Shao Run Run’s personal experience

Shao Yifu’s father has 5 boys and 3 girls. Run Run Shaw was born in 1907. He was the sixth among his brothers and sisters, so the Hong Kong film and television industry respectfully called him "Sixth Uncle" and "Sixth Boss". When Run Run Shaw grew up, the Shaw family was in dire straits and had only an old house in Shanghai and a Shanghai theater called "Laughing Stage".

In his early years, Run Run Shaw studied at Yip's Zhongxing School in Jiazhuang City, where he was classmates with Bao Yugang, Bao Congxing and Zhao Anzhong. Later, he went to Shanghai to study at the "Youth Association", an English school run by Americans. Middle School” to develop fluent English. None of the many brothers in the Shao family inherited their father's business, and almost all of them entered the entertainment industry. Among the five brothers, the eldest brother Shao Zuiweng founded Tianyi Film Company in 1924 and began to break into the then-nascent Chinese film industry. When Run Run Shaw was studying at the "Shanghai YMCA English Middle School", he had already joined the Shanghai Tianyi Film Company established by his elder brother Shao Renjie, and helped his brother develop overseas distribution. In 1925, the Shaw Brothers established "Tianyi Film Company" in Shanghai, which was also the predecessor of the Shaw Brothers Film Company.

In 1926, Run Run Shaw, who had just graduated from high school, was invited by his third brother Shao Renmei to go to Singapore to help develop the Nanyang film market. After that, the Shaw Brothers took a dilapidated silent projector and "Tianyi" films to tour the villages of Southeast Asia, opening amusement parks and movie theaters. Tianyi Films developed rapidly in the first two years of its establishment. Other film companies formed the "Liuhe Industrial Company" to suppress "Tianyi" and forced major theaters in Shanghai and even Nanyang to no longer play Tianyi's films.

In 1930, the Shaw Brothers established the "Shaw Brothers Company" in Singapore. Run Run Shaw and his third brother Shao Renmei established Shaw Brothers and successively purchased many theaters.

In 1931, Run Run Shaw went to the United States to buy sound film equipment. On the way, the ship hit a rock and sank. Fortunately, his life was saved. Run Run Shaw, who fell into the water, hugged a small piece of wooden sampan and drifted on the sea for a night. He was finally rescued and bought the "speaking machine" he needed from Hollywood, USA.

In 1932, after the September 18th Incident, due to the unstable situation in Shanghai, "Tianyi Pictures" decided to move to Hong Kong for development and established "Tianyi Port Factory". China's first talkie film "Platinum Dragon", produced and directed by Run Run Shaw, caused a sensation when it was released, bringing Chinese audiences into the "talkie era."

By 1937, on the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, Tianyi Pictures was in Shanghai, Shaw Brothers was in Nanyang, and had more than 110 cinemas and 9 amusement parks in Singapore, Malaysia, Java, Vietnam, Borneo and other Southeast Asian countries. market, and established a complete film distribution network. They responded from the north to the south, divided labor and cooperated, and jointly built the Shaw family's film kingdom.

In 1938, Tianyi Pictures officially changed its name to "Nanyang Film Company". Later, the Second World War spread to Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong and Nanyang fell one after another. The film careers of the Shaw Brothers were greatly affected. .

After the war, the second brother Shao Rendi returned to Hong Kong to rebuild his business, and in 1948 he changed the name of "Nanyang Film" to "Shaw Brothers and Sons". At the same time, the Singapore film company "Shaw Brothers" run by Run Run Shaw and his third brother Renmei is also back on track. However, the development of "Father and Son" in Hong Kong was not going well and was attacked by the two major film companies "Electronic and Mao" and "Great Wall", so Run Run Shaw decided to take over the film business in Hong Kong.

In 1957, Run Run Shaw returned to Hong Kong and bought the Clear Water Bay land of "Son and Son" for NT$320,000, built Shaw Brothers Cinemas, established "Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.", and developed independently. his film career.

In 1957, he and Shao Renmei established "Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd." to produce movies in Hong Kong, with Shaw serving as president. In 1961, Shaw Brothers Cinemas located in Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, was officially opened on December 6.

In the 1970s, the Shaw Brothers entered the rapidly developing television industry and cooperated with TVB to train artists. In 1973, Run Run Shaw held the first Miss Hong Kong election, which became the most representative beauty pageant in Hong Kong.

In 1980, Run Run Shaw became the largest shareholder of TVB and served as chairman of the board of directors. During the same period, Shaw Brothers' film business continued to shrink, with fewer films, and all theaters were sold in 1985. By May 1987, Shaw Brothers announced that it would stop producing films. Counting from the time when Shaw Brothers started production to the time when production was suspended, Shaw Brothers has produced more than 1,000 films.

Since 1985, Run Run Shaw began to turn his attention to mainland China. That year, he donated 10 million yuan each to China's Dunhuang Painting Exhibition Protection Project and Zhejiang University. Relevant departments have erected monuments to commemorate the event. Wang Chongguang, a cultural figure from Yongshang, went to Dunhuang for inspection in 1996. There are more than one similar monument deep in the desert, but only fellow countryman Shao Yifu is a descendant of Yan and Huang.

In 1997, he married Fang Yihua in Las Vegas, USA, at the age of 90.

In 2000, Malaysia's "Celestial Entertainment" spent HK$400 million to purchase the permanent copyrights of 760 Shaw Brothers films and spent HK$200 million on digital restoration.

In 2002, Run Run Shaw founded the "Shaw Run Award", and the first session was held in 2004. The award is modeled after the Nobel Prize. Every year, scientists with achievements in mathematics, medicine and astronomy are selected in the world and awarded a US$1 million prize in recognition.

The first winner of the Mathematics Prize is Chen Shengshen; the Astronomy Prize is P. James E. Peebles; the Life Sciences and Medicine Prize is Stanley N. Cohen, Herbert W. Boyer, Jian Yuewei and Richard Doll.

Shaw Brothers and China Star Film Company jointly invested HK$1.1 billion in the "Hong Kong Film City" located in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate and opened in mid-2005. Cinema facilities include post-production centers, administrative buildings, photo studios, cinemas and exhibition halls, etc.

In 2007, Shaw Brothers celebrated its 50th anniversary and Shaw Brothers celebrated his 100th birthday. On January 1, 2010, 102-year-old Run Run Shaw announced his official resignation as executive chairman of TVB. Starting from January 1, 2010, 79-year-old Fang Yihua, the vice chairman and managing director of TVB, a TV kingdom with a market value of HK$16.4 billion, has officially taken the helm.

On December 31, 2011, at the age of 104, Run Run Shaw resigned as chairman of the company's board of directors, non-executive director and member of the administrative committee of the board of directors. Liang Naipeng, then deputy executive chairman, took over as chairman. The post will last for two years, while Shaw's wife Fong Yihua will continue to serve as vice chairman and managing director, effective from January 1, 2012. Run Run Shaw was appointed as the Honorary Chairman.

At 6:55 on January 7, 2014, Run Run Shaw passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family at the age of 107.