| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.5 | The History Cooperative

Poshek Fu. Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinemas. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2003. Pp. xvi, 202. Cloth $49.50, paper $19.95.
In this richly detailed account based on newspapers, journals, film archives, interviews, and close viewings of old movies, Poshek Fu presents a history of Chinese cinemas in two cities during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Shanghai and Hong Kong both claimed the distinction of being the "Hollywood of the East." Shanghai was a major market, while Hong Kong supplied many technicians and performers. The industries in the two cities meanwhile were linked by a ready exchange of capital and talent. Chinese cinema in its formative period was thus not a national enterprise self-contained within the boundaries of the nation-state but a diasporic venture connecting the Chinese populations in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Australia, and North America.	1
A majority of Shanghai and Hong Kong films were low-budget productions adapted from local operas. The "hits" among them relied on the appeal of the stars, the familiarity of the genre, the glamor of the sets, and the insertion of "fun and noise"—comic acts that enlivened the screen if not the intellect. The real origins of Chinese cinema were therefore not transnational influence but local operatic routines much beloved by the illiterate folks.	. . .

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