Chinese film stands as a cinematic barometer for the country's ideological
vicissitudes. This research studies the relationship between Chinese film and changing
government political philosophy. This interaction is examined in three critical periods in
light of film as a tool of the revolution, the notion of cultural imperialism, and China's
entrance into the global economy. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Chinese film was reduced to "model
Peking opera" films. In the New Era (1979-1989), China's film production and the
filmmakers' creative exploration grew rapidly. The 1989 Tian'anmen Square movement
ushered in the Post New Era, in which films that glorify the Communist Party's past and
present flourish. Reinforced content control and the market economy both currently
contribute to Chinese film's increasing global profile and the filmmakers' more careful
political engagement in their films.
