How did Chinese cinema develop in the 17 years from 1949 to 1966?

From the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 to the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, this period is generally referred to as the "17-year period" by literary historians. According to the records, 507 movies were made in this period. From the point of view of subject matter, the more famous movies in this period can be roughly divided into two categories: one is mainly the movies reflecting the social life before the founding of the country in 1949, and the other is the movies reflecting the struggles and life in all walks of life and on all fronts after the establishment of the new China. Films reflecting the life of the old times and society are: historical films reflecting historical figures and events, such as Lin Zexu and Sino-Japanese War; war films reflecting the Red Army's Long March, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the War of Liberation, such as The Red Maiden Scout, Tunnel Battle, Landmine Warfare, South March and North Battle, Prelude to Eastward Progress, The Hui People's Detachment, The Fading Airwaves, Red Sun, The Spectrum of Red Flag, Bitter Vegetable Flower, The Bitter Flower, The Red Flower, The Red Flag, The Bitter Vegetable Flower, The Bitter Vegetable Flower, The Bitter Vegetable Flower. Bitter Vegetable Flower", "Eternal Life in Flames", "Forest and Sea", "Railway Guerrillas", "Plain Guerrillas", "Reconnaissance on the Crossing of the Yangtze River", "Guests on the Icebergs", "The Story of Liubao", "Dong Cunrui", "Liu Hulan", "Little Soldier Zhang Ga", and "Chicken Hair Letters", etc.; "Adaptation" films reflecting the life of the people of the Old Society of Old China and based on famous novels Blessing", "The Lin Family Shop", "Home", "Early Spring and February", "All My Life", "The White-haired Girl" and "Song of Spring", etc.; "Opera Films" reflecting the lives and struggles of the ancient laboring people in the feudal society: Huangmei Opera, "The Match of the Tianxian Fairy", Yueju Opera, "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", Peking Opera "Wild Boar Forest" and "Yang Men Women Generals" and Kunqu Opera "Fifteen Guan". ◆ Films reflecting the struggles and life in all walks of life and on all fronts after the establishment of New China, such as war films reflecting the war against the U.S.A. and North Korea: Shangganling and Heroic Sons and Daughters, etc., and "anti-Special Agent Films" reflecting the struggles of our public security police with the lurking agents of the U.S. and Chiang Kai-shek in the early period of the founding of the country: The Secret Drawing, Sentry of the Sheep City, Sentry under the Neon Light, and Railway Guards. The Sentinel of Yangcheng, The Sentinel Under the Neon Lights, and The Railway Guards, etc.; rural films reflecting the socialist transformation of the countryside: Li Shuangshuang, Young People in Our Village, New Legends of Veterans, and Liu Qiao'er, etc.; films reflecting the flavor of ethnic minorities and frontiers: Asima, Liu Sanjie, and Liu Sanjie. The "flavor film" reflecting the flavor of ethnic minorities and frontiers: "Asima", "Liu Sanjie" and "Five Golden Flowers", etc.; the song and praise film reflecting the new socialist people, new things, new outlook and new style: "Today I Rest", "Big Li, Little Li and Old Li" and "Satisfied or Not Satisfied". Insufficiency and Contribution of "17 Years of Movies" These movies make us feel that these 17 years of movies are both far away and not far away from us, that is to say far away, these movies are more than 40 years away from us after all, that is to say not far away, some of us, especially those who are some years old, grew up watching these movies, and some beautiful interludes are still with us today. Some of us, especially some of us, grew up watching these movies, and there are some beautiful interludes in these movies that we can still sing today, such as "9-9 Sunny Days" in "The Story of Fort Liu", "Why Are the Flowers So Red" in "Guests on the Iceberg", "A Big River with Wide Waves" in "Shangganling", "The Wind and the Clouds Rolling Over the Hero" in "Heroes and Daughters", "Playing My Favorite Tudor Pipa" in "Railroad Guerrillas", etc. Listening to these familiar tunes, we can see that they are very familiar to us, but they are not as familiar to us as they were in the past. Listening to these familiar melodies brings back many memories of our lost youth, and makes us feel close to them, and even our values, outlook on life and worldview are formed unconsciously in the process of watching these movies. However, as part of China's century-long movie history, we have to look at both sides of the coin when evaluating the movies of this period in general, and "17 Years of Cinema" has both strengths and weaknesses. Let's look at three of its overall shortcomings: first, the films of the 17-year period were basically created in a closed environment. Firstly, China was basically cut off from the West during these 17 years, and was in a state of "closed-door isolation", lacking communication with the outside world. Secondly, it was also cut off from the whole ancient Chinese culture, or basically rejected the splendid classical culture created by the laboring people and intellectuals of the feudal society of China, such as the Tang poems and Yuan operas, Dream of the Red Chamber, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and so on, all of which were then branded as feudalism, which were invisible to the common people, and also inaccessible to the cinema and art workers. Movies like Lin Zexu could be said to have slipped through the net because they contained anti-imperialist and class-struggle content, which was in line with the mainstream discourse of the time, and so they managed to get out. Moreover, even if these films were "left out" at the time, their directors and actors were also affected during the Cultural Revolution. Thirdly, these seventeen years also severed the relationship with the modern Chinese tradition. There are two major traditions in modern Chinese history: the peasant revolutionary cultural tradition led by Chairman Mao Zedong, and the "May Fourth" cultural tradition constructed by the "May Fourth" intellectuals represented by Lu Xun. The films of the 17th century reflected the struggles of the workers and peasants and the revolutionary cultural tradition of the peasants. The cultural tradition of the intellectuals was practically invisible, with only two films, Early Spring and February and Song of Spring, the former of which was criticized as soon as it came out, and the latter of which was still contrary to the cultural ideology of the "May Fourth". Therefore, the films of the 17-year period were basically created in a closed environment. Secondly, an absolute collectivism was used to reject the individual's ego. We say that collectivism is good, but it is terrible to emphasize it to such an extreme that you are not allowed to have any individual selfish thoughts or normal and reasonable demands. It is manifested in literary and artistic works, no matter novels or movies are not allowed to depict love, not allowed to talk about love. Even if it was possible, it was revolution plus love, and love had to be linked to revolution and collectivism before it could be shown. Poetry at that time was written like this: "Do you want me to marry you? You still lack a medal on your chest." I'll marry you only if you're a model worker and a hero! There was also a song, "Young man, don't play and sing at my window, my heart has flown far away, my sweetheart is holding a steel gun in her hand, defending the motherland's borders," that is, revolution plus love. 17 years in the middle of a movie written about love, "The Story of Liubao," which depicted a revolutionary soldier who fell in love with a rural girl but gave up love for the sake of the revolution, the whole movie was written about love. The whole movie expresses the idea of "country first, family later", and that "I" cannot fall in love when the country and the nation are in danger. There is also a movie "Liu Qiao'er", which has a song: Qiao'er went to the market today, and ran into a him, he can write and count, his name is Zhao Zhenhua ...... The key is the last sentence - he is also a model worker! The 17-year period society put collectivism in the highest position, rejecting the individual self with absolute collectivism. Therefore, many songs and praises type of movies in this period have the requirement of putting the person before the self and the country before the family, like Li Shuangshuang and Today I Rest. Again, a superficial optimism is exuded. The films of this period were made in a relatively optimistic way, and the tone of the whole movie was bright and full of laughter because it was a good thing that new China had been founded, that the old society had passed away, and that the people had been turned over to be liberated and their spirits had been stretched. But the problem is that the optimism conveyed in these films implies a view of history, as if it gives us an illusion after watching these films-that with the founding of New China, everything will be all right from now on, as if the guns of the liberation war have completely buried the old world, and that from now on what lies in front of the Chinese people is a smooth road, This denies the twists and turns and complexity of history! We know that the development of history never goes smoothly, and that it is full of ups and downs and twists and turns. So optimism is good, but this optimism behind the hidden view of history is worth our warning. Look at the contribution of "17 Years of Cinema": the flaws mentioned above are just that we are standing in today's society, today's situation, and looking at the past with a higher standard. In fact, the achievements of "17 Years of Cinema" were enormous! At that time, American Hollywood movies were knocking the rest of the world out of the park, but our Chinese movies were able to stand alone! In an almost protective environment, Chinese filmmakers created a lot of excellent works with a relatively calm mindset. In addition, it has contributed a large group of heroes who fought in blood, threw their heads and spilled their blood for the birth of a new China, or in its defense. Today, we can name a series of heroes of the "17-year period", such as Lin Zexu, Deng Shichang, Hong Changqing, Jiang Ziyi, Yang Zirong, Dong Cunrui, Liu Hulan, Xiaobing Zhang Ga, Wang Cheng and so on. These people are what Mr. Lu Xun said, "Since ancient times in China, there have been people who worked hard, people who worked desperately, people who pleaded for the people, and people who sacrificed their lives to seek the law - this is the backbone of the nation"! In other words, the founding of new China was hard-won, and was achieved by a considerable number of martyrs who contributed their youthful blood and even their lives in exchange! Today's rivers and mountains contain the sacrifices of the martyrs, so no matter how glorious the future of our Chinese national history is, *** and the country will never forget these backbones of the nation! 17 years of movies have comprehensively and profoundly shown these martyrs and predecessors, and have passed on their spirit and qualities as the outstanding cultural heritage of the Chinese nation! This is an important spiritual resource, our Chinese movie to fight against western movies, first of all, we have to rely on the traditional resources, any later will not work, the United States have already made "Mulan", has taken our traditional resources to make money. Secondly, we have to rely on the resources provided by our modern history. For example, the legendary experiences of those martyrs in modern Chinese history, and their noble spirit of sacrificing their lives for the sake of benevolence belong to the valuable spiritual wealth and resources of Chinese movies, and they are the important cultural capital for us to compete with western movies. Image: /history/photos/11025921/20050309/12156817.html