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Provides guidelines for instructors who teach entire courses on (or who include) films from Japan and China. Considers issues of concern in contemporary Asian cinema such as conflicts between tradition and modernity, indigenous definitions of cultural identity and artistic form, and internationalization. (KEH)

The Chinese opera film criticism of the late 1950s coincided with the introduction of cybernetics to China. Echoing cybernetics' emphasis on the homeostasis of an artificial or living machine archived by filtering noise from information in the environment, film critics aimed no less at maintaining the steady states of Chinese culture (epitomized by traditional opera) when taking on the treacherous milieu called modernization (in the form of cinema). The whole problematic of opera films—in which one is forced to choose filtering out formulaic operatic gestures or realistic cinematic mise-en-scène as noise to maintain a self-cohesive cultural system—follows from the mistake of essentializing media specificities as prior to the contingent encounter among different mediums. However, an alternative approach lies in treating noise not as interference that must be eliminated but as surplus information that introduces system errors, triggers phase shifts, and brings about random changes for genuine self-organization, allowing us to confront control with the noise in its own channels. A revamping of cybernetics in this regard opens up new possibilities of understanding opera films through the peculiar prism of Guo Baochang's 2005 opera film Chungui meng 春閨夢 (Dream of the Bridal Chamber). And that prism particularly takes the form of a series of moon gates (yueliang men 月亮門), an architectural trope invoked throughout the film signifying the cybernetic circuit of gateways that at once exerts control over and yet is disturbed and reshaped by the noisy signals arising from the mutual interferences among opera, film, and, ultimately, television. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Film criticism in China has been changing due to a growing fan community and their active participation in online film reviewing. While social media has democratized who can write reviews, there remain distinct hierarchies of professional and amateur reviewers. Drawing upon Henry Jenkins' (2006b) concept of "knowledge community" and Alex Bruns' "produsage" model (2008), this article will explore how Chinese film fans use translation to shape the online reception of a film and participate in the debates over film criticism in the digital age. Through a case study of the Chinese translations of an English review of The Wandering Earth (2019), a Chinese sci-fi blockbuster, it argues that translation, as an alternative form of self-expression, constitutes both an important cinematic experience for fans and a response by grassroots consumers to the existing reviewing system influenced by media capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current Chinese cinephilia has developed an obsession with what is known as lapian, a practice that consists of scholarly or professional analysis of films and a fascination with cinematic details both textual and inter-textual. What can be discerned through such a phenomenon are not only Chinese film aficionados' love for cinema and movie going, but also their aspiration to participate in and contribute to the nation's emerging film culture. Having originated in classrooms at Beijing Film Academy around 1958, lapian has been disseminated to the country's myriad of film communities; together with it, is the professionalism of engaging films. Enabled by fan-based platforms on the Internet (especially social networking sites such as Douban, Mtime, and Wechat public accounts), the tactile nature in lapian broke down the barrier between professional film critics (as well as scholars) and ordinary film lovers. On the one hand, the proliferation of lapian among common viewers produces a discourse that competes with professional criticisms in China. Unlike the implicit elitism that pervaded the pre-Internet world of cinephilia (as well as its lapian practices), current Chinese film communities have appropriated the professionalism of film criticism for co-constituting a cinematic world that involves a greater population of film viewers. On the other hand, opportunities to comment on and discuss films on these more democratic platforms without formal qualification (such as certification of the author's accomplished status in traditional journalism) encourages younger generations to pursue their dreams of filmmaking, film criticism, and film scholarship, which could seem impossible to them. Hence, lapian prepares the greater number of cinephiles to be not only involved in the film world but also actively constituting it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at a unique kind of Chinese film culture known as the 'mass film criticism' (qunzhong yingping), namely, film discussion and criticism initiated by the non-professionals – workers, peasants, soldiers, students, etc. The practice of mass film criticism (MFC), led spontaneously by grassroot film enthusiasts and supported by state institutions, gained momentum in the 1980s: it is estimated that by 1988 there were more than 20,000 local groups of mass film criticism across the country, and the total number of amateur film critics reached ten million. The analogue history of MFC comprises a different genealogy for the emergence of amateur cinephiliac writing, which is almost exclusively associated with digital cinephiles in the west. This article examines the style and structural formation of MFC, as well as the role it played in fostering knowledge and appreciation of cinema for a large population with uneven film literacy. More importantly, often preforming a kind of sanctioned social criticism, MFC helped to carve out a public space for intense negotiations of what cinema and what China should become. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 17-year period China imported over 800 features from the Soviet bloc, Western Europe and beyond; these dubbed foreign films regularly occupied a third to a half of total exhibition time in Chinese theaters. Previous scholarship tended to rely on newspapers and journals of the time and emphasize the propagandist efficacy of these films. Based on government documents, film company records, and memoirs, I argue that foreign films both served and failed to serve the conflicting imperatives of program supply, diplomacy, and propaganda. As a result of these conflicting functions – in addition to their ‘foreignness’ – dubbed foreign films were sheltered from much of the censorship and denunciation inflicted on domestic productions; at times they could even betray their propagandist purpose and constitute a legitimate space of mild dissent against mainstream aesthetics and ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Wushu, also known as Kung Fu, is a traditional Chinese martial art. It also symbolises the strength of the Chinese and their pride in their history. Wushu came to be associated with Chinese nationalism after China's various defeats at the hands of foreign imperialist powers at the turn of the twentieth century. This relationship has been further strengthened through martial arts films. In the first half of the twentieth century, martial arts films helped to construct national identity among the Chinese. They also facilitated the development of Wushu, making it a symbol of indigenous virtue and strength. From the late 1960s, influenced by a defensive strain of nationalism, Chinese film-makers began to adopt a new approach to the portrayal of Wushu. Martial arts films were endowed with political and cultural significance, and evolved as a unique representation of Chinese nationalism. Several decades later, martial arts films still retain at their core a sense of ‘Chineseness'. From Bruce Lee'sFist of Furyto Donnie Yen'sIP Man, Chinese martial arts films have demonstrated not only the important place of Wushu in Chinese nationalism, but also the influence of nationalism on Chinese cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Zhang Yimou is considered as one of the greatest, if not the greatest film director of the People's Republic of China. Although he is considered recently to be a pro-government director, he has made a considerable number of films that criticize the Communist Chinese government in the past and present. As films in China have always been seriously censored, and even banned when considered "unduly critical", directors have to make use of various "skills" and "means" of imagery to make their socio-political criticisms latent but conceivable and effective. The socially critical films of Zhang manifest a development in imagery that is becoming more and more substantial and aesthetically impressive. This article will investigate a series of Zhang's relevant films to trace the development of his "skills" and "means" of imagery in exercising his criticism of the social and political reality of communist China, so as to formulate for the public a clear understanding of his film art and humanism [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media and communications scholars frequently publish work on audience interpretations of ecological media. These range from the ways the media frames ecological issues to the socio-political role the media plays in influencing popular opinion on environmental issues. Film criticism is not that much different from other media analyses in its focus on ideological bias and the hypothetical impact of the texts. Considering the emphasis ecocinema scholars place on the socio-political role of cinema, it is surprising that audiences are still a largely neglected focus of study in the field. This article investigates some potential avenues academic studies of audiences of ecocinema may take. We focus on the ways audiences use ecocinema to generate diverse meanings as we switch from spectator studies to studies of audiences, where we not only explore the ways audience perspectives correlate or challenge the hypothetical perspectives suggested by media critics/academics, but also focus on the plurality of reading positions and the challenges they provide for making sense of the uses of ecocinema. The challenge to homogenized or theorized reading publics is made more explicit once we take into account the major role cultural specificity plays in audience responses. It is here that transnational considerations help us diversify the range of analysis and offer new perspectives on the socio-political implications of ecocinema. To these ends, I focus on the ways individuals from China (Chinese university students and graduates in the white-collar industries, both groups who identify themselves as part of China's new emerging middle class) encounter and negotiate the transnational dimensions of ecocinema both with domestically produced films and imported productions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the marketing strategies employed by filmmakers in China to sell Johnnie To's films in Great Britain and the U.S. It notes that To was able to re-brand his personality to become more suitable with those of international art cinema filmmakers in an effort to match the dominant associations of Hong Kong cinema with gangster films. It mentions that critics were able to recognize the changes in the country's motion picture industry particularly the effort of To in re-energizing and reinventing the genre in his film "Fulltime Killer."

The article discusses the methods of acting and training of motion picture actors in Hong Kong, China. It notes that film actors who started in television drama work were trained informally. It further states that each generation of young actors is likely the subject of criticism due to lack of experience and skills. It features the television-turned-film star Andy Lao who started in the 1980s as a young handsome lead actor and was criticized of lacking the necessary skills. Moreover, it asserts that the values associated with successful actors, such as Lao, have saved the country's troubled motion picture industry.

The article discusses traditional Chinese xiqu theater and how will this translates into "moving-image media." The author uses examples from Chinese films and television programs to show how the film medium makes xiqu accessible to a wide Chinese audience. The prominence of xiqu in Chinese culture has lessened after the Cultural Revolution. Xiqu in film is considered by the author to be a hybrid art form and considers semiotics in Chinese theater. An analysis of the films "Women Generals of the Yang Family," which was made before the Cultural Revolution, and "White Snake," which was made after it, is provided. The films are discussed critically from the perspective of mise en scène, framing of the shots, the paradigmatic referent, and the syntagmatic referent.

This article presents an analysis of the cultural-artistic discourse present within trends of 21st century transnational film adaptation practices. The particular manifestation of this dynamic between adaptation and translation is discussed in the Austrian novel "Letter from an Unknown Woman," by Stefan Zweig and its film adaptation by Chinese film maker Jinglei Xu. The narrative structure of the film is analyzed and the resultant themes of East-West cultural transmission in Chinese feminism is explored.

The article discusses the trend of research on Chinese film history from 1920 to present. Many articles about the birth and development of Chinese cinema had appeared in several newspapers and magazines since 1920. However, the real study of Chinese film history has emerged later in the 1930s. Notable works on this topic include "The History of the Development of Chinese Cinema," "Yearbook of Chinese Film" and "History of the Development of Chinese Modern Arts." Since then, study on film history has experienced several phases, with different qualities and characteristics. Modern research on film history were influenced by globalization.

The article criticizes the film The Wicked City made in 1992, based on a Japanese manga of the same name by Hideyuki Kikuchi. It has elements of both technological progress and of traditional Asian popular culture. The film was directed by Peter Mak and produced by Tsui Hark. The film blends film-noir sci-fi elements with Asian tradition, incorporating Hong Kong style martial arts action in a futuristic dystopian setting. The author argued that the ending of the movie is not satisfactory and raises more questions than it answers.

Criticizes the film "Fish and Elephant," considered to be the first lesbian Chinese movie, directed by Li Yu. Brief synopsis of the film; Overview of the cinematography used in the film; Information on the social status of homosexuality in China; Discussion of the social identity theory, which was used in providing a perspective to explain the lesbian characters' situation in the film.

Chinese popular film criticism may be regarded as a unique phenomenon for several reasons. First, there are literally millions of people who are involved and engaged in film criticism. Second, amateurs and professionals work side by side and have equal shares of honor. Of course, to command a complete picture of such a popular cultural phenomenon, it is necessary to obtain an overview of the whole picture of Chinese film criticism. With a more or less observant and objective eye, one can see without any difficulty that there exist in the field of Chinese film criticism two separate branches: popular and professional. This state of affairs has been long standing. Recently, popular criticism has so well matched in the professional strength that one can hardly tell one from the other. In the eye of the Chinese, professional criticism refers to the essay written primarily by film theorists and critics, and secondarily by some newspaper editors or reporters and college teachers who teach or research films. Popular criticism refers to the articles, praising or censorial, written by the audience who used to be recipients but now wield their pens. Therefore the scope of popular film criticism is quite wide.

The article presents a collection of articles showing definitions of Chinese cinema. These article discusses the common experiences of the Chinese diaspora and the global associations on various Chinese communities. They show contradictions on the label of Chinese cinema which calls for dialectical motion picture criticism. They also provide examples of critical thinkers who engage in political, social and cultural complexities. They point out that many of these issues disperse within the broader arena of the common era of globalization.