Chinese Cinema

Films were first came to China in 1896 and the first Chinese film was made in 1905 which was ‘The Battle of Dingjunshan’ (not a kung fu movie). In the 1920-30’s Shanghai was the Hollywood of the East, it was a new and exciting era and people had money to spend on entertainment.

Films around in the 1920’s were down-to-earth and about people’s lives. In 1940 things heated up and the government used the film industry as a form of propaganda (it didn’t take them long). Films pre 1940 were banned and films produced from then on needed to be ‘politically correct.’

Nowadays Chinese cinema has mastered the art of movie making and boasts an archive of fantastic films that can bring tears to the eyes, To Live (秋菊打官司) being one of them.
Chinese cinema is also having a big impact in the West as Chinese directors such Zhang Yimou target western audiences. Film’s you may have seen by Zhang Yimou include The House of Flying Daggers, Hero, and Curse of the Golden Flower. However, as great a director he may be, many Chinese feel he has sold out and lost site of the traditional Chinese cinema.
A blog on Chinese cinema isn’t complete without mentioned Jackie Chan (成龙) who is probably one of the most famous and most respected Chinese actors in both the East and the West.

One thing to mention about Western films in China is that officiously only a limited amount of films are allowed to be shown in cinema per year and they are hand picked by the government for their content. In fact Disney was banned in China for many years until they released Mulan and made their way into China’s good books.