Asian Descent > China Archives - Page 8 of 8

Sun Weishi

Sun Weishi was the first female director of modern spoken drama (Huaju) in China. Sun was a rival of Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, with an enmity between the two that lasted throughout Sun’s life until her ultimate death at Jiang’s hands.

Mina Shum

Mina Shum is the writer and director of award-winning feature films and several short films. In addition to using a comedic approach to depict the Chinese-Canadian family in multicultural Canada, she often features ironic, discontented young women who want to leave home for something better. She had also created site-specific installations and theatre experiences. Her first feature-length film, Double Happiness, was released in 1994 and won several awards including the Wolfgang Staudte Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Torino International Festival of Young Cinema, and Best Canadian Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Shum’s second feature film, Drive, She Said, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1997 and was in official competition at the Turin Delle Donne Film Festival. Her third feature film, Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity was screened as part of the Canadian Perspective Program at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
Her feature documentary Ninth Floor was about the Sir George Williams Affair student protest (the largest student occupation in Canadian history, which resulted in $2 million of property damage). Ninth Floor premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, and earned Shum the Women in Film+Television Artistic Merit Award at the 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival.

Jiang Qing

Jiang Qing was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, actor, and major political figure during the country’s Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976). In 1938, she became the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party and Paramount leader of China, and served as the inaugural “First Lady” of the People’s Republic of China. She was best known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution and for forming the political alliance known as the “Gang of Four”. In addition to her work as first lady, Jiang worked as Director of Film in the Central Propaganda Department, and as a member of the Ministry of Culture steering committee for the film industry. She was also known for using her political power to attack her rivals and enemies, including those who had personally slighted her.
In the 1930s, Jiang Qing was active in both the Communist Party and as an actor. She was jailed for three months in 1934 for her political activities in Shanghai. Taking the stage name “”Lán Píng”” (“”Blue Apple””, 蓝苹), she appeared in many films and plays, including Goddess of Freedom, Scenes of City Life, Blood on Wolf Mountain, Wang Laowu and a starring role in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. In 1937, Jiang joined the Lianhua Film Company and starred in the drama Big Thunderstorm (大雷雨).
At the beginning of China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1967, Jiang declared eight performance works to be the new models for proletarian literature and art, called “”model operas””, or “”revolutionary operas””. These designed to glorify Mao Zedong, The People’s Liberation Army, and the revolutionary struggles. Jiang also directed operas and ballets with communist and revolutionary content as part of an effort to transform China’s culture. She dominated the Chinese arts, and in particular attempted to reform the Beijing Opera. She developed a new form of art called the Eight model plays or “”revolutionary opera”” which showed the world in simple, binary terms (i.e “”good guys”” vs “”bad guys””).

Zhang Yao’er

Zhang Yao’er (章要兒).z was an empress of the Chinese Chen Dynasty, and wife of the founding emperor Emperor Wu (Chen Baxian). She was known for being educated in mathematics and poetry. After her husband died, she tried to preserve the throne for her son, who was a prisoner of war at the time, but was convinced to give up the imperial seal so that her nephew could become emperor instead.