1. The History of Chinese Film February 4, 2013

2. Auguste and Louis Lumière

3. First private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895 First public screening for which admission was charged happens a few months later, in December These films were around 50 feet long and handcranked through a projector for a run time about 50 seconds

4. A few months later…

5. August 11, 1896 Some of the same Lumière brothers films are shown at Xu Gardens in Shanghai These films are called “Western shadow plays” 西样影戏 xīyàngyǐngxì in an effort to connect them to the millennia-old tradition of the shadow play 皮影戏 píyǐngxì

12. Western-Style Shadow Plays Morphs into “electric shadow” 电影 diànyǐng Integrated into tea-house style productions First movie theater opens in Beijing in 1908 By 1929, there are 233 movie theaters in China spread across 7 cities (53 in Shanghai alone) Film in China before the 1920s was basically film for film’s sake

13. What were they watching? Before World War I –European imports, particularly French companies like Pathè and Goumont After World War I –American Hollywood products

14. Beginnings of the Chinese Film Industry 1905: Ren Jingfeng (1850-1932) ， who studied photography in Japan, bought film equipments from a German store in Beijing and set out for the first attempt of filmmaking Dingjun Mountain 定军山 Dingjun shan featuring episodes from a popular Beijing Opera play

15. Asia Film Company 亚细亚影戏公司 Yaxiya yingxi gongsi Established in 1909 American businessman Benjamin Polaski, Chinese comprador Zhang Shichuan (1889- 1953), and Chinese theatrical talent Zheng Zhengqiu (1888-1935), who later become the leading filmmakers in the Star Film Studio 明 星 Mingxing and honored as the "Father of Chinese Cinema."

16. The difficult couple 難夫難妻 Nanfu nanqi 1913 China’s first narrative film parody of the ridiculous customs of arranged marriage 45 minutes All male characters

17. Asia Film Company collapses when World War I cuts Shanghai off from their supply of German raw film 1916: American suppliers fill the void The Commercial Press emerges as the leading publishing house Buy film equipment from an American merchant in 1917 and sent people to Europe and America to study print and film technologies

18. 1918: Motion Picture Department is formed and starts making films Developed five categories of films: "landscape," "current event," "educational films," "new drama," and "costume drama“ Also helped other small film studios By the end of the 1910s, film had emerged as a primary communication form