In this section you can find a variety of viewings, readings, bibliographies, image galleries, and other resources related to early Chinese cinema history. This page, and the posts, are updated continually, so check back regularly to discover new materials, and be sure to subscribe to the Modern Chinese Cultural Studies YouTube channel and the Chinese Film Classics email list for updates.
Posts
2023/04/23: Spider Women and Light Sabers @ SOAS
March 6, 2023
Light Sabers, Spider Women and Other Discoveries in the Digital Archives of Early Chinese Cinema April 23, 2023, 5pm Room RB01, Russell Square: College Buildings, SOAS, University of London https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/light-sabers-spider-women-and-other-discoveries-digital-archives-early-chinese-cinema Abstract: What can we learn about early Chinese film history from the expanding digital archive? Which stories, images, linguistic patterns, filmmaking techniques, and industry behaviors […]
Teaching Resources for Early Chinese Cinema
January 10, 2022
The Chinese Film Classics Project is a research, teaching, and translation initiative aimed at making early Chinese cinema more accessible to the general public
2021/07/14: Seeing China Through Film – The Early Years
July 13, 2021
A conversation about “Laborer’s Love” (1922) and “The Great Road” (1934) with Weihong Bao, Richard Pena, and Christopher Rea
Zhou Xuan 周璇
April 26, 2021
Zhou Xuan 周璇 was famed as a “golden voice” of the Chinese cinema and phonograph industries before her premature death
Special Effects
April 23, 2021
Special effects were common in early Chinese cinema, especially in comedies and martial arts (wuxia) films of the 1920s
Animation and Cartoons 卡通與漫畫
April 22, 2021
Early Chinese cinema included both animated films and live-action films with animated and illustrated sequences
Chen Yanyan 陳燕燕
April 22, 2021
Chen Yanyan 陳燕燕 had long film career in Republican China, post-war Taiwan, and Hong Kong, lasting from the 1930s to the 1980s
Jin Yan 金焰
April 22, 2021
Jin Yan, also known as Raymond King, was a Korea-born actor who starred in many silent films produced by Lianhua Studio
Li Lili 黎莉莉
April 22, 2021
Li Lili appeared as a physically robust, playful, and outgoing “sweet big sister” in many Lianhua films of the silent and sound eras.
Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉
March 8, 2021
Ruan Lingyu is one of the most iconic actors of China’s silent cinema age.
Books in English on Early Chinese Cinema
February 15, 2021
A bibliography of books in English related to Chinese cinema of the late Qing and Republican periods, updated periodically.
