Sun Yu was born in the city of
Chongqing and educated first at
Tsinghua University in
Beijing before continuing his education in
drama at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. After taking his degree in 1925, Sun enrolled at the
New York Institute of Photography, where his courses included cinematography and film editing. He also took evening courses at
Columbia University in screenwriting and other, related courses. During this time he also audited a series of lectures on writing for the theater given by
David Belasco which influenced him greatly. Upon returning to China in the summer of 1926, Sun Yu directed his first film,
A Romantic Swordsman, with the faltering
Minxin Film Company. Beginning in the 1930s, Sun Yu began a collaboration with the leftist film studio,
Lianhua, where he became one of the core group of "socially conscious" directors along with
Cai Chusheng,
Fei Mu, and others. As a result, Sun Yu's reputation was soon in ruins, and his career effectively stalled. Sun Yu would go on to direct only a handful of titles over the next twenty years. In 1985, thirty-five years after the release of
The Life of Wu Xun, members of the Chinese politburo finally admitted that Mao's campaign, and the criticisms that it instigated against the film, was essentially baseless. Sun Yu died in Shanghai in 1990. ==Selected filmography==