View source for Hou Yao

{{short description|Chinese film director, screenwriter, and film theorist}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Hou Yao
|image=Hou Yao.jpg
|birth_date=1903
|birth_place=[[Panyu District|Panyu]], [[Guangdong]], [[Qing dynasty|Qing Empire]]
|death_date={{death date and age|1942|2|15|1903}}
|death_place=[[Japanese occupation of Singapore|Japanese-occupied Singapore]]
|spouse={{Unbulleted list|[[Pu Shunqing]]|Wan Hoi-ling (尹海靈)}}
|alma_mater=[[Southeast University]]
|module={{chinese|child=yes|c={{linktext|侯|曜}}|p=Hóu Yào}}
}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Hou (surname)|Hou]]|lang=Chinese}}
'''Hou Yao''' (1903–1942) was a pioneering Chinese film director, [[screenwriter]], and [[Film theory|film theorist]]. He wrote and directed many films including ''The Discarded Wife'' (1924), ''[[Romance of the Western Chamber (1927 film)|Romance of the Western Chamber]]'' (1927), the first Chinese film shown in Western countries, and ''[[Mulan Joins the Army (1928 film)|Mulan Joins the Army]]'' (1928). He wrote ''Techniques of Writing Shadowplay Scripts'', the first theory book on Chinese filmmaking. He founded the Culture Film Company, which was merged into a predecessor of the [[Shaw Brothers Studio]]. He has been called the Chinese [[Henrik Ibsen]] for his advocacy for [[gender equality]], which he shared with his wife [[Pu Shunqing]].
After the [[Empire of Japan]] [[Second Sino-Japanese War|invaded China]] in 1937, Hou Yao wrote and directed a series of patriotic films against Japanese aggression. In 1942, he was murdered by the Japanese during the [[Sook Ching]] massacre in [[Singapore]].
==Biography==
[[File:Li Minwei, Liang Linguang, and Hou Yao.jpg|thumb|Hou Yao (right), with [[Li Minwei]] (left) and photographer Liang Linguang (middle), in the 1920s]]
Hou Yao was born in 1903 in [[Panyu District|Panyu]], [[Guangdong]] province. In the 1920s, he attended Nanjing Advanced Normal School (now [[Southeast University]]) in [[Nanjing]], [[Jiangsu]] province, majoring in education. He joined the influential Literary Association ({{lang|zh-hans|文学研究会}}) at the school, and wrote the stage play ''The Discarded Wife''.{{sfn|Ye|Zhu|2012|p=76}}<ref name=sh>{{cite web |url=http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node4429/node4432/node70711/node70715/node70723/userobject1ai55056.html |script-title=zh:侯曜 |trans-title=Hou Yao |publisher=Shanghai Municipal Government |language=Chinese |access-date=10 June 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190514/http://www.shtong.gov.cn/node2/node4429/node4432/node70711/node70715/node70723/userobject1ai55056.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
After graduating in 1924, Hou joined the [[Great Wall Film Company]] in [[Shanghai]], where he adapted ''The Discarded Wife'' into a film, which he co-directed with [[Li Zeyuan]]. It was Great Wall's first film. He then wrote the scripts for the films ''In the Dream of Loved Ones'' (1925) and ''The Star-Plucking Girl'' (1925), and directed ''Cupid's Dolls'' (1925, co-directed with [[Mei Xuechou]]) and ''The Hypocrite'' (1926).{{sfn|Ye|Zhu|2012|p=76}} Each of his films of this period sought to reflect a social issue, such as [[women's rights]], marriage, and war.<ref name=sh/> Along with his wife [[Pu Shunqing]], he was a strong advocate for gender equality, acknowledged as the Chinese [[Henrik Ibsen]].{{sfn|Bettinson|2015|p=110}}
In 1925, Hou Yao published ''Techniques of Writing Shadowplay Scripts'', the first theory book on Chinese filmmaking.{{sfn|Rojas|Chow|2013|p=63}} In the same year, he joined the [[China Sun Motion Picture Company]] founded by [[Li Minwei]]. He directed ''Peace of God'' in 1926 and ''[[Romance of the Western Chamber (1927 film)|Romance of the Western Chamber]]'' in 1927. The latter was the first Chinese film shown in Western countries.{{sfn|Ye|Zhu|2012|p=77}} He directed and starred in ''[[A Poet from the Sea]]'' (1927), a film that featured elaborate [[cinematography]].{{sfn|Zhang|2012|p=31}} In 1928 he directed ''[[Mulan Joins the Army (1928 film)|Mulan Joins the Army]]''.{{sfn|Ye|Zhu|2012|p=77}}
Hou went to [[Tianjin]] in 1929 and worked as a teacher for a time.<ref name=sh/> He then briefly worked for the [[Beijing]] branch of Li Minwei's [[Lianhua Film Company]], where he produced ''Sad Song from an Old Palace'' in 1932. He later moved to [[Hong Kong]], and established his own studio, Culture Film Company. In 1933, he made the film ''The Fool Pays Respects'' for Zhenye Film Company.{{sfn|Ye|Zhu|2012|p=77}}
In 1937, the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] erupted. The next year, Hou merged his Culture Company into the [[Nanyang Film Company]], a predecessor of the [[Shaw Brothers Studio]], and directed and wrote a number of "national defence" films against Japanese aggression, including ''Great Wall of Blood and Flesh'' (1938), ''The Last Minute Call'' (1938), and ''Storm Over the Pacific'' (1939).{{sfn|Ye|Zhu|2012|p=77}} ''Storm Over the Pacific'', adapted from a novel he wrote himself, envisioned the outbreak of the [[Pacific War]] and the defeat of the [[Empire of Japan]] by the United States and the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name=tkp>{{cite news |url=http://news.takungpao.com/fk/takung/plaza/2014-02/2276021.html |script-title=zh:早期香港电影──国防电影与侯曜 |trans-title=Early Hong Kong cinema — National Defence Film and Hou Yao |newspaper=[[Ta Kung Pao]] |language=Chinese |date=13 February 2014 |access-date=12 June 2015 |archive-date=13 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813032104/http://news.takungpao.com/fk/takung/plaza/2014-02/2276021.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1940, Hou moved to [[Singapore]], where he continued to work for the Shaw Brothers.{{sfn|Zhang|2012|p=30}} After the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, Japan [[Battle of Singapore|defeated Britain]] and [[Japanese occupation of Singapore|occupied Singapore]]. Because of his history of anti-Japanese activism, the Japanese murdered Hou Yao in 1942,{{sfn|Ye|Zhu|2012|p=77}}{{sfn|Zhang|2012|p=30}} at the beginning of the [[Sook Ching]] massacre.<ref name=tkp/>{{sfn|Bettinson|2015|p=112}}
==Legacy==
[[File:Pu Shunqing.jpg|thumb|upright|Pu Shunqing, Hou's first wife]]
Hou Yao is considered a pioneer of [[Chinese cinema]],{{sfn|Zhang|2012|p=26}} and his extant films and publications are critical for the study of early Chinese film history.{{sfn|Zhang|2012|p=30}} ''A String of Pearls'', a 1926 film he scripted, and ''Romance of the West Chamber'' were long thought to be lost, but rediscovered in the 1990s. ''A Poet from the Sea'' was rediscovered in Europe.{{sfn|Zhang|2012|p=30}}
Hou Yao's assistant [[Fei Mu]] later became one of China's most celebrated directors.{{sfn|Rojas|Chow|2013|p=63}}
==Personal life==
Hou Yao married twice, and both his wives became women film pioneers.{{sfn|Bettinson|2015|p=110}} He was first married to [[Pu Shunqing]], his schoolmate at Southeast University. A playwright and screenwriter who worked with Hou on many projects, Pu is considered China's first woman screenwriter.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/pu-shunqing/ |title=Pu Shunqing |author=S. Louisa Wei |publisher=Columbia University |work=Women Film Pioneers Project |access-date=10 June 2015}}</ref>{{sfn|Wang|2013|p=332}} In the 1930s, he married his assistant scriptwriter Wan Hoi-ling ({{zh|t=尹海靈}}), who became one of Hong Kong's first women directors, but probably never formally divorced Pu.{{sfn|Bettinson|2015|p=110}}
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography==
*{{cite book
|last=Bettinson
|first=Gary
|title=Directory of World Cinema: CHINA 2
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcVDCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA110
|year=2015
|publisher=Intellect Books
|location=Bristol
|isbn=978-1-78320-400-7
}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Rojas
|first1=Carlos
|last2=Chow
|first2=Eileen
|title=The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myXXqpee_XQC&pg=PA63
|year=2013
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|isbn=978-0-19-976560-7
}}
*{{cite book
|last=Wang
|first=Lingzhen
|title=Chinese Women's Cinema: Transnational Contexts
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KS5FAAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT332
|year=2013
|publisher=Columbia University Press
|isbn=978-0-231-52744-6
}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Ye
|first1=Tan
|last2=Zhu
|first2=Yun
|title=Historical Dictionary of Chinese Cinema
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=javqwyBe0WoC&pg=PA76
|year=2012
|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield
|isbn=978-0-8108-6779-6
}}
*{{cite book
|last=Zhang
|first=Yingjin
|title=A Companion to Chinese Cinema
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HW9nMGuYtGkC&pg=PA30
|year=2012
|publisher=John Wiley & Sons
|isbn=978-1-4443-3029-8
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hou, Yao}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Film directors from Guangdong]]
[[Category:Writers from Guangzhou]]
[[Category:Film directors from Shanghai]]
[[Category:Hong Kong film directors]]
[[Category:Cinema pioneers]]
[[Category:Southeast University alumni]]
[[Category:Executed people from Guangdong]]
[[Category:Chinese people executed abroad]]
[[Category:People executed by Japanese occupation forces]]
[[Category:Male actors from Guangzhou]]
[[Category:People from Panyu District]]
[[Category:Chinese casualties of World War II]]
[[Category:Chinese male silent film actors]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese male actors]]
[[Category:Chinese silent film directors]]
[[Category:Civilians killed in World War II]]