The Goddess

A famous director of the 1930s, Wu Yonggang (b. 1 November 1907, Jiangsu province d. 18 December 1982) began working with film at the age of nineteen. His father did not think highly of the medium and encouraged him to study fine arts at the Commercial Press. However, Wu found employment at Lily (Baihe) Film Company and was soon discovered by Shi Dongshan, who promoted him to stage designer. Wu’s directing debut, Goddess (1934), a Lianhua Film Company production, was well received by both critics and audiences. He next directed Little Angel (1935), which was based on a prize-winning screenplay. Although his name is often associated with leftist films, Wu was a socially conscious artist in broader terms. In The Desert Island (1936), for example, Wu searched for a common humanism that could unite people, and he lamented the divisions brought about by class consciousness. Yet when it came to foreign encroachments against China, Wu was a staunch nationalist. In the patriotic The Pioneers (1936), Wu advocated unity among the Chinese and armed resistance against foreign invaders. Wu’s films became more diverse during the period 1937-41. There were entertaining action flicks, costume dramas and romantic tearjerkers. Eventually, Wu went to Chongqing, where he worked for Nationalist Central Film Studio and began to film The Path to National Reconstruction. However, the project ran into problems. First, the original female lead, Hu Die, had to be replaced because of Hu’s entangled relationship with Dai Li, head of the Nationalist secret police. Then the crew became caught up in a Japanese bombing raid during location shooting and lost most of its footage and equipment. The project was finally aborted. After the war, Wu directed several noteworthy films, including Loyal Family (1946) and A Decision of Life Time (1947). He also founded Daye Film Company and produced Waiting for Spring (1947). During the 1950s Wu directed three films: The Far Away Village (1950) deals with land reform, Hasen and Jiamila (1952) tackles issues of ethnicity, and Qiu Meets Goddess of Flowers (1956) is a fairy tale. In 1957, Wu wrote an essay criticizing the party’s excessive control over the film industry. He was labelled a Rightist and deprived of any opportunity to direct more films. (He was not able to make another film until 1962). Wu made two popular, politically ‘safe’ opera movies. In the post-Cultural Revolution period, he directed the highly acclaimed Night Rain on the River (co-dir. Wu Yigong, 1980), which won Best Film at 1981 China GRA. Wu Yonggang then retired from filmmaking —chinesecinema.ucsd.edu