The Formation of Chinese Art Cinema

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Introduction

   • Li Yang

   Pages 1-38

3. Institutions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 39-39

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   2. The Socialist Film System

      • Li Yang

      Pages 41-63

   3. The Separation of Production

      • Li Yang

      Pages 65-88

   4. Institutions of Consecration

      • Li Yang

      Pages 89-122

4. Aesthetics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 123-123

      PDF

   2. In the Mix: The Early Sixth Generation Cinema

      • Li Yang

      Pages 125-156

   3. The Impulse to Record: The Neorealist Style

      • Li Yang

      Pages 157-189

   4. The World of Psychological and Symbolic Complexity: The Expressionist Style

      • Li Yang

      Pages 191-212

5. Back Matter

   Pages 213-228

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The Formation of Chinese Art Cinema: 1990–2003 examines the development of Chinese art film in the People’s Republic of China from 1990, when the first Sixth Generation film Mama was released, to 2003, when authorities acknowledged the legitimacy of underground filmmakers. Through an exploration of the production and consecration mechanisms of the new art wave and its representative styles, this book argues that the art wave of the 1990s fundamentally defined Chinese art cinema. In particular, this vital art wave was not enabled by democratic liberalism, but by the specific industrial development, in which the film system transitioned from Socialist propaganda into a commercialized entity. Allowing Chinese art film to grow but at the same time denying its legitimacy, this paradoxical transition process shaped Chinese art film’s institutional and aesthetical alternative positioning, which eventually helped consolidate the art wave into art cinema. Ultimately, this bookis a history of the Chinese portion of global art cinema, which also reveals the complex Chinese cultural experiences during the Reform Era.

• Chinese Art Cinema
• Sixth Generation Cinema
• New Neorealism
• New Generation Cinema
• Global Art Cinema

“The Formation of Art Cinema in China is an important intervention that sheds new light on contemporary Chinese cinema. Li Yang innovatively combines analysis of critical discourses and industrial practices by approaching cinema as a Bourdieuian field. Cutting across conventional divisions between independent and mainstream, she reveals how Chinese filmmakers have drawn inspiration from New Waves around the world and gone on to develop Chinese art cinema’s own distinct character.” (Chris Berry, Professor of Film Studies, King’s College London, UK)

• Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, USA

  Li Yang

Li Yang is Assistant Professor of Chinese in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the Program of Asian Studies at Lafayette College, USA. 

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