Chinese Cinema

Question 1

First film screenings

Answer 1

Mainland China in late 1896.

Question 2

the early center of film culture

Answer 2

Shanghai became the early center of film culture and maintained this status until 1949.

Question 3

challenges

Answer 3

Poverty, relative underdevelopment and the geographic size limited the spread of filmmaking.
Production and distribution were controlled by foreigners.

Question 4

1910’s

Answer 4

the recording of a local Beijing opera performance marks the creation of the first indigenous film.

Question 5

1920’s

Answer 5

A wave of popular melodramas and comedies emerged. Was criticized for not promoting nationalism, revolution or highbrow tastes.

Question 6

1930’s

Answer 6

left wing filmmaking rises as Japanese invasions begin reflecting political and social upheavals of the time.

Question 7

Second Sino- Japanese war (1937- 1945)

Answer 7

the first wave of filmmaker migration to Hong Kong, then a British Crown Colony.

Question 8

Post- WWII

Answer 8

Golden age of Shanghai popular cinema occurred between the end of WWII and the onset of the civil war that leads to the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PCR) and Taiwan (Republic of China).