Release of Yan Ruisheng

Date: July 1, 1921 • Location: Beijing, China

Yan Ruisheng (advertisement pictured), the first full-length Chinese film, is released in Shanghai.

Yan Ruisheng is a 1921 Chinese silent film directed by Ren Pengnian and starring Chen Shouzi and Wang Caiyun. A docudrama based on the murder of Wang Lianying the previous year, it follows a young man named Yan Ruisheng who kills a courtesan to steal her jewellery. When the crime is discovered, he and his accomplices flee. Yan is captured in Xuzhou and returned to Shanghai, where he is executed.