Runje Shaw (1896–1975), also known as Shao Zuiweng and Shao Renjie, was a Chinese film entrepreneur, producer and director. The eldest of the Shaw brothers, in 1925 he founded Tianyi Film Company in Shanghai, which became one of the top three film production companies in pre-WWII Republic of China, and the beginning of the Shaw Brothers media empire.
Shaw's portrait on a 1934 issue of Liangyou magazine
The gate of Tianyi Film Company in Hongkew, Shanghai
Shaw's wife Chen Yumei
Tianyi Film Company, also called Unique Film Productions, was one of the "big three" film production companies in pre-Second World War Republic of China. Founded in Shanghai in 1925 by the Shaw (Shao) brothers led by Runje Shaw, the company also established operations in Malaya and Hong Kong. Although the company's Shanghai studio was destroyed in 1937 during the Japanese invasion, its offshoot in Hong Kong, later called Shaw Brothers Studio, blossomed into a media empire under the leadership of the youngest brother, Sir Run Run Shaw.
Tianyi Film Company
Runje Shaw (Shao Zuiweng), the oldest Shaw brother and founder of Tianyi
1926 Tianyi film Lady Meng Jiang, starring Hu Die
Sir Run Run Shaw (Shao Yifu), the youngest Shaw brother who expanded the business in Singapore and Hong Kong