Zheng Zhengqiu

Zheng Zhengqiu (Chinese: 鄭正秋; January 25, 1889 – July 16, 1935) was a Chinese filmmaker often considered a "founding father" of Chinese cinema.[1]

Zheng Zhengqiu
Born(1889-01-25)January 25, 1889
Shanghai, China
DiedJuly 16, 1935(1935-07-16) (aged 46)
Shanghai, China
Occupation(s)Film director, Screenwriter, Producer
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese鄭正秋
Simplified Chinese郑正秋
In this Chinese name, the family name is Zheng.

Biography

Born in Shanghai in 1889, Zheng Zhengqiu was a young intellectual involved in China's theater scene when he and his friend and colleague, Zhang Shichuan, made the first Chinese feature film, a short film titled, The Difficult Couple in 1913.[1] The two men would come together again in 1922 with the founding of the seminal Mingxing Film Company and the oldest surviving classic Laborer's Love, which would dominate Shanghai's film industry for the next fifteen years.

While with Mingxing, Zheng served not only as screenwriter and director, but as a studio manager and producer, personally writing and directing 53 films before his early death in 1935.[1] Like many of his colleagues during the period, Zheng was devoted to leftist causes and social justice, themes that were evident in many of his works.[2]

After his partner, Zhang Shichuan, rescued Xuan Jinglin from a brothel, Zheng Zhengqiu devised her stage name. He based it on the name she had adopted in the brothel and a transliteration of Lillian Gish into Chinese said in a Shanghai accent.[3]

Partial directorial filmography
Year English Title Chinese Title Notes
1913 The Difficult Couple 難夫難妻 Co-directed with Zhang Shichuan
1927 The Tablet of Blood and Tears 血淚碑
1928 The Heroine in Black 黑衣女俠 Co-directed with Cheng Bugao
1928 The White Cloud Pagada 白雲塔 Co-directed with Zhang Shichuan
1929 The Lady's Lover 俠女救夫人
1934 Twin Sisters 姊妹花
1934 The Classic for Girls 女兒經 Co-directed with Zhang Shichuan, Yao Sufeng, Cheng Bugao, Xu Xingfu, Li Pingqian, Chen Kengran, and Shen Xiling
1935 Ardent, Loyal Souls 熱血忠魂 Co-directed with Zhang Shichuan, Wu Cun, Cheng Bugao, Xu Xingfu, Li Pingqian, and Shen Xiling

References
  1. Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "Zheng Zhengqiu" in Encyclopedia of Chinese Film. Taylor & Francis, pp. 393-94. ISBN 978-0-415-15168-9.
  2. Pang Laikwan (2002). Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement, 1932-1937. Lanham, p. 48. ISBN 978-0-7425-0946-7.
  3. Jennifer M. Bean; Diane Negra (31 October 2002). A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema. Duke University Press. pp. 510–526. ISBN 0-8223-8384-5.
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