Abstract One of the particular characteristics of Chinese films is that they are based on the unique sources of Chinese cultural thought. This article examines the main spiritual ideas of traditional Chinese culture through the lens of the three relationships between heaven and man, humans and other humans, and man and himself. It explores how Chinese films made in different cultural contexts and historical backgrounds have expressed the spirit of Chinese culture through both inheritance and transformation. We approach this issue by focusing on expressions of the traditional concepts of “the unity of man and heaven,” “vigor and promise,” “balanced harmony and the golden mean,” and “the unity of body and mind.”
{"title":"Chinese Cultural Spirit: The Expression of Values in Chinese Films","authors":"Haizhou Wang, Yaxuan Yuan","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2022-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2022-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract One of the particular characteristics of Chinese films is that they are based on the unique sources of Chinese cultural thought. This article examines the main spiritual ideas of traditional Chinese culture through the lens of the three relationships between heaven and man, humans and other humans, and man and himself. It explores how Chinese films made in different cultural contexts and historical backgrounds have expressed the spirit of Chinese culture through both inheritance and transformation. We approach this issue by focusing on expressions of the traditional concepts of “the unity of man and heaven,” “vigor and promise,” “balanced harmony and the golden mean,” and “the unity of body and mind.”","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115097422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract China’s film industry has its historical roots across the four geographical divisions of northern, eastern, western, and southern China. Each of these four film-producing regions has their own characteristics with divergent historical heritages and cultural resources. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) the division of administrative regions included a territorially divided management policy of film enterprises. Such policies promoted the regional development of China’s film industry while simultaneously exacerbated the complex contradictions between and among the clusters produced. In the 1950s, four major state-owned film studios were established in Beijing, Shanghai, and Changchun. Under the planned economy model, films were purchased and sold exclusively by the state through these studios. Since the 1990s, China’s film industry has undergone deep institutional reform, with film distribution and exhibition gradually moving towards the market and private enterprises beginning to actively participate in film production and distribution. The film industry has since begun to actively explore the generative potential of the existing industrial clusters, experimenting with film co-production and cross-regional business operations across the regions. With the goal of constructing a film and television alliance, the film industry has sought to maximize the advantages of different regions to promote the integration of these historically and regionally distinct sectors in an open and tolerant manner, laying the foundation for Chinese films to leapfrog into the global film market.
{"title":"The Regional Rootedness of China’s Film Industry: Cluster Development and Attempts at Cross-Location Integration","authors":"Zhizhong Fan, Xi Yu","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0027","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract China’s film industry has its historical roots across the four geographical divisions of northern, eastern, western, and southern China. Each of these four film-producing regions has their own characteristics with divergent historical heritages and cultural resources. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) the division of administrative regions included a territorially divided management policy of film enterprises. Such policies promoted the regional development of China’s film industry while simultaneously exacerbated the complex contradictions between and among the clusters produced. In the 1950s, four major state-owned film studios were established in Beijing, Shanghai, and Changchun. Under the planned economy model, films were purchased and sold exclusively by the state through these studios. Since the 1990s, China’s film industry has undergone deep institutional reform, with film distribution and exhibition gradually moving towards the market and private enterprises beginning to actively participate in film production and distribution. The film industry has since begun to actively explore the generative potential of the existing industrial clusters, experimenting with film co-production and cross-regional business operations across the regions. With the goal of constructing a film and television alliance, the film industry has sought to maximize the advantages of different regions to promote the integration of these historically and regionally distinct sectors in an open and tolerant manner, laying the foundation for Chinese films to leapfrog into the global film market.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132775204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The influence of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impacted the global film market in 2020. Across the world, the Chinese film market was the first to recover and, as a result, assumed a leading position. This was because the government launched a return-to-work policy, the capital market became more rational, the integration of film companies accelerated, the film industry model trended toward centralization, and market structures underwent deep adjustments. Despite shrinking market space and declining film production during 2020, the industry produced films that remained diverse in genre and subject. Where the “Matthew effect” of accumulated advantage is much more acute in the film industry, a more diverse distribution approach has emerged in the field of new media. With box office returns approaching a ceiling, it has become more urgent to stabilize the quality of top films, enrich and enhance the competitiveness of genre films, and strengthen the theatricality of art films. It also became urgent to improve the film industry system, the product system, the market system, and the box office window system.
{"title":"Analysis of China’s Film Industry in 2020","authors":"Hong-Yan Yin, Yanbin Sun","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0029","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The influence of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impacted the global film market in 2020. Across the world, the Chinese film market was the first to recover and, as a result, assumed a leading position. This was because the government launched a return-to-work policy, the capital market became more rational, the integration of film companies accelerated, the film industry model trended toward centralization, and market structures underwent deep adjustments. Despite shrinking market space and declining film production during 2020, the industry produced films that remained diverse in genre and subject. Where the “Matthew effect” of accumulated advantage is much more acute in the film industry, a more diverse distribution approach has emerged in the field of new media. With box office returns approaching a ceiling, it has become more urgent to stabilize the quality of top films, enrich and enhance the competitiveness of genre films, and strengthen the theatricality of art films. It also became urgent to improve the film industry system, the product system, the market system, and the box office window system.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"67 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132312053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The development of film art in the People’s Republic of China throughout the past 70 years can be roughly divided into two stages: before and after the reform and opening-up．During this period, Chinese films not only influenced the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres, but they also produced aesthetics with uniquely Chinese characteristics, distinguishing themselves on the world film stage. However, after 70 years of development, Chinese films still have many contradictions and problems, namely: how to deal with the relationships between education and entertainment, plan and market, tradition/China/subjectivity, and modernity/world/diversity. Prejudicial tendencies can be avoided with a dialectical view of these relationships, and a healthy, integrated, and developmental track can be achieved. With this new historical contextualization in mind, to realize the transformation from a big film country to a strong film country, Chinese films should keep pace with the country’s economic and social strategic development, enhancing their quality and making contributions to a culturally advanced country with many high-standard films in the new era.
{"title":"Looking Backwards and Forwards: The Development of Film Art in the People’s Republic of China","authors":"Zhifeng Hu, Yin Chen","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0035","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The development of film art in the People’s Republic of China throughout the past 70 years can be roughly divided into two stages: before and after the reform and opening-up．During this period, Chinese films not only influenced the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres, but they also produced aesthetics with uniquely Chinese characteristics, distinguishing themselves on the world film stage. However, after 70 years of development, Chinese films still have many contradictions and problems, namely: how to deal with the relationships between education and entertainment, plan and market, tradition/China/subjectivity, and modernity/world/diversity. Prejudicial tendencies can be avoided with a dialectical view of these relationships, and a healthy, integrated, and developmental track can be achieved. With this new historical contextualization in mind, to realize the transformation from a big film country to a strong film country, Chinese films should keep pace with the country’s economic and social strategic development, enhancing their quality and making contributions to a culturally advanced country with many high-standard films in the new era.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129142455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract A revolutionary, film theorist, and screenwriter, Xia Yan (1900–1995) is known as one of the pioneers of Chinese cinema. Xia’s pursuit of a national style and international status for Chinese cinema and his aspirations for the prosperity of the Chinese nation are in line with the basic ideas and goals of the nascent “Chinese School of Film.” In the context of the under-theorized and problematic production practices of current Chinese cinema, it is high time to revisit Xia’s professional and academic contributions to cinematic art, which shed light on the construction of both the “Chinese School of Film” and “shared aesthetics.”
{"title":"Xia Yan and the Chinese School of Film","authors":"Shuguang Rao, Mengqiu Zhu","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0039","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract A revolutionary, film theorist, and screenwriter, Xia Yan (1900–1995) is known as one of the pioneers of Chinese cinema. Xia’s pursuit of a national style and international status for Chinese cinema and his aspirations for the prosperity of the Chinese nation are in line with the basic ideas and goals of the nascent “Chinese School of Film.” In the context of the under-theorized and problematic production practices of current Chinese cinema, it is high time to revisit Xia’s professional and academic contributions to cinematic art, which shed light on the construction of both the “Chinese School of Film” and “shared aesthetics.”","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"110 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122254856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Current market-led Chinese film production has made huge achievements. Market indicators certainly have their validity. However, the power of the market has been exaggerated so that it controls everything. Because of the disregard of film as an aesthetic object, the content, form and aesthetic sensibility of films have been neglected, preventing creation at a higher level. The loss of multiple cultural identities due to market factors and artistic indifference is hardly sustainable in the long run. In recent years, Chinese films have gradually improved their artistic aesthetics. How to reasonably coordinate the market and the realization of the value of art and culture itself is an urgent problem to be solved. Firstly, Chinese films should have creative imagination; secondly, Chinese films should have the artistic expression of the national core value of heroism; thirdly, Chinese films should have meticulous depictions of people. Under the perspective of aesthetic appreciation, it is a top priority for Chinese films to be more in line with reality and traditional aesthetic culture, and be more characterized in their creation.
{"title":"The Current Problems of Aesthetic Creation in Chinese Film Art","authors":"Xing Zhou","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0031","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Current market-led Chinese film production has made huge achievements. Market indicators certainly have their validity. However, the power of the market has been exaggerated so that it controls everything. Because of the disregard of film as an aesthetic object, the content, form and aesthetic sensibility of films have been neglected, preventing creation at a higher level. The loss of multiple cultural identities due to market factors and artistic indifference is hardly sustainable in the long run. In recent years, Chinese films have gradually improved their artistic aesthetics. How to reasonably coordinate the market and the realization of the value of art and culture itself is an urgent problem to be solved. Firstly, Chinese films should have creative imagination; secondly, Chinese films should have the artistic expression of the national core value of heroism; thirdly, Chinese films should have meticulous depictions of people. Under the perspective of aesthetic appreciation, it is a top priority for Chinese films to be more in line with reality and traditional aesthetic culture, and be more characterized in their creation.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"196 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124353537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This dialog was conducted between Wu Jing, an actor and a film director, and Jia Leilei, a researcher of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, at Director Wu Jing’s Studio in Beijing on May 18, 2021. This dialog is about Wu Jing’s personal experiences and film concepts including Wu Jing as a martial artist, Wu Jing as an actor and a director; his persistence in pursuing authenticity in filmmaking as well as his life philosophy, all highlighting the chivalry of martial artists both in the film world and real life.
{"title":"The Chivalry of a Martial Artist – Interview with Wu Jing","authors":"Leilei Jia","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0026","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This dialog was conducted between Wu Jing, an actor and a film director, and Jia Leilei, a researcher of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, at Director Wu Jing’s Studio in Beijing on May 18, 2021. This dialog is about Wu Jing’s personal experiences and film concepts including Wu Jing as a martial artist, Wu Jing as an actor and a director; his persistence in pursuing authenticity in filmmaking as well as his life philosophy, all highlighting the chivalry of martial artists both in the film world and real life.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"170 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114752056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract As a significant industrial and cultural phenomenon, the rise of new mainstream films and TV dramas in China embodies the inclusion of multiple cultures (mainstream culture, grassroot culture, youth culture, etc.) and the respect for diverse audiences. In particular, such trends bring into focus the youth market and explore the image-based expression of youth culture, subculture and fashion culture. However, this author argues that the production of such films and TV dramas also needs to further pursue market-orientated strategies, sustainable development, and conformity to industrial standards. In short, the production of new mainstream films and TV dramas should not revert to the previous production pattern of mainstream films.
{"title":"New Mainstream Films and Television Dramas in China: The Construction of Industrial Aesthetics and Consumption of Youth Culture","authors":"Xuguang Chen","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0034","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract As a significant industrial and cultural phenomenon, the rise of new mainstream films and TV dramas in China embodies the inclusion of multiple cultures (mainstream culture, grassroot culture, youth culture, etc.) and the respect for diverse audiences. In particular, such trends bring into focus the youth market and explore the image-based expression of youth culture, subculture and fashion culture. However, this author argues that the production of such films and TV dramas also needs to further pursue market-orientated strategies, sustainable development, and conformity to industrial standards. In short, the production of new mainstream films and TV dramas should not revert to the previous production pattern of mainstream films.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"67 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115945565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article investigates the similarities between inherent Chinese aesthetic sensibilities and modern cinematic thought and introduces Chinese films’ exploration of oriental film aesthetics during the “seventeen-year period” (1949–1966). It serves to remind us that in seeking to understand the developmental trajectory and driving forces behind Chinese film art, it is important to examine the changes in and contexts of modern Chinese modes of thought—especially artistic thought—so as to reveal the aesthetic sensibilities of modern Chinese films; the true nature of their artistic inheritance; and their foundation and potential for modern transformations. The article makes an original Chinese contribution to the creation of a new film aesthetics for future images in the era of artificial intelligence.
{"title":"The Imaginative Impulse: Philosophies of Film and Chinese Aesthetic Sensibilities","authors":"Shang-Ying Chen","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0023","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article investigates the similarities between inherent Chinese aesthetic sensibilities and modern cinematic thought and introduces Chinese films’ exploration of oriental film aesthetics during the “seventeen-year period” (1949–1966). It serves to remind us that in seeking to understand the developmental trajectory and driving forces behind Chinese film art, it is important to examine the changes in and contexts of modern Chinese modes of thought—especially artistic thought—so as to reveal the aesthetic sensibilities of modern Chinese films; the true nature of their artistic inheritance; and their foundation and potential for modern transformations. The article makes an original Chinese contribution to the creation of a new film aesthetics for future images in the era of artificial intelligence.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134554500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Street culture is represented in two mid-2010 Taiwan films, The Kids (Xiaohai, 2015) and Thanatos, Drunk (Zui sheng meng shi 2015), in such stunning and beautiful ways that this essay sets out to etch each of them not only into the annals of Taiwan’s most memorable urban films ever made, but also position them as essential texts within the emergent field of street culture more broadly. Both movies depict physical and ideological boundaries that separate urban spaces from Taiwanese culture at large, and reveal the extent to which their young protagonists are perceived as “abnormal” even as they use street literacy in sophisticated ways to interact with formal actors (such as school teachers and the police) and informal actors (such as hooligans and petty criminals). These two films arguably present the best vantage point to understand the peripheral status of Taiwan’s urban young people who do not conform to hegemonic norms.
{"title":"“In the Dark Places, Getting Burned”: Portrayals of Street Culture in Taiwan Cinema Today","authors":"J. Wicks","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2021-0022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2021-0022","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Street culture is represented in two mid-2010 Taiwan films, The Kids (Xiaohai, 2015) and Thanatos, Drunk (Zui sheng meng shi 2015), in such stunning and beautiful ways that this essay sets out to etch each of them not only into the annals of Taiwan’s most memorable urban films ever made, but also position them as essential texts within the emergent field of street culture more broadly. Both movies depict physical and ideological boundaries that separate urban spaces from Taiwanese culture at large, and reveal the extent to which their young protagonists are perceived as “abnormal” even as they use street literacy in sophisticated ways to interact with formal actors (such as school teachers and the police) and informal actors (such as hooligans and petty criminals). These two films arguably present the best vantage point to understand the peripheral status of Taiwan’s urban young people who do not conform to hegemonic norms.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129951656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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