History
The brainchild of Hong Kong businessman, Luo Mingyou (Law Ming-yau), Lianhua was formally registered in March 1930 in Hong Kong by Luo and his partner, director Li Min-wei (Lai Man-Wai).
By 1931, however, the entire enterprise had transferred operations to the bustling city of Shanghai. That same year the Bright Moonlight Song and Dance Troupe, founded by Li Jinhui, would integrate with the film company. It is the first time a Chinese popular music group of any sort becomes part of the movie industry. The company would later prove to be instrumental in the rise of the first generation of shidaiqu music.
The studio itself consisted of four branches studios: Minxin (which was also founded by Li), Dazhonghua Baihe, Shanghai Yingxi, and Xianggong Yingye; all four had been independent studios during the 1920s before being co-opted by Luo in the early 1930s.
By the mid 1930s, however, Lianhua's fortunes had declined, as the war with the Japanese took its toll on both the company and the city. Japanese bombardment destroyed numerous Lianhua holdings including its Studio No. 4, and soon the company was losing money with each film produced. By 1936, Luo had left Lianhua's management, and Li Min-wei had reformed Minxin Film Company as an independent studio using Lianhua's Studio No. 1. When the Nationalist forces withdrew from Shanghai in late 1937, it signaled the final collapse of the company. By the end of the war, Lianhua had generally been supplanted by other film companies, notably the Xinhua Film Company.
With the end of the war, several of Lianhua's directors returned to Shanghai from Chongqing, Hong Kong, and other cities. Most notably was Cai Chusheng, who returned in 1946 and set about to revive the Lianhua name. Thus, the Lianhua Film Society was formed. Eventually, this new Lianhua would turn into the Kunlun Film Company, which would go on to produce many of the most significant films of the 1940s, including The Spring River Flows East (Dir. Cai Chusheng, Zheng Junli, 1947), and Crows and Sparrows (Dir. Zheng Junli 1949).
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