Lai Man-Wai

Li Minwei (also Lai Man -wai ,黎民 伟, Lí Minwei; born September 25, 1893 in Yokohama, Japan, † October 26, 1953 in Hong Kong ) was a Chinese actor, director and film producer. He is regarded as the "father of the Hong Kong film ".

Life

Born in Japan, Li grew up in Hong Kong and in 1911 became a member of Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang party. In 1913 he was, together with Li Beihai in the production of the first arising in Hong Kong movie Zhuangzi checked his wife ( Zhuang shi qi) involved. Li Minwei took over the role of the wife even as at that time no women in the Chinese film occurred. His wife Yan Shanshan was in a small role in this film, the first Chinese woman in a feature film.

From 1921 to 1928 he was in Shanghai - the center of Chinese film industry - worked as a film director. In 1923 he founded in Hong Kong, the film company Minxin, who moved to Shanghai later. 1930 was the resulting film production company founded in Lianhua together with Luo Mingyou, the most important Chinese film society of the 1930s was beside Mingxing. In 1938, after the start of the Sino-Japanese War, Li Minwei returned to Hong Kong and sat down to rest.

About him turned Choi Kai- kwong 2001, the documentation Lai Man -wai: Father of Hong Kong Cinema. Li Minwei was shown in Stanley Kwan's 1992- film biography of Ruan Lingyu Centre Stage by Waise Lee.