Teaching Film from the People's Republic of China

Essays for teaching Chinese film, history, and society

This volume brings a diverse range of voices—from anthropology, communication studies, ethnomusicology, film, history, literature, linguistics, sociology, theater, and urban geography—into the conversation about film from the People's Republic of China. Essays seek to answer what films can reveal or obscure about Chinese history and society and demonstrate how studying films from the PRC can introduce students to larger issues of historical consciousness and media representation.

The volume addresses not only postsocialist fictional films but also a wide variety of other subjects including socialist period films, documentaries, films by or about people from ethnic minority groups, film music, the perspectives of female characters, martial arts cinema, and remakes of South Korean films. By exploring how films represent power, traditions, and ideologies, students learn about both the complexity of the PRC and the importance of cross-cultural and cross-ideological understanding.

This volume contains discussion of Beijing Bicycle; The Big Shot; Cai Chusheng; Chasing the Carp; Jackie Chan; Children at a Village School; Cui Zien; Fan Lixin; Fish and Elephant; Five Golden Flowers; Hero; Ann Hui; Ip Man; Jiang Hu: Life on the Road; Jiang Nengjie; Last Train Home; Li Shuangshuang; Li Yu; Lou Ye; Meishi Street; New Women; 1911; Ou Ning; The Postmodern Life of My Aunt; Queer China, Comrade China; Red Detachment of Women; River Elegy; The Road Home; Shadow Magic; Shower; Soul Haunted by Painting; Su Xiaokang; Suzhou River; To Live; The Wandering Earth; Wang Bing; Wang Luxiang; Wang Xiaoshuai; West of the Tracks; The White-Haired Girl; Wolf Warrior 2; Wu Bai; Wu Jing; Wu Wenguang; Xia Jun; Xie Jin; Yellow Earth; Ying Yunwei; Wilson Yip; Yu Hua; Zhang Li; Zhang Yang; and Zhang Yimou.