Co-Opting the Wolves: National Film Industry Reform in China After 1978

This article is about the relationship between the film industry, society, and the state, in the context of economic reforms. I first provide an overview of current writings on the field and then explain the film industry's structure since 1949. I also examine policy changes over the past 30 ye...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asian politics & policy 2010-01, Vol.2 (1), p.95-121
Main Author: Chu, Katherine Kit Ling
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chinese cinema
culture policy
Economic Change
Industry
Market Economy
market reform
Markets
Peoples Republic of China
Reform
state power
transnational capital
Transnationalism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article is about the relationship between the film industry, society, and the state, in the context of economic reforms. I first provide an overview of current writings on the field and then explain the film industry's structure since 1949. I also examine policy changes over the past 30 years. What exactly did the state change? And why did it change? By way of analyzing Chinese cinema, this article examines the relationship between the market, the state, society, and transnational capital. Although the government has increasingly been in favor of a market economy, it has never given up its official ideology over films. Moreover, the domestic film industry did not collapse after the entry of transnational capital; instead, the state successfully co‐opted the “wolves” not only to save the film industry but also to enable the state to accumulate both economic and political capital.
ISSN:1943-0779
1943-0787
DOI:10.1111/j.1943-0787.2009.01170.x