Zhang Shichuan
| Zhang Shichuan 張石川 |
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| Born |
Zhang Weitong 1889 or 1890 Ningbo, Zhejiang, Qing China |
| Died | 1953 or 1954 (aged 64) Shanghai, PR China |
| Residence | Shanghai |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, filmmaker |
| Known for | A founding father of Chinese cinema |
| Zhang Shichuan | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 張石川 | ||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 张石川 | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Zhāng Shíchuān |
| Wade–Giles | Chang Shih-ch'uan |
Zhang Shichuan (Wade–Giles: Chang Shih-ch'uan; 1889–1953 or 1890–1954) was a Chinese entrepreneur, film director, and film producer, who is considered a founding father of Chinese cinema. He and Zheng Zhengqiu made the first Chinese feature film, The Difficult Couple, in 1913, and cofounded the Mingxing (Star) Film Company in 1922, which became the largest film production company in China under Zhang's leadership.
Zhang directed about 150 films in his career, including Laborer's Love (1922), the earliest complete Chinese film that has survived; Orphan Rescues Grandfather (1923), one of the first Chinese box-office hits; The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (1928), the first martial arts film; and Sing-Song Girl Red Peony (1931), China's first sound film.
After the destruction of Mingxing's studio by Japanese bombing during the 1937 Battle of Shanghai, Zhang Shichuan made films for the China United Film Production Company (Zhonglian) in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, which led to accusations of treason after the surrender of Japan in 1945. He never recovered from the humiliation, and died in 1953 or 1954.
Zhang Shichuan was born Zhang Weitong (张伟通) in Beilun, Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Shichuan was his courtesy name, originally written with the different characters 蚀川. His father Zhang Heju (张和巨) was a small merchant dealing with silkworms. His father died when Zhang was 16 years old, and he had to quit school and move to Shanghai to live with his maternal uncle Jing Runsan (经润三), a successful comprador. In Shanghai, he worked at the American-owned Huayang Company by day and studied English at night.
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