Collaborating with Japanese in Making Entertainment Movies for Chinese Viewers: Chinese Filmmakers at Manchurian Film Association

Abstract

The article studies the experiences of Chinese filmmakers who collaborated with Japanese film specialists at Manchurian Film Association (Manying 1937–45) to make entertainment movies primarily for Chinese viewers in Manchukuo. Chinese filmmakers were neither entirely innocent nor solely complicit in their participation in Manying. Most collaborated with Japanese in making entertainment movies without sharing Japanese colonial ideology. They were not victims, but survivors who made choices based on their best interests. They negotiated with Manying to meet their normal human needs of making a livelihood, getting married, and finding satisfaction in their crafts. They acquired cinema expertise, accumulated professional experiences, and developed social networks that later served them. They made diverse choices under Japanese colonial rule— some left Manying and Manchukuo, others stayed for practical reasons, still others adopted covert resistance. A few sympathized with Japanese rule, and another few resisted at the risk of their freedom or lives.

Keywords:

• Manchurian Film Association (Manying)
• Chinese filmmakers
• personal interests
• actors
• directors
• scriptwriters
• modernity
• coloniality

Notes on contributor

Yuxin Ma is an Associate Professor of East Asian History at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. She has received her Ph. D in History from University of Minnesota, and published a monograph Women Journalists and Feminism in China, 1898–1937 (2010). She has placed articles in Japan Studies Review, Twentieth Century China, Studies on Asia, Journal of Georgia Association of Historians, Gender Issues, Women’s History Review, Virginia Review of Asian Studies, American Review of China Studies, and American Journal of Chinese Studies.

Correspondence to: Yuxin Ma, email: [email protected]

Notes

1 At Japan’s defeat in 1945, about five hundred of Manying’s remaining sixteen hundred employees were Chinese. Since many Chinese employees had already left Manying, the actual number of Chinese who had worked at Manying was much greater. See Sato Tadeo, Paosheng zhong de dianying (Cinema and Rumble of Gunfire) trans. Yue Yuankun (Beijing: Shijie tushu chubanshe, 2015), 81. Another source shows that by the end of 1944, Manying employed 1800 people, both Japanese and Chinese from diverse points on the political spectrum, including underground Nationalist agents, Communist guerillas, and naïve adolescent actors. See Zhang Yingjin, Chinese National Cinema (London: Routledge, 2004), 84.

2 Li Xianglan was the Chinese name for Japanese actor Yamaguchi Yoshiko who was born and raised in Manchuria, and educated in Beiping. Japanese managers at Manying hid her Japanese identity, and used her beauty, singing talent and bilingual skills to portray innocent Chinese girls who fell into love with Japanese men who tried to rescue her in Japanese propaganda movies. Since such movies could be understood as a metaphor that China needed Japan’s rescue, they were offensive to Chinese viewers. Li Xianglan was charged as a Chinese traitor in Shanghai after Japan’s defeat. But she was absolved at the last minute because she showed her birth certificate, which proved that she was indeed Japanese rather than Chinese. She resumed her Japanese name and returned to Japan in 1946. Yamaguchi Yoshiko was active in cinemas of Hong Kong, Japan, and Hollywood from 1ate 1940s to 1950s. She became Otaka Yoshiko after she married a Japanese diplomat Otaka Hiroshi in 1957. She worked towards Chinese-Japanese détente in the Japanese parliament, and was elected to the upper house in 1974 and served until 1992.

3 Zhang Quan, “Yu zhimin xiangguan de sige gongshi/lishi chayi weidu miaoshu—Dongya Rijuqu wenxue yishu yanjiu de yizhong hongguande fanfa” (A description of the four differential models relating to colonial rule—a broad methodology of studying literature and art in Japanese occupied East Asia) Chuangshang: Dongya zhiminzhuyi yu wenxue, edited by Liu Xiaoli and Ye Zhudi (Shanghai: Sanlian shudian, 2017), 25–58: 45–47.

4 “The Legitimization of a Multi-ethnic Literary Culture in Manchukuo,” in Glorify the Empire: Japanese. Avant-Garde Propaganda in Manchukuo, edited by Annika A. Culver (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2013), 168–92.

5 Annika Culver, “Introduction: ‘Manchukuo Perspectives,’ or ‘Collaboration’ as a Transcendence of Literary, National, and Chronological Boundaries,” in Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approach to Literary Production, edited by Annika Culver and Norman Smith (University of Hong Kong Press, 2019), 2–4.

6 Wang Yanhua, “Manying yu Dongbei lunxian shiqi de Riben zhiminhua dianying yanjiu—yi daoyan he zuopin wei zhongxin” (A Study of Manying and Japanese Colonial Films in Occupied Manchukuo: Film Directors and Their Works) Ph. D diss., Northeast Normal University, China. 2009 (in Japanese); Wang Hong, “Shijie de yingxiang—‘Manyying’ lunkao” (Disloyal Images—A Study of Manying), Ph. D diss., Northeast Normal University, China. 2009.

7 Peter B. High, The Imperial Screen: Japanese Film Culture in the Fifteen Years’ War, 193–1945 (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003), 61, 293.

8 “The Manchuria Motion Pictures Corporation: Its Structure and Work,” Manchuria, vol. 4, no. 15 (Special Number, July 20, 1939), 5–7.

9 Michael Baskett, The Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan (Honululu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008), 32.

10 E. Mei, “Commerce and Culture: The Manchukuo Film Industry from 1937–45” Master thesis, National University of Singapore, 2009; Sookyeong Hong, “Between Ideology and Spectatorship: The ‘Ethnic Harmony’ of the Manchuria Motion Picture Corporation, 1937–45,” Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, vol. 2, no. 1 (May 2013): 116–138.

11 Mariko Asano Tamanoi, ed. Crossed Histories: Manchuria in the Age of Empire (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005; Bruce Elleman & Stephen Kotkin, eds. Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China: An International History (Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 2010); Bill Sewell, Constructing Empire: The Japanese in Changchun, 1905–1945 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2019).

12 Louise Young, Japan’s Total Empire: Manchukuo and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); Prasenjit Duara, Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003).

13 Rana Mitter, The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.

14 Norman Smith, Resisting Manchukuo: Chinese Women Writers and the Japanese Occupation (Vancouver University of British Columbia, 2009), 18–19.

15 Dan Shao, Remote Homeland, Recovered Borderlands: Manchus, Manchukuo and Manchuria, 1907–1985 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2011).

16 Annika A Culver, Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-Garde Propaganda in Manchukuo (Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2013).

17 Yuxin Ma, “Public Performance and Private Choices: Manying Actresses as New Women,” American Journal of Chinese Studies, vol. 26, no. 1, 15–42; “Technology Transcending Ideologies: Chinese Cinema Technicians at Manying,” Journal of Modern Chinese History, 14, no. 2 (to appear in December 2020).

18 Yusho Otsuka, Mikan no tabiji (The unfinished journey) (Kyoto: San’ichi shobo, 1960); Koji Okamato, A Manshu (Ah, Manchuria) (Tokyo: Keibunkan, 1963); Akira Iwasaki, ed. Negishi Kan’ichi (Tokyo: Ozorasha, 1969); Yoshiko Yamaguchi and Eujiwara Sakuya. Ri Koran: Watashi no hensei (The former half of my life). Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1987; Fumiko Kishi and Taeko Ishii, Man’ei to watashi [Man’ei and Me] (Tokyo: Bungei shunju, 2015).

19 Sato Tadao, Kinema to hosei: nitchu eiga zenshi (Cinema and the Ruble of Gunfire) (1985); Yamaguchi Takeshi, Maboroshi no kinenma Man’ei (Man’ei: Phantom Cinema) (Heibonsha, 1989); Aishu no Manshu Eiga (Melancholic Manchurian Cinema) (Tokyo: Santen Shobo, 2000); and Maboroshi no kinema Man’ei: Amakasu Masahiko to katsudōya gunzō (Phantomatic Cinema: Man’ei Amakasu Masahiko and Filmmakers) (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2006). Taichio Sayaka, “Manshû eiga kyôkai no yakuwali to sono eikyo” (The Role and Impact of Manchurian Motion Picture Corporation). MA thesis. Waseda University 1999; Reiko Ikegawa, Teikoku no eiga kantoku Sakane Tazuko: kaitaku no hanayome, 1943 nen, Man’ei (Sakane Tazuoko, Film Director of the Empire: The Bride of Reclamation, Man’ei in the year of 1943) (Tokyo: Yoshikawa kobunkan, 2011). The only exception is Pang Tao’s Ph. D dissertation at Hokkaido University in 2014, “Shinchyugoku eiga, shinchyugoku bungei niokeru man’ei no eikyo: Zhu Wenshun, Jia Zuoguang, Wang Qimin wochyushini” (Cinema of New China and Chinese Cultural figures who had Manying Influence: Zhu Wenshun, Jia Zuoguang, and Wang Qimin).

20 Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying mianmian guan (Aspects of National Policy Films at Manying) (Beijing; Zhinghua shuju, 1990); Li Zhen, “Cong Yingchunhua shilun Manzhou yinghua de fuzaxing” (On the complexity of Manchurian cinema based on feature movie Winter Jasmine), Dianying yishu, vol. 322, no. 5 (2008): 107–122; also “Yingchunhua: Manzhou weiguo zhi miyu” (Winter Jasmine: the secret language of bogus Manchukuo), Dianying yishu 330:117–123; Jiang Lei, “Manying zuojia qunluo kao” (A study of the writers’ group at Manying) Shehui kexue zhanxian (May 2008), 138–147; Ding Shanshan, “Cong Jieda huanxi kan Manying de chuangzuo guannian” (On Manying’s artistic creativity: a study of All Well that Ends Well), Journal of School of Chinese Language and Culture Nanjing Normal University (Spring 2008): 156–162; also “Lun Manying de nümingxing xingxiang jiqi wenhua neihan” (A study of the images of Manying female actors and their cultural connotations). Jiangsu shehui kexue, no. 4 (2009): 158–163. Wang Hong, “‘Shijie’ de yingxiang: Manying lunkao.” Zhang Yiwei, “Yingchunhua chengshi yingxiang, Li Xianglan yu zhiminshidai de gongye dianying” (Winter Jasmine and urban impression: Li Xianglan and colonial industrialization). Wenyi pinglun, vol. 441, no. 7 (2010): 140–143; Furuichi Masako, “Manying” dianying yanjiu (A study of Manying cinema) (Beijing: Jiuzhou chubanshe, 2010). Pang Zengyu, Manying: Zhiminzhuyi dianying zhengzhi yu meixue de meiying (Manying: the shadow of politics and aesthetics in colonial cinema of Manying) (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2015); Zhang Quan, “Rijuqu dongfang zhuminzhuyi dianyingzhang de huanmie—yi Manzhouguo manxi lisan dianyingren wei zhongxin” (The disillusion of oriental colonial films under Japanese occupation: on the diaspora of Manchukuo Chinese filmmakers) 2015.http://twcinema.tuna.eduedu.tw/ct2015

21 Zhang Jin, Changchun yingshi: dongbeijuan (Stories of Changchun film history) (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe) 2011; Also Li Yu’s many interviews in the column of “The Series of Oral History of Chinese Filmmakers,” in Dangdai Dianying (Contemporary Cinema).

22 Shelly Stephenson, “‘Her Traces are Found Everywhere’: Shanghai, Li Xianglan, and the Greater East Asian Film Sphere,” in Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 222–45; Yingjing Zhang, ed., Chinese National Cinema (New York and London: Routledge, 2004), 84–85; Michael Baskett, The Attractive Empire, 28–33, 77–79; E. Mei, “Commerce and Culture: The Manchukuo Film Industry from 1937–45.” Sookyeong Hong, “Between Ideology and Spectatorship.” Jie Li, “A National Cinema for a Puppet State: The Manchurian Motion Picture Association” in The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas, edited by Carlos Rojas and Eileen Cheng-Yin Chow (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 79–80.

23 Ying Guo, “Making Dreams with the Enemy” Chinese Collaborationist Filmmakers in Manchukuo, 1937–45.” MA thesis. The University of British Columbia, 2018; Yue Chen, “Between Sovereignty and Coloniality—Manchukuo Literature and Film.” Ph. D dissertation. The University of Oregon, 2018.

24 Poshek Fu, Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration: Intellectual Choices in Occupied Shanghai, 1937–45 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995); Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinemas (Stanford: Stanford University Press,2003), 131.

25 Michael Baskett, The Attractive Empire, 5, 8.

26 Chen Yan, “Wusi mailuo,” 44–63.

27 Such as Shengjing shibao (Shengjing Times 1906–1945) in Fengtian, Binjiang ribao (Binjiang Daily 1937–45) in Harbin, and Datongbao (Great Unity Herald 1932–45) in Xinjing, Taidong ribao (Taidong Daily) in Dalian.

28 “Yinghai yushen” from February 20, 1933 to April 28, 1940. The column was nominally edited by two Japanese, but its reports and articles were mostly written by Chinese journalists.

29 Liu Xiaoli, “Unpacking ‘New Manchuria’ Narratives: Propaganda, Fact, Memory, and Aesthetics,” in Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approach to Literary Production, edited by Annika Culver and Norman Smith (University of Hong Kong Press, 2019), 19.

30 The magazine started in two versions--Manzhou yinghua in Chinese and Manshu eiga in Japanese, both were nominally edited by Japanese, first Hideyo Iida (Dec.1937–September 1938), Fujisawa Tadao (October 1938-July 1939), then Yamashita Akira. The two versions had different content— the more substantial Japanese version focused on film culture in Japan and the connections between Manying and Japanese film world for Japanese readers; the Chinese version was edited by Jiang Feng first, then Wang Ze and Zhao Mengyuan; it introduced Manying film policy, filmmakers and activities, and popularized film education among Chinese readers. Two versions merged into a bilingual magazine edited by Chinese in August 1939.

31 Chen Chenghan, “Yinghua xiehui yu jianguo jinshen yi guanxi,” Manzhou yinghua, vol. 2, no. 6 (June 1938). Chen was a Manchukuo cultural official who had served the State Council and Public Information Office before he joined Manying as the head of Actor Training center. He emphasized that the mission of Manying was to propagate the kingly way and the spirit of national construction.

32 Those five magazines included Xingya, Qingnian Wenhua, Xin manzhou, XInchao, and Manzhou yinghua. See Wang Hong, “‘Shijie de yingxiang,” 79.

33 Takao Ouichi, “Zhanshi xia dianying de shiming” (The mission of cinema during wartime). Dianying huabao, vol. 6, no. 4 (April 1942): 40.

34 Zhang Jin, “Ma Xun fangtanlu” (Interview with Ma Xun). Dangdai dianying (Contemporary cinema) no. 9 (2014): 67–73.

35 Yamaguchi, Maboroshi no kinema Man’ei, 132–33; Hideo Kobayashi, Amakasu Masahiko to Ri Koran: Man’ei to iu Suteji (Amakasu and Ri Koran: on Men’ei stage). (Tokyo: Bensei Shuppan, 2015), 136.

36 “Weilai nümingxing fangwenji” (Interviews with future female stars), Binjiang ribao (Binjiang daily). November 6, 1937.

37 “Xinqi mingxing, qiantu wuliang: Jing-Ha xuande junxiu: gongda sishi ren zhi duo” (Bright stars, great future: forty-two talents from Xinjing and Harbin), “Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, November 14, 1937.

38 Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying, 40–42, 96–97.

39 Louise Young, Japan’s Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999), 211.

40 Shengjing shibao, March 26, 1939; April 19, 1938; and August 28, 1938.

41 Wang Wentao was a general, “Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, December 19, 1937; Yu Mengfang was a lecturer at a Japanese girls’ school “Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, December 12, 1937; Wang Yupei was a government official Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, December 26, 1937; Du Zhuan was a pharmacist, “Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, November, 28, 1937; Hou Zhiang was an employee at Harbin railway station, “Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, November 21, 1937; Gao Ge was a government employee, “Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, November 14, 1937; Qu Chuangying was a merchant, “Yinghai yushen,” Shengjing shibao, January 1, 1938; Guo Fengyang was a high school teacher, Guo Yanping and Liu Shenwu, Zhang Jing yu Guo Fenyang, 20; Wang Ze was an accountant; “Manying shiqi dianying yishu mingjia Wang Ze xiansheng zhuan” (Biography of Manying film artist Wang Ze), in Lao Changchun (Old Changchun) (Yanbian: Yanbian renmin chubanshe, 2000), 780. Pu Ke was a shop assistants, Jin Yun, “Pu Ke Zhuan (Biogrpahy of Pu Ke),” Changchun wenshi ziliao (Changchun historical materials) no. 2 (1986): 8–12; Wang Fuchun was a bank clerk, Ba Ren, “Dongdang suiyue shiqinian: zong sheyingshi Wang Qimin he yanyuan Bai Mei (Turbulent seventeen years: on Genegal Cinematogrpaher Wang Qimin and Actress Bai Mei),” Changchun wenshi ziliao no. 2 (1987): 1–62.

42 Jin Yun, “Pu Ke Zhuan,” 21.

43 “Daojing hou nannü mingxing” (Male and female stars after they arrived in Xinjing) Binjiang ribao, November 27, 1937; “Wang Dan fangwenji” (Interview with Wang Dan), Binjiang ribao, January 1 and 26, and February 5, 1938; “Wang Dan jiang tuoli yinmu shenghuo” (Wan Dan will leave the cinema), Binjiang ribao, June 14, 1938; Shengjing shibao, March 6, 1938.

44 “Sanwei yiti kentanhui” (Tripartite roundtable discussion), Manzhou yinghua, vol. 3, no. 7 (July 1939).

45 Jin Yun, “Pu Ke Zhuan,” 14.

46 Yamaguchi Yoshiko and Fujiwara Sakuya, Wo de qianbansheng—Li Xianglan zhuan (The early half of my life—the biography of Li Xianglan) (Beijing: Shijie zhushi chubanshe, 1988), 70.

47 “Yanyuan nan, daoyan yi nan—xinhu, yipian chenggong zhi buyiye—ku yu ma” (The actor and the director each had their own hardship—making a successful movie is not easy—crying and cursing) “Yinghai yushen” Shengjing shibao, July 24, 1938.

48 Guo Yanping and Lu Shenwu, Zhang Jing yu Guo Fenyang (Changchun: Changchunshi zhengxie wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, 2007), 9–22, 29–30.

49 Guo Yanping, “Ji Manying nümingxing Zhang Jing,” Changchun wenshi ziliao no. 27, 184–199: 193; Guo Yanping and Lu Shenwu, Zhang Jing yu Guo Fenyang, 30, 40; Zhang Yi, Manying shimo (Changchun: Changchunshi zhengxie wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, 2005), 55.

50 Guo Yanping and Liu Shenwu, Zhang Jing yu Guo Fengyang, 39.

51 Zhang Yi, Manying shimo, 69–70.

52 Prasenjit Duara, Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. 2003), 131.

53 Kunduo, “Manying quwen: fengliu xuaosheng baoda fengliu guafu” (Funny story at Manying: the romantic dandy who beat the romantic widow), Binjiang ribao, September 27, 1939.

54 “Dianyingcun fangwenji,” 56–58. Manzhou yinghua 4, no. 6 carried a picture of Mizugae and Ji Yanfen.

55 “Manying yimu liuxue an: Xiaojizi dashang Zhu dadaoyan” (A bloody scene: Ji Yanfen hit and injured director Zhu Wenshun), Shengjing shibao, July 20, 1940.

56 Zhang Yi, “Wo suozhidao de Manying,” Changchun Wenshi ziliao no. 1 (1986): 1–43: 23.

57 Zhang Yi, “Wo suozhidao de Manying,” 36.

58 Wang Wentao and Yu Mengfang became assistant directors, Wang Ze became the editor of Manzhou yinghua, Wang Fuchun and Nie Jing became cinematographers. Those moved to Beiping to join North China Film Company included Wang Wentao, Cao Min, Sun Jing, Suo Weimin, Yu Yanhai, Hou Zhi’ang and Hu Yuling, and continuity man Wang Huiren. Some became associate directors or film inspectors there. See Zhang Yi, “Wo suozhidao de Manying,” 13.

59 Actors Song Lai, Li Ying, Hu Yulin did not get much screen opportunities yet regularly penned articles in Manzhou yinghua.

60 Baskett, 82.

61 Zhang Yi, Manying shimo, 71.

62 Jin Yun, “Pu Ke Zhuan,” 26–28.

63 “Dianying zhoukan,” Binjiang ribao, May 27, 1939; also “Duzhe xinxiang” (Readers’ correspondence), Manzhou yinghua vol. 3, no. 8 (August 1939). A movie fan asked the editor of Manzhou yinghua how Ji Yanfen a former trolley assistant could be made a film actress, the editor defended Ji saying that there was no conflict between making a living and pursuing a cinema career.

64 “Dianyingcun fangwenji,” 56–58.

65 “Ji Yanfen xiaojie tu guilai, mianmao xiuli yiran rujiu” (Miss Ji Yanfen suddenly returns, and her face is as beautiful as always), Binjiang ribao, September 11, 12, and 13, 1942.

66 Ba Ren, “Dongdang suiyue shiqinian: zong sheyingshi Wang Qimin he yanyuan Bai Mei” (Tumultuous seventeen years: general cinematographer Wang Qimin and actress Bai Mei), Changchun wenshi ziliao no. 2 (1987): 15–16.

67 “Dianyingcun fangwenji,” 56–58.

68 Ba Ren, “Dongdang suiyue shiqinian,” 21.

69 Ordinary actors and actresses made 150 yuan a month, major actors and actresses received skill supplements and cash awards based on productivity, ranging from 100 to 500 yuan monthly. Best actors received a generous annual award. Zhang Yi, “Wo suo zhidao de Manying,” 24. Actress Zhang Jing received 400 yuan base salary and 500 yuan skill supplement each month. She was awarded an annual bonus of one thousand yuan for her productivity in 1942. An office head in Manchukuo government only made 72 yuan in 1942. Guo Yanping and Liu Shenwu, Zhang Jing yu Guo Fenyang, 42.

70 Zhang Yi, Manying shimo, 48.

71 Guo Yanping and Liu Shenwu, Zhang Jing yu Guo Fenyang, 22.

72 Zhang Yi, Manying shimo, 65.

73 Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying mianmianguan, 165.

74 Bill Sewell, Constructing Empire: The Japanese in Changchun, 1905–45,172; Louis Young, 212.

75 Guo Yanping and Liu Shenwu, Zhangjing yu Guo Fenyang, 58.

76 Lü Ren, “Zhuming sheyingshi jian daoyan Li Guanghui” (Famous cinematographer and director Li Guanghui), Changchun wenshi ziliao no. 2 (1986): 73–139: 87.

77 Jiang Hao, Yu Yanfu, Zhang Min, and Cao Peizhen went to Xingshan; Zhang Yi, Xu Cong, Zhang Bingyu and Zhang Bingling worked for Sun Liren’s troops in Changchun and Xu Cong was executed by Communists, and Zhang Yi was persecuted in Socialist China; Yao Lu and Liu Enjia went to Hong Kong; Meng Hong, Zhang Binyu and Zhang Xiaomin went to Taiwan. Those who disappeared from public included Ji Yanfen and Ma Daijuan who lived in Tianjin, and Sui Yinfu who lived in Beijing.

78 Furuichi Masako, “Manying” dianying yanjiu (A Study of “Manying” cinema) (Beijing: Jiuzhou chubanshe, 2010), 1.

79 Baskett, The Attractive Empire, 83.

80 Zhang Yi, “Wo suo zhidao de Manying,” 2, 9–10.

81 Wang Yanhua, dissertation, 45.

82 Marius B. Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan (The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2000), 573.

83 Edward Behr, The Last Emperor (Toronto: Futura, 1987), 193.

84 Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying, 87–88.

85 Young, Louise Japan's Total Empire, 16.

86 Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying, 90.

87 Furuichi Masako, “Manying” dianying yanjiu, 53, 59.

88 Baskett, The Attractive Empire, 32.

89 Baskett, The Attractive Empire, 8.

90 Guo Shumei, Zhang Shanshan, “Zhimin dianying ‘bentuhua’: wei ‘Manying’ zhizao xujia fanrong” (Localizing colonial films: The false production boom of Manying),” Xueshu Jiaoliu (Academic exchange), April 2014, 187–190.

91 Shengjing shibao, December 19, 1937,

92 Manzhou yinghua 2, no. 2 (February 1938) and 2, no. 5 (May, 1938).

93 Shengjing shibao, December 12, 1937.

94 Shengjing shibao May 15, 1938; Shengjing shibao May 25, 1938. This movie was shown in North China through Xinmin Film Society.

95 Manzhou yinghua 2, no. 5, May 1938.

96 Binjiang ribao, June 10, 1939, p. 7; Shengjing shibao, August 20, 1939; October, 22, 1939;

97 Shengjing shibao, September 4 and Oct. 2, 1939.

98 Shengjing shibao, June 13, 1938; September 4, 1938.

99 Hu Chang and Zhu Jing, “Zhen Wenshun de dianying rensheng (Cinema life of Zhu Wenshun),” Dianying yishu (Film Art) no. 1 (2007): 91–95.

100 “Manying zhaomu manren jiandao” (Manying will recruit Chinese directors) Binjiang ribao, June 15, 1939. Applicants should have a degree from film academy or its equivalent, be proficient in Japanese, and age between twenty and twenty-five.

101 Shengjing shibao, February 18, 1940.

102 “Wang Ze, Zhang Tianci, Zhou Xiaobo fuRi yanjiu jishu (Wang Ze, Zhang Tianci, Zhou Xiaobo will study film techniques in Japan)” Shengjing shibao, March 31, 1940.

103 Manzhou yinghua 4, no. 7. July 1940.

104 “Manxi daoyan fangtanji” (Interviews with Chinese directors), Manzhou yinghua, vol. 4, no. 2. (February 1940): 16–19.

105 Ibid.

106 Ibid.

107 “Yingchao” (Screen news), Shengjing shibao October 2, 1938. Liu was introduced as a hen-pecked man who loved playing cards but always lost.

108 “Manxi daoyan fangtanji.”

109 Zhang Jin, “Li Min fangtanlu” (Interview with Li Ming), Changchun yingshi, 79–93: 83.

110 “Manxi daoyan fangtanji.”

111 Shengjing shibao, May 28, 1940, 5.

112 Liu Wenhua, “Manying dianying zhong de Zhongguo xingxiang lun” (On the images of China in Manying cinema) MA thesis. Changchun University of Science and Engineer, 2016.

113 Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying, 191.

114 Zhou Xiaobo directed ten movies, The Crisis [Fengchao], Spring in Garden [Yuanlin chunse], The Seventh heaven [Tianshang renjian], Marital Crisis [Hunchao], Urban Torrent [Dushi de hongliu], The Disillusion [Huanmeng qu], The Yellow River [Huanghe], A Noble Family [Fugui zhijia], The Tuberose [Wanxiangyu], and The Earth in Spring[Dadi fengchun].

115 “Manzhou qida daoyan zong pipan” (A general critique of seven major directors). Dianying huabao, vol. 7, no. 3 (1943).

116 Zhang Yi, “Wo suo zhidao de Manying,” 9–10.

117 Ying Guo, “Making Dreams with the Enemy,” 49, 53.

118 Ibid, 49.

119 Lü Ren, “Zhuming sheyingshi jian daoyan Li Guanghui” (Famous cinematographer and director Li Guanghui), Changchun wenshi ziliao no. 2 (1986): 73–139: 102–103.

120 Zhang Yi, Manying shimo, 49.

121 Misawa Masami (trans. Li Wenqing, Xu Shijia), Zai ‘diguo’ yu ‘zuguo’ de jiafeng jian-Rizhi shiqi Taiwan dianyingren de jiaoshe yu kuajing (Between ‘empire’ and ‘fatherland’: Taiwanese filmmakers’ negotiation and border-crossing under Japanese colonialism) (Taipei: Taida chubanzhongxin, 2012) 341.

122 Jia Binwu,”Zhimindi chushengzhe de buxing: Taiwan dianyingren Guo Bailin dalu qijian dianyingshi kao (The misfortune of colonial subjects: a study of the film activities of Taiwanese filmmaker Guo Bailin in Mainland),” Zhongwai yingshi (International film history) no. 5 (2019): 71–79.

123 Shengjing Shibao Nov. 7, 1937; Nov. 28, 1937; December 19, 1937.

124 Pang Zengyu, Manying zhminzhuyi dianying, 107.

125 “Manying xiaoji (Random news on Manying)” Shengjing shibao, June 11, 1939.

126 Pang Zengyu, 207.

127 Wang Hong, diss., 76.

128 Shengjing shibao, June 11, 1939. August 20, Oct. 22, 1939; Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying, 185–186.

129 Zhang Jin, “Ma Xun fangtanlu (The Interview with Ma Xun), Dangdai diaying (Contemporary Cinema) no. 9 (2014): 67–73.

130 Wang Xizhai directed comedies Marriage Proposal [Qiuhun qishi], The Miss and the Beggar [Qianjin huazi], Hagiography of Heroes[Lülin Waishi], Bell Tolls at Midnight [Yeban zhongsheng], and the unfinished Conquering the Sky [Zhengfu tianjie].

131 Wang Yanhua, 61.

132 Ding Shanshan, “Cong Jieda huanxi kan Manying de chuangzuo guannian.”

133 Yue Chen, “Between Sovereignty and Coloniality,” 95.

134 Hu Chang and Gu Quan, Manying—guoce dianying, 185–186.

135 Zhang Jin, “Ma Xun fantanlu,” 68, note 1.

136 “Manxi daoyan fangtanji” (Interviews with Chinese directors), Manzhou Yinghua, vol. 4, no. 2 (February 1940): 16–19.

137 “The Issues of Manchurian cinema” Manshu eiga vol. 3.1, 73–75.

138 Wang Ze, “Manzhou dianying paoshi” (An Analysis of Manchurian cinema) Dianying huabao, October, 1943, 22.

139 Wang Ze “Jiesuan he yuji” (Balance and Budget). Dianying huabao (Cinema Pictorial), December 1941.

140 Wang Ze, “Manzhou dianying paoshi” Dianying huabao, November, 1943, 22.

141 “Manying shiqi dianyingyishu mingjia Wang Ze xiansheng zhuan” Lao Changchun (Old Changchun), edited by Yang Zichen (Yanbian renmin chubanshe) 794–795, 804.

142 Zhu Ruihong and Han Xinxin, “Liu Guoquan: Buying beiyiwangde Changying daoyan” (Liu Guo Quan: a director at Changying who shouldnot be forgotten). Dianying wenxue no. 17 (2011): 153–159.

143 “Manying zaji” (Random news on Mnaying), “The screen.” Shengjing Shibao, August 20, 1939, September 10 and September 17, 1939. Yang Ye, “Yinghuade mimi yujiqiao” (The secret and techniques of cinema), Shengjing Shibao, November 2, 1939, December 17, 1939; Shengjing shibao, January 28, 1940.

144 “Manzhou qida daoyan zong pipan.”

145 “Manying zaji” “The screen” Shengjing Shibao August 20, 1939, September 10 and September 17, 1939. Yang Ye, “Yinghuade mimi yujiqiao” (The secret and techniques of cinema), Shengjing Shibao, Nov. 2, 1939, Dec. 17, 1939; Shengjing shibao, January 28, 1940; he also helped localize the Japanese script Qinghai hancheng with Zhang Yinghua and Zhou Lantian.

146 Zhang Jin, “Yuan Mingda fangtanlu (Interview with Yuan Mingda),” Changchun yingshi, 143.

147 Baskett, 91.

148 Liu Wu, “Changchun yu Shanghai zhijian.”

149 “Dianying xinxiang [Cinema mailbox]” Manzhou yinghua 3, no. 8 (August 1939), 60.

150 Shengjing shibao Oct. 16, 1938.

151 Qiqiaotu included three film scripts: Red demon which was anti-communism, Voyage of Black Sea supported the Manchukuo’s abandoning opium, and Qiqiaotu a love story.

152 Yu Zhenmin, “Shaonainai de zhuanjie [The diamond ring of a young mistress]” Manzhou yinghua, 1938, 1, 2; “Ai de Lu [The Road to Love]” Manzhou yinghua 1938, 2, 3.

153 Zhang Quan, “Rijuqu dongfang zhuminzhuyi dianyingzhang de huanmie.”

154 Script writers Wang Ze and Song Peihan were originally admitted to Actor Training Center as student actors. Many Manying script writers joined Manying with the recommendation of their more famous literary friends.

155 Zhang Jin, “Li Min fangtanlu,” 96, 101.

156 Jiang Lei, “Manying zuojia qunluo kao.” “Yi Wenzhi” writers at Manying included Gu Ding, Wai Wen, Yichi, Xinjia, Zhao Mengyuan, Zhang Yinghua, Gu Gongming, Wang Ze, and Wang Du; “Wenxuan” writers at Manying were Liang Shanding, An Xi, Wu Ying, Mei Niang, Wang Qiuying. Those who had no clear allegiance were Liu Guoquan, Yang Ye, Song Peihan, Yang Xu, Tian Ling and critic Chen Yifu.

157 Liu Chao, “From Radical Nationalism to Anti-Modernism,” in Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approach to Literary Production, 140–156.

158 Sun Bang, Weiman wenhua (Manchukuo culture) (Jinlin renmin chubanshe, 1993), 12–18.

159 Zhang Jin, “Li Min fantanlu,”101.

160 Jiang Lei, “Manying zuojia qunluo kao,” 142.

161 Duara, 221–237.

162 Jiang Lei, “Spiritual Resistance: A Study of the Phenomenon of Resistance Literature in Supplements of Manchukuo’s Datong bao [Great Unity Herald] in Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approach to Literary Production. 44–63.

163 Zhang Jin, “Li Min fangtanlu.” Those five scripts were Niangniang miao, Longzheng hudou, Heilianzei, Yingluo gongzhu, Jinghua shuiyue.

164 Zhang Jin, “Li Min fangtanjlu,” 103–104.

165 Youpeng zi yuanfanglai, Shilai yunzhuan, Mantingfang, Qingchun jingxingqu (1941), Wang Mazi gaoyao, Huaheshang Lu Zhishen (with He Qun).

166 Those six scripts were Qinghai hangcheng, Shui zhidao ta de xin, Yuanlin chungse, Lipan huaxiang, Xinhun ji, Baozitou Lin Chong, Xiao fangniu.

167 “Liu Xiaoli et al., eds. Weimanshiqi wenxue ziliao zhengli yu yanjiu (A collection and study of literary Sources in Manchukuo period) (Yanjiu juan) (Beifang wenyi chubanshe, 2017).

168 Those six scripts were Qinghai hangcheng, Shui zhidao ta de xin, Yuanlin chungse, Lipan huaxiang, Xinhun ji, Baozitou Lin Chong, Xiao fangniu.

169 Zhang Xinshi, “Dongdang niandai huiyi—cong Manying dao Changying [Recollection on years of uncertainty: from Manying to Changying]” Changchun wenshi ziliao no. 12 (Changchunshi Zhengxie wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui fanxing, 1986), 44–46.

170 Li Yanwei, “Fankang de zitai”.

171 Zhang Yi, Manying shimo, 68–69.

172 Zhang Jin, “Ma Xun fantanlu,” Li Mang translated Japanese books; Liu Siping became a director at Shanghai Science and Educational film company; Tian Lin edited Northern literature and Art (Beifang wenyi). Liu hi and Zhang Xinshi boxed each other’s faces during the Cultural Revolution.