 Starring: Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Sun Zhou, Lu XioheDirector: Chen Kaige Year Of Release: 1998 Plot: In the 3rd Century BC, the heir to the Qin throne seeks to dominate the other six warring Chinese nations and unite the country. He comes up with a plan to send his concubine to the Yan State in order to recruit an assassin to try and kill him. Its part of a ruse, where the assassination attempt will be used as an excuse to start a war with Yan, which goes awry when the concubine falls for the man shes supposed to be recruiting. |
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China has had a long and complicated history with cinema. Although movies had been made in China since the end of 19th Century, most were of little note, with film only emerging there as a major artform in the 1930s. A wave of directors sprang up making movies that promoted leftist ideals, which found huge public support and producing a so-called Golden age of Chinese cinema. Most of that came to a halt during the Japanese occupation (particularly as Chinese film production was centred around Shanghai), with only a few companies allowed to make films during that period, while the Second World War pretty much stopped Chinese film production completely.
The industry started back up again after the War, still showing its leftist tendencies and often expressing disillusionment with the rule of the Kuomintang. Instead they sided with the communists, who were engaged in civil war for the right to run the country. When the communists took over in 1949, it initially seemed like it would be a boom time for Chinese cinema, as like many mid 20th governments, Mao and his followers realised the power of cinema for propaganda purposes. However they quickly got rather dogmatic about what films could and couldnt be made, with anything that didnt have a specifically communist political ideology labelled as reactionary. Even simple apolitical romances fell foul of this, because of the governments insistence that is something wasnt specifically communist, it therefore must be rightist.
Nevertheless with the government wanting to promote movies that shared it ideals, an awful lot of new films were made, which proved immensely popular within China and for the first time found some measure of success in other countries critically if not commercially. The government fully backed all this, sending filmmakers to Russia to study the renowned Soviet filmmaking style, as well as opening the Beijing Film Academy in 1956.
However this flowering of cinema was short lived, as in 1966 Chairman Mao started his Cultural Revolution, which sought to blame and eradicate a liberal bourgeoisie that Mao said was attempting to return China to capitalism and which was responsible for political instability and the economic shambles the country was in. This resulted in a crackdown on all sorts of behaviours believed to be a threat to communism, and led to absolute chaos. One of the things most heavily affected was the arts, with virtually anyone with any artistic leanings treated as suspect, with many people persecuted, sanctioned or even killed if their art was deemed even vaguely reactionary.
The result was that from the mid-60s to the early 70s, hardly any movies were made at all. Not only that, but nearly all films made before that were suddenly banned, just in case they gave anyone any ideas about anything. While Mao and his cohorts still believed in the propaganda power of cinema, they were also deeply suspicious of it (after all, if it could work as propaganda for them, it could do the same for their enemies), so when movie production started again in 1972, it was heavily controlled and regulated by the so-called Gang Of Four, who effective controlled the Communist Party and therefore the country during the Cultural Revolution and beyond.
After the Gang Of Four was deposed in a coup a month after Maos death, the more liberal officials who took control had a more open view of cinema and the industry started to rebuild itself. Once more audiences started to flock to theatres, and Chinese films began to find favour at foreign film festivals. Interestingly the Chinese government also supported movies about how bad the Cultural Revolution had been, as while they didnt normally like anything that cast communism in a bad light, their opposition to the Cultural Revolution was what they saw as defining the difference between their style of government and how the (by that time imprisoned for treason) Gang of Four had done things.
However in the 80s, suspicions about the possibly subversive nature of cinema grew again, so while the industry had always been under state control, the government now set up a new ministry specifically for film, radio and television, whose main job was to monitor these industries and ensure they didnt break any of the strict rules put in place. This didnt just cover their political content, but also the behaviour of the characters, with anything seen to be un-Chinese severely frowned upon, banned, cut out or repressed.
These restrictions have been in place ever since, resulting in an odd situation where the government both actively promotes film and is deeply suspicious of it. They want a strong and healthy film industry as they believe filling cinemas with movies that promote Chinese values (at least what they think Chinese values should be), both strengthens social unity and acts as a way to dampen the effect of outside western influences. However at the same there is an ambivalence towards cinema, with worries that it its decadent and could corrupt the populace if not tightly controlled.
As a result, while China currently enjoys probably the biggest and broadest film industry its ever known, its also one of the most restrictive in the world. This has resulted in movies like Farewell, My Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern, which were highly acclaimed around the world, but has also seen other movies completely suppressed if the State didnt approve of them. So, for example, in 2006 the authorities banned Lou Ye from making films for five years after he screened one of his movies at Cannes without permission (the Chinese government disapproved of it because it was set around the time of the Tiananmen Square protest, and didnt want it seen anywhere, let alone at the worlds most prestigious film festival). However despite the ban he returned to the festival in 2009 with Spring Fever, which was made covertly with a handheld camera to get around the restrictions placed on him. Incidentally the Tiananmen Square massacre also caused several notable directors to go into self-imposed exile, fearing just how controlling the state had become.
Hes just one of a number of filmmakers whove taken to making movies guerrilla style, because of the restrictions placed on what can and cant be filmed. Many of these directors arent officially breaking the law, due to policies that allow arty, edgy films to be shot, with the state then becoming more concerned about where theyll be seen, if at all, after theyre made. As a result, quite a lot of these edgier movies are barely seen at all in China, and instead mainly play on the international festival circuit.
In recent years, theres been a move towards bigger, more epic productions, which is partly due to an influx of talent after Hong Kong reunited with the mainland, but also because of direct state support for movies that laud and promote Chinese history and it position as a great power, and a nation that has survived intact for thousands of years. So, for example, at the time it was made, The Emperor and the Assassin was the most expensive Chinese movie ever made, and marked a slight turning point where not only did the state get directly involved in making it through the China Film Co-Production Corporation (which is a subsidiary of the largest of the state run film company), but it also became one of the first major Chinese movies to receive direct funding from foreign companies. The idea behind this was that western funding would allow Chinese companies to make bigger movies that had a chance of playing around the world, which would hopefully export Chinese film culture beyond the rarefied world of film festivals.
Since then there have been many more of these major co-productions, such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, House Of Flying Daggers and Fearless. However, as always, what the Chinese government initially sees as a good thing, they start to get suspicious of a few years later. So that while the initial idea was to let foreign companies in to make Chinese movies in a Chinese style, theres a growing suspicion amongst the authorities that by chasing foreign dollars these films are becoming increasingly westernised, and also that rather than just providing cash, the outside companies are mainly looking for ways to exploit (and possibly corrupt) the Chinese market.
On the last score theyre right. For the past decade Hollywood has realised that Asia is the fastest growing market in the world, and that China is a potential goldmine they desperately want to tap. However the problem is access. Not only does the state tightly control what film can and cant be made inside its borders, particularly with foreign cash, but it also severely limits what foreign movies it allows in.
This is a big issue for Hollywood, as while until recently Japan and the UK have been the biggest box office territories outside the US, the studios know that if they could get all their product into China, the country would likely eclipse both. For example, Transformer: Revenge Of The Fallen made $44 million in the UK, but $68 million in China. China was also the biggest non-US territory for Avatar, where it took $182 million. In fact the Chinese authorities got so worried about Avatars dominance over the box office and that it was crushing locally produced movies, that they effectively forced it out of cinemas after a few months.
However while China is a gargantuan market that grown exponentially over the past two decades, its also heavily restricted. The country only allows 20 foreign films in a year, meaning the studios have to pick and choose what they think will do best, and even then it has to be approved the authorities. Getting Hollywood films into the country is also heavily dependent on relations between China and the west, so a few years ago, during a period of political tension between China and the US, the Asian country refused release dates to any foreign films for a full four months. Even once they get in, the seemingly great box office figures belie the fact that whereas in most countries, the distributor (which is normally the studio) gets about 50% of the ticket price, in China foreign films have to be distributed by a State run company (although the World Trade Organisation has tried to break this monopoly), which means the company that actually made the movie only gets about 20% is the gross.
Nevertheless, Hollywood is continually knocking on Chinas door, both trying to get them to be less restrictive, and find other ways into the lucrative market. They not that the country is currently a vast, largely untapped market, but the problem is securing access, and also being able to capitalise on it if they do. The rewards for success are massive, which is why the studios keep chipping away.
One way theyre doing it is to open China based subsidiaries, so that, for example, Sony Pictures, has now set up a company in China to make movies specifically for that market. Its also why Hollywood has been so enamoured in recent years with films with an Asian flavour, such as The Forbidden Kingdom, as theyre made not just with an eye to being one of the 20 foreign movies released in China each year, but also because the box office of many other Asian countries is growing massively as well. For example, if we take the example of Avatar again, among the countries where it grossed more than $100 million was South Korea.
There are few countries that have had such a tumultuous history with film, where it seems no matter what period it is or who is in power, cinema has been caught between those who wish to use it to promote certain ideas and those who fear its power over the audience. As a result its been lauded and repressed, controlled and monitored and even now the country has some of the most repressive controls on both filmmaking and censorship of any country in the world. However as its economic power grows, its starting to feel growing pressure from Hollywood, which wants to get in on the action more and more. At the moment China seems to be resisting this, officially because they say they dont want to hurt the Chinese film industry (which may be tightly regulated but has comparatively little competition in cinema), but more likely because they fear cinemas power and that more Hollywood films will result in western culture flooding the country.
TIM ISAAC
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