The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya
Cinema, as one of the early mass communications, is an important site from which scholars can pursue the question of how to understand history, society and the construction of cultural identity. The Shaw Organization is one of the oldest establishments of the Chinese cinema in Southeast Asia and ser...
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Kajian Malaysia (Journal of Malaysian Studies), Universiti Sains Malaysia
2011
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oai:www.myjurnal.my:155232018-09-20T00:00:00Z The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya PSM History Cinema, as one of the early mass communications, is an important site from which scholars can pursue the question of how to understand history, society and the construction of cultural identity. The Shaw Organization is one of the oldest establishments of the Chinese cinema in Southeast Asia and serves as an ideal vantage point from which to assess the cultural connection between the early Chinese cinema and the early migration of Chinese to British Malaya. This article investigates one of the most popular genres of the time, namely the Wuxia pian or Martial arts film, in early 20th century Shanghai along with its contemporary marketing networks in then Malaya and Singapore. This article demonstrates that the cultural vacuum purposely ignored by the British rulers in Malaya gave the Chinese entrepreneurs not only great economic opportunities but also the ability to exert a greater cultural influence over the public through negotiating, defining and formatting the fluidity of the Chinese identity in Malaya and subsequently Malaysia. The symbolism of 'Chineseness' and the notion of justice within the genre of the Wuxia pian are each based on a veneration of shared symbols and historical myths together they have, to a certain extent, re-energised the study of the construction of Chinese identity and popular cinema. Kajian Malaysia (Journal of Malaysian Studies), Universiti Sains Malaysia Ngo, Sheau Shi 2011-00-00 Journal application/pdf 15523 www.myjurnal.my/filebank/published_article/10038KM Vol. 29 Supp. 1 - Art. 5 - (Ngo Sheau Shi).pdf www.myjurnal.my/public/article-view.php?id=15523 |
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History PSM The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya |
description |
Cinema, as one of the early mass communications, is an important site from which scholars can pursue the question of how to understand history, society and the construction of cultural identity. The Shaw Organization is one of the oldest establishments of the Chinese cinema in Southeast Asia and serves as an ideal vantage point from which to assess the cultural connection between the early Chinese cinema and the early migration of Chinese to British Malaya. This article investigates one of the most popular genres of the time, namely the Wuxia pian or Martial arts film, in early 20th century Shanghai along with its contemporary marketing networks in then Malaya and Singapore. This article demonstrates that the cultural vacuum purposely ignored by the British rulers in Malaya gave the Chinese entrepreneurs not only great economic opportunities but also the ability to exert a greater cultural influence over the public through negotiating, defining and formatting the fluidity of the Chinese identity in Malaya and subsequently Malaysia. The symbolism of 'Chineseness' and the notion of justice within the genre of the Wuxia pian are each based on a veneration of shared symbols and historical myths |
author2 |
Ngo, Sheau Shi |
author_facet |
Ngo, Sheau Shi PSM |
format |
Journal |
author |
PSM |
author_sort |
PSM |
title |
The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya |
title_short |
The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya |
title_full |
The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya |
title_fullStr |
The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Shaw Brothers' Wuxia Pian: an early business-cultural connection for the Chinese in Malaya |
title_sort |
shaw brothers' wuxia pian: an early business-cultural connection for the chinese in malaya |
publisher |
Kajian Malaysia (Journal of Malaysian Studies), Universiti Sains Malaysia |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://www.myjurnal.my/public/article-view.php?id=15523 |
first_indexed |
2018-09-20T08:20:13Z |
last_indexed |
2018-09-20T08:20:13Z |
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1612222147321659392 |