Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Books and Film
Shanghai's early 20th century cultural heyday saw Chinese and foreign directors and writers
take inspiration from its incorrigible joie de vivre. After Mao's 1949 Communist Revolution, the
arts languished until a curious 1990s generation of creative talents began exploring the com-
plexities of Chinese society as the country opened up to the world.
Lu Xun is revered as one of China's most improtant thinkers and writers
Alamy
Before 1949, Shanghai was the centre of Chinese cinema, where successful studios, such
as Mingxing, Lianhua and Tianyi, produced hundreds of movies aimed at an avid local audien-
ce. The Shanghai film industry endured until 1949, with Crows and Sparrows being the most
searing portrait of life in Nationalist China.
Shanghai's literary and cinematic ambitions dovetailed in the 1920s, when Lu Xun, one of
China's most celebrated novelists, convened regular meetings for forward-thinking authors
