Pictures in motion: The cinematic art of Zheng Zhengqiu and his Shanghai contemporaries, 1910--1935

Zheng Zhengqiu (1889-1935) was the most influential Chinese filmmaker in early Chinese cinema; his historical position parallels D.W. Griffith's in American film history. My dissertation examines the evolution of Zheng's cinematic art, tracing its origins from a cross-media perspective and through his personal relationships with his Shanghai contemporaries during the years 1910-1935. My project characterizes his cinematic art as one in which ideas originated in graphic arts and theater were incorporated into the new technology of cinema in novel and unexpected ways. Zheng's film art draws upon the power of representational images, using affective pictures to encourage his audiences' identification with drama. His conceptualization of cinema is quite different from that of montage masters who primarily used fast editing and cutting to create tension and drama. Grounding my work in the methodology of art history, I argue that Zheng approached film as an alternative cinematic strategy to supersede montage aesthetics. "Pictures in motion" is a cinematic art that reflects the sensitivities of his people and his time.