Zhang Shankun was born in 1905 in Wuxing, Zhejiang (some sources say 1907), and graduated from Nanyang Public School in Shanghai, the forerunner of Jiao Tong University. He first went into business as an advertising manager for a tobacco company, showing a strong instinct for promotion; he later threw in his lot with the gang leader Huang Jinrong, joined the Qing Bang, and ran the Great World amusement park and the Gong Wutai theatre, drawing audiences with mechanical stage sets and serial plays and building up his skills in publicity and management. In 1934 he gathered a team and founded the Xinhua Film Company at a time when the Star and Lianhua studios all but monopolised production and distribution in Shanghai; through wide connections and high-profile publicity he established Xinhua within a few years and became a central figure of Shanghai's 'isolated island' cinema, successively running the Xinhua, Huaxin and Huacheng companies, producing several hundred Mandarin features across period, romantic and melodramatic genres, and launching stars such as Chen Yunshang and Gu Lanjun. His 'Mulan Joins the Army' (1939) used an ancient story to allude to resistance against Japan and caused a sensation in Shanghai. After the war he stayed in Shanghai for a time to manage his businesses, then moved to Hong Kong after 1949, reviving the Xinhua Film Company and making films such as 'Haitang Hong', 'The Moon over the Wo River', 'Qiu Jin' and 'Peach Blossom River', of which 'Haitang Hong' is often called one of Hong Kong's early colour features. Between 1933 and early 1957 the films he oversaw numbered five or six hundred. On 7 January 1957, while shooting location footage in Japan for 'A Song of the Silver Screen', he died of a sudden heart attack in Tokyo.
Zhang Shankun was a legendary producer of early Chinese cinema who, during Shanghai's 'isolated island' years, built up Xinhua almost single-handed and produced an astonishing number of films, ranking among the most influential producers of the day. After the war he moved to Hong Kong and kept producing, his career spanning Shanghai and Hong Kong and launching stars such as Chen Yunshang; his publicity and management methods left a deep mark on how early Mandarin cinema was marketed.
Achievements
- 1934 · Founded the Xinhua Film Company
- 1939 · Produced 'Mulan Joins the Army', using an ancient story to allude to anti-Japanese resistance
- 1940年代末 · Moved to Hong Kong and revived the Xinhua Film Company