1st Edition

Hong Kong Cinema Coloniser, Motherland and Self

By Yingchi Chu Copyright 2003
    206 Pages
    by Routledge

    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    Examining Hong Kong cinema from its inception in 1913 to the end of the colonial era, this work explains the key areas of production, market, film products and critical traditions. Hong Kong Cinema considers the different political formations of Hong Kong's culture as seen through the cinema, and deals with the historical, political, economic and cultural relations between Hong Kong cinema and other Chinese film industries on the mainland, as well as in Taiwan and South-East Asia. Discussion covers the concept of 'national cinema' in the context of Hong Kong's status as a quasi-nation with strong links to both the 'motherland' (China) and the 'coloniser' (Britain), and also argues that Hong Kong cinema is a national cinema only in an incomplete and ambiguous sense.

    Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: National Cinema and Hong Kong Cinema 1. Hong Kong Cinema as Part of Chinese national Cinema 1913-1956 2. Hong Kong Cinema as Chinese Diasporic Cinema 1956-1979 3. Hong Kong Film Production, Market and Critisism 1979-1997 4. Hong Kong Films: The Cultural Specificity of Quasi-National Film 5. Hong Kong Films: Constructions of Hong Kong History and Territory 6. Hong Kong Films: Constructions of Quasi-National Identity 7. Hong Kong Cinema after 1997 Conclusion: Hong Kong Cinema and Quasi-National Cinema Notes Glossary Bibliography

    Biography

    Yingchi Chu is a lecturer in Chinese and Film Studies at the School of Asian Studies, Murdoch University, Western Australia

    'This well researched book, its exhaustive bibliography and a handy and useful glossary and filmography (in Chinese and English) - is an important tool allowing readers to grasp how, in the very particular and exceptional case of Hong Kong, its cinema both embodies and transcends our received idea of what constitutes a national cinematic art.' - Cinemaya

    'Hong Kong Cinema is an ambitious, thought-provoking book and contains some fascinating material on the film industry in 1980-2000.' - China Quarterly