A TRUE UNICORN LENS. Quite possibly the rarest, coolest vintage Cinema Zoom you never knew existed: Communist Chinese S35 18-180mm/3.2

[Chronoscope]

I know it's probably a long shot, but...does ANYBODY here know ANYTHING about this thing?

I have scoured the internet, including Chinese sites, as best I can...there is next to nothing.

As I understand it, the modern Chinese government would prefer people not know such things even exist....they want people thinking that China was not capable of highly advanced industrial achievments until AFTER the so-called "economic reforms" of the ~80's+.

Obviously...they were indeed capable. Everything I can find dates this lens to somewhere in 1979 to 1983.  They studied English, French and German cinema lenses and glass in their efforts.

Obviously by that serial number...not very many of these were made. I cannot find another example literally ANYWHERE.

No rental houses...western hemisphere OR in the east. Truly...a Unicorn.

It is on the way back to me from being refreshed and modernized with PL and gears, and will be available for rental to appropriate customers/projects VERY soon...along with a matching prime lens (50mm T2, exact same coating), for low light or handheld/stabilizer use.

I wonder which films this was used on? I suspect every major Mainland-Chinese production made since the late 70s likely used this zoom, until trade began to open up and use of western cine equipment became more prevalent in China.

Think "Raise the Red Lantern", "Farewell My Concubine", etc...not to mention the many martial arts films of earlier years.

Anyway...I hope someone can tell me more about this wonderful piece of history, and I hope to see it put back to use very soon on some cool projects!! ....Would love to see this put to use on a period martial-arts feature for example...