# Huaju Film Company

The Huaju Film Company (traditional Chinese: 華劇影片公司; simplified Chinese: 华剧影片公司; pinyin: Huájù Yǐngpiàn Gōngsī) was a film production studio active in Shanghai, Republic of China, between 1925 and 1932. Established by the brothers Zhang Qingpu and Zhang Huimin, it mostly produced wuxia films starring Huimin and his girlfriend Wu Suxin. The company, which also produced a magazine to promote its films, closed after the January 28 incident destroyed its studios.

## History

The Huaju Film Company was established in late 1925 by the brothers Zhang Qingpu and Zhang Huimin, sons of a wealthy Cantonese businessman. In 1924, their brother Zhang Huichong had established the Lianhe Film Company; he later helped with several Huaju productions. Huimin starred in most of the company's films, while Qingpu stayed mostly behind the scenes. The company was headquartered in Shanghai, at the corner of Sichuan North and Haining roads. In October 1927, Huaju joined the Liuhe Film Sales Company, a consortium of film companies intended to facilitate distribution.
In 1926, Huaju produced a short documentary film on the Shanghai Fire Brigade. To complement Zhang Huimin, the company hired Wu Suxin, who had previously acted for the Tianyi Film Company, as its main star. She later served as assistant director for the company, and was living with him as his girlfriend. Another employee, Cai Chusheng, was discovered by Huaju in Shantou while the crew was filming White Lotus (1927). He was cast in Huaju's The Simpleton's Luck (1927), but worked only briefly for the company and later omitted it from his memoirs. Another employee of the company was the director Chen Tian, who was active as early as 1926.
Huaju made White Lotus in 1927, drawing from a Cantonese opera about a young man who sees the spirit of his beloved in a white lotus; in the film, she had not died, but been rescued by a fisherman. Another 1927 production, Lustrous Pearls, depicted a conflict over pearls that resulted in a young man being kidnapped by his colleagues. He is rescued by his girlfriend and his sister, who subsequently save another captive and arrange for the pearls' retrieval.
In 1928, following the success of the Mingxing Film Company's The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, Huaju made Hero in Fire. It followed a young man who, after rescuing a woman from the rapids of the Qiantang River, joins her father's fire brigade; he later must use these skills to rescue his benefactor. Another film, Orphan of the Storm, was a melodrama that borrowed D. W. Griffith's Way Down East (1920) by depicting the suffering of a young woman before segueing into an action film following the hero's attempt to rescue her from her abductors.
To promote its films, Huaju intermittently published the Huaju Special Issue (华剧特镌), a magazine edited by He Ken and Huang Zhigang. Aside from coverage of the company's productions, the magazine published works of poetry and essays on topics ranging from screenwriting to the philosophy of film. These essays, while making references to Western thinkers such as Lord Byron, Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, advocated a view that cinema should serve the needs of the Republic of China. One essay called for "smash[ing] the silver screen" and advancing a new vision of cinema.
The wuxia genre became problematized in the early 1930s, and film production was reduced. Later, the Kuomintang government banned martial arts films for spreading superstition. Huaju's studio was destroyed during the January 28 incident, a Japanese incursion into Shanghai in 1932. The company was closed thereafter.

## Partial filmography

The majority of the films produced by Huaju were in the wuxia genre, with elements of adventure and detective fiction. Many drew from serial dramas and Westerns. Most starred Zhang Huimin and Wu Suxin. Generally, its main characters were presented in modern attire and dealt with modern technology. Several of the films featured leading lady Wu Suxin portraying characters who passed as men, and in this capacity establishing a partnership with a male warrior while also drawing a woman's romantic affections.
The majority of Huaju's films are lost. However, Orphan of the Storm has survived in its entirety, and Lustrous Pearls is likewise available. Much of The Valiant Girl White Rose is lost; only 27 minutes are known to have survived.
Key :
| † | Indicates film is extant |
The films of Huaju :
| English title | Traditional Chinese | Simplified Chinese | Release |
| Hero of Troubled Times | 亂世英雄 | 乱世英雄 | – |
| The Bandit of Shandong | 山東響馬 | 山东响马 | 1927 |
| White Lotus | 白芙蓉 | 白芙蓉 | 1927 |
| Lustrous Pearls † | 夜明珠 | 夜明珠 | 1927 |
| The Beauty and the Tiger | 猛虎劫美記 | 猛虎劫美记 | – |
| Aviation Hero | 航空大俠 | 航空大侠 | 1928 |
| Hero in Fire | 火裡英雄 | 火里英雄 | – |
| The Village Hero | 荒村怪俠 | 荒村怪侠 | – |
| Hero of the Dust Seas | 塵海奇俠 | 尘海奇侠 | – |
| The Detective's Wife | 偵探之妻 | 侦探之妻 | 1928 |
| A Shadow Thief | 偷影摹形 | 偷影摹形 | – |
| The Valiant Girl White Rose † | 女俠白玫瑰 | 女侠白玫瑰 | 1929 |
| Orphan of the Storm † | 雪中​​孤雛 | 雪中孤雏 | 1929 |
| The Hero and the Beauty | 英雄與美人 | 英雄与美人 | – |
| Lan, a Female Thief | 女盜蘭姑娘 | 女盗兰姑娘 | 1930 |
| King of Heroes | 萬俠之王 | 万侠之王 | – |
| Night of Horrors | 恐怖之夜 | 恐怖之夜 | – |
| Immortality | 流芳百世 | 流芳百世 | – |
| A Narrow Escape | 九死一生 | 九死一生 | – |
| Strive | 努力 | 努力 | – |
| Colourful World | 花花世界 | 花花世界 | – |

## Works cited

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Hong 2022.
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 76.
* ↑ Zhang 2005, p. 191.
* 1 2 Bao 2015, p. 85.
* ↑ Tan 2022.
* 1 2 3 4 Bao 2015, p. 78.
* ↑ Bao 2005, p. 212.
* ↑ Zhang 2005, pp. 228–229, 232, 234.
* ↑ Zhang 2005, p. 385.
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 184.
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 417.
* ↑ Bao 2015, pp. 85, 184.
* 1 2 Bao 2015, pp. 84–85.
* ↑ Zhang 2005, pp. 187–188.
* ↑ Bao 2015, pp. 78–79.
* ↑ Huang 2014, p. 46.
* ↑ Zhang 2005, p. 231.
* ↑ Bao 2005, p. 216.
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 84.
* ↑ Rea 2019.
* 1 2 Bao 2005, p. 216; Hong 2022
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 83; Hong 2022
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 85; Hong 2022
* ↑ Hong 2022; Zhang 2005, p. 214
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 78; Hong 2022
* ↑ Hong 2022; Zhang 2005, p. 431
* ↑ Bao 2015, p. 84; Hong 2022
* ↑ Hong 2022; Zhang 2005, p. 227