Photographs in Chinese Film Publications in the 1930s: Archives from the Republic of China Periodicals Full-Text Database (1911–1949)

Abstract

Publications dedicated to cinema in China can be traced back to 1921. They were primarily produced in Shanghai, as the film industries in Hong Kong and Taiwan were still up-and-coming at the time (Yeh 2018, 20). These Shanghai publications continued to evolve and develop over the next 28 years, heralding a period of maturity and prosperity marked by unique visual styles in the beginning of the 1930s, which formed a substantial tradition in both the industry and academia. The three giants of Chinese film publications at the time were Lianhua Pictorial联华画报, Star Monthly明星月报, and The Chinese Movie Stars Grand View中国电 影明星大观. Among these publications, Lianhua Pictorial and Star Monthly were periodicals with significant publicity, with the former producing 150 books in 152 issues (Ding 2013,132–137) from January 1933 to August 1937 and the latter remaining highly active from April 1935 to July 1937 (Ding 2013, 133). Both periodicals ultimately ceased publication, likely due to the deteriorating Sino-Japanese relationship that ended in warfare. The Chinese Movie Stars Grand View, which was published by The Yisheng Press艺声 in 1935, was edited by the famous Chinese photographer Chen Jiazhen陈嘉震. It systematically introduced Chinese film actors and directors and included life and stage photos of movie stars from 13 major film companies, including The Stars, Lianhua, Yihua艺华, Tianyi天一, and Xinhua新华 (Shanghai Library 2009, 60). This short essay investigates historical photographs from these three primary publications in the early history of Chinese cinema. They are held as collections in the Republic of China’s Periodical Full-text Database (1911–1949) maintained by the Shanghai Library. This database contains more than 25,000 journals published during the time of the Republic of China and nearly 1,000 documents reflecting the political, military, diplomatic, economic, educational, ideological, cultural, and religious entities of