Constructing the Anticommunist Producers’ Alliance

Abstract

This chapter explains the strategic significance of Hong Kong to the Asia Foundation (TAF), which was attributed to its geographical, political, and economic weight among overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. It mentions Robert Blum, who understood the importance of Hong Kong as the primary center in Asia for the production of Chinese media in the Mandarin language. It also talks about the film industry in Hong Kong that had been believed to be heavily dominated by communist producers as it had been subsidized by Chinese communist capital. The chapter identifies film production companies, such as Great Wall Pictures, The Phoenix Studio, and Dragon Horse, that had been markedly successful in local markets since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. It discusses how Great Wall Pictures was cofounded by Zhang Shankun, who is known as the king of Chinese cinema in wartime Shanghai.