Analysis of Chinese Cinema

Author: Rao Shuguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: When discussing the classic films of the 1930s and 1940s, one cannot fail to mention works such as Shen Nü (The Goddess), Jiushi Jie (Crossroads), Malu Tianxia (Street Angel), Ba Qian Li Mu Yun He Yue (A Long and Winding Road), Yi Jiang Chun Shui Dong Xiang Liu (A River Flows East), and Wan Jia Deng Liao (Ten Thousand Homes), as these films are already recognized as classics. However, precisely because they are widely recognized classics, they are also all too familiar to us. For this very reason, this book does not choose these films—their classic status in the history of Chinese cinema remains unaffected. Instead, this book selects other films such as Xiao Wei Li (Little Toys), Tai Tai Wan Shi (Madam, Good Day), and Hua Wai Liu Ying (A Song Outside the Flower). I have prepared the following reasons for this selection: (1) These films may be less familiar to readers and should offer a sense of novelty; (2) They are absolutely worthy of the criteria and standards of "classic" films, but for various reasons, they have either been overlooked or sidelined; (3) More importantly, in the current push for industrialization of Chinese cinema, these films hold more direct relevance for us.
A written archive of a century of Chinese cinema, a cinematic journey through a century of Chinese film, presenting the history of Chinese film culture over the past century, seeking the possibilities of dialogue between different narratives, and exploring the extraordinary vitality of film cultural development. This book provides an insight into a century of Chinese cinema, organizing the footsteps of Chinese cinema and reconstructing an enlightening tradition of film history.