Crows and Sparrows

(Wuya yu maque)
(House and Tea Money)

Zheng Junli
China, 1949

Digital Restoration

  • Introduction
    Paul Fonoroff

    Paul Fonoroff is an expert on Chinese cinema who lived for years in Hong Kong and is currently based in Bangkok.

featuring

Zhao Dan, Wu Yin, Wei Heling, Sun Daolin,

A Shanghai apartment building serves as a microcosm of China’s class struggles in Zheng Junli’s striking urban drama, filmed during the last days of China’s Nationalist rule and already looking forward to, as one character states, “a New Society.” A scheming Nationalist official and his greedy wife purchase an apartment building and proceed to lord it over the hard-working families still renting within. Meanwhile, a real war for China’s future rumbles across the nation, mirroring the metaphorical one within the building’s walls. While filming, Zheng provided Nationalist censors with a false script in order to conceal his true intentions; after the government fell, he reshot the film to reinforce his message.

Jason Sanders
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Zheng Junli
  • Chen Baichen
  • Shen Fu
  • Wang Lingu
  • Xu Tao
  • Zhao Dan
Cinematographer
  • Miao Zhenhua
  • Hu Zhenhua
Language
  • Mandarin
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • DCP
  • 113 mins
Source
  • China Film Archive
Preceded By

1946 Mar 7—Anti-Soviet Demonstration in China!

United States, 1946

Shanghai students parade before the Soviet Consulate, protesting the presence of Red troops in Manchuria despite an Allied pledge that they would be withdrawn. 

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • Digital
  • 1 mins
source
  • UCLA Film & Television Archive
Additional Info
  • Hearst Metrotone Newsreel

1946 Sep 26—The Shanghai Story! Amazing Films of China’s “Boom Town”

United States, 1946

“The New York of the Orient,” jam-packed with the influx of refugees from the civil war, swollen to twice its normal population. Speculators in food, medicine, gasoline, and gold ply their trades on the sidewalks. 

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • Digital
  • Silent
  • 3 mins
source
  • UCLA Film & Television Archive
Additional Info
  • Hearst Metrotone Newsreel

1948 Sep 5—Report from China! This is Inflation!

United States, 1948

Runaway inflation in China. Transporting a payroll in Shanghai is a trucking operation.

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • Digital
  • 3 mins
source
  • UCLA Film & Television Archive
Additional Info
  • Hearst Metrotone Newsreel

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