Abstract:  MP&GI was one of the most important film production companies in  Hong Kong after World War II. Centering on such issues as family and marriage, the family melodramas produced by MP&GI were influenced by both early Chinese cinema and Hollywood, reflecting the changing values of the middle class after the war. This genre affirmed positive factors of traditional Chinese ethics, meanwhile stressing the universality of modern values. Through different women characters, MP&GI’s family melodramas reflected the negotiation between modern and tradition, thus projecting the cultural traits of Hong Kong mandarin cinema in the 1950s-60s against the Cold War context.

Key words: Key words： negotiating modernity, Hong Kong cinema, MP&, GI, family melodrama