Tianyi Film Company (), also called Unique Film Productions, was one of the "big three" film production companies in pre-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Republic of China. Founded in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

in 1925 by the Shaw (Shao) brothers led by

Runje Shaw Runje Shaw (1896–1975), also known as Shao Zuiweng (C.W. Shaw) and Shao Renjie, was a Chinese film entrepreneur, producer and director. The eldest of the Shaw brothers, in 1925 he founded Tianyi Film Company (also called Unique Film Producti ...

(Shao Zuiweng), the company also established operations in Malaya and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. Although the company's Shanghai studio was destroyed in 1937 during the Japanese invasion, its offshoot in Hong Kong, later called

Shaw Brothers Studio Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

, blossomed into a media empire under the leadership of the youngest brother, Sir

Run Run Shaw Sir Run Run Shaw (19 November 1907 – 7 January 2014), also known as Shao Yifu and Siu Yat-fu, was a Hong Kong entertainment mogul and philanthropist. He was one of the most influential figures in the Asian entertainment industry. He founde ...

Founding

In 1922,

(Shao Zuiweng), the eldest Shaw brother who had been a lawyer and businessman, was the manager of the theatre Xiao Wutai (Happy Stage or Laughter Stage) in Shanghai. Among his colleagues were

Zhang Shichuan Zhang Shichuan (; 1889–1953 or 1890–1954), also credited as S. C. Chang, was a Chinese entrepreneur, film director, and film producer, who is considered a founding father of Chinese cinema. He and Zheng Zhengqiu made the first Chinese featur ...

Zheng Zhengqiu Zheng Zhengqiu (; January 25, 1889 – July 16, 1935) was a Chinese filmmaker often considered a "founding father" of Chinese cinema.Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "Zheng Zhengqiu" in ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Film''. Taylor & Francis, pp ...

, and Zhou Jianyun, who co-founded

Mingxing Film Company Mingxing Film Company (), also known as the Star Motion Picture Company, was one of the largest production companies during the 1920s, and 1930s in the Republican era. Founded in Shanghai, the company lasted from 1922 until 1937 when it was close ...

. In 1923 Mingxing released the film ''Orphan Rescues Grandfather'' to great commercial success. Inspired by his former colleagues, Shao established Tianyi Film Company in 1925. He served as general manager and director, while his younger brothers

Runde Shaw Runde Shaw (1898–1973), also known as Shao Cunren and Shao Rendi, was the second-oldest of the Shaw brothers, originally from Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, who established Tianyi Film Company (also called Unique) in Shanghai in the early 1920s, se ...

(Shao Cunren) and

Runme Shaw Runme Shaw, K.St.J (; 1 January 1901 – 2 March 1985) was the chairman and founder of the Shaw Organisation of Singapore. Runme Shaw and his brother, Run Run Shaw, together known as the Shaw Brothers, were pioneers in the film and entertainme ...

(Shao Renmei) managed accounting and distribution. The youngest brother,

(Shao Yifu), did odd jobs for the company.

History

1920s

Tianyi's first film, ''A Change of Heart'' (立地成佛), directed by Shao Zuiweng himself and released in 1925, was highly profitable. A shrewd businessman who understood the audiences' preferences, Shao was one of the first Chinese filmmakers to make extensive use of traditional literature, legends, and myths. Tianyi made highly successful genre films, including

costume drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...

, swordplay, and gods and ghosts, inspiring numerous imitations from other studios. The studio's 1925 film ''Swordswoman Li Feifei'' is considered by some as the earliest Chinese

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...

. In 1926, Tianyi released two highly successful costume dramas: ''The Lovers'' (''Liang Zhu Tongshi'', based on the legend of

Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers, Liang Shanbo () and Zhu Yingtai (), whose names form the title of the story. The title is often abbreviated to Liang Zhu (). The story was selected as one o ...

), and ''White Snake'' (based on the eponymous legend), both directed by Shao Zuiweng. In addition to success in the domestic market, ''White Snake'' also became the most successful Chinese film in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

1930s

By the 1930s, Tianyi had become one of the top Chinese film studios, along with Mingxing and Lianhua. Unlike other major studios, which produced politically charged, socially conscious leftist films, Tianyi mainly focussed on making apolitical "entertainment" films. Tianyi was one of the first filmmakers to take the leap from

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

s to sound. In 1931, Shaw produced ''A Singer's Story'' (歌場春色), one of the earliest Chinese

sound films A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befor ...

, directed by

Li Pingqian Li Pingqian (1902 – 18 November 1984) was a Chinese filmmaker who directed over 90 films in his career in mainland China and Hong Kong. He is probably best known for his works with actresses Gong Qiuxia and Xia Meng, who each starred in more ...

. The film ''White Gold Dragon'' (1933) was the first

Cantonese language Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

sound film, inspired by Shao's encounter with

Cantonese opera Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of Ch ...

performers in Shanghai; the film was very successful in Hong Kong, Macao and throughout Southeast Asia. Starting in 1934, Tianyi made a series of ''Mr. Wang'' comedy films adapted from the popular comic strip of Ye Qianyu.

World War II

Still riding the success of ''White Gold Dragon'' Shao moved to Hong Kong with his brother, where the brothers became key figures in establishing Cantonese cinema in Hong Kong. After the Shao brothers recovered from the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

during World War II, they expanded their film distribution business to include foreign films from the United States, England, France and India.

International expansion

Besides Shanghai, Tianyi also expanded its business to

and Hong Kong. In the mid-1920s, Shao Zuiweng sent Runme and Run Run to

, then part of British Malaya, where they established a company called the Shaw Organisation to distribute films made by Tianyi. Around 1930, the Shaw brothers set up Nanyang (South Seas) Film Studio to produce films. In 1933, Tianyi released ''White Gold Dragon'', the first

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

ever produced, which was a commercial success in southern China. Tianyi subsequently established a studio in Hong Kong in 1933–34 to produce Cantonese films. The move to Hong Kong was accelerated by the banning of martial arts films by the Chinese government as these films were thought to be morally decadent and promote superstition, as well as a ban on Cantonese films. Both of these genres were important to Tianyi as they were very popular among the Chinese diaspora communities, and Tianyi exported its Mandarin films produced in Shanghai and Cantonese films produced in Hong Kong throughout Southeast Asia. Its Hong Kong studio was destroyed by a fire in 1936, but Runde Shaw, the second eldest brother, reestablished the business as Nanyang Studio, later renamed Shaw and Sons.

Demise in Shanghai

Just before the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in August 1937, Tianyi shipped its equipment to Hong Kong, and amalgamated the main operation with its Hong Kong branch, Nanyang Studio. Its studio in Shanghai was destroyed when the Japanese occupied the city, and Shao Zuiweng closed Shanghai-based Tianyi. The other major studios of Shanghai, Mingxing and Lianhua, also suffered fatal damage. The Shaws' operations in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia later also suffered setbacks during World War II, when the Japanese confiscated their theatres and imprisoned Run Run Shaw.

Legacy

After World War II and the Communist victory in mainland China, Shao Zuiweng retired from the film industry and stayed in Shanghai. His younger brothers, meanwhile, rebuilt their businesses in Singapore and Hong Kong. When Hong Kong emerged as the new centre for Chinese-language filmmaking, Run Run Shaw moved there from Singapore in 1957, and reorganized the Tianyi operations into

. Under Sir Run Run's leadership, Shaw Brothers became Hong Kong's largest and most influential film production company from the early 1960s until the mid-1980s. Shaw later concentrated on

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...

, which became the dominant television company in Hong Kong.

References

{{Film production companies of China Chinese film studios Film production companies of China Defunct film and television production companies of China Mass media companies established in 1925 Mass media in Shanghai Mass media companies disestablished in 1937 Chinese companies established in 1925 1937 disestablishments in China Companies based in Shanghai