The Ever Shining Circuit Cinema (simplified Chinese: 大光明电影院; traditional Chinese: 大光明電影院; pinyin: dà guāngmíng diànyǐngyuàn) is located at West Nanjing road in Shanghai, China. It was built in 1928 and The Ever Shining Circuit Cinema is one of the cinemas which has a long history in China. It has long held a reputation as the best cinema in the Far East.
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History
The Ever Shining Circuit Cinema was built in 1928. The capitalist called Gao Yongqing at that time who combined with foreign capital rebuilt the Carle Dance to a cinema which is called "the Ever Shining Cinema" now. There is a tea house, a wine conference room, a smoking room and a waiting room in the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema. The master of Peking Opera, Mei Lanfang, was present for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema.
In the year of 1930, the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema was boycotted by the masses and public opinion and was forced to shut down for the reason that it played an American movie called Weleolne Danger (不怕死) which it was felt humiliated China.
In 1933, the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema was redesigned and reconstructed by the Hungarian architect L.E. Hudec. After being rebuilt, the Ever Shining Circuit became "the best cinema in Far Eastern", due to the luxurious facilities it had.
In 1989, the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema was listed for Cultural Relic Protection by the Shanghai Government.
In 2008, maintaining to the old shape of the cinema in 1933, it cost 120,000,000 RMB to restore the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema. The capacity of new cinema was reduced from 1,900 seats to 600. Five small auditoriums were also added, including a VIP room.
The Cinema and Chinese films
Before liberation, the film industry in Shanghai was monopolized by Hollywood. Besides, the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema mainly played the movies where were made by Film production companies of the United States. The first home-grown film which was shown at the Ever Shining Circuit Cinema, called The Legend of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, was presented by the Xinhua Company.
The Ever Shining Circuit Cinema was the first wide-screen cinema and the first cinema to have the stereophonic movies in Shanghai. It has been the champion of the 11 years Box Office. The Ever Shining Circuit Cinema has witnessed the rise and decline of Chinese movies.