Yuan Muzhi

Yuan Muzhi was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, on 3 March 1909. He was abandoned as an infant and adopted by foster parents, but lost both of them by the age of seven. He was raised by his uncle and attended a boarding school in Jiangyin. He entered Beijing Film Academy in 1928, where he translated, directed, and acted in The Rising of the Moon, a play by the Irish dramatist Lady Gregory. It was the first Chinese production of the play. He also sent the play to George Bernard Shaw to express his admiration and received a reply that encouraged him to be creative and original. After graduating from Beijing Film Academy in 1932, Yuan worked as a primary school teacher in rural Nanhui County outside of Shanghai. In late 1934, he wrote the patriotic play Put Down Your Whip, inspired by Tian Han's play Meiniang. It became extremely influential and was staged countless times throughout China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The actress Wang Ying even performed an English version of the play in the White House for President Roosevelt and his wife. ¹ During the war, Yuan also made a famous staging of the play Qu Yuan, and wrote one of the first Chinese books on film theory. He joined the Lianhua Film Company and directed several films, such as Crows and Sparrows (1947), Scenes of City Life (1935), and Street Angel (1937). He also collaborated with Shi Dongshan, Cai Chusheng, and Zheng Junli, who were among the most prominent film directors and screenwriters in pre-Communist China. ¹ After the war, Yuan returned to Shanghai and became a leading member of the Lianhua Film Society. His most famous film was Women Side by Side (1949), which depicted the lives of three women from different social classes during the Chinese Civil War. The film was a critical and commercial success, but was denounced as a "poisonous weed" during the Cultural Revolution. ¹ After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Yuan continued to work in the film industry, serving as the vice president of the China Film Association and the director of the Beijing Film Studio. He also led delegations to international film festivals and made significant efforts in film education and popularization. He directed several films in the 1950s and 1960s, such as Waves on the South China Sea (1963), which won the Best Feature Film Award at the 3rd Hundred Flowers Awards. ¹ Yuan died of a heart attack on 30 January 1978 in Beijing, at the age of 68. ¹ He was one of the most influential and innovative filmmakers and playwrights in Chinese cinema and drama history. He was a pioneer in progressive and realistic filmmaking and writing, and a master of social commentary and human drama. He created milestone films and plays that reflected the conflicts of human nature and destiny, demonstrating a profound artistic vision and cultural awareness. His works have been widely praised and studied by critics and scholars, and have inspired generations of filmmakers and audiences. He was also a patriot who championed the resistance against Japanese invasion and the liberation of China. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1978, and received several honors and awards for his contributions to Chinese film and drama art.