Zhou Jianyun | |||||||||
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| Born | Zhou Yafu (周亚父) 1883 | ||||||||
| Died | 1967 (aged 83–84) Shanghai, China | ||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Dramatist, entrepreneur | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 周劍雲 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 周剑云 | ||||||||
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Zhou Jianyun (simplified Chinese: 周剑云; traditional Chinese: 周劍雲; pinyin: Zhōu Jiànyún, 1883–1967) was a Chinese dramatist and film entrepreneur. Born in Hefei, Anhui, he travelled to Shanghai in his youth for school before entering the city's drama community through the Qimin New Drama Society and press through the Emancipation Pictorial. With his fellow dramatists Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu, in 1922 he established the Mingxing Film Company, variously serving as its manager, finance director, and film distributor. He spearheaded the establishment of the Liuhe Film Distribution Company in 1928, and in the early 1930s he hired several Communist screenwriters. Mingxing was closed in 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and although Zhou established several further companies, these were short-lived.