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A black-and-white picture of a young woman leaning over a table
Wang Lianying, a Shanghai courtesan, was killed on 9 June 1920.

Wang Lianying was a Chinese woman who was killed by Yan Ruisheng.

Background

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  • Prostitution in Shanghai

Biographies

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Wang Lianying

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Wang Lianying (simplified Chinese: 王莲英; traditional Chinese: 王蓮英; pinyin: Wáng Liányīng) was born to a bannerman from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and his wife. Her father died in her childhood, and Lianying's mother married the teahouse owner Wang Changfa.[1] The family was rendered destitute following the 1911 Revolution, and Wang dropped out of the girls' school in which she was enrolled.[2] One contemporary work of "news fiction" (新闻小说) narrated that she had become a prostitute in Hangzhou as a result of this bankruptcy.[3]

A black-and-white image of a smiling young man
The perpetrator, Yan Ruisheng

In 1916, Wang arrived in Shanghai with a woman identified as her mother. She at first took residence with a popular courtesan, but left to establish her own brothel after interpersonal conflicts broke out. She gained recognition following the 1917 courtesan election, during which she gained the title "Premier of Flowers". In the following years she worked with several other courtesans, including Xu Di, and gave birth to a daughter in 1919. By her twentieth birthday, Wang was working at a brothel in Xiao Huayan.[2]

Yan Ruisheng

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Yang Ruisheng (simplified Chinese: 阎瑞生; traditional Chinese: 閻瑞生; pinyin: Yán Ruìshēng), the perpetrator of the killing, was a twenty-six-year-old man who lived in Qingpu with his widowed mother.[4] He was university educated, being variously identified as having studied at Zhendan University,[2] Aurora University, and Fudan University.[5] He was reported to speak English and French fluently,[6] and to have worked in Hong Kong.[7] A translator and calligrapher, he worked with several foreign-owned companies.[8] He had also learned to drive, a rare skill at the time.[5]

By January 1920, Yan was unemployed.[6] He was a man of expensive tastes, being known to frequent the cinemas, bet on horse racing,[5] and hire prostitutes[9] Even after his unemployment, he did not stop gambling or frequenting courtesans, and thus fell deep into debt.[6] As the Dragon Boat Festival was approaching, Yan was under increased pressure; according to industry custom, all debts to courtesans were expected to paid in full by the date of the festival.[9]

Murder

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Formulation and preparation

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Seeking to escape his debt, Yan borrowed a diamond ring from Ti Hongguan (题红馆), his favourite courtesan. He pawned it for 600 yuan (equivalent to ¥55,222 in 2019), which he subsequently lost betting on horses. Needing to return the ring, he chose to rob a courtesan. He ultimately chose Wang, who had a reputation for wearing expensive jewellery,[6] and whom his friend had described as wearing a diamond ring and luxurious clothing.[9]

Using calling cards borrowed from friends, Yan met Wang on 4 June and 7 June 1920; a third attempt, on 5 June, received no response. During these interactions, Yan estimated that her diamond ring was worth 2,000 yuan (equivalent to ¥184,075 in 2019). He brought several friends, including Zhu Zhija (朱稚嘉) – the son of the wealthy merchant Zhu Baosan [zh] – to her house on 8 June for a gambling session, thereby establishing himself as a man of wealth. At the end of their session, Yan invited Wang to see him the following day to play mahjong. Having arranged to pick Wang up at the home of Xiao Lin Daiyu (小林黛玉), another courtesan, Yan subsequently asked to borrow Zhu's car.[6]

On 9 June, Yan began to acquire the implements needed for the murder. He purchased chloroform from a drugstore, then hired his acquaintance Wu Chunfang (吴春芳) as an accomplice. Sending Wu to purchase something with which to strangle Wang,[a] Yan travelled to Zhu's house to retrieve his car. Dismissing Zhu's chauffeur, Yan met Wu and a third man, Fang Rishan (方日珊), at a teahouse.[6] He attempted to find Wang, but she was not at Xiao Lin Daiyu's home and thus he returned to the teahouse.[10]

Execution

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Wang arrived at the home of Xiao Lin Daiyu at approximately 6:30 p.m., adorned in numerous pieces of jewellery. Yan told her that the mahjong game had been cancelled, and offered instead to take her for a drive through the Shanghai countryside. Initially unwilling,[b] Wang ultimately agreed to join him.[10] They left Shanghai along No. 2 Hongqiao Road, with Yan driving, Wang in the passenger seat, and Wu and Fang in the rear.[11]

As dusk approached, Yan stopped the car amidst the fields outside Shanghai, ostensibly to light the lamp. He and his accomplices retrieved the chloroform from the trunk, poured it over a cotton pad, and attempted to smother Wang. When she struggled and begged for her life, they added more until she fell unconscious. At this point, the men separated, Yan distracting a passing peasant by offering him a ride and Wu and Fang strangling Wang and stealing her jewellery.[10]

Wang's body was loaded into the car, with the intent of dumping it in a more isolated area. As Yan drove, Wu and Fang divided the stolen goods, distracting him long enough to hit a tree and damage the mudflaps. When they reached a suitably isolated area, Yan stopped. At this point, Wang was still breathing, and he thus instructed his accomplices to kill her while he returned the car.[10] By the time he returned at midnight, having paid off the chauffeur to conceal the damage, the other men were gone. Wang's body had been left exposed to the elements.[12]

Discovery and investigation

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A Chinese-language newspaper article
Front page of the Shen Bao, 19 June 1920, offering a reward for the capture of Yan Ruisheng.

As the night passed, Wang's parents contacted Zhu to inquire about her; Zhu, assuming that Wang and Yan's rendezvous had culminated in a sexual encounter, assured them that she would return soon. However, after discovering the damage to his car on 10 June, Zhu became suspicious. He found Yan near a pawnshop, redeeming Ti Hongguan's ring, the following day. When asked about Wang's whereabouts, Yan fled. Later that evening, he asked Wu to bury Wang's corpse, though this request went unheeded.[12] On 12 June, the supplemental Little Eastern Times and the tabloid Crystal published notices that Wang had disappeared.[13]

Several days later, on 15 June, Wang's badly decomposed body was discovered by farmers in a wheat field in Hui Township alongside the murder weapon.[14] Initial coverage, carried in such newspapers as the Shen Bao and the Min Kuo Jih Pao, incorrectly reported that the body belonged to a forty-year-old woman. Further coverage, published the following day, identified the cause of death and suggested that the victim had been a prostitute.[15] Wang was identified in the press as the likely victim on 17 June, and the news that she had last been seen with Yang was released three days later.[13]

As detectives with the Shanghai International Settlement investigated the killing, Wang's body was sent for identification. On 18 June,[16] Wang's parents were asked to identify the corpse, which they did based off it was identified based on a hair ornament.[12] Rewards were subsequently offered for information leading to the arrest of the murderer.[c] One of Wang's gold pins was recovered from a local pawn shop. Local authorities, seeking to prevent further murders, ordered that no calls for courtesans be allowed after midnight.[12]

Press coverage of the investigation brought its progress to readers in Shanghai. A 20 June 1920 report in the Surplus Spirit indicated that investigators had interrogated all of Wang's clients. Zhu was identified as potentially involved in the murder as early as 18 June, and his father's prominence drew the public's attention.[d][17]

Meanwhile, Yan fled Shanghai, heading northward. On 8 August, several weeks after the murder,[e][18] he was spotted at the Xuzhou railway station by a police officer. He was promptly arrested, and during interrogation he named his accomplices;[12] Wu was located and detained several days later, while Fang escaped.[16] Several pieces of Wang's jewellery were recovered, including a diamond ring and a pearl necklace, were recovered. Others were never found.[12] On 9 August, Yan was sent back to Shanghai for trial.[16]

Trial

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A Chinese-language newspaper article
Announcement of the execution of Yan Ruisheng and Wu Chunfang, Shen Bao, 24 November 1920

Yan and Wu were remanded to the Shanghai Mixed Court in the International Settlement. Both men confessed to the crimes, and further testimonies were provided by Zhu and his chauffeur.[19] As part of his confession, Yan indicated that the idea for the murder came from American cinema.[20] The men, tried together, were found guilty of robbery and murder in early October.[9]

A second trial was subsequently conducted by the Chinese military court. Unlike the earlier trial, which had been well-publicized, these proceedings were held in secret.[9] Neither Yan nor Wu confessed to the military court, instead blaming the killing on each other and Fang;[19] they were also interrogated as to the extent of Zhu's involvement in the case, as well as the whereabouts of the remaining items.[9] On 23 November 1920, the men were found guilty.[19]

Sentenced to death, Yan and Wu were executed by firing squad at the Western Battery at the Shanghai Garrison Command [zh] in Longhua later that day.[7] The execution was widely attended; the artist Chen Dingshan [zh] later recalled that throngs of people had travelled there for the execution, such that some rode atop the train.[19] Likewise, in an interview with The Paper, the historian Tang Weijie mentioned that more ten thousand people attended the execution, including Ti Hongguan.[7]

Cultural impact

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Press

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The murder of Wang Lianying immediately "scandalized and mesmerized the city's chattering classes".[21] Newspaper coverage of the murder and trial was extensive,[19] lasting for months.[22] The trial itself was attended by numerous members of Shanghai society, who lined the streets when the courtroom became full.[19] Chen linked this widespread interest and coverage with the instability of the Warlord Era, suggesting that the trial provided a distraction from other issues.[23]

Rumours spread rapidly, some published by contemporary media. Prior to the identification of Wang's body, Crystal publicized baseless claims that Wang had fled a life of debt, that she was continuing her career in northern China, and that her parents were aware of her location.[24] During the investigation, the Little Eastern Times reported that Yan had been arrested, and conflated him with a person named Zhong Ruisheng.[25] During the investigation, it was said that Zhu Baosan had spent 3,000 yuan (equivalent to ¥276,113 in 2019) to silence the press after his son came under media scrutiny.[17] After Yan's execution, some claimed that he had not been killed, but rather that Zhu had provided a substitute for his friend.[23]

After the trial, the 5,000-word verdict and accompanying confessions were serialized in the Xinwen Bao newspaper from 25 November to 8 December 1920.[22] Several publications highlighted the effect of the crime on Wang's family.[23] Ten years after Wang's murder, Crystal published a retrospective;[19] it narrated that Wang's family had not buried her until 1929, and that her parents were raising her young daughter.[23]

Other publications, as well as subsequent media adaptations, examined the life of Yan Ruisheng.[26] Extensive discourse over the influence of crime films on Chinese society was spurred by the case.[25] By mid-July there was a tendency for coverage to focus on the killer, who was framed not as a common criminal but as a "new man"; as such, the filmmaker Cheng Bugao later recalled that the murder had been seen as "modern" and "fresh".[26]

A red-covered book with Chinese text; on one side is an image of a woman leaning over a table
The Tragic History of Lianying (蓮英慘史), World Book Company [zh], 1920

Literature

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Several works of "news fiction" based on the case were published by the end of 1920. On 1 July 1920, the World Book Company [zh] made a call for stories about Wang and her murder. Four days later, it published The Tragic History of Lianying (蓮英慘史), advertised as delivering an illustrated and comprehensive recount of her life and career.[27] By the end of the year, it had published two more books about the murder: A Secret History of Yan Ruisheng (阎瑞生秘史) and The Autobiography of Yan Ruisheng (閻瑞生自述記). Some of these publications were re-issued multiple times, with The Tragic History of Lianying known to have been reprinted as late as 1925. The latter, published before Yan's sentencing, provided a first-person narrative that denied culpability and highlighted the difficulties of prison life.[28]

Other publishers also capitalized on the murder. An Account of the Murder of Lianying, Prime Minister of the Flower State (花國總理蓮英被害記), first announced on 1 July, provided a narrative of Wang's life that was framed through Confucian values such as filial piety. Her death, in this narrative, was attributed to Yan feeling unrecognized for his contributions to her 1917 election.[28] Two later books by the same publisher drew primarily from newspaper coverage but also including rumours: The Miserable History of Lianying (莲英痛史) and Yan Ruisheng's Evil History: The Miserable History of Lianying, the Prime Minister of the Flower State (阎瑞生之罪恶史:花國總莲英痛史).[29]

Theatre

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In contemporary Shanghai, stage adaptations of salacious news stories were common.[f][30] Consequently, efforts were made to adapt the murder to stage. On 3 July 1920, one troupe applied to the Shanghai Municipal Council for permission to stage its adaptation. This application was denied, and the Council subsequently issued an injunction against any stage adaptations. This injunction was lifted in November 1920, following the executions of Yan Ruisheng and Wu Chunfang.[31]

By then, the city's five major theatre companies all had plans to adapt the story.[32] The Qianku Great World Theatre, which had earlier sought permission to stage the story, brought its adaptation to the stage on 25 November 1920. Starring Fen Juhua [zh] as Wang and Han Jinkui as Yan, this story in three parts – staged over the course of three days – interspersed depictions of the murder and hunt with dream sequences in which Wang's ghost visits her lover before confronting her killers at Senluo Temple.[33]

Also on 25 November 1920, the Laughter Stage troupe led by Zheng Zhengqiu began to stage a "civilized drama" (文明戲) version of the story.[g] Advertisements emphasized the verisimilitude of the performance, touting extensive research that included attendance at court sessions.[31] Stages were decorated to simulate the wheat field, courtroom, and railway station where key events occurred, and cast members spoke different dialects depending on their characters' place of origin.[31] Performances of the adaptation, which starred Mao Yunke as Wang and Zhao Ruquan as Yan,[34] continued through January 1921, with special showings featuring Wang's mother and her sweetheart Yang Xigui.[35]

Shortly afterwards, Peking opera troupes began presenting their own adaptations of the story.[36] One troupe, the Great Stage, premiered its adaptation on 27 November 1920. For this run, which starred Zhang Wenyan and Lin Shusen,[34] it advertised "rich and colourful" settings that included foreign mansions, brothels, and the courtroom. Another troupe, the Co-Stage, initially presented its story as being retold by Wang's parents "with their own mouths" and featuring her sister Yuying.[h] The Co-Stage production was highly successful, selling out tickets for the two months of its run.[37]

A grainy image of a man killing a woman as two men support her body
The murder of Wang Lianying, as depicted in Yan Ruisheng (1921)

A third Peking Opera troupe, the New Stage, began performing its adaptation in mid-February 1921. Again emphasizing its ability to retell the story accurately, the troupe used a real car on stage. It also added new scenes, including an escape through a river.[37] This adaptation, which was based on Peking opera but starred "civilized drama" actor Wang Youyou,[38] was a success, being staged for eighty days. Tickets were regularly sold out, with the best seats being reserved in advance. In 1923, the New Stage brought its adaptation on tour, finding popular acclaim in Hangzhou.[39]

Film

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The murder of Wang Lianying has served as the inspiration for several films. In 1921, a group of Shanghai youths from the Chinese Cinema Study Society made a feature film based on the events.[40] Directed by Ren Pengnian[41] and released under the title Yan Ruisheng, this adaptation was commercially successful.[42] However, due to its focus on a courtesan and a murderer, it was criticized as failing to promote the public morality. In 1923, the film was banned in Shanghai,[20] and backlash against it and resulted in the drafting of censorship policies targeting films "disturbed social order, damaged social mores and (in the case of foreign films particularly) were offensive to Chinese sensibility", publishing them in 1926.[43]

In 1938, the case was again adapted to film, this time by Kwan Man-ching in Hong Kong. Starring Yip Fat-Yeuk as Yan Ruisheng and Fa Ying-Yung as Wang Lianying, this version was given the English-title Woe to the Debauched!.[44] The case later served as an inspiration for Jiang Wen's Gone with the Bullets (2014).[45] The film, in which Jiang starred alongside Ge You and Shu Qi, followed a mafioso in 1920s China who arranged to launder money by staging a beauty pageant.[21] Viewer reviews were generally negative, with particular focus on its slow pacing and loose narrative.[46] Around this time, the comedian Guo Degang developed a crosstalk routine based on the case.[7]

Music

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Two arias by Lu Lanchun from the Peking opera, issued by Pathé Orient in 1921

As the people of Shanghai followed the trial, numerous folk songs were recorded in contemporary newspapers. One, published in The New World on 18 September 1920, concluded:

Look at Ruisheng. [He] was still young. [He] once went abroad. He [graduated] from a college and worked in a foreign firm. [He] belonged to upper-class [society]. Had he been willing to learn from good examples, he would have had a great prospect. [Yet,] he gambled and went whoring excessively so that [he] lost his life.[47]

Recordings of songs associated adapted from the case were also pressed. In 1921, Pathé Orient issued a phonographic recording of two arias by Lu Lanchun that had originated from the Co-Stage production.[48] Collectively titled Awakening from a Dream (惊梦,[7] these were immensely popular, such that entertainers were often asked to give live acapella performances.[48] One of the arias, sung by Wang in a dream sequence, became so pervasive that the essayist Miu Chongqun described it as representing "the very sound of Shanghai as both an attractive and an evil city."[49] The arias were also recorded in mass-produced songbooks, some of which included songs from the stage adaptations or original compositions based on the same theme.[50]

Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ Some sources report a hemp rope, while others indicate a silk sash (Hershatter 1999, p. 159).
  2. ^ The tabloid Crystal claimed that, at this point, Xiao Lin Daiyu urged Wang not to go, fearing that Yan had evil intentions (Hershatter 1999, p. 160).
  3. ^ A total reward of 1,000 yuan (equivalent to ¥92,038 in 2019) was offered. Some sources indicate that this money was made available by Wang's parents, while others state that the reward came from the manager of her brothel house – half for information leading to the recovery of her body, and half for the recovery of the jewellery (Hershatter 1999, p. 161).
  4. ^ Being his father's fifth son, Zhu was initially identified only as "Zhu No. 5" (He 2018, p. 228). The New World, in a 23 June editorial, used this opportunity to blame Zhu Baosan and other wealthy merchants for an ongoing rice shortage (He 2018, p. 229).
  5. ^ Hershatter (1999, p. 161) gives mid-July 1920
  6. ^ As examples of such "current affairs dramas" (時事戲), Cheng (2024, p. 51) provides The Death of Jiang Laowu (蔣老五殉情記, 1920), about the suicide of a famed courtesan; and Huang Huiru and Lu Genrong (黃慧如與陸根榮, 1928), a tragic love story.
  7. ^ Such shows were retitled over the course of their runs. He (2018, p. 245) notes that the Laughter Stage launched its show under the title Lianying's Calamity (莲英劫), then later took the titles Lianying (莲英), and Yan Ruisheng Kills for Profit (阎瑞生谋财害命). Cheng (2024, p. 54), meanwhile, notes that Peking opera performances were known variously as The Trials of Lianying (蓮英刦), The Forgettable Lianying (蓮英被難記), Yan Ruisheng (閻瑞生), Shooting Yan Ruisheng (鎗斃閻瑞生), and Yan Ruisheng Murders Lianying (閻瑞生謀害蓮英).
  8. ^ Unlike the Laughter Stage, wherein male actors played female characters, the French Concession-based Co-Stage was permitted to employ female actors (He 2018, p. 238). Wang Yuying was later replaced by Lu Lanchun, a noted Peking opera performer (Cheng 2024, p. 70).

References

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  1. ^ Hershatter 1999, p. 157.
  2. ^ a b c Hershatter 1999, p. 158.
  3. ^ An Account of the Murder of Lianying, Prime Minister of the Flower State, quoted in He (2018, p. 233)
  4. ^ Hershatter 1999, p. 158; Shi 2014
  5. ^ a b c He 2018, p. 245.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Hershatter 1999, p. 159.
  7. ^ a b c d e Shi 2014.
  8. ^ Xiong 2011, p. 480.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Cheng 2024, p. 56.
  10. ^ a b c d Hershatter 1999, p. 160.
  11. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 56; Hershatter 1999, p. 160
  12. ^ a b c d e f Hershatter 1999, p. 161.
  13. ^ a b He 2018, p. 225.
  14. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 55; Hershatter 1999, p. 161; Shi 2014
  15. ^ He 2018, p. 224.
  16. ^ a b c Cheng 2024, p. 55.
  17. ^ a b He 2018, p. 228.
  18. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 55; He 2018, p. 222
  19. ^ a b c d e f g Hershatter 1999, p. 162.
  20. ^ a b Xiao 2013, p. 463.
  21. ^ a b Shenzhen Daily 2014.
  22. ^ a b He 2018, p. 244.
  23. ^ a b c d Hershatter 1999, p. 163.
  24. ^ He 2018, p. 226.
  25. ^ a b He 2018, p. 227.
  26. ^ a b He 2018, pp. 244–246.
  27. ^ He 2018, p. 230.
  28. ^ a b He 2018, p. 233.
  29. ^ He 2018, p. 234.
  30. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 51.
  31. ^ a b c He 2018, p. 235.
  32. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 57.
  33. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 58.
  34. ^ a b Cheng 2024, p. 59.
  35. ^ He 2018, p. 236.
  36. ^ He 2018, p. 237.
  37. ^ a b He 2018, p. 238.
  38. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 61.
  39. ^ He 2018, p. 239.
  40. ^ Xiao 2013, pp. 462–463.
  41. ^ Xiao 2013, p. 462.
  42. ^ He 2018, p. 241.
  43. ^ Zhang 1998, p. 108.
  44. ^ HKFA 1997, p. 264.
  45. ^ Shanghai Daily 2014.
  46. ^ Wang 2014.
  47. ^ He 2018, p. 246.
  48. ^ a b Cheng 2024, p. 70.
  49. ^ He 2018, p. 248.
  50. ^ Cheng 2024, p. 70; He 2018, p. 248

Works cited

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  • Cheng Hsiao-yuan (程筱媛) (2024). 被搬演的真實: 1920 年代上海時事戲《槍斃閻瑞生》 [Reality on Stage: Executing Yen Ruisheng, a 1920's Topical Drama in Shanghai]. Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre & Folklore (in Chinese): 49–89.
  • "Director Pays Homage to Famous Films". Shanghai Daily. Shanghai. 26 December 2014. ProQuest 1640452864. Retrieved 22 October 2024 – via ProQuest.
  • "Gone With the Bullets". Shenzhen Daily. Shenzhen. 26 December 2014. ProQuest 1640426036. Retrieved 22 October 2024 – via ProQuest.
  • He, Qiliang (2018). Newspapers and the Journalistic Public in Republican China: 1917 as a Significant Year for Journalism. New York, London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-79669-2.
  • Hershatter, Gail (1999). Dangerous Pleasures: Prostitution and Modernity in Twentieth-Century Shanghai. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20439-3.
  • Shi Jianfeng (石剑峰) (12 December 2014). 《一步之遥》原型:1920年上海滩媒体围观的"阎瑞生案" [The Forebearer of "Gone with the Bullets": the "Yan Ruisheng Case" Watched by the Media in Shanghai in 1920]. The Paper (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  • 香港影片大全: 卷. 1913-1941 [The Complete Collection of Hong Kong Films: Vol. 1913-1941] (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Film Archive. 1997. ISBN 978-962-8050-03-1.
  • Wang, Kaiho (25 December 2014). "Critics Target Gone with the Bullets". China Daily. Beijing. ProQuest 1640135570. Retrieved 22 October 2024 – via ProQuest.
  • Xiao, Zhiwei (2013). "Policing Film in Early Twentieth-Century China". In Rojas, Carlos; Chow, Eileen (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 452–471. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199765607.013.0025. ISBN 978-0-19-998331-5.
  • Xiong, Yuezhi (2011). "From Racecourse to People's Park and People's Square: Historical Transformation and Symbolic Significance". Urban History. 38 (3): 475–490. doi:10.1017/S0963926811000538. JSTOR 44614610.
  • Zhang, Yingjin (1998). "Censorship and Film". In Zhang, Yingjin; Xiao, Zhiwei (eds.). Encyclopedia of Chinese Film. New York, London: Routledge. pp. 109–110. ISBN 978-0-415-15168-9.

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