Publisher Description

Started in Shanghai in the 1920s, the legendary Shaw Brothers Studio began to dominate the worldwide Chinese film market after moving its production facilities to Hong Kong in 1957. Drawing together scholars from such diverse disciplines as history, cultural geography, and film studies, China Forever addresses how the Shaw Brothers raised the production standards of Hong Kong cinema, created a pan-Chinese cinema culture and distribution network, helped globalize Chinese-language cinema, and appealed to the cultural nationalism of the Chinese who found themselves displaced and unsettled in many parts of the world during the twentieth century. Contributors are Timothy P. Barnard, Cheng Pei-pei, Ramona Curry, Poshek Fu, Lane J. Harris, Law Kar, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, Lilly Kong, Siu Leung Li, Paul G. Pickowicz, Fanon Che Wilkins, Wong Ain-ling, and Sai-shing Yung.

Notes

The transnational history and cultural politics of the Shaw Brothers' movie empire

Author Biography

Poshek Fu is a professor of history, cinema studies, and East Asian languages and cultures at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinemas and Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration: Intellectual Choices in Occupied Shanghai.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments   vii

Introduction: The Shaw Brothers Diasporic Cinema   1
Poshek Fu
1. Shaw Cinema Enterprise and Understanding Cultural Industries   27
Lily Kong
2. Shaw's Cantonese Productions and Their Interactions with Contemporary Local and Hollywood Cinema   57
Law Kar
3. Embracing Glocalization and Hong Kong-Made Musical FIlm   74
Siu Leung Li
4. Three Readings of Hong Kong Nocturne   95
Paul G. Pickowicz
5. The Black-and-White Wenyi Films of Shaws   115
Wong Ain-ling
6. Territorialization and the Entertainment Industry of the Shaw Brothers in Southeast Asia   133
Sai-shing Yung
7. The Shaw Brothers' Malay FIlms   154
Timothy P. Barnard
8. Bridging the Pacific with Love Eterne   174
Ramona Curry
9. Black Audiences, Blaxploitation and Kung Fu Films, and Challenges to White Celluloid Masculinity   199
Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua
10. Shaw Brothers Cinema and the Hip-Hop Imagination   224
Fanon Che Wilkins
11. Reminiscences of the Life of an Actress in Shaw Brothers' Movietown   246
Cheng Pei-pei
(translated by Jing Jing Chang and Jeff McClain)
Select Filmography   255
Lane J. Harris
Contributors   257
Index   261

Review

"Something for everyone . . . effectively lays down a solid foundation for further research."--China Quarterly
"An impressive, in-depth inquiry into the historical mutations, cultural innovations, and political implications of the rise and development of the Shaw Brothers' movie empire. Of the many volumes on Hong Kong movie industries, this is the first to focus solely on the history of the Shaw Brothers."--David Der-wei Wang, author of The Monster That Is History: History, Violence, and Fictional Writing in Twentieth-Century China
"This instructive book will be a pleasure for seasoned scholars and amateurs of Hong King cinema alike. Extremely useful for Asian cinema courses, this first book-length study of the Shaw Brothers--who were pioneers in the Chinese language and trans-Asian commercial film industry--provides valuable cultural history and global context."--Tonglin Lu, author of Confronting Modernity in the Cinemas in Taiwan and Mainland China
"Reopens the gates to the Shaw Brothers' legend."--Electronic Book Review

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The transnational history and cultural politics of the Shaw Brothers' movie empire

Long Description

Started in Shanghai in the 1920s, the legendary Shaw Brothers Studio began to dominate the worldwide Chinese film market after moving its production facilities to Hong Kong in 1957. Drawing together scholars from such diverse disciplines as history, cultural geography, and film studies, China Forever addresses how the Shaw Brothers raised the production standards of Hong Kong cinema, created a pan-Chinese cinema culture and distribution network, helped globalize Chinese-language cinema, and appealed to the cultural nationalism of the Chinese who found themselves displaced and unsettled in many parts of the world during the twentieth century.

Review Text

"An impressive, in-depth inquiry into the historical mutations, cultural innovations, and political implications of the rise and development of the Shaw Brothers' movie empire. Of the many volumes on Hong Kong movie industries, this is the first to focus solely on the history of the Shaw Brothers." --David Der-wei Wang, author of The Monster That Is History: History, Violence, and Fictional Writing in Twentieth-Century China

Review Quote

"This instructive book will be a pleasure for seasoned scholars and amateurs of Hong King cinema alike. Extremely useful for Asian cinema courses, this first book-length study of the Shaw Brothers--who were pioneers in the Chinese language and trans-Asian commercial film industry--provides valuable cultural history and global context." --Tonglin Lu, author ofConfronting Modernity in the Cinemas in Taiwan and Mainland China

Promotional "Headline"

The transnational history and cultural politics of the Shaw Brothers' movie empire

Description for Bookstore

Started in Shanghai in the 1920s, the legendary Shaw Brothers Studio began to dominate the worldwide Chinese film market after moving its production facilities to Hong Kong in 1957. Drawing together scholars from such diverse disciplines as history, cultural geography, and film studies, China Forever addresses how the Shaw Brothers raised the production standards of Hong Kong cinema, created a pan-Chinese cinema culture and distribution network, helped globalize Chinese-language cinema, and appealed to the cultural nationalism of the Chinese who found themselves displaced and unsettled in many parts of the world during the twentieth century. Contributors are Timothy P. Barnard, Cheng Pei-pei, Ramona Curry, Poshek Fu, Lane J. Harris, Law Kar, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, Lilly Kong, Siu Leung Li, Paul G. Pickowicz, Fanon Che Wilkins, Wong Ain-ling, and Sai-shing Yung.

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