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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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‘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…
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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…
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Film Friday: Xiang Yu, the tragic Chinese hero
Xiang Yu is ubiquitous in Chinese culture, appearing in countless TV shows, plays, and films (including the classic Farewell…
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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,…
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Five essential Chinese silent films
Politics, revolution, bloodshed, prostitution, suicide, feminism (before it was defined as such): Chinese films of the 1920s…
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Film Friday: Liminality in Edward Yang’s ‘Taipei Story’
For two high school summers, I sifted through my town historical…
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Film Friday: ‘American Dreams in China’ perfectly captures the Chinese dream
Full movie on Tencent Video /
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‘Dying to Survive,’ a comedy about illegally importing drugs, might be China’s best movie of the year
Animal Thriller (动物世界 dòngwù shìjiè), a Chinese thriller toplined by Michael…
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Inside a Chinese labor camp: Q&A with Leon Lee, director of ‘Letter from Masanjia’
Leon Lee is a Canadian filmmaker whose documentaries focus on…
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Now on Netflix: A love song to China’s Belt and Road Initiative
In the scenic yet deadly high mountains of Gilgit, Pakistan,…
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Film Friday: Memory and desire ‘In the Heat of the Sun’
In the film In the Heat of the Sun 阳光灿烂的日子 (yángguāng cànlàn…
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