Sexuality in Shanghai

The entertainment industry in Shanghai during the 1920s was very successful. New types of cinema and magazines hit the mainstream crowd and became big hits. Because of this a new class of people were formed that the Chinese people looked up to greatly, a celebrity class. Originally those from poor families would work the fields or help out in small family shops. And conversely those born to rich families would live lives of leisure and dependence. At this time before the 1920s women were taught to conceal themselves to be modest and appropriate.

But with the age of the cinema in 1920s Shanghai, came a generation of new men and women whole broke the limits of what was set. Actresses such as Hu Die and Ruan Lingyu used their talents to break through in Cinema using their intelligence and glamour. This is the first time a profession was opened up to women that wasnÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їt prostitution. Before 1920, short movies were made in Shanghai and Hong Kong. All the performers were male with even the female roles taken by men in drag. In 1921, China's first actresses made it into film. During the 1920s, Shanghai's 90 film companies produced some 600 films. And about 100 actresses shot to fame in the booming industry, China's first generation of women film stars

The same trend could be explored in the pictorials that took off during this era as well. Comic Pictorials referred

to as Ð'ÐŽÐ'oManhuaÐ'ÐŽÐ'± consistently included pictures of nude photos during the late 1920s. Some of these journals included the The Pei-yang Pictorial News (Beiyang huabao), and the The Chin-Chin Screen (Qingqing dianying) . The The Chin-Chin Screen in particular linked nude photos to movie stars thus satisfying the imagination of male movie goers. Short articles about sensuality, sexuality, and pornography enhanced the articles.

Shi, Joshua. "Shanghai Star." China Daily. 2000. Shanghai Star. 12 July 2006

Zhang, Yingjin. "The Corporeality of Erotic Imagination: a Study of Shanghai Pictorials and Fan Magazines of the 1930s." Indiana University. 14 July 2006 .