Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

New Chinese Cinema: Challenging Representations examines the 'search for roots' films that emerged from China in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. The authors contextualise the films of the so-called Fifth Generation directors who came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s such as Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and Tian Zhuangzhuang. Including close analysis of such pivotal films as Farewell My Concubine, Raise the Red Lantern and The Blue Kite, the book also examines the rise of contemporary Sixth Generation underground directors whose themes embrace the disaffection of urban youth.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

An excellent overview of mainland Chinese cinema since the Cultural Revolution and an ideal introductory text for any course on modern Chinese film, this book is an engrossing read in its own right. It is more than a survey of films by the so-called "Fifth Generation" of Chinese directors--Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, and their successors. It provides a succinct and helpful summation of 20th-century Chinese history, an insightful depiction of key elements of traditional and contemporary Chinese thought and practice, a shrewd analysis of Western cinematic portrayals of China and the East, and a provocative inquiry into issues of authority, patriarchy, and state power as they shape film culture. Cornelius interweaves into the broad discussion incisive "case studies" of salient individual films, e.g., Farewell My Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern. This book pairs well with more in-depth treatments such as Transnational Chinese Cinemas, ed. by Sheldon Hsaio-peng Lu (CH, May'98), Perspectives on Chinese Cinema, ed. by Chris Berry (CH, Mar'92), and Jerome Silbergeld's China into Film (1999). A superior value for its modest price, even considering the unfortunate absence of an index. All collections. L. Armstrong Central Washington University