Queen of Sports

Sports Queen (Chinese: 体育皇后; pinyin: Tǐyù Huánghòu), also known as Queen of Sports and The Athletic Queen, is a 1934 Chinese film directed by Sun Yu, starring Li Lili and Zhang Yi. The film revolves around the story of a girl who arrives in Shanghai to devote her talents to athletics and is almost led astray by college boys but is put back on track by her male coach and comes to understand the idea of “true sportsmanship (体育真精神)”.

Sports Queen
Actress Li Lili in Sports Queen
Directed bySun Yu
Written bySun Yu
StarringLi Lili
Release date
  • 1934 (1934)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageSilent

One of the best auteurs of 1930s Shanghai cinema, the director Sun Yu made a series of films featuring the refreshing image of “bonny girls”, which not only entertained the audiences at that time but more importantly, advocated the spirit of “sports saving the nation” in the social and political context of 1930s China. The film was made to coincide with the 1934 Far Eastern Games (the precursor to the Asian Games) in Shanghai.[1]

Plot

The story begins with Lin Ying (Li Lili), a high-spirited daughter of a wealthy rural family, who comes to Shanghai with her father.[2] She is initially set up with a suitor[3] but after displaying athleticism she goes to attend a special school for female athletes,[4] who compete to bear the title of the “Queen of Sports."[5]

Inspired by the noble conviction that China will become a stronger country if all the people were to strengthen their own bodies, Lin Ying works hard to become an outstanding sprinter. However, she becomes spoiled by success and becomes arrogant and neglectful of her studies. She begins to associate herself with westernized college boys who spend their time drinking, smoking and dancing. After being rescued by her dedicated coach, Yun Peng (Zhang Yi), she vows to change her ways and continues to work hard.[6]

By the end of the film, however, following the death of a classmate from a gruelling race and overexertion, Lin Ying decides that the pursuit of the individual glory is wrong. She is no longer interested in being hailed as the “Queen of Sports” and resolves to serve others as a regular teacher of physical education.[7]

Cast
  • Li Lili as Lin Ying, the high-spirited heroine.
  • Zhang Yi as Yun Peng, Lin Ying’s mentor and coach, who trains the school’s athletes “to save the nation through tiyu (athletics)."[8]
  • Wang Moqiu as Ai Zheng
  • Yin Xu as Yun Yan
  • Bai Lu as Xiao Qiuhua
  • Han Lan'gen as Xiaomao
  • He Feiguang as Hu Shaoyuan
  • Liu Jiqun as Lin Ying's Uncle

Production

Origins

In the early 1930s, China was in danger from Japanese militarism as well as economic depression.[9] During this time, Sun Yu was a producer, director, screenwriter and actor for the Lianhua Film Production and Printing Company, a studio established by the producers Luo Mingyou (1901–1967) and Li Minwei (1893–1953).[10] The studio was made under the auspices of the top-tiered politicians, ideologues and financiers of the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party) for the purpose of making educational films that would promulgate the Party's socio-political values, which are understood as being 'right-wing.' The KMT invested a lot of money into the making of educational films (both documentary and fiction) for political purposes, which gave birth to the film Sports Queen.[11] Sun Yu began shooting the film on November 26, 1933.[12]

Themes and Inspirations

Due to the dangers of Japanese militarism and the economic depression that hit China in the early 1930s, many people involved in the film industry called for the revolution and revitalization of national films, including director Sun Yu. Inspired by the country's call for revitalizing national films, Sun Yu produced the film with the idea of a 'fit woman's body' to match the popular propaganda of "Fitness helps to save the Nation."[13]

Throughout the 1930s, Chinese film making was also strongly influenced by the perceived Hollywood's melodramatic cinematic style, which was characterized by scandal, sexual promiscuity, drug addictions and more. Despite filmmakers' claims of attempts to warn the audience about an alien spiritual pollution, foreign cultural modes were still often displayed in an alluring way and attracted more audiences than repelled. Sun Yu was one of the first leftist filmmakers who attempted to explore the idea of spiritual pollution with Sports Queen in 1934, which was also produced under the political influence of Xia Yan’s small Communist film group in Shanghai.[14]

The Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China) started the “New Life Movement” in February 1934. This movie also agreed to some extent with the New Life Movement. For example, the film took two minutes focusing on personal hygiene issues: Lin Ying and her teammates get up in the morning and do gymnastics on their canvas beds before brushing their teeth; the close up shot here features Lin Ying’s action, followed by two school maintenance workers washing their faces and brushing their teeth.[15] This sequence be understood as the film's standpoint to the New Life Sports Hygiene Regulations: "Go to bed early and get up early, keep your face and hands clean. Be sure to brush your teeth and keep your hair clean."

The film's narrative consists of a strong sense of community and societal expectations over a single individual. To further advance China's image to the rest of the world's perception with a more positive one, and contributing to national development, Sun Yu believed that emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in the individual would build the nation as a whole.[16]

Casting

One of the goals of Sports Queen was to display Li’s athletic ability.[17] This film also embedded her presence as “an athletic movie star,"[18] especially as it highlighted her proficiency in running, a part of the male-dominated sport of track and field.

Fan magazines confirmed Li’s athletic skills outside of the film screen with photos of her in sports attire, posing with her school basketball team or alone on a running track. While there were other “actresses visiting sports games,” Li was respected and admired as an “athlete” herself.[19]

Reception

True Sportsmanship

Li Daoxin, the professor of Peking University, had a speech on CCTV and uses Sports Queen to talk about true sportsmanship (lit. the spirit of sports).[20]

Sports Queen obviously entrusts Sun Yu's reflection on the concept of "sports to save the country". This reflection is first manifested in the film's inscription: "Dedicated to the Soldiers Who Work for the True Spirit of Sports". Under the inspiration of "True Sportsmanship", the heroine Lin Ying gave up her victory and the title of "Queen of Sports". Sun Yu interpreted "True Sportsmanship" as the collective progress of the nation and the necessary personal sacrifice for the overall benefit of the society.[21]

When he teaches his female students, Yun Peng claims, "True sportsmanship is the need for balanced improvements of every single person’s physique, the need to spread [this value] among society...it is definitely not to create individual heros!", expressing that the replacement of individual competitive success with the widespread popularization of sports is the definition of the so-called “true sportsmanship.”[22]

In her last moments, Xiao Qiuhua said to Lin Ying, "Though I am an athlete, I do not possess true sportsmanship, because physical exercise should be for strengthening the body, for us to be more healthy and lead happier lives, but instead I placed too much importance in reputation and thus it has lead to consequences today." Thus according to scholar Zhao Zijian, Director Sun Yu intended to impart the message that the most important part of sports should not be victory or defeat, but the participation and the process of doing so.[23]

This didactic message about the need to harness the individual body – in particular, the female body – for nation building is not to be missed. It focuses on the collective, that feature of subsequent Chinese sports films.[24]

The Athletic New Woman

Li Lili’s persona as a patriotic modern youth in Sports Queen is profoundly different from that of a fallen woman which Ruan Lingyu represents in her popular films such as Goddess and New Women. In Sports Queen, Li’s distinctively female physicality shown in the camera’s focus on her body greatly departs from the clichéd image of the fallen woman that Ruan typically exhibits in her masterpieces, who usually uses cosmetics and even self-commodification to enhance her sexual appeal. This shift indicates an identification of “modern culture of fashion and consumption” as well as the conflict of traditional Chinese values and contemporary fashionable femininity.[25]

Victor Fan, drawing from the work of Hansen and Laura Mulvey, claims that the film centres on the playfulness (a resistance against being viewed seriously) of Lin Ying and emphasizes her athletic curiosity, making the athletic female body a "scopophilic fetish". Fan argues that the sexual attraction between Yun and Lin was captured through the shot-reverse-shot sequences.[26]

Upon arrival in Shanghai, the female protagonist is enrolled in a school focused on physical education, as she runs around actively outdoors while also taking classes and practicing music indoors, exploring the values of sportsmanship. This image on screen stands in stark contrast to the traditional Chinese view of a woman who should have bound feet (three-inch golden lotus) and stay indoors at all times.[27]

China at the time still maintained many conservative values, such as that women should stay within the bedroom instead of being out and about, yet this film was unconventional in that it subverted these traditions and presented to viewers women of a new era. Thus the understanding and definition of women experienced enormous change under the guidance of film culture.[28]

Despite the portrayal of active women, out of approximately thirty title cards throughout the film, communication between Lin Ying and Yun Peng take up about 20 of them, through which a clear logic is conveyed: women require the teaching and leadership from a man—the sports queen has a gift for sports but is psychologically like a baby who needs protection and guidance.[29]

The title “sports queen” became sought after to its audiences, and advocated athletics as a significant part of womanhood.[30]

Few scholars focused on the effect of sports and athletics on creating modern Chinese women. However, Sports Queen sparked discourse in female physical health with the film’s presence in Chinese media and popular culture. Tiyu huanghou: modeng mingge xuan (Queen of sports: selections of modern popular songs) was a music booklet named after the film. It consisted of music and lyrics of the most popular songs of the time. The first song in the booklet was also called Sports Queen, though not part of the film.[31]

The cartoon magazine Modern Sketch used images inspired by the film in their publications, such as pictures of “Li crouching at the starting line and running among a group of strong and tough girls."[32] These images of female athletes became popular with college and middle school students, depicting the film as popular within this age group and giving it a certain degree of social influence. Li Lili even drew cartoons herself, collaborating with cartoonists such as Shao Xunmei, Ye Lingfeng, and Ye Qianyu. In Modern Sketch’s article Shidai xiaojie de jianglai (The Future of the ladies of the age), Ye Qianyu drew a cartoon portrait of the actress titled “Sweet Girl Li Lili” to promote the actress’s sweet disposition. Written by Xu Xingqin, the article was published on April 15, 1934. This image is also seen in Lili’s 2001 memoir, which she published only for the eyes of her friends and family.[33]

The popular photography pictorial Liangyou Huabao also used similar sporty images of Li from Sports Queen to support the film’s message of tiyu (physical education). The caption read: "The Goal of Tiyu : competition supports tiyu, but the ultimate goal of tiyu is definitely not competition. In athletic competition, the winners do not have to be overjoyed, and the losers do not have to cry, because they are both actors who perform in front of the masses to show them that physical health is the true meaning of tiyu. We do not need a so- called 'queen of sports.' What we need are healthy citizens, even though they may finish last in athletic competitions. Every athlete should firmly remember: the ultimate goal of tiyu is to cultivate healthy bodies in order to contribute to the greatest work for the happiness of mankind, not a gold spear or a silk banner."[34]

English translations

An English-subtitled copy of the film is available on YouTube and on the Chinese Film Classics website.[35]

Sports Queen was released in the United States on Region 0 DVD on May 8, 2007 by Cinema Epoch, under the title Queen of Sports. The disc featured English subtitles and also included Sun Yu's The Big Road (aka The Great Road).

References
  1. Chinese Film Classics course module 2: "Sports Queen" (1934): http://chinesefilmclassics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/course/module-2-sports-queen-1934/
  2. Pickowicz, Paul G. (2013). China on Film: A Century of Exploration, Confrontation, and Controversy. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 9781442211797.
  3. "The Ancient Art of Falling DownVaudeville Cinema between Hollywood and China". MCLC Resource Center. 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  4. Pickowicz, Paul G. (2013). China on Film: A Century of Exploration, Confrontation, and Controversy. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 9781442211797.
  5. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  6. Pickowicz, Paul G. (2013). China on Film: A Century of Exploration, Confrontation, and Controversy. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 9781442211797.
  7. Pickowicz, Paul G. (2013). China on Film: A Century of Exploration, Confrontation, and Controversy. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 9781442211797.
  8. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  9. Kendall, Susan L. (2011-10-25). "International Children's Digital Library: A Library for the World's Children2011372International Children's Digital Library: A Library for the World's Children. Manchester, MA: International Children's Digital Library Foundation 2002‐. URL: http://en.childrenslibrary.org/index.shtml Gratis Last visited May 2011". Reference Reviews. 25 (8): 32–33. doi:10.1108/09504121111184426. ISSN 0950-4125. External link in |title= (help)
  10. Fan, Victor (January 2011). "The cinema of Sun Yu: Ice cream for the eye…but with a homo sacer". Journal of Chinese Cinemas. 5 (3): 219–251. doi:10.1386/jcc.5.3.219_1. ISSN 1750-8061. S2CID 154855940.
  11. Fan, Victor (January 2011). "The cinema of Sun Yu: Ice cream for the eye…but with a homo sacer". Journal of Chinese Cinemas. 5 (3): 219–251. doi:10.1386/jcc.5.3.219_1. ISSN 1750-8061. S2CID 154855940.
  12. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  13. Kendall, Susan L. (2011-10-25). "International Children's Digital Library: A Library for the World's Children2011372International Children's Digital Library: A Library for the World's Children. Manchester, MA: International Children's Digital Library Foundation 2002‐. URL: http://en.childrenslibrary.org/index.shtml Gratis Last visited May 2011". Reference Reviews. 25 (8): 32–33. doi:10.1108/09504121111184426. ISSN 0950-4125. External link in |title= (help)
  14. Pickowicz, Paul G. (1991). "The Theme of Spiritual Pollution in Chinese Films of the 1930s". Modern China. 17 (1): 38–75. doi:10.1177/009770049101700102. ISSN 0097-7004. JSTOR 189251. S2CID 144631565.
  15. 陈, 惠芬 (2013). "《体育皇后》中的民族、阶级、城市与性别叙事". 《影視藝術》. 7.
  16. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  17. Christopher Rea, Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949 (Columbia University Press, 2021), ch. 2.
  18. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  19. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. JSTOR 41491020.
  20. "李道新：《体育皇后与体育真精神》_cctv.com提供". www.cctv.com. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
  21. Lü, Li, Huang, Gangbing. "试论中国体育电影中"被看"的女性 On the Women Been Watched in Chinese Sports Movie". 南京师范大学文学院学报 Journal of School of Chinese Language and Culture Nanjing Normal University.
  22. 杨, 翊 (2017). "电影《体育皇后》里"新女性"身体的规训与狂欢". 戏剧之家 Home Drama (14): 86–88.
  23. 赵, 子建 (2012). "论电影《体育皇后》的叙事主题". 芒种 Mangzhong Literature (18): 208–209.
  24. Crosson, Seán (2013). "The sports film, national culture and identity". Sport and Film: 32. doi:10.4324/9780203858424-13 (inactive 2021-01-15).CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2021 (link)
  25. Hansen, Miriam Bratu (2000-10-01). "Fallen Women, Rising Stars, New Horizons: Shanghai Silent Film As Vernacular Modernism". Film Quarterly. 54 (1): 10–22. doi:10.2307/1213797. ISSN 0015-1386. JSTOR 1213797.
  26. Victor, Fan (2011). "The Cinema of Sun Yu: Ice Cream for the Eye…but with Ahomo Sacer". Journal of Chinese Cinemas. 5: 219–251. doi:10.1386/jcc.5.3.219_ (inactive 2021-01-15).CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2021 (link)
  27. 杨, 翊 (2017). "电影《体育皇后》里"新女性"身体的规训与狂欢". 戏剧之家 Home Drama (14): 86–88.
  28. 赵, 子建 (2012). "论电影《体育皇后》的叙事主题". 芒种 Mangzhong Literature (18): 208–209.
  29. 杨, 翊 (2017). "电影《体育皇后》里"新女性"身体的规训与狂欢". 戏剧之家 Home Drama (14): 86–88.
  30. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  31. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  32. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  33. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  34. Gao, Yunxiang (2010). "Sex, Sports, and China's National Crisis, 1931-1945: The "Athletic Movie Star" Li Lili (1915-2005)". Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. 22 (1): 96–161. ISSN 1520-9857. JSTOR 41491020.
  35. Chinese Film Classics course module 2: Sports Queen (1934): http://chinesefilmclassics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/course/module-2-sports-queen-1934/
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