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The evolution process and the cause of the spatial distribution of cinemas in the Shanghai settlements (1919–1943)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2020

Weiqing Zhao Open the ORCID record for Weiqing Zhao [Opens in a new window]
Weiqing Zhao*
Affiliation:
Research Institute of Journalism and Communication, Communication University of Zhejiang, 998 Xueyuan St, Jianggan District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310019, China
*
*Corresponding author. Email: vitsingz@gmail.com
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Abstract

In the first decades of the twentieth century, Shanghai became China's most important film centre, for both production and distribution. The city hosted the largest number of movie theatres in the country. After the establishment of the first theatre in 1908 by a Spanish national, the distribution of movie theatres gradually transferred and expanded from Hongkew District, north of Suzhou Creek to the south bank of the International Settlement. This article examines the characteristics of the distribution of movie theatres in the city from the perspective of authorities’ policy, population density, population structure, traffic and cultural space. It analyses the factors leading to the particular geographical distribution and discusses the possible links between the space of cinema, urban development and urban cultural space.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 149 - 170
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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References

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25 Most cinemas in the Chinese-administered territory were situated in North Sichuan Road.

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34 SMA, U1–3–3544, ‘Extract from Works Committee minutes, 21 Apr. 1925’; SMA, U1–3–3544, ‘Letter from deputy secretary to commissioner of police about proposed theatre – Nanking Road, 4 May 1925’; SMA, U1–3–3544, ‘Letter from secretary to the Crane Construction Co., 28 May 1925’; SMA, U1–3–3544, ‘Letter from commissioner of police to secretary of SMC, 11 May 1925’.

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44 The Central District was centred on Nanjing Road, which was on the east side of the Huangpu River, from Suzhou Creek in the north to the central area of the French Concession in the south, with a total surface area of 2,820 acres. The Northern District refers to Hongkew District, which took North Sichuan Road as its centre, near the North Railway Station, with a total surface of 3,040 acres. The Eastern District was mainly the old American Settlement, especially Tilanqiao and Yangshupu areas, with a total surface area of 16,193 acres. The West was Huxi District which was occupied by the International Settlement during the expansion of 1899, with a total surface area of 11,450 acres. Zou, Yiren, Jiu Shanghai renkou bianqian de yanjiu (A Study of Population Change in Old Shanghai) (Shanghai, 1980), 16–17Google Scholar.

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49 Generally speaking, the war weathered all kinds of industries, but the situation in Shanghai's settlements was just the opposite. The entertainment industry was prosperous because of the war, so this abnormal phenomenon was termed a ‘deformity’.

50 Zou, Jiu Shanghai renkou bianqian de yanjiu, 79.

51 Land prices may have been one of the factors behind such a distribution. The average land price per acre in the Hongkew area was far cheaper than in the International Settlement, in the south of Suzhou Creek. In 1903, the real estate per acre in the centre of the International Settlement (the original British Settlement) was valued at 13,549 taels, while the northern area was valued at 4,819 taels per acre and the eastern part per acre was valued at 2,539 taels. Initially, the audience was limited in size, so land prices were probably a factor for site selection. But land prices were less important than population density and population structure. In 1930, in the International Settlement, the real estate in the central area was valued at 107,882 taels per acre, as compared to 37,863 taels of the northern area, and about 11,864 taels per acre of the eastern area. In contrast, the number of cinemas in the central area has increased since the late 1920s, which suggests that land prices were not the most critical factor in the siting of cinemas. ‘Yinian lai zhi Shanghai dichan shiye’ (Shanghai property business over the past year), in Pan, Gongbi (comp.), Nian'er zhi niansan shishi daguan (Great Views of the Current Events between 1943 and 1944) (Shanghai, 1934), vol. IGoogle Scholar.

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69 The three cinemas were: the Ward Theatre, the Cosmopolitan Theatre and the China Cinema.

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