Dingjun Mountain (film)


Dingjun Mountain was a 1905 Chinese silent film directed by Ren Qingtai a.k.a. Ren Jingfeng, who was assisted by his cinematographer Liu Zhonglun. This film, made by Beijing's Fengtai Photography, constitutes the first Chinese film ever made.
The film consisted of a recording of Peking opera superstar Tan Xinpei dressed in the character Huang Zhong and singing some arie from the Peking opera of the same name. The play is a dramatised account of Battle of Mount Dingjun and based on an episode in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The only print was destroyed in a fire in the late 1940s.

In popular culture

Two films tell the events leading up to this film.
Shadow Magic, a 2000 US-China co-production directed by Ann Hu, stars Xia Yu as Liu Jinglun, Liu Peiqi as Master Ren, Li Yusheng as Tan Linmei, Lü Liping as Ren's wife, and Li Bin as Empress Dowager Cixi. It also stars Jared Harris and Xing Yufei.
The 2005 Chinese film Dingjun Mountain was made to celebrate 100 years of Chinese cinema. Directed by An Zhanjun, it stars Yang Lixin as Ren Jingtai, Tan Yuanshou as his great-grandfather Tan Xinpei, Hao Rongguang as Liu Zhonglun, Lü Zhong as Empress Dowager Cixi, and Qu Ning as Ren's wife. It also stars Liang Jingke.