The ten most influential people in Chinese film

Zhao Huishen and Zhou Xuan in Street Angel

This year is the centennial of Chinese film, and Renwu magazine, in concert with the Biography Center of the People’s Publishing House, Renwu Online, and Sina, conducted a survey to determine the ten most influential people in the Chinese film industry in the past century.

209,542 ballots were cast in Sina’s online survey, which was supplemented by a panel of judges from Renwu, People’s Publishing House, and Renwu Online to provide historical perspective they felt would be lacking in the youthful online audience (each group counted for 50% of the final selection). Candidates were selected based on their importance within the film industry as well as their influence on society at large.

The ten names selected (nine individuals plus the Shaw brothers as a group) stretch from the silent era, through the prewar Shanghai golden age, up to the present day. Actors, directors, and producers are all represented; the preponderance of men in the non-acting categories accounts for only two of the ten being women, namely, actresses Zhou Xuan (pictured) and Gong Li. With only ten slots, some important people were bound to get left out – I would have chosen Liu Xiaoqing over Gong Li – and even the original group of 30 candidates was not at all comprehensive.

The list of the ten most influential people in the first century of Chinese film follows, in roughly chronological order (note that in the link, which has pictures, the order is reversed).

• Zheng Zhengqiu (1889-1935), writer and first-generation director, was one of the chief founders of Chinese cinema. His A Couple in Hard Times was China’s first narrative movie.
• Shaw Brothers, director & producers, who between 1925 and the 1970s shot over 1000 films, including China’s first martial arts film and its first Cantonese language film.
• Cai Chusheng (1906-1968), second-generation director, founder of Chinese realist cinema. Known for The Spring River Flows East.
• Zhao Dan (1915-1980), actor, appeared in 1930s films like Street Angel, as well as post-revolutionary classics like Lin Zexu and Nie Er.
• Zhou Xuan (1918-1957), actress, also appeared in Street Angel, for which she sang two songs, rocketing her to screen idol stardom.
• Xie Jin (1923- ), fourth-generation director of Legend of Tianyun Mountan and Hibiscus Town.
• Bruce Lee (1940-1973), actor, King of Kung-fu.
• Zhang Yimou (1951- ), fifth-generation director and actor, Red Sorghum, Hero, etc.
• Ang Lee (1954- ), Academy Award-winning director, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
• Gong Li (1965- ), actress, Red Sorghum, The Story of Qiu Ju

Note: the final ten were selected from a pool of thirty; the remaining 20 nominees were: Ruan Lingyu, Zheng Junli, Tang Xiaodan, Cui Wei, Shanggong Yuanzhu, Bai Yang, Liu Xiaoqing, Jackie Chan, Chen Kaige, Wang Kar-wai, Tsui Hark, Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung, Ge You, Andy Lau, Jiang Wen, Zhang Manyu, Jia Zhangke, and Zhang Ziyi.