Film first came to China when some French movies were featured in East China's Shanghai Municipality on August 11, 1896 - less than half a year after its birth in the world. People at the time were astonished by the novel invention and thus named it "screened opera."

But Chinese began to make films in the autumn of 1905, when Ren Jingfeng, who learned the shooting skills in Japan, bought a French-made wood-covered camera and some films. He chose a Peking Opera masterpiece Ding Junshan performed by Tan Xinpei as the content of the movie. Thus Tan became the first film actor and Liu Zhonglun became the first film cameraman in Chinese history.

Although the film's skills and quality were limited, the fact that the first attempt of making film began with opera film boasts very symbolic meanings: it reflected that Chinese film was very well integrated with traditional Chinese art form even from the very first day.

In 1912, Zhang Shichuang and Zheng Zhengqiu formed the first film company and shot the first short film with simple plots. The movie mocked the feudal marriage system. Though the shooting skill was at the initial stage, it still signaled that Chinese film had entered a new development stage. The movie debuted in 1913, and created a sensation. In 1913, Zhang shot the first news film "Shanghai War," recording the current situation in Shanghai.

Author: Jeff