Japanese Invasion of China
The Japanese invasion of mainland China in 1937 and the occupation of Shanghai forced the film industry to move south to the British Colony of Hong Kong.
But almost immediately civil war began between Chiang Kai-shek’s right-wing Nationalists and Mao Zedong’s left-wing Communists.
By 1949, the Communists controlled Mainland China (The People's Republic of China)
While the Nationalists fled to Taiwan (The Republic of China)
1950 to 1966 was a period of nationalization in China and the film industry was placed under the minister of culture as the government built ten major studios in each of the country's largest cities fostering robust growth for cinema.
Overall, this period was extremely active, producing opera films, comedies and social realist films.
The Chinese Divide Filmmakers into Generations:
The most prominent 5th generation filmmakers to emerge in mainland cinema were Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou
Born into a family of artists and intellectuals, the family was forced to work as laborers during the Cultural Revolution. Kaige was forced to publicly denounce his father, who was also a film director. He joined Red Army and spent time at remote outposts. He then joined the Beijing Film Academy, graduating in 1982.
Kaige’s debut feature marked a critical and commercial breakthrough for Chinese film on the international circuit.
Cinematography By Zhang Yimou
Cineaste magazine identifies Yellow Earth as the first Chinese film to communicate its meaning through images rather than dialogue.
The story charts the course of a love triangle among two male opera stars and a female prostitute over 50 years of Chinese history, ending after the Cultural Revolution.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes
The first (and so far only) Chinese film to win this honor
Under suspicion by the Communists because his father was a KMT officer, Yimou was pulled out of school and made to work in a textile factory.
Sold blood to purchase his first camera
A supreme visual stylist
The film was initially banned in China, as were other of Zhang's films, despite the fact they were winning awards internationally.
Hong Kong became a British Colony in 1849 and was officially leased to the British in 1898 for 99 years during which time a capitalist society developed.
Hong Kong was returned to China on July 1, 1997
“One Country, Two Systems” for the next 50 years (2047)
Kung Fu films were among the earliest films made in Hong Kong. And when they embraced widescreen color and a division of labor with separate film directors and martial arts directors,
their success allowed Hong Kong cinema to dominate the Southeast Asian film markets while
also becoming popular in the United States.
In the 1970s, Hong Kong cinema introduced the world to the coolest man on the planet.
Jackie Chan starred in several kung fu films in which he attempted to cultivate a Bruce Lee persona.
During this period, Jackie even changed his screen name to Sing Lung “become the dragon” to emphasize the Bruce Lee connection
Woo's fusion of martial arts with Western action film tropes created the “Heroic Bloodshed” sub--genre with contained elements such as:
His debut feature was the gangster film, As Tears Go By which was inspired by Scorsese's Mean Streets.
But it was his martial arts epic, Ashes of Time, that announced his maturity as an artist.
Like many of the Taiwanese directors of the ‘80s and ‘90s, Lee studied abroad, attending NYU film school where he was a classmate of Spike Lee.
Another common element Lee had with other Taiwanese directors of the era, was making low to medium budget films that dealt with the realities of day-to-day life in Taiwan.
Lee’s third film revolves around the meanings of family and food in traditional culture. But it is a culture that is meeting up with change brought about by a modern world.
Winner, Best Film at Asia-Pacific Film Festival
Ang Lee was reclaiming his Chinese heritage with this wonderfully realized “flying swordsman" adventure epic of the sort that Hong Kong directors had been turning out for decades.
Highest-grossing foreign-language film released in US
Wins 4 Oscars, including Best Foreign Language Film
Was one of the leading directors of the Taiwanese New Wave
Yang’s seventh and final feature