Cinema of China#Generation-independent movement

{{Main|History of cinema of China}}

File:Lady Meng Jiang - Tianyi magazine.jpg film Lady Meng Jiang, starring Hu Die]]

Motion pictures were introduced to China in 1896. They were introduced through foreign film exhibitors in treaty ports like Shanghai and Hong Kong.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Jie |title=Cinematic Guerillas: Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2023 |isbn=9780231206273}}{{Rp|page=68}}

China was one of the earliest countries to be exposed to the medium of film, due to Louis Lumière sending his cameraman to Shanghai a year after inventing cinematography.{{Cite book |last=Ye, Tan |title=Historical dictionary of Chinese cinema |date=2012 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc |others=Zhu, Yun, 1979- |isbn=978-0-8108-6779-6 |location=Lanham |oclc=764377427}} The first recorded screening of a motion picture in China took place in Shanghai on 11 August 1896 as an "act" on a variety bill.Berry, Chris. "China Before 1949", in The Oxford History of World Cinema, edited by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (1997). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 409. The first Chinese film, a recording of the Peking opera, Dingjun Mountain, was made in November 1905 in Beijing.{{cite web |author=Martin Geiselmann |year=2006 |title=Chinese Film History - A Short Introduction |url=http://www.univie.ac.at/Sinologie/repository/ueLK110_ChinFilmgesch/filmgeschichteSkript.pdf |access-date=2007-07-25 |publisher=The University of Vienna- Sinologie Program}} For the next decade the production companies were mainly foreign-owned, and the domestic film industry was centered on Shanghai, a thriving entrepot and the largest city in the Far East.{{Cite book |last=Qian |first=Ying |title=Revolutionary Becomings: Documentary Media in Twentieth-Century China |date=2024 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231204477 |location=New York, NY}}

During the late 20th century, a period when socialist dramas were beginning to lose viewership, the Chinese government began to involve itself deeper into the world of popular culture and cinema by creating the official genre of the "main melody" (主旋律 zhǔxuánlǜ), inspired by Hollywood's strides in musical dramas.{{Cite journal |last=Ma |first=Weijun |date=September 2014 |title=Chinese Main Melody TV Drama: Hollywoodization and Ideological Persuasion |journal=Television & New Media |volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=523–537 |doi=10.1177/1527476412471436 |issn=1527-4764 |s2cid=144145010}} In 1987, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television issued a statement encouraging the making of movies which emphasizes the main melody to "invigorate national spirit and national pride".Rui Zhang, The Cinema of Feng Xiaogang: Commercialization and Censorship in Chinese Cinema after 1989. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2008, p. 35. The expression main melody refers to the musical term leitmotif, which translates to the 'theme of our times', which scholars suggest is representative of China's socio-political climate and cultural context of popular cinema.{{Cite book |title=Staging China: new theatres in the twenty-first century |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |isbn=978-1-137-52944-2 |editor=Li Ruru |oclc=936371074}} These main melody films, still produced regularly in modern times, try to emulate the commercial mainstream by the use of Hollywood-style music and special effects. A significant feature of these films is the incorporation of a "red song", which is a song written as propaganda to support the People's Republic of China.{{Cite journal |last=Wang |first=Qian |date=2013-09-23 |title=Red songs and the main melody: cultural nationalism and political propaganda in Chinese popular music |journal=Perfect Beat |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=127–145 |doi=10.1558/prbt.v13.i2.127}} By revolving the film around the motif of a red song, the film is able to gain traction at the box office as songs are generally thought to be more accessible than a film. Theoretically, once the red song dominates the charts, it will stir interest in the film that which it accompanies.{{Cite journal |last=Yu |first=Hongmei |date=2013 |title=Visual Spectacular, Revolutionary Epic, and Personal Voice: The Narration of History in Chinese Main Melody Films |journal=Modern Chinese Literature and Culture |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=166–218 |issn=1520-9857 |jstor=43492536}}

Main melody dramas are often subsidized by the state and have free access to government and military personnel.Braester, Yomi. "Contemporary Mainstream PRC Cinema" in The Chinese Cinema Book (2011), edited by Song Hwee Lim and Julian Ward, BFI: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 181. The Chinese government spends between "one and two million RMBs" annually to support the production of films in the main melody genre. August First Film Studio, the film and TV production arm of the People's Liberation Army, is a studio that produces main melody cinema. Main melody films, which often depict past military engagements or are biopics of first-generation CCP leaders, have won several Best Picture prizes at the Golden Rooster Awards.Rui Zhang, The Cinema of Feng Xiaogang: Commercialization and Censorship in Chinese Cinema after 1989. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2008, p. 38–39. Some of the more famous main melody dramas include the ten-hour epic Decisive Engagement (大决战, 1991), directed by Cai Jiawei, Yang Guangyuan and Wei Lian; The Opium War (1997), directed by Xie Jin; and The Founding of a Republic (2009), directed by Han Sanping and Fifth Generation director Huang Jianxin.Braester, Yomi. "Contemporary Mainstream PRC Cinema" in The Chinese Cinema Book (2011), edited by Song Hwee Lim and Julian Ward, BFI: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 181–182. The Founding of an Army (2017) was commissioned by the government to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army, and is the third instalment in The Founding of a Republic series.{{Cite web |date=2017-08-02 |title=Chinese Main Melody Film Wins Over Young Moviegoers {{!}} CFI |url=http://chinafilminsider.com/young-moviegoers-chinese-militarys/ |access-date=2019-11-13 |website=China Film Insider}} The film featured many young Chinese pop singers that are already well-established in the industry, including Li Yifeng, Liu Haoran, and Lay Zhang, so as to further the film's reputation as a main melody drama.

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| source = — The sixth generation director Jia Zhangke's accusation of China's older filmmakers in an essay.{{Cite magazine|author=Evan Osnos|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/05/11/the-long-shot|title=The Long Shot|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2009-05-04}}

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The post-1990 era has been labeled the "return of the amateur filmmaker" as state censorship policies after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests produced an edgy underground film movement loosely referred to as the Sixth Generation. Owing to the lack of state funding and backing, these films were shot quickly and cheaply, using materials like 16 mm film and digital video and mostly non-professional actors and actresses, producing a documentary feel, often with long takes, hand-held cameras, and ambient sound; more akin to Italian neorealism and cinéma vérité than the often lush, far more considered productions of the Fifth Generation.Rose, S. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/01/china.film "The great fall of China"], The Guardian, 2002-08-01. Retrieved on 2007-04-28. Unlike the Fifth Generation, the Sixth Generation brings a more individualistic, anti-romantic life-view and pays far closer attention to contemporary urban life, especially as affected by disorientation, rebellion{{cite web |url= http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/feature-articles/li_yang/|title= "There Is No Sixth Generation!" Director Li Yang on Blind Shaft and His Place in Chinese Cinema|author= Stephen Teo|date= July 2003|access-date= 3 April 2015}} and dissatisfaction with China's contemporary social marketing economic tensions and comprehensive cultural background.{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,103002,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206165948/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,103002,00.html | archive-date=6 February 2007 | magazine=Time | first=Richard | last=Corliss | title=Bright Lights | date=2001-03-26|access-date=3 April 2015}} Many were made with an extremely low budget (an example is Jia Zhangke, who shoots on digital video, and formerly on 16 mm; Wang Xiaoshuai's The Days (1993) was made for US$10,000). The title and subjects of many of these films reflect the Sixth Generation's concerns. The Sixth Generation takes an interest in marginalized individuals and the less represented fringes of society. For example, Zhang Yuan's hand-held Beijing Bastards (1993) focuses on youth punk subculture, featuring artists like Cui Jian, Dou Wei and He Yong frowned upon by many state authorities,{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/1993/film/reviews/beijing-zazhong-1200433948/|title= Review: 'Beijing Zazhong'|author= Deborah Young

|date= 4 October 1993|access-date= 3 April 2015|work= Variety}} while Jia Zhangke's debut film Xiao Wu (1997) concerns a provincial pickpocket. While many Fifth Generation filmmakers have become darlings of mainstream Chinese culture, Sixth Generation filmmakers have often experienced harsh treatment by the state's censorship and regulatory system, despite their success at international film festivals and arthouse markets.{{Cite book |last=Xu |first=Gary G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huEWFfNp8hMC |title=Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema |date=2007 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-5450-4 |pages=47–48}}

As the Sixth Generation gained international exposure, many subsequent movies were joint ventures and projects with international backers, but remained quite resolutely low-key and low budget. Jia's Platform (2000) was funded in part by Takeshi Kitano's production house,{{cite web |url= http://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/features/2014/05/16/a-touch-of-sin-interview-with-jia-zhangke/|title= A Touch of Sin: Interview with Jia Zhang-ke|author= Pamela Jahn |date= 16 May 2014|access-date= 3 April 2015|work= Electric Sheep}} while his Still Life was shot on HD video. Still Life was a surprise addition and Golden Lion winner of the 2006 Venice International Film Festival. Still Life, which concerns provincial workers around the Three Gorges region, sharply contrasts with the works of Fifth Generation Chinese directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige who were at the time producing House of Flying Daggers (2004) and The Promise (2005). It featured no star of international renown and was acted mostly by non-professionals.

Many Sixth Generation films have highlighted the negative attributes of China's entry into the modern capitalist market. Li Yang's Blind Shaft (2003) for example, is an account of two murderous con-men in the unregulated and notoriously dangerous mining industry of northern China.{{cite news | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/07/movies/filming-the-dark-side-of-capitalism-in-china-578819.html | title = Filming the Dark Side Of Capitalism in China | access-date = 2008-04-10 | author = Kahn, Joseph|date= 2003-05-07| newspaper = New York Times}} (Li refused the tag of Sixth Generation, although admitted he was not Fifth Generation). While Jia Zhangke's The World (2004) emphasizes the emptiness of globalization in the backdrop of an internationally themed amusement park.{{cite magazine | url = http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2005/festival-reports/new_york2004/ | title = Minimalism and Maximalism: The 42nd New York Film Festival | access-date = 2007-04-28 | author = Rapfogel, Jared |date= December 2004| magazine = Senses of Cinema |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070913090619/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/05/34/new_york2004.html |archive-date = 2007-09-13}}

Some of the more prolific Sixth Generation directors to have emerged are Wang Xiaoshuai (The Days, Beijing Bicycle, So Long, My Son), Zhang Yuan (Beijing Bastards, East Palace West Palace), Jia Zhangke (Xiao Wu, Unknown Pleasures, Platform, The World, A Touch of Sin, Mountains May Depart, Ash Is Purest White), He Jianjun (Postman) and Lou Ye (Suzhou River, Summer Palace). One director of their generation who does not share most of the concerns of the Sixth Generation is Lu Chuan (Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, 2004; City of Life and Death, 2010).

In the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, two of China's Sixth generation filmmakers, Jia Zhangke and Zhang Ming – whose grim works transformed Chinese cinema in the 1990s – showed on the French Riviera. While both directors represent Chinese cinema, their profiles are quite different. The 49-year-old Jia set up the Pingyao International Film Festival in 2017 and on the other hand is Zhang, a 56-year-old film school professor who spent years working on government commissions and domestic TV shows after struggling with his own projects. Despite their different profiles, they mark an important cornerstone in Chinese cinema and are both credited with bringing Chinese movies to the international big screen. Chinese director Jia Zhangke's latest film Ash Is Purest White has been selected to compete in the official competition for the Palme d'Or of the 71st Cannes Film Festival, the highest prize awarded at the film festival. It is Jia's fifth movie, a gangster revenge drama that is his most expensive and mainstream film to date. Back in 2013, Jia won Best Screenplay Award for A Touch of Sin, following nominations for Unknown Pleasures in 2002 and 24 City in 2008. In 2014, he was a member of the official jury and the following year his film Mountains May Depart was nominated. According to entertainment website [https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/cannes-picks-asia-most-anticipated-titles-1202751347/ Variety], a record number of Chinese films were submitted this year but only Jia's romantic drama was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. Meanwhile, Zhang will make his debut at Cannes with The Pluto Moment, a slow-moving relationship drama about a team of filmmakers scouting for locations and musical talent in China's rural hinterland. The film is Zhang's highest profile production so far, as it stars actor Wang Xuebing in the leading role. The film was partly financed by iQiyi, the company behind one of China's most popular online video browsing sharing sites.{{Cite web|url=https://gbtimes.com/chinese-director-jia-zhangke-to-compete-at-cannes-2018|website=gbtimes.com|access-date=2019-11-12|title=Chinese director Jia Zhangke competing at Cannes 2018|archive-date=12 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112043410/https://gbtimes.com/chinese-director-jia-zhangke-to-compete-at-cannes-2018|url-status=dead}} Diao Yinan is also a notable member of the sixth generation whose works include Black Coal Thin Ice, Wild Goose Lake, Night Train and Uniform which have premiered at festivals such as Cannes and received acclaim abroad.{{Cite news|last=Kenny|first=Glenn|date=2020-03-05|title='The Wild Goose Lake' Review: A Noir Thriller in Wuhan|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/movies/the-wild-goose-lake-review.html|access-date=2021-07-19|issn=0362-4331}}

He Ping is a director of mostly Western-like films set in Chinese locale. His Swordsmen in Double Flag Town (1991) and Sun Valley (1995) explore narratives set in the sparse terrain of West China near the Gobi Desert. His historical drama Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker (1994) won a myriad of prizes home and abroad.

Recent cinema has seen Chinese cinematographers direct some acclaimed films. Other than Zhang Yimou, Lü Yue made Mr. Zhao (1998), a black comedy film well received abroad. Gu Changwei's minimalist epic Peacock (2005), about a quiet, ordinary Chinese family with three very different siblings in the post-Cultural Revolution era, took home the Silver Bear prize for 2005 Berlin International Film Festival. Hou Yong is another cinematographer who made films (Jasmine Women, 2004) and TV series. There are actors who straddle the dual roles of acting and directing. Xu Jinglei, a popular Chinese actress, has made six movies to date. Her second film Letter from an Unknown Woman (2004) landed her the San Sebastián International Film Festival Best Director award. Another popular actress and director is Zhao Wei, whose directorial debut So Young (2013) was a huge box office and critical success.

The most highly regarded Chinese actor-director is undoubtedly Jiang Wen, who has directed several critically acclaimed movies while following on his acting career. His directorial debut, In the Heat of the Sun (1994) was the first PRC film to win Best Picture at the Golden Horse Film Awards held in Taiwan. His other films, like Devils on the Doorstep (2000, Cannes Grand Prix) and Let the Bullets Fly (2010), were similarly well received. By the early 2011, Let the Bullets Fly had become the highest grossing domestic film in China's history.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/resurrection-takes-china-bo-record|work=Film Business Asia|title=Resurrection takes China BO record|access-date=3 April 2015|author=Cremin, Stephen|date=24 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730010234/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/resurrection-takes-china-bo-record|archive-date=30 July 2012|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web |title=《让子弹飞》票房7.3亿 姜文成国内第一导演_娱乐_腾讯网 |trans-title="Let the Bullets Fly" Box Office Hits 730 Million, Jiang Wen Becomes the Top Domestic Director. |url=http://ent.qq.com/a/20110216/000002.htm |access-date=27 July 2018 |website=Ent.qq.com}}

There is a growing number of independent seventh or post-Sixth Generation filmmakers making films with extremely low budgets and using digital equipment. They are the so-called dGeneration (for digital).{{cite web|url=http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/1219/719 |title=From D-Buffs to the D-Generation: Piracy, Cinema, and an Alternative Public Sphere in Urban China |website=Talari.com |date=2011-04-01 |access-date=2015-10-23}} These films, like those from Sixth Generation filmmakers, are mostly made outside the Chinese film system and are shown mostly on the international film festival circuit. Ying Liang and Jian Yi are two of these generation filmmakers. Ying's Taking Father Home (2005) and The Other Half (2006) are both representative of the generation trends of the feature film. Liu Jiayin made two dGeneration feature films, Oxhide (2004) and Oxhide II (2010), blurring the line between documentary and narrative film. Oxhide, made by Liu when she was a film student, frames herself and her parents in their claustrophobic Beijing apartment in a narrative praised by critics. An Elephant Sitting Still, considered one of the greatest film debuts in Chinese cinema, is also the only film by the late Hu Bo.{{cite web|url=http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Books__Film-Interviews__Features/28696/100-best-Chinese-Mainland-Films-the-countdown/9/30-21.html |title=100 best Chinese Mainland Films: the countdown |website=Timeoutbeijing.com |date=2014-04-04 |access-date=2015-10-23}}

Two decades of reform and commercialization have brought dramatic social changes in mainland China, reflected not only in fiction film but in a growing documentary movement. Wu Wenguang's 70-minute Bumming in Beijing: The Last Dreamers (1990) is now seen as one of the first works of this "New Documentary Movement" (NDM) in China.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/28/chinas_new_documentary/|title=Dancing with Myself,Drifting with My Camera: The Emotional Vagabonds|magazine=Senses of Cinema|author=Reynaud, Berenice|date=September 2003|access-date=2007-12-10 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071103202811/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/03/28/chinas_new_documentary.html |archive-date = 2007-11-03}}{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1998/03/05/STYLE6967.dtl|author=Krich, John|newspaper=The San Francisco Examiner|date=5 March 1998|title=China's New Documentaries}} Bumming, made between 1988 and 1990, contains interviews with five young artists eking out a living in Beijing, subject to state authorized tasks. Shot using a camcorder, the documentary ends with four of the artists moving abroad after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.{{cite book | last = Chu | first = Yingchu| year = 2007 | title = Chinese Documentaries: From Dogma to Polyphony | url = https://archive.org/details/chinesedocumenta00chuy | url-access = limited | publisher = Routledge| pages = [https://archive.org/details/chinesedocumenta00chuy/page/n101 91]–92}} Dance with the Farm Workers (2001) is another documentary by Wu.{{cite book | last = Zhang | first = Yingjin| year = 2010 | title = Cinema, Space, and Polylocality in a Globalizing China | publisher = University of Hawaiʻi Press| page = 134}}

Another internationally acclaimed documentary is Wang Bing's nine-hour tale of deindustrialization Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2003). Wang's subsequent documentaries, He Fengming (2007), Crude Oil (2008), Man with no name (2009), Three Sisters (2012) and Feng ai (2013), cemented his reputation as a leading documentarist of the movement.{{Cite web|url=http://icarusfilms.com/other/filmmaker/wangbing.html|title=Icarus Films: Featured Filmmakers|website=icarusfilms.com|access-date=2020-01-28}}

Li Hong, the first woman in the NDM, in Out of Phoenix Bridge (1997) relates the story of four young women, who moving from rural areas to the big cities like millions of other men and women, have come to Beijing to make a living.

The New Documentary Movement in recent times has overlapped with the dGeneration filmmaking, with most documentaries being shot cheaply and independently in the digital format. Xu Xin's Karamay (2010), Zhao Liang's Behemoth, Huang Weikai's Disorder (2009), Zhao Dayong's Ghost Town (2009), Du Haibing's 1428 (2009), Xu Tong's Fortune Teller (2009) and Li Ning's Tape (2010) were all shot in digital format. All had made their impact in the international documentary scene and the use of digital format allows for works of vaster lengths.

{{Main|Chinese animation|History of Chinese animation}}

Inspired by the success of Disney animation, the self-taught pioneers Wan brothers, Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan, made the first Chinese animated short in the 1920s, thus inaugurating the history of Chinese animation. (Chen Yuanyuan 175)Chen, Yuanyuan. "Old Or New Art? Rethinking Classical Chinese Animation." Journal of Chinese Cinemas, vol. 11, no. 2, 2017, pp. 175-188. Many live-action films of the Republican era also included animated sequences.{{cite web| url = https://chinesefilmclassics.org/animation-and-cartoons/| title = Animation and Cartoons 卡通與漫畫 - Chinese Film Classics| date = 23 April 2021}}

In 1937, the Wan brothers decided to produce 《铁扇公主》 Princess Iron Fan, which was the first Chinese animated feature film and the fourth, after the American feature films Snow White, Gulliver's Travels, and The Adventures of Pinocchio. It was at this time that Chinese animation as an art form had risen to prominence on the world stage. Completed in 1941, the film was released under China United Pictures and aroused a great response in Asia. Japanese animator Shigeru Tezuka once said that he gave up medicine after watching the cartoon and decided to pursue animation.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

During this golden era, Chinese animation had developed a variety of styles, including ink animation, shadow play animation, puppet animation, and so on. Some of the most representative works are 《大闹天宫》 Havoc in Heaven, 《哪吒闹海》 Nezha's Rebellion in the Sea and《天书奇谈》 Heavenly Book, which have also won lofty praise and numerous awards in the world.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

After Deng Xiaoping's Reform Period and the "opening up" of China, the movies《葫芦兄弟》 Calabash Brothers, 《黑猫警长》Black Cat Sheriff, 《阿凡提》Avanti Story and other impressive animated movies were released. However, at this time, China still favored the Japanese's more unique, American and European-influenced animated works over the less-advanced domestic ones.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

In the 1990s, digital production methods replaced manual hand-drawing methods; however, even with the use of advanced technology, none of the animated works were considered to be a breakthrough film. Animated films that tried to cater to all age groups, such as Lotus Lantern and Storm Resolution, did not attract much attention. The only animated works that seemed to achieve popularity were the ones for catered for children, such as Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf《喜羊羊与灰太狼》.

{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2023}}

During this period, the technical level of Chinese domestic animation production has been established comprehensively, and 3D animation films have become the mainstream. However, as more and more foreign films (such as ones from Japan, Europe, and the United States) are being imported into China, Chinese animated works is left in the shadows of these animated foreign films.

It was only with the release of 《西游记之大圣归来》Monkey King: Hero Is Back in 2015, a computer-animated film, that Chinese animated works took back the rein. The film was a huge hit and broke the record for Chinese domestic animated movies with CN¥956 million at China's box office. After the success of Journey to the West, several other high-quality animated films were released, such as《大鱼海棠》 Big Fish and Begonia and 《白蛇缘起》 White Snake. Though none of these movies made headway in regards to the box office, they did make filmmakers more and more interested in animated works.

This all changed with the breakthrough animated film, 《哪吒之魔童降世》Ne Zha. Released in 2019, it became the second highest-grossing film of all time in China, the highest-grossing animated non-English film, and the highest-grossing animated film in a single territory. It was with this film that Chinese animated films, as a medium, finally broke the notion in China that domestic animated films are only for children. With Nezha, and a spinoff, Jiang Ziya, Chinese animation has now come to be known as a veritable source of entertainment for all ages.

With China's liberalization in the late 1970s and its opening up to foreign markets, commercial considerations have made its impact in post-1980s filmmaking. Traditionally arthouse movies screened seldom make enough to break even. An example is Fifth Generation director Tian Zhuangzhuang's The Horse Thief (1986), a narrative film with minimal dialog on a Tibetan horse thief. The film, showcasing exotic landscapes, was well received by Chinese and some Western arthouse audiences, but did poorly at the box office.Celluloid China: cinematic encounters with culture and society, Harry H. Kuoshu, Southern Illinois University Press (2002), p 202 Tian's later The Warrior and the Wolf (2010) was a similar commercial failure.[http://zx.dy.com.cn/content/2009-10-12/20091012185758575,1.shtml 《狼灾记》票房低迷出乎意料 导演的兽性情挑_第一电影网] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905133933/http://zx.dy.com.cn/content/2009-10-12/20091012185758575%2C1.shtml |date=5 September 2013 }}

Prior to these, there were examples of successful commercial films in the post-liberalization period. One was the romance film Romance on the Lu Mountain (1980), which was a success with older Chinese. The film broke the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running film on a first run. Jet Li's cinematic debut Shaolin Temple (1982) was an instant hit at home and abroad (in Japan and the Southeast Asia, for example).{{cite book |title=Celebrity in China |author=Louise Edwards |author2=Elaine Jeffreys |publisher= Hong Kong University Press |year=2010 |page=456}} Another successful commercial film was {{ill|Murder in 405|zh|405谋杀案|italic=yes}} (405谋杀案, 1980), a murder thriller.{{cite web |title=CCTV-电影频道-相聚——《流金岁月》 |trans-title=CCTV - Movie Channel - Reunion — "The Golden Years" |url=http://www.cctv.com/program/ljsy_new/14/56/index.shtml |access-date=27 July 2018 |website=Cctv.com}} Feng Xiaogang's The Dream Factory (1997) was heralded as a turning point in Chinese movie industry, a hesui pian (Chinese New Year-screened film) which demonstrated the viability of the commercial model in China's socialist market economy. Feng has become one of the most successful commercial director in the post-1997 era. Almost all his films made high returns domestically{{cite web |author=Walsh Megan |date=20 February 2014 |title=review phim |url=https://wowhay.com/ |access-date=3 April 2015 |work=New Statesman}} while he used ethnic Chinese co-stars like Rosamund Kwan, Jacqueline Wu, Rene Liu and Shu Qi to boost his films' appeal. In the decade following 2010, owing to the influx of Hollywood films (though the number screened each year is curtailed), Chinese domestic cinema faces mounting challenges. The industry is growing and domestic films are starting to achieve the box office impact of major Hollywood blockbusters. However, not all domestic films are successful financially. In January 2010 James Cameron's Avatar was pulled out from non-3D theaters for Hu Mei's biopic Confucius, but this move led to a backlash on Hu's film.{{cite web |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2010-01/29/content_9396402.htm |title=Confucius loses his way |author= Raymond Zhou|date=29 January 2010|access-date= 3 April 2015|work=China Daily}} Zhang Yang's 2005 Sunflower also made little money, but his earlier, low-budget Spicy Love Soup (1997) grossed ten times its budget of ¥3 million.{{cite book |title=A Companion to Chinese Cinema |editor= Yingjin Zhang |publisher= Blackwell Publishing |year=2012 |page=357}} Likewise, the 2006 Crazy Stone, a sleeper hit, was made for just 3 million HKD/US$400,000. In 2009–11, Feng's Aftershock (2009) and Jiang Wen's Let the Bullets Fly (2010) became China's highest grossing domestic films, with Aftershock earning ¥670 million (US$105 million){{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/feng-xiaogang-remembering-1942-shanghai-338567 |title=Feng Xiaogang Unveils Epic 'Remembering 1942' at the Shanghai Film Festival |author= Karen Chu |date=2012-06-17|access-date= 2012-07-07|work=The Hollywood Reporter}} and Let the Bullets Fly ¥674 million (US$110 million).{{cite web|url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/so-young-enters-chinas-all-time-top-ten|title=So Young enters China's all-time top ten|author=Stephen Cremin|date=18 May 2013|work=Film Business Asia|access-date=3 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319110551/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/so-young-enters-chinas-all-time-top-ten|archive-date=19 March 2015}} Lost in Thailand (2012) became the first Chinese film to reach ¥1 billion at the Chinese box office and Monster Hunt (2015) became the first to reach {{CNY|2 billion}}.

As of 2021, 9 of the top 10 highest-grossing films in China are domestic productions. On 8 February 2016, the Chinese box office set a new single-day gross record, with {{CNY|660 million}}, beating the previous record of {{CNY|425 million}} on 18 July 2015.{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/2016/film/box-office/china-biggest-day-at-box-office-1201700835/|title= China Has Biggest Ever Day At Box Office|first= Patrick|last= Frater|date= 9 February 2016|access-date= 9 February 2016|work= Variety}} Also in February 2016, The Mermaid, directed by Stephen Chow, became the highest-grossing film in China, overtaking Monster Hunt.{{cite web |url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-chows-mermaid-highest-grosser-867913|title= China Box Office: 'Mermaid' Becomes Top-Grossing Film Ever With $400M|first= Patrick|last= Brzeski|date= 19 February 2016|access-date= 21 February 2016|work= The Hollywood Reporter}} It is also the first film to reach {{CNY|3 billion}}.{{cite web |url= http://chinafilminsider.com/china-box-office-february-and-the-mermaid-smash-records/|title= China Box Office: February and 'The Mermaid' Smash Records|first= Jonathan|last= Papish|date= 29 February 2016|access-date= 1 March 2016|work= China Film Insider}}

Under the influence of Hollywood science fiction movies like Prometheus, published on 8 June 2012, such genres especially the space science films have risen rapidly in the Chinese film market in recent years. On 5 February 2019, the film The Wandering Earth directed by Frant Gwo reached $699.8 million worldwide, which became the third highest-grossing film in the history of Chinese cinema.

File:Jia Zhang-Ke Skipcity DCF 2005.jpg at the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan, 22 July 2005]]

File:Huang Xiaoming in 2016.jpg, a Chinese actor, singer, and model]]

Since the late 1980s and progressively in the 2000s, Chinese films have enjoyed considerable box office success abroad. Formerly viewed only by cineastes, its global appeal mounted after the international box office and critical success of Ang Lee's period wuxia film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which won Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000. This multi-national production increased its appeal by featuring stars from all parts of the Chinese-speaking world. It provided an introduction to Chinese cinema (and especially the wuxia genre) for many and increased the popularity of many earlier Chinese films. To date Crouching Tiger remains the most commercially successful foreign-language film in U.S. history.

In 2002, Zhang Yimou's Hero was another international box office success.{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK |pages=164}} Its cast featured famous actors from mainland China and Hong Kong who were also known to some extent in the West, including Jet Li, Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. Despite criticisms by some that these two films pander somewhat to Western tastes, Hero was a phenomenal success in most of Asia and topped the U.S. box office for two weeks, making enough in the U.S. alone to cover the production costs.

Other films such as Farewell My Concubine, 2046, Suzhou River, The Road Home and House of Flying Daggers were critically acclaimed around the world. The Hengdian World Studios can be seen as the "Chinese Hollywood", with a total area of up to 330 ha. and 13 shooting bases, including a 1:1 copy of the Forbidden City.

File:Jiang Qinqin from "Chinese Movie Week" at Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2016 (33259230440).jpg at Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2016]]

The successes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero make it difficult to demarcate the boundary between "Mainland Chinese" cinema and a more international-based "Chinese-language cinema". Crouching Tiger, for example, was directed by a Taiwan-born American director (Ang Lee) who works often in Hollywood. Its pan-Chinese leads include mainland Chinese (Zhang Ziyi), Hong Kong (Chow Yun-Fat), Taiwan (Chang Chen) and Malaysian (Michelle Yeoh) actors and actresses; the film was co-produced by an array of Chinese, American, Hong Kong, and Taiwan film companies. Likewise, Lee's Chinese-language Lust, Caution (2007) drew a crew and cast from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and includes an orchestral score by French composer Alexandre Desplat. This merging of people, resources and expertise from the three regions and the broader East Asia and the world, marks the movement of Chinese-language cinema into a domain of large scale international influence. Other examples of films in this mold include The Promise (2005), The Banquet (2006), Fearless (2006), The Warlords (2007), Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) and Red Cliff (2008–09). The ease with which ethnic Chinese actresses and actors straddle the mainland and Hong Kong has significantly increased the number of co-productions in Chinese-language cinema. Many of these films also feature South Korean or Japanese actors to appeal to their East Asian neighbours. Some artistes originating from the mainland, like Hu Jun, Zhang Ziyi, Tang Wei and Zhou Xun, obtained Hong Kong residency under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme and have acted in many Hong Kong productions.{{Cite web |url=http://www.asianbite.com/default.asp?Display=2473 |title=Zhou Xun Obtains Hong Kong Citizenship |access-date=2016-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402064516/http://www.asianbite.com/default.asp?Display=2473 |archive-date=2012-04-02 }}

===Box office and screens===

In 1983, there were 162,000 projection units in China, up from less than 600 at the 1949 founding of the PRC.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Jie |title=Cinematic Guerillas: Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2023 |isbn=9780231206273}}{{Rp|page=1}}

In 1998, the Ministry of Culture revived the practice of mobile rural cinema as part of its 2131 Project which aimed to screen one movie per month per village in rural China and upgrade analog equipment to digital projectors.{{Rp|page=246}} In 2003, the central government provided more than 400 film projection vans to Tibet and Xinjiang to show films in an effort to oppose what the government viewed as separatism and Westernization.{{Rp|page=249}}

In 2010, Chinese cinema was the third largest film industry by number of feature films produced annually.{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2044888,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202062938/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2044888,00.html| archive-date=2 February 2011| title=As Its Box Office Booms, Chinese Cinema Makes a 3-D Push | magazine= Time|author=Brenhouse, Hillary|date=2011-01-31| access-date=2011-09-14}} In 2013, China's gross box office was ¥21.8 billion (US$3.6 billion), the second-largest film market in the world by box office receipts.{{cite web|url= http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/china-bo-up-27-in-2013|title= China B.O. up 27% in 2013|author= Kevin Ma|date= 6 January 2014|access-date= 6 January 2014|work= Film Business Asia|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140106182629/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/china-bo-up-27-in-2013|archive-date= 6 January 2014|df= mdy-all}} In January 2013, Lost in Thailand (2012) became the first Chinese film to reach ¥1 billion at the box office.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/xu-joins-one-billion-club|title=Xu joins one billion club|author=Stephen Cremin and Patrick Frater|date=3 January 2013|access-date=6 January 2014|work=Film Business Asia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140205082726/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/xu-joins-one-billion-club|archive-date=5 February 2014|df=mdy-all}} As of May 2013, 7 of the top 10 highest-grossing films in China were domestic productions.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/so-young-enters-chinas-all-time-top-ten|title=So Young enters China's all-time top ten|author=Stephen Cremin|date=18 May 2013|access-date=6 January 2014|work=Film Business Asia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319110551/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/so-young-enters-chinas-all-time-top-ten|archive-date=19 March 2015}} As of 2014, around half of all tickets are sold online, with the largest ticket selling sites being Maoyan.com (82 million), Gewara.com (45 million) and Wepiao.com (28 million).{{cite web |url= http://english.entgroup.cn/news_detail.aspx?id=3188|title= Internet Giants Move From Behind the Camera to Front|author= Xu Fan |agency=China Daily |date= 18 June 2015|access-date= 19 June 2015|publisher= EntGroup Inc |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151015224650/http://english.entgroup.cn/news_detail.aspx?id=3188 |archive-date= Oct 15, 2015 }} In 2014, Chinese films earned ¥1.87 billion outside China.{{cite web |url= http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/china-bo-up-36-in-2014|title= China B.O up 36% in 2014|author= Kevin Ma|date= 2 January 2015|access-date= 2 January 2015|work= Film Business Asia |url-status=unfit |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150124201950/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/china-bo-up-36-in-2014 |archive-date= Jan 24, 2015 }} By December 2013 there were 17,000 screens in the country.{{cite web |url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/china-bo-passes-rmb20-billion-in-2013 |title=China B.O. passes RMB20 billion in 2013|author=Kevin Mar|date=2013-12-10|access-date= 2013-12-19|work= Film Business Asia |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224103401/http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/china-bo-passes-rmb20-billion-in-2013 |archive-date= Dec 24, 2013 }} By 6 January 2014, there were 18,195 screens in the country. Greater China has around 251 IMAX theaters.{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/2015/biz/asia/imax-china-sets-cautious-ipo-share-price-1201606822/|title= IMAX China Sets Cautious IPO Share Price|author= Patrick Frater|date= 30 September 2015|access-date= 9 October 2015|work= Variety}} There were 299 cinema chains (252 rural, 47 urban), 5,813 movie theaters and 24,317 screens in the country in 2014.{{cite web |url= http://english.entgroup.cn/uploads/reports/China%20Film%20Industry%20Report%202014-2015%EF%BC%88in%20brief%EF%BC%89.pdf|title= China Film Industry Report 2014-2015 (In Brief)|access-date= 15 October 2015|publisher= EntGroup Inc |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151015224650/http://english.entgroup.cn/uploads/reports/China%20Film%20Industry%20Report%202014-2015%EF%BC%88in%20brief%EF%BC%89.pdf |archive-date= Oct 15, 2015 }}

The country added about 8,035 screens in 2015 (at an average of 22 new screens per day, increasing its total by about 40% to around 31,627 screens, which is about 7,373 shy of the number of screens in the United States.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-1230-ct-china-box-office-20151230-story.html|title=Movie ticket sales jump 48% in China, but Hollywood has reason to worry|author=Julie Makinen|work=Los Angeles Times|date=29 December 2015|access-date=29 December 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-grows-astonishing-851629|title=China Box Office Grows Astonishing 49 Percent in 2015, Hits $6.78 Billion|author=Patrick Brzeski|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=31 December 2015|access-date=31 December 2015}} Chinese films accounted for 61.48% of ticket sales in 2015 (up from 54% last year) with more than 60% of ticket sales being made online. Average ticket price was down about 2.5% to $5.36 in 2015. It also witnessed 51.08% increase in admissions, with 1.26 billion people buying tickets to the cinema in 2015. Chinese films grossed {{USD|427 million}} overseas in 2015.{{cite web |url= https://deadline.com/2016/01/china-box-office-2015-record-1201674753/|title= China Box Office Ends Year With $6.77B; On Way To Overtaking U.S. In 2017?|first= Nancy|last= Tartaglione|date= 1 January 2016|access-date= 1 January 2016|work=Deadline Hollywood}} During the week of the 2016 Chinese New Year, the country set a new record for the highest box office gross during one week in one territory with {{USD|548 million}}, overtaking the previous record of {{USD|529.6 million}} of 26 December 2015 to 1 January 2016 in the United States and Canada.{{cite web |url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-breaks-world-865319|title= China Box Office Breaks World Record With $548M in One Week|first= Patrick |last= Brzeski|date=15 February 2016|access-date= 16 February 2016|work= The Hollywood Reporter}} Chinese films grossed {{CNY|3.83 billion}} ({{USD|550 million}}) in foreign markets in 2016.

In 2020, China's market for films surpassed the U.S. market to become the largest such market in the world.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=David Daokui |title=China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict |date=2024 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393292398 |location=New York, NY |author-link=David Daokui Li}}{{Rp|page=16}}

As of April 2015, the largest Chinese film company by worth was Alibaba Pictures (US$8.77 billion). Other large companies include Huayi Brothers Media (US$7.9 billion), Enlight Media (US$5.98 billion) and Bona Film Group (US$542 million).{{cite web |url= https://variety.com/2015/biz/asia/chinese-media-stocks-stage-major-rally-in-us-and-asian-markets-1201469237/|title= Chinese Media Stocks Stage Major Rally in U.S. and Asian Markets|author= Patrick Frater|date= 9 April 2015|access-date= 14 April 2015|work=Variety}} The biggest distributors by market share in 2014 were: China Film Group (32.8%), Huaxia Film (22.89%), Enlight Pictures (7.75%), Bona Film Group (5.99%), Wanda Media (5.2%), Le Vision Pictures (4.1%), Huayi Brothers (2.26%), United Exhibitor Partners (2%), Heng Ye Film Distribution (1.77%) and Beijing Anshi Yingna Entertainment (1.52%). The biggest cinema chains in 2014 by box office gross were: Wanda Cinema Line ({{USD|676.96 million}}), China Film Stellar (393.35 million), Dadi Theater Circuit (378.17 million), Shanghai United Circuit (355.07 million), Guangzhou Jinyi Zhujiang (335.39 million), China Film South Cinema Circuit (318.71 million), Zhejiang Time Cinema (190.53 million), China Film Group Digital Cinema Line (177.42 million), Hengdian Cinema Line (170.15 million) and Beijing New Film Association (163.09 million).

Huayi Brothers is China's most powerful independent (i.e., non state-owned) entertainment company, Beijing-based Huayi Brothers is a diversified company engaged in film and TV production, distribution, theatrical exhibition, as well as talent management. Notable films include 2004's Kung Fu Hustle; and 2010's Aftershock, which had a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.{{Cite web|url=https://chinafilmbiz.com/2012/07/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028202238/http://chinafilmbiz.com/2012/07/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=28 October 2012|title=July 2012|website=chinafilmbiz 中国电影业务|date=29 July 2012 |access-date=2019-11-13}}

Beijing Enlight Media focuses on the action and romance genres. Enlight usually places several films in China's top 20 grossers. Enlight is also a major player in China's TV series production and distribution businesses. Under the leadership of its CEO Wang Changtian, the publicly traded, Beijing-based company has achieved a market capitalization of nearly US$1 billion.{{Cite web|url=https://chinafilmbiz.com/2012/07/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028202238/http://chinafilmbiz.com/2012/07/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=28 October 2012|title=July 2012|website=chinafilmbiz 中国电影业务|date=29 July 2012 |access-date=2019-11-12}}

Since 2017, the industry is regulated by the Film Industry Promotion Act.{{Cite journal |last=Li |first=Yuhao |date=2022-07-15 |title=Research on the Value Maximization of Chinese Film Intellectual Property in the Internet Era |url=https://francis-press.com/papers/6943 |journal=Frontiers in Art Research |language=en |volume=4 |issue=8 |doi=10.25236/FAR.2022.040802}}{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Ting |url=https://www.aup-online.com/content/papers/10.5117/9789048557240/ICASSEE.2021.023 |title=The 5th International Conference on Art Studies: Research, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2021) |date=December 2021 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-485-5724-0 |editor-last=Lukina |editor-first=Galima |volume=1 |pages=162–166 |chapter=Study on the Development of Chinese Animated Films in the New Era |doi=10.5117/9789048557240/ICASSEE.2021.023}}

• Cinema of Asia
• East Asian cinema
• Chinese animation
• Chinese art
• Kung Fu film
• Movie Town Haikou
• Oriental Movie Metropolis
• August First Film Studio
• Chinese cinema in Nigeria

• List of Chinese actors
• List of Chinese actresses
• List of Chinese directors
• List of Chinese films
• List of Chinese film production companies (pre-PRC)
• List of highest-grossing films in China
• List of film production companies by country#China
• List of highest-grossing non-English films

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last1=Bordwell |first1 = David |last2 = Thompson |first2=Kristin |title = Film history: an introduction|year=2010 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education|location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-07-338613-3 |edition=3rd }}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Nowell-Smith |editor-first=Geoffrey |title=The Oxford history of world cinema |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-874242-5 |edition=Paperback |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofw00geof }}

{{refend}}

• Carlo Celli. "China's Confucian, Misogynistic Nationalism" National Identity in Global Cinema: How Movies Explain the World. Palgrave MacMillan 2013, 1–22.
• Rey Chow, Primitive Passions: Visuality, Sexuality, Ethnography, and Contemporary Chinese Cinema, Columbia University Press 1995.
• Cheng, Jim, Annotated Bibliography For Chinese Film Studies, Hong Kong University Press 2004.
• Shuqin Cui, Women Through the Lens: Gender and Nation in a Century of Chinese Cinema, University of Hawaii Press 2003.
• Dai Jinhua, Cinema and Desire: Feminist Marxism and Cultural Politics in the Work of Dai Jinhua, eds. Jing Wang and Tani E. Barlow. London: Verso 2002.
• {{cite book|year=2015|access-date=17 May 2014|publisher=McFarland|author=Rolf Giesen|others=Illustrated by Bryn Barnard|title=Chinese Animation: A History and Filmography, 1922-2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2mjjBQAAQBAJ&q=mayan+girls+chinese&pg=PT313|isbn=978-1-4766-1552-3}}
• {{Cite journal | last1 = Hu | first1 = Lindan | title = Rescuing female desire from revolutionary history: Chinese women's cinema in the 1980s | journal = Asian Journal of Women's Studies | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages = 49–65 | doi = 10.1080/12259276.2017.1279890 | date = 2017 | s2cid = 218771001 }}
• Harry H. Kuoshu, Celluloid China: Cinematic Encounters with Culture and Society, Southern Illinois University Press 2002 - introduction, discusses 15 films at length.
• Jay Leyda, Dianying, MIT Press, 1972.
• Laikwan Pang, Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement, 1932–1937, Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc 2002.
• {{cite book|editor-last1=Quiquemelle|editor-first1=Marie-Claire|editor-last2=Passek|editor-first2=Jean-Loup|editor-link2=Jean-Loup Passek|title=Le Cinéma chinois|date=1985|publisher=Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou|location=Paris|isbn=978-2-85850-263-9|oclc=11965661}}
• Rea, Christopher. Chinese Film Classics, 1922–1949. New York: Columbia University Press, 2021. ISBN 9780231188135
• Seio Nakajima. 2016. "The genesis, structure and transformation of the contemporary Chinese cinematic field: Global linkages and national refractions." Global Media and Communication Volume 12, Number 1, pp 85–108. [http://gmc.sagepub.com/content/12/1/85.abstract]
• Zhen Ni, Chris Berry, Memoirs From The Beijing Film Academy, Duke University Press 2002.
• Semsel, George, ed. "Chinese Film: The State of the Art in the People's Republic", Praeger, 1987.
• Semsel, George, Xia Hong, and Hou Jianping, eds. Chinese Film Theory: A Guide to the New Era, Praeger, 1990.
• Semsel, George, Chen Xihe, and Xia Hong, eds. Film in Contemporary China: Critical Debates, 1979–1989", Praeger, 1993.
• Gary G. Xu, Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
• Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh and Darrell William Davis. 2008. "Re-nationalizing China's film industry: case study on the China Film Group and film marketization." Journal of Chinese Cinemas Volume 2, Issue 1, pp 37–51. [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1386/jcc.2.1.37_1]
• Yingjin Zhang (Author), Zhiwei Xiao (Author, Editor), Encyclopedia of Chinese Film, Routledge, 1998.
• Yingjin Zhang, ed., Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922–1943, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999.
• Yingjin Zhang, Chinese National Cinema (National Cinemas Series.), Routledge 2004 - general introduction.
• Ying Zhu, "Chinese Cinema during the Era of Reform: the Ingenuity of the System", Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.
• Ying Zhu, "Art, Politics and Commerce in Chinese Cinema", co-edited with Stanley Rosen, Hong Kong University Press, 2010
• Ying Zhu and Seio Nakajima, "The Evolution of Chinese Film as an Industry," pp. 17–33 in Stanley Rosen and Ying Zhu, eds., Art, Politics and Commerce in Chinese Cinema, Hong Kong University Press, 2010. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1xwdjc]
• Wang, Lingzhen. Chinese Women's Cinema: Transnational Contexts. Columbia University Press, 13 August 2013. {{ISBN|0-231-52744-6}}, 9780231527446.

{{Commons category}}

• [https://chinesefilmclassics.org/ Chinese Film Classics] - a website hosted at the University of British Columbia with over 30 early Chinese films with English subtitles, an [https://chinesefilmclassics.org/course/ online course on early Chinese cinema], and other resources
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080527132114/http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals.php?issn=17508061 Journal of Chinese Cinema]
• [http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/filmbib.htm MCLC Resource Center-Media]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120823034057/http://www.chinesemirror.com/index/about_cm.html The Chinese Mirror — A Journal of Chinese Film History]

{{Cinema of China}}

{{World cinema}}

{{China topics|state=autocollapse}}

{{Asia topic|Cinema of}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cinema Of China}}

Category:Arts in China