Cheng Jihua, Pioneer in Chinese Film Studies: Interview I

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in 1996, a friend of mine took me to visit Cheng Jihua (1921-) in Beijing. In addition to his official posts, Mr. Cheng has been an actor, film director, teacher and film historian. In my view, his biggest contribution to history is his monumental Zhongguo dianying fazhan shi (History of the development of Chinese cinema)1 that he wrote with the assistance of Li Shaobai and Xing Zuwen. I had heard that Mr. Cheng was jailed during the Cultural Revolution for his involvement in writing this book, but he appeared healthy and was in high spirits. He made us some tea and was pleased to learn that I had come from UCLA. "I taught there in 1983," Mr. Cheng informed me. We chatted for a while, then I started to ask him about the left-wing Chinese films of the 1930s and the current Chinese film industry.