In 1905 a recording of the Beijing opera ‘The Battle of Dingjunshan’ was produced. This marked the beginning of the Chinese film industry. It is an industry that over the last 100 years has struggled through invasion, civil war, and censorship, at times has had money thrown at it and at other times has been completely shutdown. But with the second largest cinema going audience in the world, the Chinese film industry is now big business.

In the media recently there have been many articles about how Chinese audiences are changing Hollywood, how Chinese films are trying to reach international audiences by including big name Western actors, like Zhang Yimou’s Flowers of War (2011), whose cast was led by Christian Bale or Feng Xiaogang historical drama ‘Back to 1942’ (2012), which casted Adrian Brody and Tim Robbins.

With all these millions floating around let’s take a look at how the Chinese Film Industry has developed over these last hundred years and how the films it has produced have changed.

Getting started: the early generations of Chinese filmmakers

Domestic film production really got going in the 1910s in and around Shanghai. This is unsurprising, as at the time Shanghai was the international bastion of the Far East. Cinema became the luxury entertainment for the masses, and American film technicians were on hand to teach Chinese filmmakers new techniques. Key movies by this first generation include Cheng Bugao's Spring Silkworms (1933), Sun Yu's The Big Road (1935), and Wu Yonggang's The Goddess (1934).

The Japanese invasion and takeover of Shanghai effectively ended film production in China and it wasn’t until after 1945 when the Lianhua production group re-established itself that the film industry could get back on its feet. Films, post 1945, tended to be left-leaning and often focused on the disappointment in Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist party as well as trying to make sense of years of war. The second generation produced films such as Myriads of Lights (1948), Crows and Sparrows (1949), San Mao (1949), and probably most importantly, The Spring River Flows East (1947), which told the story of ordinary Chinese folk struggling under Japanese occupation.

A New Country: Filmmaking under the PRC

The newly created PRC recognized the importance of film in building a new nation, particularly after nearly 15 years of constant war. In the 17 years between 1949 and the beginning of the Cultural Revolution the film industry was simply churning out films: 603 feature films and 8, 342 reels of documentaries and newsreels were produced and sponsored by the Communist Party.

Xie Jin was perhaps the most prominent filmmaker during this period: two worthwhile movies to check out are the Red Detachment of Women (1961) and the Two Stage Sisters (1965).

As you might expect, the Cultural Revolution put an end to filmmaking in China. All previously made films were banned and during those ten years only eight films were approved for production, including the filming of the ballet version of the Red Detachment of Women (1971).

However, when the Cultural Revolution ended the film industry very quickly began to roar. Filmmakers had lots to say and Chinese audiences were banging down doors to listen. Not only were domestic films popular during this period but foreign films were finding enthusiastic audiences across China.

With access to Western films, Chinese filmmakers were taking ideas from what they saw and beginning an age of exploration. “Scar dramas” were probably the most popular films during this time, in particular Xie Jin’s Hibiscus Town (1986). These scar dramas were filmmakers’ way of coming to terms with the Cultural Revolution and what it meant, and as such were well responded to by audiences.

Economic liberalization and the rise of the fifth generation

Films by the fifth generation brought Chinese cinema to the attention of international audiences and their movies became favorites of art house cinema. In conjunction with China opening up to the rest of the world, Chinese filmmakers began to reject traditional techniques in favor of more liberal, free thinking styles of film making. With their film Yellow Earth (1984) Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou became leaders of this generation. Other well known examples of the fifth generation include Farewell My Concubine (1993), and Raise the Red Lantern (1991).

However, not all was rosy for filmmakers at this time. During the 1980s the authorities began to view some films as socially unacceptable. In 1986 the film industry was transferred from the Ministry of Culture to the newly formed Ministry of Radio, Cinema, and Television to bring it under "stricter control and management" and to "strengthen supervision over production." This censorship has continued to affect Chinese filmmaking.

The Chinese film industry was once again shutdown in the aftermath of the Tiananmen incident and members of the fifth generation had to decide whether to head to Hong Kong, go into self-imposed exile or go into television-related production and work within a heavily censored world.  

Disillusionment of the 1990s: The sixth generation

State censorship of the 1990s helped to create an underground movement of filmmakers that can often be identified by their camera work and unromantic subject matter. These films were shot quickly, cheaply, and often on hand-held cameras giving them a documentary feel. Subject matters were very much routed in contemporary urban life, and the disillusionment of China’s youth.

Key examples of this work include Lou Ye’s Suzhou River (2000), Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle (2001), Jia Zhangke’s Platform (2000) and Zhang Yuan’s Beijing Bastards (1993) and East Palace, West Palace (1996). East Palace, West Palace was also China’s first movie with an explicitly homosexual theme.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and China’s blockbusters

With the release of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (1999), China’s blockbusters really went global. With a backdrop of stunning landscapes, and let’s face it, some kick-ass flying martial arts films such as Crouching Tiger, Hero and House of Flying Daggers Chinese big budget blockbusters easily won fan bases around the world.

It is important to note that when discussing these movies one is blurring the lines between Mainland Chinese cinema and the internationally based Chinese-language cinema. Crouching Tiger was made by a Taiwanese director, its funding came from overseas and the actors in it were from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. That being said their success clearly impacted the development of mainland China’s film industry.  

Big studio’s blockbusters giving Hollywood a run for it money

An Ernst and Young report predicts that China will eclipse the US has the biggest cinema audience by 2020. Wang Jianlin, the man behind the construction of the world’s most expensive film studio, says the Chinese market will be the largest by 2018. With roughly 10 movie screens popping up around the country per day, their estimates are easy to believe.

With this injection of money China’s films are enjoying bigger and bigger budgets, hiring Hollywood A-listers and going after international audiences. However, Piers Handling, the CEO of Toronto International Film Festival has argued that the current trend of Chinese movies is falling flat with international audiences, mainly due to the inexperience of the China’s film industry in an international market.

Another problem that hinders China’s filmmaking ability is the strict censorship guidelines by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (“SARFT”) and their constantly changing rules and regulations. Xie Fei, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy, sparked debate on the issue when he wrote an open letter saying, “Unwritten laws such as: ‘ghosts are not allowed in contemporary settings…extramarital affairs are not allowed…are killing artistic expression.”

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Chen Kaige said, “Back thirty years ago, it would be impossible to create a private production company. No way. You could only work with state-run studios. Now it is natural, there are private producers and funds to help you make films…In a big country, change takes time.” Cheaply made, independent films will always have a home in art house cinema but for the bigger Chinese film industry this move to a globally audience will be slow.

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Keywords: Chinese film Chinese cinema Chinese film industry