Lai Man-Wai
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Lai Man-Wai (黎民偉) (1893 - 1953), now known as Father of Hong Kong Cinema, was the director of the first Hong Kong movie Zhuangzi Tests His Wife (莊子試妻) in 1913. Note that in the movie, Lai played the role of the wife himself, partly due to the reluctance of women to participate in show business at that time.
Born in Japan and raised in Hong Kong, he joined Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang party in 1911 and helped make anti-warlord movies. He was an active director during the golden years of the Shanghai movie industry from 1921 to 1928. In 1938, he returned to Hong Kong and retired.
His story was documented in Lai Man-wai: Father of Hong Kong Cinema by Choi Kai-kwong in 2001.
See also: Cinema of Hong Kongzh:黎民伟