The Mingxing Film Company (), also credited as the Star Motion Picture Production Company, was a production company active in the Republic of China between 1922 and 1937. Established by a consortium of creative professionals, including film director Zhang Shichuan, dramatist Zheng Zhengqiu, and critic Zhou Jianyun, Mingxing initially produced comedy films that drew little audience attention. Facing insolvency in 1923, the company used the last of its capital to produce Orphan Rescues Grandfather, which released to massive commercial success and provided the company with the revenue needed to expand and hire new talent.
In the mid-1920s, Mingxing acquired new studios and made its initial public offering, growing rapidly even in the face of emerging competition. It adapted several novels to film, with its Lonely Orchid (1926) being one of the most successful Chinese films of the silent era. It also expanded from family dramas to wuxia with The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (1928), and began producing sound films with Sing-Song Girl Red Peony (1931). By the early 1930s, Mingxing was one of the largest film companies in Shanghai, together with the Tianyi Film Company and the United Photoplay Service.
Between the ongoing Sino-Japanese Warincluding damage caused by the 1932 incursion into Shanghaiand a series of financial setbacks, Mingxing faced significant financial losses through the 1930s. Despite the success of films such as Twin Sisters (1934) and efforts to attract new writers, the company was unable to recover and operations ended after the Japanese occupied Shanghai in 1937. During its lifetime, Mingxing produced 174 fiction films, as well as newsreels, cartoons, and actualities.
Background Film had been introduced to China in 1896, beginning with one-reelers and later expanding to feature-length productions. In 1905, Fengtai Photographic Studio produced Dingjun Mountain, a short film depicting a performance by the Peking opera singer Tan Xinpei; this is considered the first Chinese-produced film. Zhang Shichuan worked with the American Benjamin Brodsky to establish the Asia Film Company, producing several documentaries as well as The Difficult Couple (1913) the first Chinese-made short fiction film. The production of shorts increased toward the late 1910s, and audience interest in this new mediumknown under such terms as "electric shadowplay" () grew. Following the release and success of Yan Ruisheng (1921), a full-length crime drama, several companies were established in Shanghai to capitalize on the new medium.
All of Mingxing's founders were involved in the cultural arena prior to their involvement with the company. Zhang Shichuan had recruited Zheng Zhengqiu, a noted dramatist, to write The Difficult Couple, and maintained a strong relationship with him through the 1910s. Both men also worked with Zheng Zhegu and Zhou Jianyun in the late 1910s to operate the Xinmin Library, a publisher responsible for periodicals such as the Yaofeng Monthly () and the Emancipation Pictorial.; Zhou Jianyun wrote extensive works of drama criticism, publishing a volume on drama theory in 1918. He and Zheng Zhegu were also prominent members of the Eternal Memory Society, a Peking opera fan club, together with Ren Jinping.
History Establishment and fundraising
In late 1921, amidst a booming stock market, Zhang Shichuan established the Mutual Stock and Produce Exchange Company together with several of his earlier compatriots. When the bubble burst, the men decided to invest their money in a less risky venture: a motion picture company. In February 1922, the former stock exchange's offices on Guizhou Road in Shanghai were converted into the headquarters of the newly established Mingxing Film Company. Zhang Shichuan took the role of deputy manager, with Ding Boxiong the office head; other roles were taken by Ren Jinping, Zheng Zhegu, Zheng Zhengqiu, and Zhou Jianyun.
Early advertising material announced that Mingxing required 100,000 yuan in venture capital, with each of five founding members contributing 10,000 yuan and the remainder achieved through the sale of 20,000 shares at 5 yuan apiece. Further fundraising was attempted through overtures to local journalists, including a gala dinner, as well as the commission of a special issue of the Motion Picture Review. Interest in the company was also created through an acting school, the Mingxing Shadowplay School headed by Zheng Zhengqiu, that promised insight into various elements of the filmmaking process.
These overtures, however, were unsuccessful. Investors were not enticed by Mingxing's promises, and generally were disdainful of the entertainment industry. The acting school admitted 87 students, of which 17 were women, but only 34 graduated. Further exacerbating the situation, Ding Boxiong and several members of the preparatory team left the company after several months. Ultimately, the company was left with five founders and 10,000 yuan in venture capital, though it claimed to have earned more.
Early years Mingxing shot its first worka newsreel documenting the arrival of French general Joseph Joffre in Shanghaion 8 March 1923, with screening handled by a local YMCA branch in April. At the same time, it sought to produce fiction films. In these early works, Zhang Shichuan took the role of director and Zheng Zhengqiu as screenwriter. Studios were rented from an Italian merchant named Enrico Lauro, with filming and development equipment loaned from a British man. Acting was handled by Zheng Zhegu and Zheng Zhengqiu, as well as graduates of Mingxing's acting school.
The first two fiction films produced by Mingxing, The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai and Labourer's Love, were produced in mid-to-late 1922. These short slapstick comedies, one following a visit by Charlie Chaplin and the other telling of a hapless carpenter in love with a doctor's daughter, were released as a double feature at the Olympic Theatre on 5 October 1922. Neither these nor a subsequent comedy, Havoc in a Bizarre Theatre, were well received by audiences.
With the company losing money, Mingxing changed tacks for its fourthand, at thirteen reels, first feature-lengthfilm, Zhang Xinsheng. Although the cast and crew were mostly the same as in earlier productions, it was not a comedy. Rather, the film dramatized a real-life murder in which a deeply indebted man had killed his father to access his inheritance. Advertising material emphasized verisimilitude, and viewer Cheng Bugao later recalled that the film had disgusted audiences with its close-up shots of the autopsy and the removal of organs. This new approach was somewhat successful, with initially sluggish ticket sales giving way to large crowds and 6,000 yuan in revenues.
This influx of capital, however, was insufficient to ensure Mingxing's long-term sustainability. Zhang Shichuan turned to a family drama, one that emphasized the importance of education, and began production of Orphan Rescues Grandfather (1923). In addition to Zheng Zhegu and Zheng Zhengqiu's son Xiaoqiu, the film featured Wang Hanlun in her debut role. Production took eight months, and when funding ran short, Zhou Jianyun pawned his wife's jewellery to complete the production. Making its debut on 21 December 1923, Orphan Rescues Grandfather was an enormous success, running for a hundred days in Shanghai; its distribution rights for southeast Asia were purchased for 8,000 yuan.
Initial expansion
After Orphan Rescues Grandfather, Mingxing began expanding. Its headquarters moved to the Shanghai French Concession. New crew were hired, including a professional cinematographer and make-up artist, while a surge in interest resulted in the film school accepting numerous students free of charge. Meanwhile, Mingxing acquired new equipment, including foreign-made cameras and printers as well as mercury-vapor and carbon-arc lamps. Seeking to accelerate production, it submitted calls for new actresses, promising wages of between 50 and 300 yuan, and hired new directors such as Hong Shen.
Over time, Mingxing also acquired several new properties. It purchased a four-mu () plot of land on Hart Road in the Shanghai International Settlement. On this plot, it constructed a glass-walled studiooperational as of early 1925that allowed for filming regardless of light and weather conditions. To facilitate distribution, Mingxing also purchased the former Shenjiang Stage, a site of Peking opera and civilized drama performances, transforming it into a cinema and opening it to the public on 24 April 1925. This cinema, named the Palace Theatre, was used for first-run showings through 1933;; in the late 1920s, another six further cinemas were acquired. Effective May 1925, after the studio made its initial public offering, Mingxing became a private limited company. To attract investors, Ren Jinping drew from his contacts through the Ningbo birthplace association, obtaining funding from prominent merchants such as Fang Jiaobo, Lao Jingxiu, and .
As these expansion efforts were ongoing, Mingxing continued its film production, completing ten films between 1924 and 1925. Several, including Jade Pear Spirit and The Poor Children (both 1924), starred Wang Hanlun, who had risen to stardom with Orphan Rescues Grandfather; she left the company soon after, following a salary dispute. With her departure, Mingxing relied on several actresses, including Xuan Jinglin, Yang Naimei, and Zhang Zhiyun, to draw audiences; mostly, these artists were popular only briefly. Generally, Mingxing's films during this period were melodramas.
Trials and tribulations In 1926 backlash against crime films such as Yan Ruisheng and Zhang Xinsheng resulted in the passage of censorship policies by the Ministry of Education; these guidelines, coupled with local censorship bureaus, required more measured approaches to filmmaking. Around this time, Mingxing also lost two of its founders; Zheng Zhegu died in 1925, during the filming of The Last Conscience, while Ren Jinpingdisappointed with Mingxing's distribution of his debut film A New Family (1925)left the company in 1926 to establish the Xinren Film Company.;
At the same time, Mingxing also began to experience greater competition. Numerous new film companies were established in Shanghai between 1925 and 1926, and although most closed without making any films, several proved viable; for instance, the Tianyi Film Company, founded in 1925 by the brothers Run Run, Runje, Runde, and Runme Shaw, released several successful costume dramas and wuxia (martial arts) films. Although these new companies offered staunch competition, there were also opportunities for partnership; in conjunction with several other studios, in June 1926 Mingxing established the Liuhe Distribution Company to bring Shanghai films to other parts of the Republic of China. The partnership collapsed three years later, after which Mingxing established its own distribution company.
Mingxing initially sought to continue its reliance on family dramas, contracting the celebrated Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies writer Bao Tianxiao at a rate of 100 yuan per month, with an expectation that he would produce one screenplay every month. In August 1925, he granted the company rights to his novels Lonely Orchid and Fallen Plum Blossoms; the film adaptation of the former, released on 13 February 1926, was one of the most successful Chinese films of the silent era. By the end of 1926, Mingxing had four production unitsrespectively headed by Zhang Shichuan, Zheng Zhengqiu, Hong Shen, and Bu Wancangand although efforts to interest further investors failed the company was generally profitable. It operated two studios, and in 1927 occupied new premises on Route Doumer.