The man who played the wife to launch Hong Kong cinema
In short: Before he was the 'Father of Hong Kong Cinema', Lai Man-wai was a political revolutionary and a versatile actor. In 1913, facing a shortage of female performers, he stepped into a leading female role to help birth an entire industry.
Born in Yokohama in 1893 to Chinese parents, Lai Man-wai’s early life was shaped by the shifting borders of East Asia. His first brush with the moving image came through newsreels of the Russo-Japanese War, an experience that would eventually lead him to found a drama troupe in Hong Kong in 1913. His debut production, 'Zhuangzi Tests His Wife', famously featured Lai playing the role of the wife, a necessity born from the era's reluctance of women to enter the film industry.
Lai’s career was inseparable from the political turbulence of early 20th-century China. A member of Sun Yat-sen’s Revolutionary Alliance, he used the lens to serve the cause of modernization and revolution. In 1922, he established the Minxin production company, which initially focused on educational and cultural documentaries. As he moved his operations from Hong Kong to Shanghai in 1925, his work became a vital tool for the Kuomintang, documenting the Northern Expedition and the rise of Chiang Kai-shek.
His cinematic legacy is defined by both innovation and survival. In 1930, he co-founded the Lianhua Film Company, one of the 'Big Three' studios of the decade, alongside Lo Ming-yau. However, the Japanese attack on Shanghai in 1937 brought an end to this era, forcing his return to Hong Kong in 1938. Despite the political volatility of the era, Lai maintained professional ties across the political spectrum, working with both communists and anti-communists until his death in 1953.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Lai Man-Wai
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