Wu Renzhi), and he would not gain broad recognition until after the war, with a series of classic films including Phony Phoenixes (dir.
[1] He also played the lead in Ai le zhongnian (The Joys and Sorrows of Middle Age), which is often ranked as one of the greatest Chinese films of all time.
[1] Shi continued to direct throughout the early years of the 1950s, even gaining international attention with 1954's Letter with Feather, which won a prize at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
[1] The next year, he filmed a stage performance of a Chinese Opera in The Heavenly Match, which became a popular hit with audiences in Hong Kong.
[1] Shortly thereafter, however, Shi ran afoul with Communist authorities and was denounced during the Anti-Rightist Movement as a reactionary, leading eventually to his suicide by drowning[3] in December 1957.