu, Yingchi (2009).Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self.Routledge. p. 30.ISBN 978-0-415-54633-1.

[Hu2003-11] Hu, Jubin (1 June 2003).Projecting A Nation: Chinese National Cinema Before 1949.Hong Kong University Press. p. 120.ISBN 978-962-209-610-3.

[corliss-12] Richard Corliss (7 January 2014)."Run Run Shaw: The Last Emperor of Chinese Movies".Time.Retrieved12 January2014.

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