SHANGHAI

City of the Imagination

Text by ISABEL WOLTE

SHANGHAI IS AN EXOTIC CITY of glamour and luxury, with a hidden dark side. Before 1949, it was often referred to as the 'Paris of the East' or the 'Whore of the Orient', depending on the perspective. The filmic image of Shanghai is shaped by the two faces it supposedly had, either as the epitome of lustre, mystery and decadence, or as the accumulation of filth, poverty and crime. In many Shanghai films these two worlds collide. Shanghai is the only Chinese metropolis that has managed to capture the fascination of foreign and domestic film-makers alike. After the International Settlement was established in 1842, Shanghai attracted businessmen from all over the world as well as immigrants from other parts of China who came to try their luck in this emerging economic hub.

The theme of arriving in Shanghai reoccurs in many films, whether it is the early Hollywood production The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg, 1941), the local Tiyu Huanghou/Queen of Sports (Sun Yu, 1934) or the recent Sino-American romantic comedy Shanghai Calling (Daniel Hsia, 2012). Where Josef von Sternberg used studio technology to create the film noir atmosphere with sexual innuendo and suspense, Chinese movies of the same period were filmed on location and emphasize the perils of the city. Known as the leftist film movement, these works aimed to be realistic: they followed a political mission, often concealed due to strict censorship. The tightly knit communities of the classic Shanghai street architecture with its longtangs (narrow alleys) assisted the underground activities of the film-makers and featured in such classic titles as Shi zi jie tou Crossroads (Shen Xiling, 1937) and Malu tianshi/Street Angel (Yuan Muzhi, 1937).

Given its continually rising international population, Shanghai is where the Chinese film industry developed and thrived until 1949. The 'Golden Age' of Chinese cinema in the 1930s reveals a series of works in which the city is conceived as temptation; the contrast between pure country folk and corrupted city dwellers is a common feature and continues into the late 1940s in grand epics such as Yi jiang chun shui xiang dong liu/The Spring River Flows East (Cai Chusheng and Zheng Junli, 1947). Though generally shown through the defining buildings and structures of the concession area – the Bund, the stone lions that guard the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, the glittering lights holding the promise of lurid nightlife – Shanghai stands for urban life in general. Initially, it fills the protagonists with awe and expectation, until they understand the falsity, injustice and the suffering of the downtrodden. Many an honest woman is forced to go into prostitution. Facing the vices active in city life, the heroes, and often heroines, will choose to join the revolution, be it against the Japanese invasion or against the abusive reign of the Kuomintang government. Despite its allure, Shanghai was a symbol of foreign oppression, a call to arms, and a place that needed to be reformed.

After the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the predominance of Shanghai as film-industry centre and location came to an end. The studios in the city had to deal with other subjects as defined by the government in Beijing. With Jing wu men/ Fist of Fury (Lo Wei, 1972) and its remakes, the Shanghai of the 1920s reappears in Hong Kong cinema first as the setting for martial arts movies. It is the criminal underworld that intrigues and provides the background for the righteous to prove their strength.

The number of films made in China has been increasing steadily since the 1980s, with a staggering rise since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Despite the appeal of Shanghai as business and financial centre, there are few films that depict the modern day metropolis. The overriding image of Shanghai remains a stylized version dating back to the literary and filmic representations of the early twentieth century. The majority of movies set in this era are international productions like Ruguo Ai./ Perhaps Love (Peter Chan, 2005) or Se, Jie/Lust, Caution (Ang Lee, 2007), while audiences may recognize the same corner of old Nanjing Road, as rebuilt at the Shanghai Film Park on the outskirts of the city.

Literary adaptations are numerous. Preference is given to historical pieces, one of the most internationally renowned being Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg, 1987). An exception is Shanghai Baby (Berengar Pfahl, 2007), based on the controversial autobiographic novel by Wei Hui, which features Shanghai's modern skyline, multi-layered highways, and the sense of confusion that infuses some of its younger inhabitants. The feeling of being lost and the search for identity is evident in independent Chinese productions like Wo men hai pa/Shanghai Panic (Andrew YS Cheng, 2001) or the Sino-German co-production Suzhou he/Suzhou River (Lou Ye, 2000). The latter is set in then-abandoned areas of Shanghai which evoke an urban situation that is mysterious and tragic. Nanjing Lu/Street Life (Zhao Dayong, 2006), an independent documentary, focuses on the migrants in Shanghai, a subject explored decades earlier, but this time in no way romanticized.

A few notable productions filmed in Shanghai recall major events of China's past, not focusing on the city itself but on the national calamities that took place, such as Le violon rouge/The Red Violin (Francois Girard, 1998) or Meili Shanghai/Shanghai Story (Peng Xiaolian, 2006). The semi-autobiographical Qing hong/Shanghai Dreams (Wang Xiaoshuai, 2005) is set in the period immediately following the Cultural Revolution with Shanghai featured only as an object of yearning and hope.

Increasingly, major Hollywood productions have chosen this modern metropolis as one of their locations. But as with the recent Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012), it seems that the 1930s Hollywood production methods have returned, with large sets being constructed in studios, thereby keeping location shooting to a minimum. In this case, again, it is a stereotype of Shanghai that is called upon, the city of exotic allure, full of unknown charms and excitement as it is created in the spectator's imagination. In most films, Shanghai continues to appear as its own cliché.

SPOTLIGHT

REPUBLICAN ERA SHANGHAI

Hollywood of the East

Text by DONNA ONG

DURING ITS...