Xinhua Film Company
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The Xinhua Film Company or "New China" Films, was one of the film companies to capitalize on the popularity of the leftist film movement in 1930s Shanghai, that had begun with the Mingxing and Lianhua Film Companies. It should not be mistaken for the modern-day Xinhua News Agency.
Xinhua was founded and controlled by Zhang Shankun, who had previously worked in the Peking opera scene. By 1935, Zhang had made enough money to create his own movie studio. Zhang proved to be an excellent promoter, and within three years, Xinhua had transformed from a minor newcomer to a major industry player. After the fall of Shanghai in 1937, Xinhua remained the only production company still active in what became known as the "Solitary Island" Period of Chinese film (in that Shanghai was an "island" of production within the "sea" of Japanese occupation). Xinhua's wartime film Mulan Joins the Army proved particularly successful. In 1939, Zhang incorporated Xinhua into an American owned company named Zhongguo lianhe or "China United Pictures" (not to be confused with "United China", a common translation of the unrelated Lianhua Film Company). This was done mainly to escape from Japanese meddling of Xinhua business. After the war, Xinhua gradually supplanted the now defunct Lianhua and weakened Mingxing as the largest studio in post-war China.
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