The People’s Republic of Desire, reviewed
A dark and provocative glimpse at China’s celebrity streaming culture
Continue reading
5 classic Chinese New Year movies
Center image: All’s Well, End’s Well; clockwise from upper left: Rumble in the Bronx, The Chinese Feast,…
Continue reading
The Unfinished Comedy: How a brave satire in Maoist China destroyed its creator’s career
In the 1957 satirical film The Unfinished Comedy, made during Mao Zedong’s Hundred Flowers Campaign, one…
Continue reading
Hanshan: Investigating the life of Chinese literature’s most mysterious poet
The poet Hanshan 寒山, a name meaning “Cold Mountain,” ranks as one of the most eccentric and mysterious figures…
Continue reading
Film Friday: ‘The Great Buddha+,’ Taiwan’s award-winning dark comedy, is worth the hype
Director Huang Hsin-yao’s satirical, sometimes bleak dark comedy focuses on class, political corruption, and religion in Taiwan.
Continue reading
5 must-see Chinese movies of 2018
Five noteworthy Chinese movies from 2018, including from big-name directors Zhang Yimou, Jia Zhangke, and Jiang Wen.
Continue reading
Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu: The unlikely duo who pioneered Chinese cinema
History now remembers Zhang Shichuan, a businessman, and Zheng Zhengqiu, an intellectual, as two of the key…
Continue reading
Hopping Vampires and Beautiful Ghosts: A Brief History of Chinese Horror, Pt. 2
From killer butterflies and hopping zombies (in a movie nominated for Best Film at the Hong Kong…
Continue reading
Hopping Vampires and Beautiful Ghosts: A Brief History of Chinese Horror, Pt. 1
Chinese horror films might not be internationally renowned — and indeed, they are frowned upon in today’s…
Continue reading
5 classic movies to remember Xie Jin, the master of Chinese melodrama
Xie Jin remains relatively obscure outside of his home country, which is a shame. He directed such…
Continue reading
‘Havoc in Heaven’: How China’s first animators braved war, politics, and exile to create a masterpiece
Based off Journey to the West, this hand-animated classic took more than two decades to complete, with…
Continue reading
5 influential movies from the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers
Coming of age during the Cultural Revolution, China’s post-Mao filmmakers would revolutionize the industry with story-driven movies…
Continue reading
5 great Chinese movies from the Second Golden Age
The Second Golden Age of Chinese film, short-lived as it was, saw some of China’s best directors,…
Continue reading
Five essential Chinese silent films
Politics, revolution, bloodshed, prostitution, suicide, feminism (before it was defined as such): Chinese films of the 1920s…
Continue reading
