Chinese National Cinema

by Zhang,Yingjin

• ISBN13: 9780415172905
• ISBN10: 041517290X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-07-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

What does it mean to be "Chinese?" This controversial question has sparked off a never-ending process of image-making in Chinese and Chinese-speaking communities throughout the twentieth century. This introduction to Chinese national cinema, written by a leading scholar, covers three "Chinas": mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It traces the formation, negotiation and problematization of the national on the Chinese screen over ninety years. Historical and comparative perspectives bring out the parallel developments in the three Chinas, while critical analysis explores thematic and stylistic changes over time. As well as exploring artistic achievements and ideological debates,Chinese National Cinemaalso emphasizes industry research and market analysis. The author concludes that despite the rigid censorship systems and the pressures on film makers, Chinese national cinema has never succeeded in projecting a single unified picture, but rather portrays many Chinas.

Author Biography

Yingjin Zhang is Professor of Chinese, Comparative Literature, and Cultural Studies at the University of California-San Diego.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. ix
List of tables	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xii
List of abbreviations	p. xiv
Introduction: National cinema and China	p. 1
Cinema and national traditions, 1896-1929	p. 13
Introduction: early cinema	p. 13
Cinema as attractions, 1896-1921	p. 16
Cinema as narration, 1922-6	p. 22
Cinema and speculations, 1927-9	p. 37
Critical issues: arts, artists and artistic theory	p. 51
Conclusion: a growing sense of nationalism	p. 57
Cinema and the nation-people, 1930-49	p. 58
Introduction: a 'golden age' period	p. 58
Prewar cinema, 1930-7	p. 59
Wartime cinema, 1937-45	p. 83
Postwar cinema, 1946-9	p. 95
Critical issues: cinema and modernity	p. 104
Conclusion: in the name of the nation-people	p. 111
Cinematic reinvention of the national in Taiwan, 1896-1978	p. 113
Introduction: a maturing industry	p. 113
Difficult postwar transition, 1945-54	p. 114
Two competing cinemas, 1955-69	p. 125
Political and industrial restructuring, 1970-8	p. 142
Conclusion: cinematic reinvention of the national	p. 147
Cinematic revival of the regional in Hong Kong, 1945-78	p. 150
Introduction	p. 150
From Shanghai to Hong Kong, 1945-55	p. 151
Competing studios, 1956-65	p. 163
Reinventing genres, 1966-78	p. 173
Conclusion: toward regional imagination	p. 185
Cinema and the nation-state in the PRC, 1949-78	p. 189
Introduction: socialist cinema of the PRC	p. 189
The nationalization of cinema, 1949-52	p. 190
Toward socialist realism, 1953-65	p. 199
The Cultural Revolution and beyond, 1966-78	p. 216
Conclusion: ideology and subjectivity	p. 223
Cinema and national/regional cultures, 1979-89	p. 225
Introduction: new waves in three Chinas	p. 225
The PRC: humanism, the avant-garde and commercialism	p. 226
New Taiwan Cinema: re-imaging the national	p. 240
The Hong Kong new waves: genre, history, identity	p. 249
Conclusion: history, culture and nationhood	p. 256
Cinema and the transnational imaginary, 1990-2002	p. 259
Introduction: transnational Chinese cinemas	p. 259
Hong Kong: of the global and the local	p. 260
Taiwan: art cinema beyond borders	p. 271
The PRC: post-socialist cinema	p. 281
Conclusion: art, capital and politics in the age of the WTO	p. 292
Notes	p. 297
Bibliography	p. 308
Subject index	p. 323
Name index	p. 325
Film index	p. 327
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