The Rise Of Cinemas In Shanghai(1897-1934)

Introduced to Shanghai from the west in 1897,the cinema kept developing and became the most popular entertainment form in 1930's.This research is based on an empirical case study of the rise of cinemas in Shanghai in a move to discuss the change and development of society and culture in modern China.There are five chapters besides the introduction and the epilogue discussing the following topics:Chapter one discusses how cinemas emerged in Shanghai.Modern Shanghai was governed by three different governments and had a diverse immigrant space of both Chinese and foreign residents,which provided a good market environment,technology and customers to cinema business.With the rise of urban petty bourgeois,the middle class and female group,film owners kept building and managing the cinema according to customer's taste and need,in a move to attract these customers to the cinema.As romance,luxury and the odd became the characteristics of urban consuming culture in modern Shanghai,the consuming motivation of cinema was created and resulted in the rise of cinema of Shanghai.Chapter two discusses the spread of films in Shanghai before cinemas were widely built.Sincel897,film owners first showed films in turn in local entertainment venues such as tea shops,gardens and tea houses,then occupied fixed sites such as a garden in the evening or a room in the concession.Until the movie garden was built,the fixed sites showing provided an opportunity for the films to collide and fuse with local Chinese entertainment forms and eventually had a place in Shanghai.However at that time people viewed films as some "foreign gadgets" and a fixed fan crowd was not formed.As a result films were still at the edge of urban entertainment culture.Chapter three discusses the early rise of film business in Shanghai.Foreign cinema owners built real cinemas at sites where traditional entertainment forms were not dominant,including opera theatres and tea houses.These cinemas pursued independency and safety of the building,meanwhile inherited the localization policy from pre-cinema era.With "odd" as main selling point,cinemas moved on from the earlier "dangerous" and "low" image,and attracted new Chinese customers including students,housewives,prostitutes and scholars.Going to cinema became a habit and cinema itself gradually moved on from the marginal status.Chapter four discusses about the rise of Chinese cinemas.Early Chinese film producers,represented by Star Film Company,played as both producer and film exhibitor,carried out a marketing strategy of "business with conscience" and had the"melodrama" as main type of films.These cinemas also introduced actresses,adopted a star system and invited romantic genre writers to compete against their foreign counterparts.Embracing the female and petty bourgeois facilitated the rise of Chinese cinemas in Shanghai.Chapter five explains how cinemas thrived in 1930's Shanghai.Chinese cinema businessmen such as He Tingran gradually became the dominant force of cinema business.In a move to attract the vast middle class customers,cinemas were upgraded,resulting in a boom of luxury cinemas,sound films replacing silent films and completion of the shift exhibition system,which allowed people from all classes to consume and use the cinema according to their own entertainment need and taste.Going to cinema thus became a lifestyle of people in Shanghai and cinema entered itsflowering period.Built from nothing,cinema eventually became the most popular urban entertainment site in Shanghai.During its rise,Both Chinese and foreign film exhibitors kept promoting the localization of cinemas.Females,petty bourgeois and middle class also kept consuming and shaping the cinema according to their own needs.Both aspects promoted the rise of cinemas in Shanghai in 1930's.